Christmas Cookies

Early in our marriage, Larry told me about Sand Tarts, the thin, pale, dense Christmas cookies he loved as a child. His mother didn't have the recipe, but I found one in my 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking, and when Larry tasted them, he said they were exactly as he remembered.

So every Christmas since then, I have performed the labor of love that is making these cookies.

The dough is very stiff and has to be rolled to 1/16". Much un-seasonal language echoes from the kitchen as the dough sticks to the table and deformed snowmen have to be patted into shape on the cookie sheet before baking.

A couple of years ago I got smart and bought a roul-pat - a large silicon mat to roll the dough on. No more sticking. Less cussing. In fact I became a little cocky at how well I had mastered these cookies.

Until this year, when I accidentally used whole wheat flour instead of white.

It was not an attempt to add nutrition and fiber to a Christmas treat. I had bought a bag of organic pastry flour, not realizing it was whole wheat. The dough was a little darker than usual, but I thought it was because I used raw sugar instead of the white bleached kind. I put it in the fridge to chill, and then pulled out my flour canister to re-fill it from the new bag. That's when I noticed how white the flour in the bottom of the canister was. Oh no. I had messed with tradition.

And a very serious tradition it is. Larry loves these cookies with his morning coffee during the holiday season. He says that he considered having me sign a pre-nup that I would bake these every year. He doesn't need a Christmas present as long as he has sand tarts. He doesn't need the 12 Days of Christmas, just 12 Days of Sand Tarts.

So I baked only one cookie sheet-ful, and confessed the mistake to him as I put a few in his lunch bag. I told him if the whole wheat flour made them not good for Christmas, I'd freeze the rest of the dough for after the holidays, and make a new batch with white flour.

Larry tasted the cookies, and declared them delicious.

We made the remaining dough into cookies last night. I rolled and cut, Larry sugared and baked.

Maybe we've started a new holiday tradition.

Whole Wheat Sand Tarts
3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup raw organic sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp grated lemon rind
3 cups organic whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
colored sugars to decorate (optional)

Beat the butter until soft. Gradually beat in the sugar and keep beating until it's creamy. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and lemon rind.

Stir together the flour and salt, and gradually stir them into the butter mixture. You will probably have to knead the last of the flour in by hand. Form the dough into a log, wrap in wax paper and chill several hours. (At this stage you can keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks, baking a few cookies as needed.)

Take the dough from the fridge and let it get a little soft. If your house is cool, this will a few hours. But you don't want the dough to be too soft or it becomes even harder to roll.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Roll the dough out very thin. Flour the table and rolling pin as needed. A silicon rolling pad really helps.

Cut the dough into shapes. Place on greased cookie sheets or sil-pats (re-usable silicon cookie sheet liners). Sprinkle with colored sugars if desired.

Bake 8 minutes. Halfway through the cooking time, rotate the cookie sheets back to front and switch the top one with the bottom one. This helps all the cookies bake evenly.

Makes about 70 cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

(Adapted from The Joy of Cooking, 1975)