Close your eyes and remember December, the smell of cinnamon in your mother’s or grandmother’s kitchen and the warm aroma of the dough cooking in the oven. Imagine opening the oven door and, with help, removing the heated baking sheet. Devour the cookies, little works of art, with your eyes: Fudge Brownies, Gingerbread, Nut Rolls, Painted Cookies, Sugar Cookies… With every bite, savor your childhood and your family history. You can trace your blood and traditions not by DNA, genealogies and family heirlooms, but by recipes handed down from one generation to the next, like oral histories passed down in clans before the recorded facts became popular.
Scholars once sniffed at “women’s lore,” but the notations “1 pinch nutmeg” and “1 cup chopped walnuts,” when handwritten on a yellow page, are just as important to memorize as the dates of the American Revolution. They are a tangible reminder of love, care and craftsmanship in any society, but particularly in America, where the encouragement to munch on bags of store-bought, artificially sweetened Christmas candy leaves people craving sugar, guilty, physically and emotionally empty. Christmas cookies are the complete opposite. of this trend. They represent home, family, comfort, joy and tradition.
It’s a miraculous event when generations gather around the stove to spend a day together, getting their hands dirty and sharing of themselves. It’s miraculous because those memories are irreplaceable. It’s miraculous because children are curious and ask, for example, “Why are Christmas cookies German? What was Christmas like when you were my age? Did Santa visit you?”
Mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa can share family history and everyday moments from the past with children, such as, “Your grandma made a mistake and measured a cup of nuts when the recipe called for a half cup. But the cookies tasted good.” all right”. better, so to this day we always use 1 cup of walnuts in the recipe.” By reliving these rare glimpses of a life you may have forgotten, you honor and celebrate yourself and your family. The Christmas cookies themselves convey and record history and tradition.
Also, Christmas cookies are a common thread of Christmases past, not just our past, but the distant past. The word cookie came about thanks to Dutch settlers in North America during the 1700s to 1900s. Koek means cake in Dutch, so koekje, later English cookie, means “little cake.” Christmas cookies like German Springerle continue the custom of serving Christmas baked goods pioneered by the Romans, Teutonic/Germanic tribes, and other pre-Christian civilizations. Christian religions sanctified these symbols of worship to the gods of the harvest by adding a “J” to the top to mark the loaves as offerings to Jesus Christ. Ancient Europeans ate gingerbread at winter solstice festivals. When you bake Gingerbread and Springerle, you’re participating in a tradition that lives on.
In that spirit, here’s a recipe for successful cookie making:
Start with 1 family, 1 kitchen, and a recipe box. Add an uninterrupted period of time. Subtract phone calls, televisions or any other distractions. For best results, add the Prayer Before Baking from CHRISTMAS COOKIES ARE FOR GIVING:
“God bless this mix with the sweetest and tastiest ingredients: joy, faith, family, friendship, love and health. May the aroma of this festive offering rise to Heaven and make the angels sing, because the happiness of humanity is his feast. Let’s taste our blessings with each bite as we share the company of our loved ones. Amen”.
Sprinkle with laughter. Add fun family stories with a luxurious hand. Add 1 cup of patience and understanding, mixed with 1 gallon of youthful enthusiasm and a dash of baking knowledge. Eat your mistakes with joy. Baking with love and good. Enjoy warm and delicious Christmas Miracle Cookie baking memories for years to come!