Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Christmas Cookies

Image Courtesy Wilton.com

The mind is like an attic full of memories. In my attic lies a section devoted to my childhood memories of Christmas . . . 
and one spot is devoted to . . .

The Gingerbread Man.

When I was a little girl, I remember going to the bakery at Center Square in Easton, Pennsylvania, with my mother and grandmother. Opening the door, sleigh bells jingled, and the warmth of the shop rushed through the open door and filled our nostrils with the smells of sweet delights. Above the long, glass display case filled with cookies, pastries and cakes, a string of large gingerbread men teased children in awe of the Christmas treats.

I don't ever recall asking for nor receiving one of those gingerbread men, but I believe it was the start of a treasured memory . . . .

I say the start of a memory because it was continued later in my childhood when my parents would take me to visit my dad's brother, my Uncle David Newton, and his family in rural Sanitaria Springs, New York. The close of each Christmas season visit was marked by a gift of one of Aunt Sue's wonderful gingerbread men. I remember holding that bagged cookie on my lap all the way back to our home in Vestal, just waiting for Christmas day when I could finally bite off his head...with gusto!

Which brings us to the question: 
What part of the gingerbread man do you eat first? 

When my children were young, gingerbread men made with Aunt Sue's recipe were an annual tradition . . . one that this year will continue, though it be by the miles between us, with our grandson, William. The recipe, which I first received from my aunt, typed on a 3x5 index card, was entitled Gingerbread Persons. A notation stated that the recipe had been brought from England by my aunt's great great grandmother.

Today I will share that recipe with you. Note that I have changed the name back to the traditional:

Gingerbread Men

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup dark molasses

3/4 cup shortening

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

4 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine water, baking soda and molasses and set aside. Combine other ingredients and then add the liquids. It is easier to handle if the dough is formed into a ball and refrigerated for at least one hour. Roll out a portion on a floured board, 1/4 inch thick, and cut out shapes, leaving unused portion in the refrigerator until needed. Place an inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. The cookies will puff up and be soft when they come out of the oven. Allow to rest a moment before removing to cooling rack. Allow to cool thoroughly before decorating with royal icing.

I hope you will enjoy this seasonal treat 

as much as I have in years past.

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories: Grab Bag

The Christmas Tea 
 

When I was a child, growing up in Southern Tier New York State, my mother would attend the annual Women's Society in Christian Service Christmas Tea at our church. Hostesses would bring their best table linens, china service, sterling silver flatwear and a special Christmas dessert to be shared with all the ladies . . . and my mother was ALWAYS a hostess. I remember her baking and gathering all her finest, wrapping them in towels and packing them in boxes to take to church. I had always wished I could attend . . . .

Years later while living in Western Massachusetts, I longed for such a tradition to begin in our local church, but the people there were not accustomed to such elaborate celebrations as an English Christmas High Tea, so we opted for a Christmas Cookie Exchange instead. But even that wasn't what I was accustomed to, where women in the church brought several dozen of their family's favorite home-baked Christmas cookies and enough copies of the recipe to exchange with all the participants. In that circle, busy women weren't inclined to bake holiday treats, and some even resorted to purchasing cookies at the local supermarket . . .

Still longing for a traditional Christmas Tea, I spoke to a good friend who suggested we begin the tradition on our own. So, that year I hosted our first annual Christmas tea at my home with the special addition of using Delores' bone china cup and saucer collection. The fellowship became the tradition I had always hoped for, and each year I would invite a select group of friends to share tea and cakes, and other holiday treats, mingled with laughter and good conversation. What special times they were.

Now that I am living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, I am finding people even less inclined to attend such a formal occasion which perhaps the Vanderbilt might have enjoyed at the Biltmore Estate in times past.

It will, however, remain a very fond memory that perhaps one day might be revived in another place.