Italian Christmas Cookies!

Today was a rainy day in for me! I spent most of it daydreaming about this blog. I'm so excited to be able to share my thoughts and ideas... I just don't know where the start! Hehe ...

Yesterday is a very fun day to talk about, more eventful at least! ;)

 Yesterday was a day full of family and a reminder of how special time and life really is. Every year, about 2ish weeks before Christmas, my family and I go over to my grandparent's (Papa and Gram) house to have our Traditional cookie baking day! This tradition goes back many generations... My great grandmother, Mimi, would make upwards of 500 cookies for the holiday season and I am so proud to be keeping this tradition alive! 

My grandparents are both full blooded Italian so of course the types of cookies we make are Italian! We make mostly biscotti cookies (which are known more commonly a Italian Christmas cookies and not the kind of biscotti cookie you are imaging)! They are delicious, vanilla, doughy yet crunchy cookies and I absolutely love sharing this tradition with mi familia and now you! 

The day normally starts off with a giant feast of pasta, yesterday it was marinara with fall of the bone chicken! My grandparents know how to cook, let me tell ya! 

Anyways, we start off with the feast and talk about our plan of attack...making this  many cookies is no easy feat! 

After we have eaten ALL of the pasta my Gram has loaded on to our plates we are ready to get baking! :D  Papa is the man in charge when it comes to making decisions, but Gram is the one who keeps him sane! They bicker back and fourth about who's families' reciepe is better (given that my grandparents are both from opposite ends of Italy! My Papa is Calabrese and my Gram is Sicilian ..so one from the north and the other from the south!) I wouldn't have it any other way...to have both families make the "same" cookie but with different little tips and tricks on their recipes really make the two stand apart.  I am partial to my great grandmother, Mimi's, (my Gram's mom) recipe but I think that is only because I was fortunate enough to have been able to share cookie memories with Mimi before she passed. 

Here is my Mimi's Recipe:

For the Cookies:

4½ cups flour

¾ cups of Crisco

4 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

¾ teaspoons of salt

4 eggs               

½ cup of Milk

2 cups of sugar

3 teaspoons of vanilla

For the Frosting:

Milk (as needed)

About 1 box of powdered sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

 Rainbow or red and green sprinkles

The process of making these cookies are not hard but can get confusing.

             A. Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl         (includes Crisco)

             B. Mix all wet ingredients in a separate bowl (includes Sugar)

             C. Make a well with the dry ingredients and pour in the wet to start mixing

             D. Start with mixing the ingredients with your hands until you cannot feel any clumps                    add flour to your hands as needed until you have a beautiful dough

             E. Then make little logs and place about an inch a part

              F. Bake for 350 degrees for about 5-10 mins or until golden brown on bottom

              G. When done let cool before you ice 

For the Icing/Glaze:

 Pour about a ½ of a box of powdered sugar into bowl and eye ball the amount of milk while stirring it all together until it turns into a glaze constancy. (add more milk, vanilla and sugar as you'd like)

 Glaze over top of cooled Biscotti cookies

Immediately after glazing apply sprinkles

And there you have it....you will be making these cookies like an Italian in no time! :D One of the many benefits of these cookies is that you can make a ton with inexpensive ingredients that are sure to satisfy your holiday guests! Please enjoy and help me keep my Polisso family cookie tradition alive!

I have been making these cookies with my Papa and Gram for a long while now, however it wasn't until yesterday when my Papa uttered the words "Hopefully I will be here next year to do it again!"...and that is when it hit me, like an ice cold snow ball straight to the face. He wasn't trying to be funny or serious...he was just being honest. Him and my Gram both have such young hearts and spirits, if only their bodies would allow them to be what they once were. After he murmured those words a storm of thoughts came raining down inside of my head:

~Will my kids ever get to know Papa and Gram? 

~Will they get to experience having a great grandparent like I was so fortunate to have?

~Next year if even one of them has been taken from me, how could I ever bake these cookies again? 

That is when I truly realized that life is all about the PRESENT...and what a gift it is! I love my family with every ounce of my soul and I am so happy and blessed that I am able to make these memories that I can cherish for a lifetime.  So with that I will close by saying, even if they aren't my cookies or cookies at all  CHERISH every second you have with the people you love. There is never anything more important than family (whether that be blood or not) so please hold on to what you have! I hope this has inspired at least one person to start a tradition...any kind of tradition that brings you close with those who love you most. Don't ever take for granted the now because tomorrow is only hours away and then it becomes the past! Make memories to hold on to even after the tradition is over! 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO