The spices in these thin, crispy cookies reflect the Scandinavians' Viking history. At Christmas, the Finns cut these into animal shapes and accent them with piped icing.
Bake these traditional Christmas cake flavours into easy last-minute bite-size cookies. Loaded with lots of candied fruit and nuts, these full-flavoured morsels will surely delight everyone.
"My Christmas baking always begins with these cookies. Not only are they a delicious blend of chocolate and peanut butter, but they're also fun to make," says Holly.
Christmas colours add holiday flair to these giant cookies. For other celebrations, change up the shades to suit. Coating wafers are available in a variety of colours in bulk food stores.
It's handy to have a few logs of slice-and-bake cookies in the freezer, ready to pop into the oven at a moment's notice. If you have cookie lovers on your Christmas gift list, wrap a few of these shortbread logs in foil, then festive paper. Top each cookie with a peanut if you like.
Years ago Monica Gray shared this recipe for crunchy coffee-and-chocolate bars rolled in sugar. They take so little time to make and are so delicious that they're worth making any time of year. I like to make the most of my cookies, serving them on Christmas Eve — before everyone is sated with platters of them on Christmas Day and over the holidays.
These melt-in-your-mouth classics are always looked for on the Christmas cookie tray. Some Grandmas top each one with a halved glacé red cherry, or change the vanilla to almond extract and/or stir in 1/3 cup (75 mL) chopped slivered almonds.
