Grandma’s Christmas Cookies

How to Make Grandma’s Christmas Cookies

• Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or an hand-held electric mixer), cream together the shortening and sugars.

2. Add the buttermilk, vanilla and egg. Mix again, on low speed, so it does not splash. Mix until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture will have a weird texture, not smooth at all, and that’s ok.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the flour mixture to the shortening/sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until combined. Stop the mixer to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl a few times during mixing to ensure it all gets incorporated together.

5. Once the cookie dough is well mixed, move the dough to a glass bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill overnight.

• This sugar cookie dough will be very sticky. That’s partly why they are so soft. You’ll need flour to roll the cookies out, but be careful how much you add. I measure out ½ cup of flour and don’t use more than that for rolling all of the cookies. Lightly flour the rolling pin as well.
• Roll out the dough when it is cold. It will get stickier when it is at room temperature.
• Divide dough into two balls. I do this to try to prevent the dough from picking up too much flour with multiple times of rolling it out.
• Sprinkle a pastry mat with flour. The dough will be sticky so you want to be sure the pastry mat is well floured so the dough doesn’t stick. I use about a total of ½ cup more flour when rolling.
• Cut the cookies with basic cookie cutter designs. Because the cookies puff up, they won’t hold intricate shapes well.

Best Way to Bake Sugar Cookies

Bake cookies on a cookie sheet lined with a piece of parchment paper or on silicone baking mats.

I tested my grandma’s Christmas cookies at several different oven temperatures. She had written down to use a very hot oven (425º Fahrenheit). I found that 350º Fahrenheit at about 9 minutes worked perfectly. I take the cookies out of the oven before the get brown at all. If you like a brown edge, feel free to leave them in the oven a minute or two longer.

Easy Sugar Cookie Icing

First of all, Grandma’s Christmas Cookies are NOT good for royal icing. The cookies are too soft and the royal icing will get wrinkles and crack. Use our cream cheese sugar cookie recipe or peanut butter cut out cookies for that.

This recipe is best with a simple powdered sugar glaze or a vanilla buttercream frosting. I highly recommend making your own vanilla buttercream. But if you’re really in a pinch you can use store bought frosting. Some bakeries allow you to buy their frosting too if you want a semi-homemade option.

Don’t forget to color some of the frosting with food coloring and then use sprinkles and decorations for the tops of the cookies.

How to Store and Freeze Christmas Cookies

Grandma’s Christmas cookies are safe to store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Then refrigerate or freeze any leftovers.

This cookie dough does not freeze well, but the cookies do freeze well after they are baked. Wrap the cookies tightly (preferably before frosting). When defrosting the cookies, take them out of the freezer and allow them to come completely thaw to room temperature before taking the cookies out of the packaging.