TBRG Holiday Recipe: Mom Dabb’s Cutout Cookies from Lee Ryder

Hi My name is Lee Ryder Author of the Broken Earth series of books. It’s a dystopian series about a viral outbreak that kills everyone over the age of twenty five, leaving the children behind to change the world and make a new way of life.  My main character Jess loses her family to the outbreak and is left alone.

I couldn’t imagine something like that happening to my family. I grew up in a very close knit family with two older brothers and two older sisters. This is my mom’s cutout cookie recipe. My mom is an incredible baker and she always makes sure to have cutout cookies every Christmas and everyone loves the cookies. They are the first to cookies to be eaten and are a family favorite.

I remember making these as a child with my mom every year. I knew when she was going under the stairs she was getting the bag of cookie cutters. There were over a hundred in the bag and we could use any cookie cutters we wanted. I loved making stars, hearts, gingerbread boy, and bunny shaped cookies.

The house would smell amazing as they baked in the oven. Then came the fun part, decorating them! Mom would get out bottles and bottles of sugars and sprinkles, chocolate chips, those little red cinnamon candies (that always seemed to have more end up in my tummy than on the cookies), and chocolate chips.

My brothers, sisters, and I would decorate the cookies laughing and joking together and when all the cookies were done we’d have hot chocolate or milk with our newly decorated creations. That’s the one thing I remember about Christmas growing up the amazing number and variety of cookies we always had. Mom would make every cookie under the sun from wreaths made out of cornflakes to cutout cookies, to Mexican wedding cakes.

While the variety of cookies has grown smaller as her children left the nest, she still has waiting for us Christmas Day her cutout cookies for us to enjoy over tea and coffee but I always stick with my standard, a nice glass of milk.

Mom Dabb’s Cutout Cookies

1 Cup Margarine (She prefers Blue Bonnet or Imperial)

2 Cups White Sugar

3 eggs

1 ½ tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 ½ tsp baking soda dissolved in 3 tbsp milk

5 cups flour (more or less)

Preheat oven to 350

Cream margarine and sugar together, add vanilla salt and eggs then cream well after each addition. Add soda and milk mixture cream again then add cream of tartar and 3 cups flour. Keep beating as long as possible adding flour if mixture is still too sticky. Keep adding flour until the dough forms and is no longer sticky. Turn out onto a clean floured surface and roll to ¼ inch. (Here’s the fun part!) Cut out your cookies with any cookie cutters to any shape you want. Put them on a greased cookie sheet and bake them in the oven 10-12 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown.  Let cool, frost, decorate, and enjoy with a nice glass of milk (but leave some for Santa!)

I really hope you enjoy mom’s cookies. Come check me out at https://www.facebook.com/MsLeesFanfiction

You can also check out my blog: http://leeryderabfa.blogspot.com/

Happy Holidays! May they be filled with joy and happiness, love, warmth, and family.