Holidays in Houston :: Our Cookie Baking Tradition

Our Cookie Baking Tradition

Growing up in Houston, we never had family close by. All of our grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles lived out of state. It was always nice to travel and see them, which we did every Thanksgiving, but Christmas was always spent at home with just our little family.

Thankfully, our little family grew up on a street with AMAZING neighbors. Neighbors that were our family. And during the holidays, we did family things with them and had our own cul-de-sac traditions.

One of my favorite traditions was gathering at Mrs. Cindy’s house {and yes, even at 31, I still call her Mrs. Cindy} each Christmas to bake cookies. They were THE BEST, and we would spend the day baking and decorating and laughing and having fun. Every year we knew we were going to go and spend the day making delicious treats, and it was something I always looked forward to. I knew even back then that one day I would want to have a Christmas cookie baking day with my own kiddos.

And now that my girls are old enough, for the past few years we have done just that. Each year we spend the whole day making tasty treats. We usually send ours to work with my husband to share with all his co-workers at Texas Children’s Hospital. It is something the girls look forward to, and the minute Thanksgiving passes us by, they are begging to get to baking.

This year I decided that instead of any ordinary Christmas cookie, we should make Mrs. Cindy’s famous cookies. I myself am no baker, and we have always used a box mix of some kind. This year though, I was feeling adventurous, and we decided to give them a go.  And I am oh so glad that we did. They are DELICIOUS. Even better than I had remembered. The girls loved them too. I am not sure if it is the cookie itself or the buttercream icing that sends them over the top, but I tell you what – they are amazing. We ended up bringing ours to the girls Christmas concert reception, and they were snatched up in minutes with people begging for the recipe.

And because I am not a Grinch, I would never tell you how amazing something was and then keep it all to myself. I have the cookie and icing recipe ready to share…even on a handy dandy festive recipe card.

What are your families go to treats during the Holiday season?

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