Everyday is a Holiday....Christmas Sugar Cookies 1951

One of the last times I was at my grandma’s house she was purging a bookshelf of old cookbooks.  Way back when, places like the bank and the electric company would give out little recipe booklets to their customers for Christmas when you came in to pay your bill.   Now we don’t even get a “thank-you” email when we use Web BillPay….how rude.  Wouldn’t it just light up your day if a happy lady from the water department came knocking with your Christmas cookbook? 

My Grandma got this one from the gas company….

It is positively delightful.  Women like Esther Weber, Edna Kniffen, and Louise McDill created and perfected the recipes within.  The booklet says they are “home economists”.  They look like they know their stuff. 

Jelly Tots, Snow Caps, and Christmas Coffee Logs are neatly organized on the pages.  Hmmmm.  Coffee log?  I think I’ll pass on that one.  But right below the Raisin Spice Yummies, were Golden Refrigerator Sugar Cookies

I made them.  I made them just like Thelma Bly told me to, and then she wished me a prosperous 1952. 

Golden Refrigerator Sugar Cookies
(Recipe also adapted from Our Best Bites)

 

Ingredients:

·        One cup real butter

·        One cup sugar

·        One egg

·        1 ½ tsp vanilla extract ( I used almond extract because it is much better)

·        3 cups of flour sifted

·        1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

·        ½ teaspoon salt

Beat the butter and sugar together with a whisk.  (If I had a Kitchen-Aid I could just turn it on here….PLEASE Santa…bring me a Kitchen-Aid!)  Add eggs and almond extract.  Mix.

In a different bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.  (Don’t whine, just sift it.)  Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine until you have a soft dough.  At this point, you are supposed to chill it for 2 hours.  I roll out the dough between parchment paper to chill, (for just an hour) and then it is just ready to cut when I take it out.   Either way, you roll it and cut it in whatever shapes you want.  This time I used small stars for my vision of cute Christmas stars.

Bake for 8 to 11 minutes or just until the sides begin to brown.  You may need to cook them longer if you make the cookies thick.

These cookies are buttery and delicious all by themselves.  Or you can use icing on them like I did.  Don’t make your own icing or frosting or whatever….use this one!

Toba Garrett’s Glace’ Icing

Ingredients:

·        One pound powdered sugar

·        3/8 cup milk

·        3/8 cup white corn syrup

·        1 teaspoon almond extract (the extract is optional but I think it makes the cookies gourmet!)

In a mixing bowl, mix the sugar and milk first. Add corn syrup just until combined.  You could add a different extract for a different flavor if you wanted.  Add color if desired.  I ended up adding about one teaspoon more of milk to get it the consistency to dry flat on my cookie and make it easier to pipe on.  If you add too much it will ooze off of your cookie but, just add more powdered sugar if you need to.  Once dry, you can stack cookies on top of each other without them sticking together.  I first iced my cookies with white, let them dry overnight, and then the girls and I decorated them the next morning.  It was some work but well worth it! 

A message from Christmas Recipes 1951 to you:

Why not keep the Christmas spirit all the year by baking a new Christmas cookie recipe for your family each week?  They’ll love it!  We, in home service, hope you will have as much fun in making our recipes as we have had in preparing them.  A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

Here’s where I am linking this week!