Christmas Favourites - Carol James

Christmas Favorites

My mother had the gift hospitality. Not only did she enjoy cooking and entertaining, but she was good at both. One of my favorite possessions is her recipe book. I love looking at the stained pages and wondering how old I was when those markings were made. Or if I was even born.

Some of my fondest holiday memories are the times she and I made Christmas cookies together. My favorites were her cookie canes, maybe because my special job was using a hammer or meat cleaver to crush the peppermint sticks for the topping. (What child wouldn’t love such a noisy activity?)

Her cookie canes were her masterpieces, and over the years, she probably made tens of thousands to give as gifts.

In The Unexpected Christmas Gift, Holly and her mother follow my Mom’s tradition and make these very same cookies to take to first responders and shut-in’s over the Christmas holidays.

I hope you enjoy the recipe.

Lillian’s Cookie Canes

Mix together:

1/2 cup of shortening

1/2 cup of butter

1 cup of confectioner’s sugar

1 egg

1teaspoon vanilla

Sift together:

2 1/2 cups of flour and 1 tsp salt

Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Divide the dough into half. Color one half red, then chill the dough. Roll a small portion of each color into a “rope” about 4-5” long. Twist the red and white ropes together, and then shape into a cane. Bake at 375 on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes.

While the cookies are baking, mix 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup crushed peppermint sticks.

Remove cookies from oven and sprinkle immediately with the peppermint stick and sugar mixture. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Here is a blurb for the novella:

Eli Walker is a fun-loving entrepreneur. His job is to advise and restructure struggling companies. Holly's mission is to save the company she works for by finding new customers at a trade show in Dusseldorf.

But when she fulfills her promise to her boss to visit the cathedral in Cologne, her quest changes.

Filled with twinkling lights and snowflakes, Christmas markets and a romantic Ferris wheel, Eli and Holly's time together in Germany is an unexpected gift. But when they return home, Eli must make a decision that could cost him what he wants most in life…Holly.

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