Christmas seems to get more and more hectic each year when you have a family. Shopping, decorating, lists, baking, Christmas cards, wrapping, watching your budget, crafting, and all of the other little things we do to make the season special for our families.
While our kids and spouses get to sit back and enjoy the season, we rush and run around to create more magic, more, More..MORE!! ~laughs~ It gets a little harried, but I have one thing I do that I look forward to every year. Each year around this time, I start cookbook shopping. Not an ordinary book, but a big old thick cookbook with a nice hardback cover that I can really curl up with.
I really enjoy looking over my different options, reading reviews, pondering the pros of this one or that…and then I finally make my decision. I always order it by mail (Usually Amazon.com) so that it arrives sealed up in a box. Here is the important part: I do not open that box! I wrap it the day it comes in and place it beneath the tree with my name on it.
The remaining weeks are spent with me casting longing glances beneath the tree and looking forward to Christmas morning where I unwrap my prize and spend the better part of that day curled up in the recliner leisurely flipping through pages, enjoying my new toy as my kids enjoy theirs.
For two of the past few years, those books have been from King Arthur Flour. I love cookbooks, but it takes a lot for me to get really excited over one. There are four cookbooks in print right now that I trust completely. I own two King Arthur Flour cookbooks, so they hold two of those places!
You know how you see a new recipe, want to take it to an event, but feel you need to “try it out” first to make sure it tastes good? My favorite cookbooks are the ones which I trust completely, they require no trials or testing. You can choose a recipe and make it for the very first time to take to a grand event and know it will be perfect and loved by all. That’s how King Arthur recipes are.
The incredibly kind folks at King Arthur flour are going to give one of my reader’s their very own Cookie Companion!All you have to do to enter is post in the comments your favorite Holiday memory or activity. It can be a one line post or a few paragraphs, whichever you prefer! In one week, I will choose a number at random and the poster of the corresponding comment will win this fabulous cookbook in time for holiday baking!
This cookbook is the essential guide on cookies. Just for sugar cookies alone there are 15 recipes and at least as many for our beloved chocolate chip! Each recipe features an introduction which describes the cookie texture and flavor..allowing you to choose exactly the type you are looking for with ease and confidence.
I still haven’t chosen my cookbook for this year. I need to pay another visit to King Arthur Flour’s site…
Now on to these delicious cookies…
My son has always loved the sugar cookies they sell in the malls. He calls them “sprinkle cookies” because they are covered in colorful sprinkles. I made these for the first time a few years back and he was elated when he came home from school. He actually thought I had been to the mall just to buy him cookies! They taste so wonderful and really beg to be dunked into a glass of milk. These are classic Santa cookies! You won’t believe the texture. When you pick them up, they feel like a regular cookie, but biting in reveals a tender chewiness unlike any other.
You’ll need: unsalted butter, sugar, brown sugar, light corn syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, salt, egg, all purpose flour, and decorating sugars for coating.
The original recipe also calls for 1/4 tsp nutmeg or 1/4 tsp lemon oil and states that it is optional. I don’t know why I’ve never liked nutmeg, but I’ve always left it out whenever it was called for or substituted cinnamon. In this case, I just left it out. I don’t have lemon oil so I left that out as well. I tend to not buy anything that I don’t normally have on hand anyway. I just don’t like to buy things for one use because….well mainly because I am cheap. But then again y’all already know that by all of the great value brand items you see in the pic!
I want to apologize for not using King Arthur Flour in this! I always use King Arthur when making yeast breads and it has been proven to be a superior flour than others. I love King Arthur, but don’t always get to the store that sells a good selection to buy it! Hey, I DID buy real butter for this recipe though! (Don’t tell on me, but I usually just use margarine…shh!)
Place butter in bowl.
Now folks, from here on out you will be seeing me make a DOUBLE version of this recipe. However, the recipe at the bottom is for a single version. Y’all know me..if three dozen is good, six dozen is GREAT!
Add in white and brown sugar as well as light corn syrup.
