Recipes for Christmas Cheer
Everyone has their favorite family recipes they use throughout the year. But something about those treasured family recipes that are brought out in the holidays bring an extra dose of Christmas cheer!
Our family is no exception. My Grandma Bernice was born in Minnesota and moved to our Iowa family farm when she married my Grandpa. She brought hand-written recipe scrapbooks with her, and I was blessed to have them passed down to me. Her recipes were a perfect illustration of Midwestern comfort food with lots of butter and, oftentimes, a “cup of cream”. But really, what sounds better in your delicious treats than butter and cream!
One of my favorite holiday traditions was devouring her simple, but delicious, sugar cookies.
Grandma Bernice’s Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup of butter
1/2 cup of margarine
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
Mix well with an electric mixer in large bowl.
Add:
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
4 cups of flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll and cut on floured board, 1/4 inch or thicker, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. If the dough starts to stick to your rolling pin, just sprinkle a little extra flour on top of the dough! Bake for 8-10 minutes, being careful not to let the edges brown. Let cool 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a cooling rack. For a lighter cookie, sprinkle some colored sugar on top while warm. For a traditional frosted cookie, wait to frost until cool.
Both my grandma and my mother made the perfect flaky piecrusts. Even a store-bought filling can be elevated with a delicious homemade crust! While they used lard in theirs, I have modified the recipe to be successful with Crisco.
Flaky Pie Crust
(Two-Crust Pie, 8-9″)
2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons of butter-flavored Crisco
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
4-5 tablespoons ice cold water
Whisk flour and salt in a medium bowl and add Crisco.
Use a pastry blender or food processor to cut in the shortening until the mixture is the size of small peas, which can take a few minutes.
Sprinkle in water and toss with a fork until just moistened. Add another tablespoon of water if need be.
Form into 2 balls and turn each out to a floured wooden board. Press into a disc shape with your hand.
Flour a rolling pin and roll dough from the center outward all the way around to be an inch wider than your plate. Carefully fold in half and quarters and lay in the pie plate. Fold extra dough under around the edges of the plate.
Pour the pie filling into the pie crust and repeat with the top crust to roll it out, and place on the filling.
Let the edges overhang and turn under and press to the bottom crust edges. Flute edges by forming with fingers. Cut 2-3 slits in the center for steam to escape.
Bake at 425 degrees for 40-50 minutes. (A layer of aluminum foil around the edges for the first half hour will prevent excessive browning.) Cool on wire rack.
Helene’s Yeast Rolls
My mother was known all over our county in Iowa for her delicious baking. She won many blue ribbons at the county fair over the years. In our family, at least, she was most famous for her homemade cinnamon rolls and kolache recipes. Every Christmas she made cinnamon rolls in her favorite large copper mold!
Cream together 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 cup of Crisco.
Pour 1 cup of boiling water over mixture and allow to cool. Add 2 beaten eggs.
Dissolve 2 packages of yeast in 1 cup of warm water and add to mixture.
Add 6 cups of flour and 1 tablespoon of salt.
Beat by hand with wooden spoon. Let dough rise until doubled. Punch dough.
Roll out lightly on a floured wooden board to about an 18” circle and pour ½ cup of melted butter over dough. Sprinkle generously with sugar and cinnamon. Tuck one side of dough under and continue rolling dough into a log. Cut into 1 ½”-2” slices and place, touching, in extra large mold (as shown) or place in 9×12 baking pans or round cake pans with sides of rolls touching. Let rise 1 hour. Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown on top. Spread icing while the rolls are warm. For a ring mold, cool enough to turn the rolls out onto a serving plate, and spread icing.
Sans the butter and cinnamon step, this recipe makes delicious dinner rolls. My Mother always referred to as “biscuits”, and she usually made a batch for every Sunday dinner when my siblings and I were growing up.
The holidays are such a special time of year. The time with family, memories made and treats shared by all. I hope if you try one of these treasured bits of Christmas cheer from my own family, they bring a little extra Christmas cheer to yours!
Merry Christmas,
