A Pound and a Half of Butter

Today, I translated 1.5 pounds of butter (that's 6 sticks) into a variety of Christmas cookies. Making and eating Christmas cookies is a major part of the holiday season for my family. We make dozens and dozens of cookies each year, and one of my favorite things is baking with my mom. We scoff at people who buy the sugar cookie rolls, and we are a completely cookie-mix-free family (the horror!).

This year, we are spending Christmas in Indiana (my first ever Christmas away from home!), so I can't make any cookies with my mom until after Christmas. But I can't wait that long, so I spent today baking. I made four types (plus an insane amount of Chex Mix---known as Nuts and Bolts in my family because we add Cheerios and Pretzels).

Meltaways
These are butter cookies with cream cheese frosting. I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like these cookies, and I've met several who are smitten with them, including Heather who made them for their Christmas party. These are a family recipe that my Grandma Alice got from a neighbor.

Truffle Cookies
These cookies contain three types of chocolate and only a 1/2 cup of flour (they would certainly be Ramona's favorite were she allowed to choose). They are a relatively new favorite but have become a staple. My mom, who is an amazing cook and baker, thinks these are hard to make because you have to let the dough sit in the fridge for 2 hours before baking them (impatience runs in our family).

Butter Crunch
Not technically a cookie as these are a toffee topped with chocolate. I always make some with nuts (I use pecans) and some without. Another family recipe. Every year, my mom, my brother, and I would make butter crunch that was far inferior to my Aunt Jackie's. Hers was always the right amount of crunchy, while ours was chewy enough to take your fillings out. Finally one year I asked her what the secret was. We had been following the recipe, cooking it until 'hard crack' stage at 285 degrees. She had a simple answer: "I cook it until it is the right color." Ever since, my butter crunch has come out perfectly (...except for the year that I wasn't patient enough to wait for the golden toffee color...).

Molasses Cookies
These are not a family recipe, but they have lots of ginger and cinnamon and taste quite Christmas-y, plus I love anything that has molasses in it. I still prefer my Grandma Ellen's Gingersnaps, but I made them for two reasons: 1) Andy really likes them, and 2) making cut-out cookies by yourself is decidedly un-fun (similar to Pancakes for One).