These are one of my family’s favorite Christmas cookies. We’ve made these for as long as I can remember. It really doesn’t feel like it’s Christmas until we’ve made a batch of these. Of course they can be made any time of year but Christmas is pretty much the only time of year when we make a lot of cookies.
These are so delicious! They’re tender, buttery and sweet but not too sweet for a little frosting. Decorating these are one of the best parts, besides eating them of course! A little bit of frosting and colored sugar and you’re all set.
I have so many fun memories of making these when I was little. Mom would roll out the dough and we would get to use our favorite cookie cutters. Then we would be all excited about decorating them. Sometimes we would sprinkle them with colored sugar before baking and other times we would wait and decorate them with frosting after they cooled. I distinctly remember “hiding” (looking back they were not hidden very well) cinnamon candies in some of the cookies we made for my dad because he would always act so surprised when he bit into one.
These are still so much fun to make. And so delicious! I hope your family enjoys making and eating these as much as we do!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 eggs
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 5 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
Instructions
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each is added. Then mix in the milk and vanilla. Gradually add in the dry ingredients until well combined. The dough does not need to be chilled before rolling. In fact, I find it easier to work with if it’s not chilled. Roll the dough to the desired thickness (I roll out to about ⅛ to ¼ inch thickness) and cut with your favorite cookie cutters. Put on greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 8 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. We usually decorate these with buttercream frosting so we don’t put sugar on them before baking. If you don’t want to use frosting you can sprinkle with colored sugar before baking.