~insert tangent here~
We always use Karo brand corn syrup. My daughter’s name is Katy Rose and that has become her nickname as well. I do get strange looks when I’m out and talking to my Karo though…
Hey, Southerners are known for nicknaming everyone they love. I think I’ve mentioned my nickname ages ago but for those of you who missed it…
My entire family calls me “Poochie”, and I even answer to it. My friend, Michael, has always called me that as well. (Michael says I do not talk about him enough on here…Michael Romine – teaches Marketing to high school students – in high school he was like 6’4″ and weighed about eighty pounds soaking wet. I called him string bean then 🙂 Feeling the love now, Michael?)
Anyway, I got my nickname when my brother came to see me after I was born in the hospital. He took one look at me, spit on me, and said I was ugly and looked like a Poochie Dog. Only in the south would that moment offer up a nickname considered a term of endearment!
Add vanilla.
Add eggs…
Mix that up well.
Add in flour.
You should probably do this gradually but I have the patience of a gnat so I just dump it all in at once.
Mix that up well…until it looks like this!
If you don’t take a pinch of this to taste you aren’t living, this dough is heavenly!
Have one of your kids dump the entire bottle of red sprinkles into a bowl.
They’ll think this is cool. They think they don’t get to dump things out enough.
Add the green as well and stir. Or have them stir..I’m using my son for this because Karo is taking a nap.
Brady said to be sure and show y’all this and to tell you that it is a smiley face, just in case you couldn’t tell. 🙂
Preheat your oven to 375 and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Roll dough into one inch balls…or one inch-ish.
and then let your kidders roll them in the sugars.
like this. 🙂
Place about two inches or so apart on a cookie sheet.
Like this.
Bake for ten minutes and then remove.
Let cool on cookie sheet for five minutes and then remove to cooling racks (or platters) to continue cooling.
My grandmother’s best friend, Miss Millie, called my mother to tell her I had gotten my nails done and they looked “so pretty”! ~laughs~ Thanks, Millie! I decided to treat myself. Miss Millie is my second grandmother and she reads Southern Plate every day!
Y’all say “Hi” to Miss Millie in your comments!
Chewy Sugar Cookies
These are classic Santa cookies! You won't believe the texture. When you pick them up, they feel like a regular cookie, but biting in reveals a tender chewiness unlike any other.
1/4tspnutmeg or 1/4 tsp lemon oiloptional, your choice - I left both of these out
1 1/2tspbaking powder
1/2tspbaking soda
1/2tspsalt
1large egg
2 1/2cupsunbleachedall purpose flour
1/4cupcoarse or granulated sugarfor decorating
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter, granulated and brown sugars, corn syurup, vanilla, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and egg. Stir in flour.
Place coarse sugar in shallow dish. Drop dough by tablespoonfull (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here) into sugar, rolling the balls to coat them. Place on prepared baking sheets. (We just dig out hands in the dough, grab a bit, and roll it up in a ball - I've never owned a cookie scoop!)
Bake cookies for ten minutes until the edges are just barely beginning to brown, they'll look soft. If you bake these cookies too long, they'll be crunch rather than chewy. Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely.
My favorite holiday memories are going to each of my grandmothers homes on Christmas Eve. As a child it felt like I was getting a jump start on Christmas. Now looking back I see all the valuable time spent with my family.
Christmas with my daddy on his last Christmas alive was truly my all time best memory. My dad was dying but still wanted to do something for me but we didn’t have any money so gifts were out of the question. I ask could I have a tree that year and out he went to cut me a cedar. I have never seen anything more beautiful than our plain tree sitting in the living room but the smell alone was devine. We had a gas heater in the room and of course it soon was a brittle spruce and ended up on the carpet! Mom was ticked off about that and told me I had to pick every bit of it from the carpet. I didn’t mind it was worth it but as bad as my Dad was he got in the floor with me and help me and we had lots of giggles and it made me love him even more that he went through so much just to bring me a little happiness. Shirley Moore
One of my lasting favorite Christmas memories was the array of food my mother prepared for us. It was usually the same foods, and a few of them she prepared only on a special occasion. This, of course created anticipation!
I love the sugar cookie recipe. Growing up we always made refridgerator cookies from a recipe my mom had gotten in a high school home ec class. They are great and now my kids love them too. When I got married my husband’s family always had sugar cookies during the holidays. I hate to cut out cookies (lazy), but I would do it to carry on his tradition. Then the kids grew up and it was the two of us. I started to do the sugar cookies like refridgerator cookies and put them in rolls and cut them off as I needed to cook them. I think your recipe will bring back the tradition and everyone will be happy…because as you well know “if mom ain’t happy; ain’t nobody happy”. Jeff will have his sugar cookies and I won’t have to cut them out. We have many traditions and it’s funny but most of them involve food. Hummmmm.
