Scott and I grew up with mothers who were equally crazy about Christmas. Sometime during adolescence my siblings and I made a rule that Mom couldn’t start blasting christmas music before Sept 1 (this was the best we could do.) They would start stashing presents during the after Christmas sales and sometime in June the countdown would start all over again. A crucial aspect of the holiday for both of our families was a long list of traditional Christmas cookies, many of the recipes written down by German and Swedish grandmothers and great grandmothers. My mother in law passed away just a few years after we married, and most of my fond memories with her were around Christmas baking. I wanted to keep Karen’s memory alive by baking her favorites each year (see Swedish Cardamom Coffee Cake) and of course I had long list from my side of the family. Pepperkokker, snickerdoodles, scottish shortbread, brown pfeffernuesse, white pfeffernuesse, cream cheese cookies, peppermint melt aways, Weiser lebkuchen, candy cane cookies, biscotti, sandbakelser- for years I made them all, one batch each night the first couple weeks of December. Since leaving Alaska we have simplified the holiday; I take a survey and pick the top three (someone please convince Scott that chocolate chips cookies are not a Christmas specialty!) and peppermint meltaways are always included. They are similar to melt in your mouth shortbread, but even more simple to make. We suffered through eating a double batch of these last week so y’all could have a picture to go with the recipe. You are welcome.
My sweet auntie shared this recipe twenty four years ago and we’ve indulged several times a year ever since. She lives in North Carolina so it’s a bonafide southern dish, but I have to admit that I “northerned” it up a bit by cutting out quite a bit of butter and sugar (there is still plenty left- trust me!) Last week over lunch I shared with my co-workers my dismay at how much butter and sugar southerners put in sweet potato casserole – I watched as shock and confusion flashed through their faces before they fell off their chairs laughing at me. I may not recover from this one…..
