Host an old-fashioned cookie exchange
Sitting at a table in the Downingtown Area Senior Center, Frances Delcontie and friends smiled as they shared sweet memories of Christmas cookie exchanges, beginning around 1956.
“My mother and her friends did it. It was always a lot of fun,” she recalled. “My sister and I started helping her. Mymother used to bring cannolis, and she made her own cannoli shells.”
“Back then, they didn’t have any of these (cannoli) forms. My father, every year, he’d cut down a fresh broomstick,” added Delcon-
PHOTO BY EMILY RYAN
tie, 67, who also enjoys Italian chocolate cookies and pizzelle. “You make your one best cookie, and you’re sharing it with those people you care most about.”
Exchangers typically bring a dozen cookies for each guest and leave with a holiday assortment.
“Make them special, not just a plain old chocolate chip cookie,” suggested Gloria Kristof, 77. “If you’re going to make a chocolate chip cookie, do something special with it.”
Her repertoire features apricot stars, which are “not only beautiful, but they taste good,” and creamfilled lady locks.
“Some people call them Want to host a cookie exchange? “Start small,” suggested Diane Burns. “Make it fun. Add something to it besides just exchanging cookies.” Her family celebrates with a luncheon and friendly competition to win a “silly hat.” Burns also recommends including the recipe and having each guest’s cookies “boxed, ready to go.” “You don’t want anybody handling them,” agreed Gloria Kristof, who chooses festive boxes or plastic containers. Finally, “mark everything” in case of allergies, added Frances Delcontie. And “don’t be afraid to freeze your cookies.” Seedless red raspberry jam fills these fingerklatschen, easy-to-make thumbprint cookies.
clothespin cookies because you wrap the dough around a clothespin,” Kristof said. “Oh my goodness! They are delicious.”
Fellow baker Linda Wolfe, 77, favors “a lot of variety,” including “one with coconut and white chocolate bits in it.” But, like Kristof, she closely guards her secrets.
“It’s really gotten involved. Everyone tries to outdo one another,” explained 76-year-old Diane Burns of Bellingham Retirement Community in West Chester, whose family started a cookie exchange more than 20 years ago.
“It’s just gotten bigger as the kids have gotten older,”
she said. “We have a contest. Everybody bakes 12 dozen cookies. We have an exchange over lunch.”
Family members compete for bragging rights and the honor of wearing a “silly hat.” A perennial favorite: a pressed cookie called a “cream cheese spritz.”
“My mother used to make this spritz cookie, so I’ve carried it on,” Burns described. “They used to say Christmas couldn’t come until I made those cookies.”
Now she’s passed the proverbial torch and often whips up Mexican wedding cakes instead.
“I can’t wait to see what the rest of them are going to do,” Burns said with a twinkle in her eye. “They get so competitive.”
Fingerklatschen INGREDIENTS
2⁄3 cup butter ½ cup granulated sugar 2egg yolks ½ teaspoon almond extract 1¾ cups sifted flour ½ teaspoon salt Seedless red raspberry, cherry or other red jam
INSTRUCTIONS
Fellow bakers Gloria Kristof, Frances Delcontie and Linda Wolfe offer their cookie-exchange expertise.
SUBMITTED PHOTO — FRANCES DELCONTIE
Frances Delcontie’s aunt used a typewriter to share this recipe for Italian chocolate cookies.
Lemon or anise extract, to taste 1cup sugar 4teaspoons baking powder Approximately 3to 3½ cups flour
INGREDIENTS
Beat the eggs until light. Add the oil, lemon or anise extract and sugar. Mix well. Stir in baking powder and flour ½ cup at a time for a total of approximately 3to 3½ cups, depending on the size of the eggs. The dough is on the soft side. Heat pizzelle iron. Drop teaspoons of batter into the center of the patterns, close the lid and cook. The time depends on the iron. Cool on wire racks.
PHOTO BY EMILY RYAN PHOTO BY EMILY RYAN SUBMITTED PHOTO — FRANCES DELCONTIE
Frances Delcontie treasures this handwritten recipe from her grandmother.
3¾ cups sifted flour 1cup sugar ½ cup cocoa 1teaspoon cinnamon 1teaspoon cloves 1teaspoon ginger 1teaspoon allspice 1teaspoon baking soda 1teaspoon baking powder ½ cup cooking oil (canola) 1cup milk Frosting: 2cups confectioners’ sugar Milk
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine all dry ingredients and sift together four times. Put in a large bowl and make a well. Add oil and milk and mix thoroughly. Dough will be firm. Break off pieces as big as walnuts and roll between palms of hands. Press ever so slightly onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350degrees for 10 minutes. You also can add 1cup of raisins, ½ cup chopped nuts and 1cup chocolate bits. These can be added alone or in combination. Make a confectioners’ sugar frosting and dip cookies in it when cooled thoroughly. Frosting: Add milk to 2cups of confectioners’ sugar until frosting is thick enough, so it won’t run off cookie.