Pictured above is one of my favorite Christmas cookbooks, Pillsbury Christmas 2011
The recipe below is for Almond Holly Wreaths, one of the prettiest and most delicious Christmas cookies you’ll ever bake or eat. These make exquisite gifts and will steal everyone’s attention when arranged on a platter.
I strongly recommend clicking on the link above and buying your copy on Amazon. The wonderful recipes are timeless.
Almond Holly Wreaths Christmas Cookie Recipe
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
Granulated Sugar
15 red gumdrops (1/2 inch)
8 green gumdrops (1/2 inch)
Blue and green colored sugar
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in flour and almond extract until well blended. Work with half of dough at a time; refrigerate remaining dough until needed. In cookie press fitted with 1/2 inch star template, place dough. On ungreased cookie sheets, press dough into 7 inch strips. Shape each strip into a 2-inch ring, crossing ends slightly.
- Sprinkle small amount of sugar onto flat surface. Flatten green gumdrops with thumb. Using a paring knife, cut out shapes that resemble holly leaves, two for each cookie. Sprinkle more sugar onto flat surface and flatten red gumdrops; use paring knife to cut out shapes that resemble small berries, three for each cookie. Arrange 3 red gumdrop “berries” on top of each wreath where ends cross; arrange 2 green gumdrop “leaves” next to and touching “berries” on each cookie. Press firmly into dough. Repeat with remaining dough and gumdrop pieces. Sprinkle wreath with colored sugar.
- Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely, about 10 minutes. Store in tightly covered container.
Yield: 2-1/2 Dozen Beauties
. Is that a great title or what? Honestly, I adore this spiral bound collection of Amish recipes. It’s available on Amazon for next to nothing and, believe me, you’ll use it throughout the year MANY, MANY times!
is packed with hearty, delicious soup recipes that’ll keep me deliriously entertained for years. As you might expect, I’ve already made several of the recipes and have been blown away each time.
is one of the recent cookbooks I’ve received and I’ve been chomping at the bit to tell you all about it. I’ve waited for a few weeks, however, because it only recently (very recently) became available on Amazon.
Not only do I passionately collect cookbooks, the first section I head for at the library is the cookbook aisle. I’m obsessed with recipes, cooking, and everything remotely connected to food.
. I realized there wasn’t enough ink in the house to record all of the recipes I’d want to make in this particular cookbook, so I put my pen away and told Ellie’s lovely face I’d see her on Amazon.
As you well know, I collect cookbooks with a crazy passion often reserved for chocolate cheesecake. I take a great deal of pride in my hundreds of cookbooks. While a lot of time and money has gone into collecting them, the main thing I love about them is the fact that so many are family heirlooms. Some are probably worth money right now (not that I’d ever part with a cookbook my grandmother wrote “yummy!” in) – and others are simple little cookbooks that were used to raise money for churches or schools. It would appear that my mom bought any and every cookbook anyone tried to sell her!
. It’s not as old as a lot of the cookbooks in my collection, obviously – so it’s not an oldie, but it is a goldie.
