A Generous Table

Christmas Season started late for me this year – normally I have containers filled with cookies jam-packed in the freezer and waiting to be shipped to family or given out as gifts well before the holiday! ( I never start before Thanksgiving, though, to keep my holiday traditions special)  Not so this year.  I meant to get recipes for my favorites up for everyone to make, but it was not to be.  My last remaining grandparent passed away earlier in the month and it threw me for a loop.  My Grandma Dorothy was very special to me and she loved to eat my many creations!  Those who knew her reminded me about her Joie De Vivre and I knew she’d want me to celebrate the holidays with gusto – so I set to work!  Not quite the variety or quantity I usually make, but a respectable showing.  (My sister even asked if it was normal to make so many.  For me it is!)  I did make more types than I am sharing here, but these are the ones I can’t live without!  Merry Christmas everyone!

Peppermint Cookies

I started making these in high school – they are a little fussy to make, but incredible to eat – especially frozen! These are my most requested holiday cookie I make for friends.

Dough:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup finely chopped walnuts

Cream the butter sugar and vanilla until fluffy.  Add flour and walnuts, mixing thoroughly.

Candy Garnish:

• 1/4pound peppermint candies/canes
• ½ cup powdered sugar

Grind the candy fine in a blender or food processor.  Mix with the powdered sugar and place in a small, but deep bowl.  Reserve 3 Tablespoons for the filling.

Filling:

• 2 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon milk
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 3 Tablespoons reserved candy garnish

Mix all filling ingredients until well blended.

Preheat oven to 350F. To form cookies, roll dough into walnut sized balls.  Press dough around your thumb to make a pocket.  Fill with ¼ teaspoon filling and pinch closed.  Make sure no filling is escaping – patch if need be.  Place seam side down on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Place cookies at least ½” apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes, or until firm to touch and barely gold on the bottom.  Do not brown.  Roll in remaining candy garnish while still warm.  Re-roll in candy garnish when cool.  Makes 2-3 dozen.  Recipe can be multiplied successfully.  Cookies can be frozen up to 3 months and ship well. ( I prefer to eat them frozen!)  (Recipe adapted from Jeff Smith, “The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates Christmas”)

Grandma Gaydos’ Kolaches

My paternal grandfather, Paul, grew up in a large immigrant Czech family in Cleveland, OH.  His parents came to the US from a small town outside Prague in 1917.  When my grandpa served during WWII, his wife, my grandma Daisy, lived with her Czech in-laws.  She only spoke English, her mother-in-law spoke only Czech, but Daisy watched and wrote down the family recipes, like this one.  Every year I make hundreds of these cookies and ship them off, because in our family, it is not Christmas without them!  There are two traditional kinds of Kolachy – one made with a raised yeast dough, and this kind, with a flaky pastry.

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ pound cold unsalted butter or margarine ( I prefer to use a non-hydrogenated margarine suitable for baking, like Earth Balance)
• 1 cup flour
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar (cookies do not taste vinegary – it makes them flaky)
• 3 Tablespoons cold water
• 1  12oz can Solo filling, such as apricot, cherry or raspberry. (The prune and poppy seed are both traditional, as well, but not as sweet.)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting finished cookies

Preheat oven to 375F. Into a medium bowl, combine the 1½ cups flour and salt.  Cut in the butter or margarine until lumps are pea-sized. (Like for pie crust)  In another bowl, mix the 1 cup flour, egg yolks, water and vinegar with a fork until well blended.  Scrape the liquid mixture  into the dry and use a fork to blend well.  Wrap dough in wax paper or plastic wrap and chill at least one hour, but no more than 1 day.  Working with 1/3 of the dough at a time, roll out dough into a square until it is 1/8” thick.  Using a pastry cutter or the blunt edge of a butter knife, trim the dough edges so they are straight, reserving scraps. (Keep scraps and remaining unrolled dough refrigerated until in use) Cut the dough into 2 – 2½” squares. Place approximately ½ teaspoon filling in the center of each square.  Pull together one set of opposite corners (as if you were folding the square into a triangle), pinch just the ends together, then fold down.  The result will look a little like a swaddled infant.  Don’t press too hard or pull the edges up too much, or the filling will squish out.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet as close as ¼ inch apart.  Repeat with remaining squares.  Edge scraps can be re-rolled once, but toss anything left over after that as the dough will get too tough.  Bake 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Immediately place on racks to cool.  When cool dust with powdered sugar.  Makes about 4 dozen, but it is never enough!  Recipe can be doubled, but if you want more than that, make multiple batches of (doubled) dough.  Keep them in an airtight container, up to one week, although they are best within 2 days (they get a little soggy after that, but still good) These freeze perfectly, with layers separated by waxed paper.  You will have to re-dust with powdered sugar after thawing.

Grandma Gaydos’ Butter Cookies (Spritz)

These are tied with Kolaches for my favorite Christmas cookies!  You can color the dough and press out different shapes and decorate them with sprinkles, but my favorite way to make then is to press out a wreath shape and place a half of a cherry on each one before baking – yum!

• 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 Tablespoon milk/cream (I always use milk, because I rarely have cream)
• Maraschino cherries, halved (Optional)

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the egg yolk and vanilla, mixing well.  Stir the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add to the sugar/butter mixture, alternating with the milk.  Stir thoroughly.  If desired, tint with food coloring.  Press through cookie press into desired shape and bake 10-12 minutes, or until slightly firm and barely golden.  If you let them brown they will be dry. Makes about 3 dozen.  Cookies keep up to one week in an airtight container, or frozen up to 3 months.