What would a holiday be without food?  In the United States, it wouldn’t be much of a holiday at all, that is for sure.  One thing you hear a lot of people talking about during the winter holiday season is all the food they are going to eat.  The eating starts off with Thanksgiving and continues with holiday parties, Christmas Dinner, the giving of food as gifts, and of course there is always a lot of food to be had to celebrate the new year at New Year’s Eve parties.

One very common holiday food to make and give out to friends and family are decorated sugar cookies.  Sugar cookies are just one of many types of Christmas cookies that people make this time of year, but I have to admit they are my favorite.  They are so beautiful, colorful, and of course delicious!

Here is some holiday cookie vocabulary you might want to learn to sweeten your day:

cookie dough – a mixture of flour and liquid, used for baking

frosting or icing – a sweet mixture consisting primarily of sugar and sometimes butter, which is a coating for cookies and cakes

decorating – making something (in this case cookies) look more attractive by adding ornament

sprinkles – colored sugar used for decorating

cookie cutter – a small metal sharp with edges for cutting cookie dough into particular shapes

Now, before I share a recipe with you for Christmas sugar cookies, let me give you little bit of the cultural history around sugar cookies. The Christmas sugar cookies of today were not always like they are now.  In fact, German gingerbread cookies are considered the first cookie traditionally associated with Christmas.  In the 1600’s Dutch and German settlers introduced cookie cutters, decorative molds, and festive holiday decorations to America.  Sugar cookies, which are not spicy like German gingerbread cookies, descended from English tradition.  English sugar cookies were not cut out and molded like German Christmas cookies though.  In America the English and German cookie making traditions were combined to get what we now see as a traditional American Christmas sugar cookie; a vanilla cookie cut into festive shapes.  Making and decorating Christmas cookies is now a tradition in many American families.  Christmas sugar cookies come in many elaborate holiday shapes like bells, Christmas trees, camels, Santa Clauses, candy canes, and so on. Here is a recipe to get you started if you want to try and make these traditional Christmas sugar cookies for yourself.

Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before decorating with frosting and sprinkles.