Old School

One of the greatest gifts I ever received was a collection of recipes from my husband's Grandmother and Great Grandmother. Both of them had passed away long before he and I got together , so I never got to meet them. His Grandfather gave them to me one afternoon, just because. You would have thought he had given me the stars out of the sky! Every so often I break one out and give it a try. This holiday season is no different. My youngest son's fiance, Jenn, was here visiting us while she's on break from college last week and earlier this week. While he was at work Monday she joined us in the kitchen to make two of his favorite cookies. He loves gingerbread cookies, so we tried out Nana's Ginger Cookies recipe



I love having the original recipe in her handwriting!



When I see "Oleo" in the ingredients list, I get giddy!



I get that way about molasses too, so this recipe was a twofer!



The dough made the whole house smell like the holidays before I even started baking it!



All rapped up for a chill!



And they baked up perfect! Crisp on the outside, tender on the inside!

Another favorite cookie of Nick's is Hamantaschen. The recipe that I have for these is over 20 years old. I got it from a customer and friend of mine who's nails I did for 10+ years when I was a nail tech on LI in NY. I've tweaked it over the years (as you can see) and made it my own.



This dough is so tender and tasty! I've also used it for regular sugar cookies, added chocolate chips to it for chocolate chip cookies, and made thumbprint cookies from it!



It gets wrapped up for a chill as well!



Jenn did a fantastic job filling and folding them! You would think she's been making them for years!



They bake up great every time, and are usually the first cookies gone from the cookie platter!


It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon! I'm so lucky and blessed to be gaining her as a daughter!

Christina