What cookies did you leave for Santa back when you were young and a believer? In my childhood home, it was Red and Green Christmas Balls (one red, one green) and a cup of cocoa left on the fireplace hearth. I no longer leave out cookies on Christmas Eve but my Mum still sends me a box of Red and Green Christmas Balls every year.
Last time I was home at holiday time, she pulled out her yellow pyrex mixing bowl and whipped up a batch. I was assigned my childhood task: rolling the balls of dough into the red and green colored sugar and carefully placing them on the cookie sheet. These memories and traditions are a precious gift, as sweet and shining as Santa's cookies...and much longer lasting!
Read on for the recipe and leave a comment on your Santa treat!
Red and Green Christmas Balls
makes 2 dozen cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs water
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
red and green colored sugar
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a mixing bowl (preferably yellow pyrex but any medium-sized bowl will do) cream the butter with the powdered sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla and water and beat until incorporated. It helps to use an electric mixer as the water will resist the oiliness of the butter and refuse to mix in at first. Add the flour and pecans and mix until just incorporated.
Roll into marble-sized balls, then roll the balls in the sugar and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until the cookies are set and the bottoms have browned slightly. Cool on racks. Serve with hot chocolate on Christmas Eve, being careful to save enough to leave out for you-know-who.
We always left spritz christmas trees.
view alexis's profile
We didn't leave cookies out, but this post did remind me that my mom used to bake using an awesome pink pyrex bowl. Thanks for that happy memory. =)
view OneWallKitchen's profile
I always left milk and cookies, but the variety of cookies wasn't important. My little sisters started leaving carrots for the reindeer, in addition.
My cousin, on the other hand, leaves Santa a ham sandwich with mayo on white bread and a Coke. She thinks he needs a break from the cookies ;-)
view Aimi's profile
Our family leaves Santa cookies and a whiskey! The reindeer do most of the driving anyway (and after sitting through midnight mass, no parent wants a glass of milk).
view cakekick's profile
We always left out a few peanut butter blossom cookies, and a bottle of beer.
view nutellaandcoffee's profile
I never believed in Santa, but I did always leave a plate of cookies out for my parents after stuffing the stockings... gingerbread and shortbread with a glass of milk.
view angorian's profile