December comes with a lot of sugar, thanks in part to many people keeping up family traditions of baking cookies and other sweets.
For our Question of the Week, we asked about your favorite cookies.
One of our members, Nancy Shaw from Grand Rapids, has been bringing cookie trays to the KAXE studios for years. She joined us in person Friday morning on What's for Breakfast, and of course, we mostly talked about the cookies she makes!
What's for Breakfast
As always, the first question was breakfast. Nancy had coffee with cream, a piece of multigrain toast with peanut butter, and a bowl of raspberries and blueberries on the side. Then, we started talking about cookies.
Nancy and her husband Jim work together on some of the recipes, especially the spritz. She confessed that she hates making those because "they're so putzy." She described the cookie presses they use. They have one that is electric and that one goes faster.
The real key to spritz cookies, however, is the temperature of the dough.
"If the dough is too cold or too hot, it gets stuck, or it won't come out or comes out too fast," Nancy said. " ... It's really a timing thing."
Spritz dough should be chilled in the fridge for 15 minutes. Nancy and Jim do three separate bowls: one red, one green and one plain.
"If you leave it in the fridge too long, then there's some words flying around the kitchen that you don't want to hear," Nancy said.
A listener from Brainerd confirmed that swearing is a side-effect of spritz making. He texted, "My wife said she learned to swear from her mother when she made spritz cookies. But despite that, my wife still makes them today."
Besides spritz, Nancy's plate also included Swedish cream wafers, raspberry almond thumbprints, pecan fingers and peppermint bark. There was also "kitchen sink cookies," a new recipe for Nancy that features potato chips, pretzels, toffee bits and M&Ms.
Listen to Nancy on "What's for Breakfast" above.
More cookie talk
Don from St. Paul told us about his favorite, peanut butter kisses (also known as peanut butter blossoms in some circles).
"You can keep the rest," he said. "Although I appreciate the tradition and effort involved with all the others."
Carol Ann told us, "Forty years ago, I was home from college for Christmas and I decided to make gingerbread house. My parents lived in Hammond, Louisiana, and it was warm and humid — usual December weather.
"I spent much of the day baking and constructing (with a call to my godmother in Virginia for advice). It looked great. ... I had gingerbread people and trees in the 'yard.' The next morning, the humidity had done its job and my creation looked like a Salvador Dali gingerbread scene, everything sagging and dripping. The figures were bowing, which gave it a worshipful vibe."
This led us to yet another question. Do you eat gingerbread houses, or are they just for decoration?
Jen from Shevlin texted about a time her family made gingerbread houses when her kids were small. She said, "After we were done with them, we took them out to our chickens. The birds went crazy pecking the houses apart and looked like mini dinosaurs doing it. Fun for all!"
Another listener suggested covering gingerbread houses in peanut butter and birdseed once all the candy has been removed. Placed outside for the birds, the houses magically become entertainment for you and the birds.
As for myself, I have drooled over Betty Crocker's Cooky Book ever since I can remember. My mom often made the mint melt-aways from that book at Christmastime. When I found a used, well-loved copy decades ago in a thrift store, I was so happy! I love the penciled-in notations from the previous owner.
Do you bake cookies? What are your favorites? Let us know!
