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Recipes

How to Make My Grandma Lorraine’s Holiday Cookies

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at JMU chapter.

My Grandma Lorraine was a fabulous Italian cook. No sane person would ever consider skipping a meal at her house. Especially, on Eggplant Parmesan night. However, as good as she was as a cook, my Grandma was an even better baker. 

There were always an assortment of American and Italian pastries in her house that were always accompanied by a cup of hot tea. I am not exaggerating either. One time when I was 9, we got to her house around 11pm and she had a big Chocolate Eclair and cup of tea waiting for me (needless to say my mom was not thrilled to have two young children hyped up on sugar at 11pm). 

But that is the way my Grandma showed her ample amounts of love, by big hugs and lots of sugary desserts. 

And as the holidays are approaching, the season of showing  love via sugary desserts, I thought I would share one of Grandma Lorraine’s classic holiday sugar cookie recipes she would make with us every year. 

In honor of my Grandma, I also used the original cookie cutters (she started using over 40 years ago) and her rolling pin.

Grandma Lorraine’s Holiday Sugar Cookies

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time:1 hour Cook time: 6 minutesTotal time:1 hour 6 minutesServings:24 servings

Ingredients

Instructions

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    Prep your ingredients by softening your butter and sifting the powdered sugar.

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    In a large bowl, beat your butter until it is light in color. Gradually beat in the sifted powdered sugar until the mixture is completely combined. It should look light in color and fluffy.

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    Add your egg and vanilla into the butter/sugar mixture and mix until it is well combined.

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    In a separate bowl, sift together all of your dry ingredients.

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    Gradually combine the dry ingredient mixture with the wet, until a soft dough begins to form. Refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 30-45 minutes.

    The dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or frozen to be used later.

    #SpoonTip: If your dough is crumbly and dry, add an addition tablespoon of melted butter

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    Roll out your dough to about 2cm in thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut your desired shapes with either cookie cutters or the rim of a glass.

  7. Bake in an oven preheated to 400° Fahrenheit for 6 minutes, the edges of the cookies should be slightly golden. Decorate as desired.

This recipe is perfect for any holiday party this season. Other amazing recipes include this bomb  pumpkin Trifle and this super easy and yummy Cannoli recipe.

Hi, I'm Maddie, the editorial director at JMU Spoon and a biology major with a pre-physical therapy focus. I am an avid italian food enthusiast and I olive a tasteful amount of food puns (see what I did there?). Make sure you check out some of our dope articles at JMU Spoon!