My grandmother on my dad's side lived just up the street from us when we were growing up. She always had two kinds of cookies in tin bread boxes.



One was a sour cream sugar cookie that needs real farm cream that has been naturally soured. Commercial sour cream just doesn't do it.

The other was gingerbread cookies cut in a lion shape.



The dry mustard gives them snap. Of course you can cut them into man shapes, just plain rounds.

Rolled Gingerbread Cookies

2/3 cup cooking oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1 medium egg, well beaten
2 teaspoons soda dissolved in 1/2 cup boiling water (or hot black coffee)
5 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
(1/2 teaspoon dry mustard)
(1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Beat together the oil and sugar, add molasses and mix well. Add egg and mix. Add boiling water and soda. Add dry ingredients, mix well. Chill overnight if convenient. Roll out 1/4" thick on a floured and sugared surface. Cut cookies and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes in a 400 degrees oven. Watch carefully.

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Yesterday I posted some recipes that might be good for giving. Here are some that I like to make.

I cut this recipe into reindeer. They look really nice stacked slightly overlapping, as if the deer herd is on the move over the tundra.


Spice Reindeer

3 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cardamom
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon soda
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons lemon juice or brandy

Sift together the first six ingredients. In a large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and sugar until blended. Add egg, corn syrup, and lemon juice or brandy; beat until creamy. Gradually beat in the flour mixture until blended. Divide into fourths and chill. Roll out each part into 1/16 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters, and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes, or until very light brown around the edge. May be stored, tightly covered, for up to four weeks.



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Here's a recipe for camels made with a cookie press. They come out looking like these peanut butter cookies I posted about last year.


Spice Camels

1 cup soft butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups sifted flour

Blend together the first four ingredients. Sift brown sugar, pressing out any lumps, and gradually blend with butter mixture. Stir in egg. Gradually add flour. Press dough through a cookie press, using any desired disk, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 7 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the cookie sheets and cool on wire racks. Decorate as desired.