Annual Christmas Cookie Bake

For the past few years we have been celebrating my mom's birthday (Dec 20th) with a group Christmas cookie baking event.  This year we topped out our class with 24 participants under the direction of Chef Elaina Ravo at the Liaison College in Kitchener. 

The class starts at 9:30 a.m. (under protest from some!) and the ladies are split into groups where a student chef assists them in baking various cookie recipes.  At lunch time we gather for a nice lunch - this year Chef Elaina prepared a wonderful German-style hot potatoe salad, schnitzel and roasted root vegetables.  I had a ton of inquiries about the potatoe salad recipe and will post this to a blog as soon as I get it!

Everyone brought some non-perishable food items as we sponsor three needy families each year with all the fixings for a Christmas dinner. 

After lunch there is nice social time and finally everyone gets their tin of assorted cookies.  A really great way to share a special birthday with friends.

Melt in Your Mouth Cookies

Ingredients

2 lbs shortening

2 cups icing sugar

2 egg yolks

½ cup almonds crushed

2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp vanilla

5 cups flour

Method:

Cream icing sugar and shortening approximately 10 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add egg yolks.  Blend until well incorporated.  Dissolve baking soda with lemon juice.  When it is frothy add to mixture & mix well.  Add vanilla.  Mix well.  Mix flour and almonds together.  Fold in flour and ground almond into batter.   Shape into an “S” shape.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.