A HOLIDAY TRADITION

My grandmother's gingersnap recipe is the simplest and absolutely the best I've ever had. I love looking at this photo of my Grandma Zollinger (above) and remembering all the treats she used to make for us when we visited. I've inherited the original gingersnap recipe and begun making them for family and friends at holiday time. The cookies are chewy, flavorful, and EASY. While visiting my parents for Christmas this year, I used the recipe to make gingerbread men (below). I love the look of the gingery-brown on my mom's '70s era robin-egg blue kitchen counters!



I also made two other fun holiday cookies to go with our annual viewing of A Muppet Christmas Carol (best movie ever!). The Eggnog Cookies were very pretty and really captured the taste of actual eggnog (just be sure to use fresh nutmeg). The Double Chocolate Cookies come from a Cooks Illustrated recipe that I use quite often. They are absolutely wonderful but dry out kind of quickly, so eat them lickity split.

EGGNOG COOKIES
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 large egg yolk
RUM ICING
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 to 3 tablespoons light rum
1 whole nutmeg, for grating on top of cookies

Whisk together flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl.
Beat the butter in another bowl until creamy. Add and beat in sugars, then egg yolk. Add flour mixture till just combined. Gather dough into a ball and divide in half.
Working with half the dough at a time, place on a lightly floured surface. Shape into a log and roll until the cylinder is about 6 to 7 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic. Repeat with remaining dough. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Use a sharp knife to cut the slices between 1/4 and 1/3 inches think. Place on sheet 2 inches apart and bake for about 13 minutes till pale golden in color. Let cool completely.
For the icing: Whisk sugar and rum together till smooth. Spoon a little on each cookie and then grate the fresh nutmeg on top while the icing is still wet. Let dry completely.