A holiday element for most of us are the delicious Christmas cookies. How varied is the way we would describe our idea of the best Christmas cookies!
I did a casual survey on the site a number of years ago, and the opinions ranged widely concerning best cookie recipes for christmas -from Chocolate Chip to Gingerbread and beyond.
How do we unite so many tastes, ideas, and experiences to express our celebration of the holidays? I remember years ago baking about ten to twelve different kinds.
Each person has their own tastes.
Yet our differences are more in our details, than in our general characteristics.
We might not all love the same flavor of sweets, but we all appreciate being treated with love and kindness. And we all have the deep human need to be delivered from our mortality and pain.
[box type=”shadow”]Christ brings peace.[/box]
The Potential Of A Cookie
The fun and lightheartedness of cookie baking, making and rolling out dough, cutting with our favorite cookie cutter shapes, and then decorating delightfully… it all seems so removed from the deep needs of our fellow human beings. But is it?
Don’t we all need fellowship, sharing good experiences with each other? Isn’t our fulfillment in connection of meaningful relationships something that is universal and one of our most basic needs?
God sent his Son to share in a human existence. Without him, we would remain separated from God, isolated in painful short lives that were enslaved to sin.
A part of the salvation offered was to reconnect us with the fact that each part of our life is important and to be lived in Him, to his glory.
Even in as simple an act as baking, or eating together, or any of the many daily acts of living, our lives can take on importance in that context.
Go ahead and make some cookies; share them with someone you love… infuse what you do with care and gladness.
A Recipe For You
Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies
2 ½ – 3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
½ cup butter, room temperature
½ cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 Tbs. ground ginger
½ Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup molasses
Sift 2 1/2 cups of the flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a bowl.
Beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices, salt and pepper, then egg, vanilla and molasses.
Add flour mixture, and mix until combined.
Slowly add remaining ½ cup of flour until dough starts to feel stiff (you may have up to ¼ cup leftover).
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out cookies in desired shapes and transfer to baking sheets.
Bake 10-12 minutes (you want them to be crisp but not dark)
Transfer cookies to wire racks, and let cool completely.
Or use one of my family’s favorites:
Moravian Spice Cookies
Scripture:
Psalm 34:8
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Luke 1:39-45
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
Carols
Go Tell It On The Mountain
What Child is This?
