As I turn up the volume on the CD player so I can hear the Christmas music while I write this column, my thoughts turn to the kitchen where I will be making my favorite holiday cookies.
I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so they are always the first to get made.
Then I love my mom's Winter's Best Gingersnap recipe. Got to make those.
Of course, my grandson and I love to make sugar cookies. I cut them out and he decorates. Cole, who's 8, has gotten more skilled at decorating cookies since we started six years ago.
The sugar is, let's say, a little more spread out now than it used to be. But those early versions of the cookies were certainly pretty and SO sweet.
For my fourth cookie, I either make my grandfather's peppernut recipe, which I shared in this column last year, or my mom's Christmas cookie recipe. It will be the latter this year.
They are called Christmas cookies because the mere mention of the real name sends shivers down the spines of many people during the holidays.
The name FRUIT CAKE COOKIES elicits an instant "No thank you" from most folks. They don't want to look at them, let alone try them.
I think it's the bitterness of the citrus peel that turns people off. It can leave a nasty taste in your mouth, I think.
I like to tell people that these cookies aren't like that kind of fruitcake. These are moist, sweet and tasty.
My son-in-law stopped by last week to help me move some stuff in the garage to prepare for last week's ice, sleet and snow.
I was in the midst of removing some from the cookie sheet when he asked, "Are those fruit cake cookies?"
"Yep," I replied. I told him to wait a few minutes and they would be cooled. He didn't. He likes his right out of the oven. Blowing on it, he devoured it in a single bite.
I had a friend who liked to give us a famous fruitcake from Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. I shared it with those at the office. It had that traditional fruitcake taste.
According to the bakery's website at www.collinstreet.com, "The DeLuxe Texas Fruitcake or Pecan is still baked true to the Old-World recipe brought to Corsicana, Texas, from Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1896 by master baker Gus Weidmann.
"He and his partner, Tom McElwee, built a lively business in turn-of-the-century Corsicana which included an elegant hotel on the top floor of the bakery. Many famous guests enjoyed their fine hospitality including Enrico Caruso, Will Rogers, John J. McGraw, 'Gentleman Jim' Corbett and John Ringling."
In fact, the article stated, the bakery got into the mail order business when Mr. Ringling's circus troupe, upon tasting the mouth-watering fruitcake, asked to have these Christmas cakes sent to family and friends throughout Europe. And so began an international Christmas gift tradition.
No offense to the Corsicana cake, but I like my cookies better. Actually, my mom had a recipe for a fruitcake that is very similar to the cookies. For whatever reason, she didn't call it a Christmas cake but a fruitcake.
For me, I prefer the cookies over the cake because it's hard to cut a thin slice of fruitcake, whereas I can curb my fruitcake craving with one cookie. Not that I eat just one.
I've made or helped make these cookies for more than 35 years, so it's a family tradition for us.
Christmas Cookies
1 cup of butter or margarine
1 ½ cups of sugar
2 eggs
2 ½ cups of sifted floor
1 teaspoon cinnamon and baking soda
¼ teaspoon clove, nutmeg and allspice
1 pound chopped pecans
8 ounces candied cherries, chopped in quarters
8 ounces candied pineapple, chopped in quarters
2 pounds chopped dates
Cream the butter or margarine (mom always said Fleischmann's was best for baking); add the eggs and cream. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and allspice. Add to the creamed mixture.
Add the candied fruit and nuts. Mix thoroughly.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Drop rounded teaspoons of dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown. The recipe makes 10-12 dozen cookies.
These cookies may be frozen to eat later. They also improve with age.
I hope you don't turn your nose up at the thought of a fruitcake cookie. Just think of them as Christmas cookies. Merry Christmas.
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Throne is managing editor of The Weekly Vista.
Commentary on 12/11/2013