December 2023

photo courtesy Stephanie De La Cueva

By Stephanie De La Cueva

During Christmas, you’ll definitely want some cookies on the side of your hot chocolate.  The cookies I see others eating the most during the holidays are gingerbread and sugar cookies. People of all ages can have fun decorating cookies. They can be made soft or chewy or hard for your liking. 

Ingredients for Gingerbread Cookie:  Brown sugar, flour, baking soda cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, butter, milk, and molasses. 

Making the Gingerbread Cookie: Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a big mixing bowl. Add some cut pieces of butter. Then mix the milk and molasses together. 

When your dough is ready, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. When it is ready to take out the refrigerator, roll the dough. 

Get some cookie cutters to shape them as gingerbread men. Place them on a cookie sheet. Bake them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Once they are fully baked, wait for them to cool. Once they are cooled down you can frost and decorate them. You can use any icing and candy. 

Ingredients for Sugar Cookies: Flour, baking powder, sea salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. 

Making the Sugar Cookie: In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt so they can all combine together. Put that in a bigger bowl, and add the egg and vanilla extract, and beat them until combined. 

When the dough is ready, roll them up in sugar, then place the dough balls on a baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. 

Wait for the cookies to cool down for 5 minutes and decorate them to your liking. 🐾