How To Make Grandma’s Delicious Old Fashioned Christmas Cookies With Sugar

Can you remember Grandma's old fashioned Christmas cookies? Deliciously filling up your nostrils with the fresh-baked smell of gingerbread, cinnamon and spice and how, above all else, they brought the whole family together?

With Western tradition under attack from all sides by an unseen, uncaring and inhumane entity, we must do all we can to retain our connection to our roots.

We must never forget where we come from and one of the best ways we can do that is to keep our beloved family traditions alive.

In this entry, I'd like to share a selection of old fashioned Christmas cookie recipes handed down by my Grandma and her friends, to my mother and then to me and passed onto my children and now, to you too.

Together, we are the stewards of our traditions.

What The Christmas Cookie Tray Is Really All About

It was the 1980's. Santa Claus paraded right past Grandma’s front porch so my little boys got a front row seat. It was an event for family and friends. Afterwards, we'd all go in, get warm and fill up on Christmas goodies.

Christmas baking started in our homes in November when we got together at mum’s. Her kitchen was better equipped than ours. We made the Christmas cake following Aunt May’s recipe. It was delicious.

The whole family made an assortment of cookies and squares. Mum was able to keep hers safe from thieves better than I was. My gang would eat them rock hard from the freezer.

The Christmas goodies that filled mum’s dining room table were far from health food, but they provided goodness in other ways; creativity in making them and the fun of mother, daughter and little ones working together.

My sons live far away now and that joy is not a part of my life anymore.

Were the sweet, buttery treats from long ago so unhealthy? I don't think so.

They provided an impetus for a family to gather round a table sharing stories and laughter; good for the psyche. And we all know how that benefits the body as well.

So, pass the cookies please!

Old Fashioned Christmas Cookies Recipes

I've taken pictures of old cook books and secret family recipes that filled our home with joy. Baking your own cookies was one of the artforms to becoming more self sufficient with food, and leading a more wholesome life.

I hope you enjoy them and that they bring the same joy to your family as they did mine.

White Fruit Cake / Christmas

California Dream Bars (Marion's)

Boston Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies

Walnut Squares

Cocoanut Balls

Favourite Peanut Butter Cookies

Pineapple Cookies

Cocoanut Kisses

Laura's Almond Crescents

Aldean Breton's Shortbread

My mom made the best shortbread. As kids growing up we always looked forward to her Christmas shortbreads.

In the months before my mother passed away, now more than 20 years ago, I asked my dad for mum's shortbread recipe. While I thought the recipe cards had been handwritten by mum, my sister later told me that it was my dad who had copied the recipe cards for me because at the time my mum was too sick.

Even though I follow my mum's recipe there are times when my shortbread does not taste like hers. My friends who eat it say my shortbreads are the best.

My Doug especially loved the failed shortbreads as he had more to himself.

By the second or third batch, I can almost turn them out as quickly as my mum used to; the sweet, buttery, sandy-like goodness filling the room with memories.

Cream Cheese Coconut Brownie

Carrot Cake

Mrs Hurst's Fruit Sherbert

I met Ann in the grocery store recently and asked her for a special Christmas recipe that her mum had made. Right away she said she would give me her mums shortbread recipe.

Isn't it funny that everyone's mother had just a special little variation to their shortbread?

When Ann found out there were two already, she offered this unique Fruit Sherbert Christmas treat instead.

Final Thoughts For Old Fashioned Christmas Cookies

When my mum passed away I went down to the mailbox the following Monday and found this beautiful crocheted hat holding one of Anne's mother's thimbles. It was such a touching gift and I cherish it so much.

Ann's mother passed away this spring and I am sad that I didn't know until a month later. I hope this remembrance of the wonderful love her mother gave to her family by preparing this special treat for her family brings and comfort and joy – those two ingredients in all of the special treats that fill our cookie tray.

So, what a special Santa Claus Parade Cookie Tray, filled with memories of grandmas, aunts, mums and special friends. Bake up a batch or better yet, invite all of your friends and have a cookie exchange.

But, don't forget to tell the stories behind all of those special cookies and squares that our grandmothers taught to our mothers who passed them down to us so they could become our own family’s favourites.