Mom's Holiday Butter Cookies

As the title tells, these are my beautiful mom’s famous holiday cookies that many people have asked me about. I grew up eating these cookies every Christmas and Easter and some of my best holiday memories involve these cookies. I must admit, I didn’t realize how much I took these cookies for granted until I was married and out of the house. I miss the December days when I could run to the kitchen whenever I wanted and munch on these cookies all day long. My mom would make a few batches every couple of weeks until the end of Egyptian Christmas in January. She made sure to always make extra to hand out to family and friends. It was something EVERYONE looked forward to every year.

The ingredients for these cookies are very precise. My mom always tells me it took a while for her to find just the right amount of each ingredient to make sure the texture was perfect for baking. You’ll have to use a Cookie Press machine to get the different shapes so it’s important the dough is not too thick, otherwise it will be very difficult to push it through the machine.

I’m very happy to finally be sharing this recipe with everyone so please give it a go and let me know how they turn out! Also, check out my mom’s Egyptian Chocolate Shortbread Cookies as well.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 and 1/8 cups flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup shortening
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 large egg

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Soften the butter SLIGHTLY (do not let it completely melt, it should be soft to the touch but keep its shape)
3. Mix the butter, shortening and sugar on medium for about 3 minutes until it is very smooth (My mom uses a food processor for this part but it’s okay to use a regular mixer as well)
4. Add the vanilla and mix
5. Add the egg and mix for about 1 minute on low
6. In a SEPARATE bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together
7. Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together by HAND OR SPATULA (do not use a mixer for this part as it will alter the consistency of the dough)
8. Once everything is blended well, use a Cookie Press machine to make your cookies into different shapes. Put as much dough as will fit in the cookie press machine and choose whichever shapes you like (usually the kit comes with several cookie discs to choose from)
9. Press the machine unto a NON-GREASED baking pan (the dough will be fairly fragile once it’s shaped, so make sure you press the machine directly unto the pan otherwise it will be difficult to move the shaped dough once it’s pressed)
10. If you want to add any sprinkles or decoration, now would be the time to do it so that it sticks to the cookie. You can add anything you like! I used regular sprinkles and mini chocolate chips.
11. Once the baking pan is filled and cookies are decorated, place it in the preheated oven and bake for about 12-14 minutes (cookies should be very slightly tan in color but not brown. They will burn easily if you leave them in too long so make sure to check on them regularly because cooking time will vary depending on each oven)
12. Remove from oven, let cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Enjoy!

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