Festive Christmas Treats
Fran Creelman’s traditional Christmas cookies goes back through four generations of her family.
“It originated in England with my great-grandma,” she said of her whipped shortbread cookies.
“So we are talking about a recipe from the 1800s,” said Creelman.
Every year at Creelman makes the cookies for her family, keeping the old family tradition alive.
“The tradition started so many generations ago that I can’t imagine Christmas without these mouth watering cookies,” she said.
While keeping the tradition alive is important, Creelman said she also like the recipe because of how easy they are to make and the ease of increasing or decreasing the batch.
As the cookies come out of the oven each year, Creelman said that her family’s reactions can be quite funny.
“One son doesn’t like any sprinkles or any coloured shortbread so his are plain.
“My other son and his family love it all and of course my grandchildren love the sprinkles,” said Creelman, “they all get sent home with their own tin of shortbread.”
Beyond the melt in your mouth goodness of the cookies, the memories and family connection is what she really likes about these cookies.
“My fondest memories are making these cookies with my grandma, then my mom and I’ve shared the recipe with my grand-daughter,” she said.
Her hope is that her children and grandchildren will keep the family tradition alive for years to come.
“Christmas is not just about the presents, for me it’s about remembering who’s birth we are celebrating, being with family and friends, showing our gratitude, giving back to the community and helping others,” said Creelman.
Whipped Shortbread
Ingredients:
1 lb softened salted butter
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
2 1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp vanilla
Directions:
Mix all the ingredients with a mix master. Now you can separate the dough into small balls and add food colouring if you like. Either roll out or put through a cookie press for different designs and decorate as you like.
Bake at 325F for 6-7 minutes only until the edges are golden.
By Jeremy Broadfield, Staff Writer
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