Three Easy Recipes for Holiday Treats

The Holidays and baking seem to go hand in hand. What makes this time of year even more special is the fact that most of us have several recipes that we fix every year and our family and friends come to expect these special treats. I wanted to share three of my tried and true recipes with you, not only because they are easy, they are also delicious.

Here is the first of my Holiday Cookie Recipes. It's a basic sugar cookie that you roll out and cut with cookie cutters. It makes a very nice cookie for decorating. For forty years, I have just called them Humpty Dumpty Cookies.

2 cups sifted flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1-teaspoon vanilla

1-tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat with creamed mixture. Pour creamed mixture in with the dry and stir. Add the tablespoon of milk to make the dough stick together well.

Wrap the dough in wax paper and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes. Roll out on floured board to ¼ inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters in desired shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 6 - 8 minutes. Remove from sheet and let cool before decorating. Makes approximately 24 cookies.

The next recipe is another cookie recipe that I have had for years and years. It was handed down from my Mother. It is a delicious oatmeal type of cookie. We call them Aggression Cookies. It is super easy and it makes lots and lots of cookies!

3 cups Brown Sugar

3 cups margarine

3 cups flour

6 cups oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together by mashing and squeezing with your hands. Form into 1-inch size balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Grease the bottom of a small glass with some margarine and dip the glass into a little granulated sugar. Use the glass to flatten the cookies. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

Makes 15 dozen cookies.

The last recipe is not a cookie recipe, but it is so gooey and good, it is always a hit. We like this for Christmas brunch. In our family, it's called Monkey Bread.

1 package of 24 frozen dough balls

1 box butterscotch pudding, not instant

½ cup butter

¾ cup brown sugar

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup chopped nuts

Mix all of the dry ingredients together, including the nuts. Lay dough balls (frozen) into greased shallow baking pans, about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle dry ingredients over the dough balls. Dot with the butter. Cover loosely and leave out on counter overnight. The dough will thaw and rise.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and bake until bread is lightly browned and dry ingredients and butter have melted together and look like caramel. Serve warm.

I hope you will be inspired to try one or all of these recipes. They are easy and always crowd pleasers. Enjoy your holidays and happy baking!