Happy December 1st! AKA the real start of Christmas!
I usually try to bake one new kind of Christmas cookie every year, to keep things interesting. But I always have to make the classics. And I thought Molly and I had posted about our classics on this blog ages ago! But we seem to have just done a post for Peanut Blossoms. So I needed to make things right and post about Mexican Wedding Cakes this year. Peanut Blossoms and Mexican Wedding Cakes are the two cookies that my family simply cannot skip every year. The taste of either immediately sends me into Christmas mode.
This recipe is incredibly simple, to an extent that I did not realize when I was a kid. Butter, powdered sugar, flour, salt, vanilla extract. It could not be easier and quicker to come together. For a while now, we’ve been adding almond extract to them, which has definitely not garnered any complaints. And I think this is a cookie that actually should be made small. They’re little bite-sized melt-in-your-mouth morsels that don’t add too much of a commitment when you’re piling up a Christmas Cookie Plate.
While making these, I think I cracked the secret of why the Christmas Spirit feels more and more elusive every year. Perhaps the secret of why adulthood can be a drag.
I was able to whip up a batch of peanut blossoms and a batch of Mexican Wedding Cakes, bake them, and clean the kitchen in less than an hour. I timed the oven temperatures, used the same bowl for both doughs and cleaned it in between, opened only as many Hershey’s kisses as I needed, and saved most of the dough in the fridge to make throughout the month so that I can keep baking the cookies fresh. Sure, there was Christmas music playing as I did this, but come on. It was too efficient. It was a logistical consideration. I didn’t consume half the dough, or eat 14 Hershey kisses. It didn’t take up 7 hours and use up every clean utensil in the kitchen. Christmas Spirit shouldn’t have so many logistics interfering!! Where’s the Christmas Spirit in efficiency?? Where’s the Christmas Spirit in understanding added sugar?! Where’s the Christmas Spirit in cleaning up after yourself before you eat a salad for lunch?! Where are you Christmas???
Speaking of how making responsible decisions sucks sometimes – I usually purchase No Added Sugar Jif, because I like to avoid added sugar wherever possible. But because I only had crunchy peanut butter in the house, I needed regular peanut butter to make some peanut blossoms, so I got some regular peanut butter. And I had a a few licks of that regular ol’ added sugar Jif peanut butter while making the cookies, and wow. That stuff is good. Those 3g of added sugar really pay off!
Anyways, I guess the lesson is that despite Christmas feeling less and less Christmas-y as adulthood and logistics encroach, there are still ways to get a dose. Like with most things, you just have to book it into your schedule. Watch lots of Christmas movies, plan walks to see some Christmas lights, and listen to Christmas music when you drive to your sad and boring job. And I suppose some adults have to master the logistics of the season so that kids can enjoy it to the fullest and not worry about things like how many Hershey kisses they’re eating or where all the cookies are going to be stored.
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PinIngredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cream the butter, and then add the powdered sugar gradually.
- Blend in the salt, flour, vanilla, and almond extract (if using). Mix until it all comes together in a smooth dough.
- Scoop 1/2 tablespoons of dough, roll into balls, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. They don’t expand too much, so you don’t need to space them out that far. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- When they’re out of the oven and still hot, sift powdered sugar over them. Let them cool the rest of the way, and enjoy!