Book of the Month:

Christmas Cookies Are For Giving

Christmas Cookies are for Giving: Recipes, Stories and Tips for Making Heartwarming Gifts
By Kristin Johnson ’94 and Mimi Cummings, Tyr Publishing, Fountain Hills, Arizona, 2002, $16.95 hardcover.

The Giving Christmas Cookie (Vanillekipferl)

On a visit to a home for the elderly, where her grandmother lived, Kristin Johnson and her daughter learned about the Giving Christmas Cookie from another resident of the home, Elise.

They met Elise while they waited for Johnson’s mother to finish talking about Grandmother’s Alzheimer problems with the staff.

What she missed most during the holidays, Elise told them, “[is] my kitchen, and making the Giving Christmas Cookie. The smells would fill the house.”

Johnson and her daughter Amanda had never heard of such a cookie and Amanda asked the old woman to tell them more.

Elise brought out the following recipe from an enameled ebony box decorated with gold designs. The yellowing parchment contained the recipe for a traditional Austrian vanilla cookie called the Vanillekipferl. Here’s the recipe:

THE GIVING CHRISTMAS COOOKIE

2/3 cup (150ml) slice blanched almonds
1/3 cup (75 ml) granulated sugar
1 cup (250 ml) unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon (2 ml) vanilla extract
1 2/3 cup (400 ml) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon (1 ml) salt
½ cup (125 ml) superfine vanilla sugar (see below) or superfine sugar

Place the almonds in a food processor and grind very finely. In a mixing bowl, combine the almonds, butter, sugar and vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and salt until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Divide the dough into 6 portions and work with one portion at a time while you keep the rest in the refrigerator. Lightly flour your hands and pinch off enough dough to make a 1-inch (2.5 cm) ball. Knead it for a few seconds to make it malleable, then form it into a crescent shape and place on an ungreased baking sheet. If you have trouble with the dough becoming too soft while forming the crescents, run your hands under cold water to cool them off after forming every 3 to 4 cookies.

Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are just starting to take on a golden color. Cool cookies for about 7 minutes on the baking sheet and then roll gently in super fine vanilla sugar while still warm. Allow to cool completely on a wire wrack.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month. Makes about 48 cookies. Because they are so fragile these cookies are best to give by hand delivery.

NOTE: To make vanilla sugar: fill a quart jar halfway up with sugar (in the case of this recipe, use superfine sugar). Then, cut a whole vanilla bean into 1-inch (2.5cm) pieces and place them in the jar. Fill the jar with more sugar until it is about 2/3 full. Cover jar tightly and shake it to evenly distribute the vanilla throughout the sugar. Set the jar in a cool dark place for 1 to 3 weeks. The sugar will take on the flavor of vanilla. When you are ready to use the sugar, empty the jar through a sieve in order to separate the vanilla from the sugar. You may re-use the same vanilla pieces several times before they begin to lose there effectiveness.

You’ll also find recipes and photos of Pistachio Christmas Ribbon Bars, Festive Eggnog Peppermint Twists, Hazelnut Cappuccino Cookies, Grandma Helen’s Chocolate Chip Cookies and plenty more among the 50 exquisite confections in this holiday book.

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