It used to be a tradition, or at least the closest thing to one, that my family had. Around Christmas my dad and I would always make cookies. We don’t really like Christmas. They haven’t been the most fun times of the year. I can only imagine the hell my dad must have gone through around that specific time of year. Back to the tradition anyway. We’d make Christmas cookies. There would be frosted roll out sugar cookies, and spritz cookies. I feel like the cookie press we had was in the family for a while or something. It’s beautiful with metal and copper. You screw down the top and that presses the dough out. He’s the one that taught me to have multiple cookie sheets ready. We’d put the hot ones from the oven into the garage to cool between batches. Cookie decorating seemed to be his favorite part. To me it feels like the time when he can just be himself without the personal expectation of perfection. That’s where I get that by the way. I’m not a fan of the decorating part as I can’t seem to let go of the “it has to be great” part. We’ve done it once or twice in the last few years. It’s sad that we haven’t and I'd love to do it more often. This has been a hard year and I’m still working through some stuff. I’ve been off and on making sugar cookies, whether vegan with my ex-wife, or sugar cookies with friends, around this time for years now. I even got the “family” recipe. I’m not sure where it comes from, but you can find it here.

This year I’ve grown fond of brown sugar and swapping it for regular sugar. I wanted to try the swap from the “family” recipe and see how it would turn out. I’ve only made them once, but they were pretty good. They aren’t as soft. I’m not sure if that’s because I baked them slightly too long or if it’s because of the swap of the brown sugar for the confectioner’s sugar. We also made the dough and left that in the fridge for 2 days so there’s that possibility. I added some baking soda to help react and I’m wondering if there’s something there. That’s supposed to be the first reaction and happens almost immediately. Possible that it went flat 2 days in the fridge. Could be the baking powder also lost its zest for life with that long rest period. I added some cinnamon as well to give a slightly different flavor. The cinnamon was a great addition. Unfrosted they taste like Teddy Grahams. I had plans on adding some frosting that was brown sugar and cinnamon flavored but never got around to making it. I’ll try and put together a recipe and have that available at some point. These are a great addition to any cookie box and worthy of being part of your christmas cookie tradition.

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 1 Cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter at room temp

• 1 1/2 Cup dark brown sugar

• 1 large egg

• 2 teaspoon of vanilla

• 2 1/2 Cups of All Purpose Flour (called for self rising but I made my own - thanks King Arthur)

• 3 teaspoons of baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Frosting (untested):

• 2 1/2 Cups confectioners sugar

• 1/4 Cup 2% milk - or whole

• 1/4 Cup dark brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• Sprinkles and other decorating bits

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a separate bowl measure out the brown sugar by packing into the measure cups and then break up using a fork to remove as many lumps as possible

3. In a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy 2-4 minutes

4. Beat in the egg and vanilla

5. In a separate bowl (I use the one previously used for brown sugar) add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix to combine

6. Slowly add this in batches to the wet ingredients. Mix to incorporate

7. Take 2 sheets of plastic wrap, divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in 1 piece of plastic wrap

8. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours

9. Take the dough out and lightly flour a work surface

10. Roll out the dough to between 1/4 and 3/16 inch

11. Cut out all the fun shapes you want and place on a parchment lined baking tray

12. Bake the cookies for 11 minutes until just golden on the edges, let sit on the pan for 2 minutes, remove to a cooling rack to cool

13. For the frosting - mix the confectioners sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar and milk until smooth. Add any food coloring and decorate

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