My favorite Christmas memories are with my aunt and grandmother. Each year we would get together and make all kinds of food: pear honey, apple butter, cookies, banana nut bread, and on and on. We would package them up and make them into presents for all of the rest of the family. We would spend weeks test baking and actually making the baskets.
My grandmother passed away last month so this Christmas seems a little lonely already but I am going to do everything I can to try to honor her memory 🙂
My favorite Christmas memory, other than my wedding, is all of the holiday cooking that we do in my family. My grandmother was at the center of it all, making fudge, divinity, peanut brittle and cookies, for family and friends. I’m hoping this year is a little slower, so I can introduce my daughter to the tradition.
One Christmas when I was about 6 my youngest sister was not yet 3 and would not leave the Christmas tree alone. One evening I kept going to tell my dad (who was home alone with us) that my sis was playing with the tree, but he figured it was nothing. He finally went to check — to find my sister with about 3 strings of lights over her shoulder trying to yank them off the tree — the tree was about to tip over and decorations were flying everywhere.
She is still our beloved trouble maker, 30 years later! 🙂
and the The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook
. Ready for the exciting news? 
My favorite holiday memories are going to each of my grandmothers homes on Christmas Eve. As a child it felt like I was getting a jump start on Christmas. Now looking back I see all the valuable time spent with my family.
Christmas with my daddy on his last Christmas alive was truly my all time best memory. My dad was dying but still wanted to do something for me but we didn’t have any money so gifts were out of the question. I ask could I have a tree that year and out he went to cut me a cedar. I have never seen anything more beautiful than our plain tree sitting in the living room but the smell alone was devine. We had a gas heater in the room and of course it soon was a brittle spruce and ended up on the carpet! Mom was ticked off about that and told me I had to pick every bit of it from the carpet. I didn’t mind it was worth it but as bad as my Dad was he got in the floor with me and help me and we had lots of giggles and it made me love him even more that he went through so much just to bring me a little happiness.
Shirley Moore
One of my lasting favorite Christmas memories was the array of food my mother prepared for us. It was usually the same foods, and a few of them she prepared only on a special occasion. This, of course created anticipation!
I love the sugar cookie recipe. Growing up we always made refridgerator cookies from a recipe my mom had gotten in a high school home ec class. They are great and now my kids love them too. When I got married my husband’s family always had sugar cookies during the holidays. I hate to cut out cookies (lazy), but I would do it to carry on his tradition. Then the kids grew up and it was the two of us. I started to do the sugar cookies like refridgerator cookies and put them in rolls and cut them off as I needed to cook them. I think your recipe will bring back the tradition and everyone will be happy…because as you well know “if mom ain’t happy; ain’t nobody happy”. Jeff will have his sugar cookies and I won’t have to cut them out. We have many traditions and it’s funny but most of them involve food. Hummmmm.
Thanks for sharing your talents with us.
Camille
My favorite Christmas memories are with my aunt and grandmother. Each year we would get together and make all kinds of food: pear honey, apple butter, cookies, banana nut bread, and on and on. We would package them up and make them into presents for all of the rest of the family. We would spend weeks test baking and actually making the baskets.
My grandmother passed away last month so this Christmas seems a little lonely already but I am going to do everything I can to try to honor her memory 🙂
~Christie
My favorite Christmas memory, other than my wedding, is all of the holiday cooking that we do in my family. My grandmother was at the center of it all, making fudge, divinity, peanut brittle and cookies, for family and friends. I’m hoping this year is a little slower, so I can introduce my daughter to the tradition.
One Christmas when I was about 6 my youngest sister was not yet 3 and would not leave the Christmas tree alone. One evening I kept going to tell my dad (who was home alone with us) that my sis was playing with the tree, but he figured it was nothing. He finally went to check — to find my sister with about 3 strings of lights over her shoulder trying to yank them off the tree — the tree was about to tip over and decorations were flying everywhere.
She is still our beloved trouble maker, 30 years later! 🙂