Great-Grandma Baehne's Christmas White Cookies

Though my mom usually takes care of making all the Christmas cookies for our family (bless her), last year I decided to take a whack at making these treasures of my childhood. They turned out perfect, and the people I’ve given them to as Christmas presents have already downed them (without saving any for their significant others, ahem).

They were originally my great-grandmother’s recipe, and my mom seriously followed the original to a tee–including the lard. We’ve replaced it with Crisco, and it works just as well.

To start, make sure you have lots of flour, and clean rolling surface, some fun cookie cutters, and sprinkles and such to decorate with.

Cookies
1 cup Crisco
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Sour Cream
2 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Soda
6-9 cups Flour

Frosting
3 cups (approx.) Confectioner’s Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla or Almond Extract
1-2 tbsp Half and Half (whole milk or heavy whipping cream work too)

Mix everything but the flour in a big bowl (use a hand-held or standing mixer). Begin adding flour, one cup at a time, allowing it to mix thoroughly before adding the next cup. Continue adding flour until the dough is soft, malleable, and only slightly sticky to the touch (this is sort of a guessing game, so use as much flour as you need to).

When dough is done, cover and put in fridge, and let sit for at least an hour. The dough will be much easier to work with when chilly.

Preheat oven to 350* Clear your rolling surface, and coat both surface and rolling pin with flour. Take small handfuls of the dough and coat both sides with flour as you roll. Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick, and begin cutting. Place cut cookies on ungreased cookie sheets, and bake for 8-10 minutes. They should be just slightly golden when they’re done.

Allow to cool while you work on the rest of the dough and make the frosting. To make frosting, mix all ingredients in a medium bowl until frosting is runny (adjust amounts of confectioner’s sugar and milk accordingly). You can even add food coloring at this point depending on your desired effect.

Once the cookies are cool, use a pastry brush to brush on a thin layer of frosting over the entire surface of the cookie. Let cool again. Add more powdered sugar to the frosting mix (or start a new bowl if you’re out), and add more food coloring to provide contrast and make the frosting thicker. Fill a small plastic bag, cut off the tip, and decorate at will! Add sprinkles for fun.