Saturday, December 03, 2011

Christmas Cookies

Today I want to talk about Christmas Cookies. The first week in December is National Cookie Cutter Week and tomorrow (December 4) is Cookie Day. And most of you probably already know that December is the most popular month for Cookie Exchange Parties; which usually take place the first 2 weeks of December. I will be posting about cookie exchange parties tomorrow.

Christmas cookies & decoration
Photo By Till Westermayer from Freiburg, Germany
Christmas cookies are... traditionally sugar biscuits and cookies (though other flavors may be used based on family traditions and individual preferences) cut into various shapes related to Christmas.

I've had a thing for Christmas Cookies... ever since my eyes found a big fat gingerbread man in my Grandfathers Christmas basket. Every Christmas my grandfather would get a gift basket from the cotton mill he worked at and it would be full of goodies like nuts, (usually pecans), fruit cake, cheese and crackers. One year they put a gingerbread man in that caught my eye. It was the biggest gingerbread man I'd ever seen. I had never tasted a gingerbread man before and I really wanted to try it. I was a very shy little girl and my grandparents saw me petting the gingerbread man like it was a puppy. I slid my fingers over the slick white icing that was coating the top and I still remember my delight in it's smoothness. I never asked for the gingerbread man at all. I was just admiring it. My grandparents knew I was intrigued by it and reached over and pulled it out of the basket. When they handed it to me and said with a smile..."it's all your Pam," I was forever in love with Christmas Cookies. :) 

Research shows... Gingerbread has existed in some form since sugars and spices were brought back to Europe from soldiers in the Crusades. However it wasn't until Queen Victoria and Prince Albert included it with a variety of other German Christmas traditions that the gingerbread cookies became primarily associated with Christmas.

In the United States..., since the 1930s, children have left cookies and milk on a table for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, though many people simply consume the cookies themselves. The cookies are often cut into such shapes as those of candy canes, reindeer, and holly leaves.

That's my thoughts on Christmas Cookies. Thank you for reading my blog today. While your here why not post your favorite cookie. I hope you decide to make some cookies this week. Have a cookie party and be reminded of the joy of eating cookies.

Popular Christmas Cookies are... gingerbread, Fattigmann, Krumkake, Pepparkakor, Pferrernusse, Reposteria, Sandbakelse, Springerle, and last but not least -Sugar Cookies.

resources: Christmas cookies  / gone-ta-pott.com  / wikipedia  / encyclopedia / foodtimeline.org / tradition of gingerbread  / Christmas cookie recipes from around the world  / History of cookies  /

1 comment:

Cookies Made Easy said...

I'm so glad I stopped by to find all the cookie posts. I just spent 45 minutes reading your blog and found a nice collection of recipes I didn't have.