google-site-verification: google65e716d80989ba07.html Family Recipe Friday - Online Cookie Exchange | The Armchair Genealogist

Family Recipe Friday - Online Cookie Exchange

Now that the calendar has turned to the last page and December is here, our thoughts quickly turn to Christmas. From here on out our days will be filled with shopping, decorating, and baking. 


Christmas is filled with traditions particularly  food traditions. None more prominent than Christmas cookie traditions.


I love the idea of a cookie exchange. A dozen women (or men- but not likely) show up with a dozen cookies for everyone and voila you now have a 12 dozen cookies to put in your freezer for Christmas day. 


I got to thinking (smell the smoke). Wouldn't it be great if everyone showed up with a cookie that was a traditional family favourite. Attached to your dozen cookies, you could add a little story or antidote about the ancestor or family tradition along with the recipe. What a great way to share some family history. 


 I would love nothing better then to invite all you lovely people to my home for an ancestor cookie exchange. However, that would be somewhat of a logistic's nightmare. Instead, I've decided to host an online cookie exchange. 


Let's share our favourite cookie recipes. It can fall into one of two categories.  


1. A favourite cookie recipe handed-down from an ancestor.
or
2. A favourite recipe that has become a holiday tradition in your family. ( You know the one, it's not Christmas without it.) 


So here's the deal. I'm sharing my all-time favourite cookie recipe. Posted below. You can post your favourite cookie recipe, either in comments below, or linked to a post in your own blog. 


Before you know it, we'll have a nice list of favourite cookie recipes and traditions to share. Perhaps you will be inspired to bake up some history this holiday season. 


My Traditional Holiday Cookie


I decided to share my shortbread recipe. This is the one cookie I must have at Christmas. My mother always made them, and I am pretty finicky about my shortbread. I like the melt in your mouth kind, not the hard biscuit type. 


You see my story is I have no Scottish roots, no ancestor who handed down this recipe. I will have to presume our shortbread tradition comes by way of the Scottish influence in this country. 


My mother has made this shortbread recipe for 50 years and now I've made them for the last 25 years. They must have the little green or red cherry pressed in the middle.  It's just not Christmas without them. 


Of course, we always had to leave cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas eve, and the shortbread cookie was always the cookie of choice.  My daughters now count shortbread among their favourites and I couldn't be happier. 


What's your family cookie tradition?  Join the online cookie exchange and post below or in your own blog. 


Looking forward to baking up some holiday family history this Christmas season. 





 Shortbread Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2. Whip butter with an electric mixer until fluffy. Stir in the confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and flour. Beat on low for one minute, then on high for 3 to 4 minutes. Drop cookies by spoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. 

3. Press a piece of red or green cherry in the center.

4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Watch that the edges don't brown too much. Cool on wire racks.