A Little Bit of Christmas Cookie Magic

I made Christmas cookies today — the old-fashioned kind, with colored sugars and sprinkles and confectioner’s sugar — the kind that is labor-intensive and creates a big mess.

I started with butter and sugar and added flour, salt, and other ingredients. I blended it all in a mixer, rolled out the dough with a rolling pin, cut out cookies with metal cutters into tree and star shapes, sprinkled colored sugars on top, and baked them oh-so-carefully. And then I made another batch of cookies, only those had less sugar and included chopped pecans and were rolled into little balls and coated with powdered sugar after baking, and I concluded the cookie baking spree with a batch of ribboned shortbread with chocolate and vanilla stripes. After all the cookies were baked and lined up on my counter-tops and dining room table, I placed them into festive tins and cleaned up the doughy counters, bowls, beaters and pans.

But it was all so worth it.

The process and aromas brought out many memories and emotions. Christmas cookies (along with a decorated tree, lights, candles, and music) were Christmas for me when I was a young child. We did not have many gifts under the tree, but I do not remember that mattering much. We had our pretty cookies — yellow stars with crunchy points, green trees covered with tiny edible silver-colored sugar balls…