My favourite Christmas cookie

Isn’t it amazing how a simple taste of a treat can flood you with all kinds of memories?! After we whipped up these sugar cookies using Fleischmann’s yeast, I was instantly transported back to my childhood with my first bite. It was amazing! It is one of my favorite Christmas cookies from when I was a little girl.

These simple, not-too-sweet Polish cookies are almost identical to ones my mom and aunts used to make that I enjoyed as a kid. They look like shortbread with a slightly flaky texture – and there’s a definite Eastern European flair. So, so tasty! I am excited to pass this recipe along to my kids… I love them! Hope you love them too. The crispy baked sugar on top, with an added dusting of powdered sugar, might just be my favorite part! 

Polish Christmas Cookies
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 10 -15 minutes, depending on size of the cookies
Inactive time: 30 minutes
Makes 12 large cookies 


Ingredients
For the cookies:
1/2 cup cream, eggnog, or heavy cream
2 tsp Fleischmann’s Quick Rise yeast
2 egg yolks
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
2 tbsp. of lard or butter

For the finishing:
1 egg white
Granulated sugar
Powdered sugar

Directions
In a small bowl, mix together the yeast with the cream (or eggnog, depending on which you prefer) and the egg yolk. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and sugar.

Using a food processor or a pastry blender, cut in the butter and lard until the dough forms pea-sized pieces. Add the wet ingredients and pulse (or stir) just until the dough comes together.

Dump the mixture onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together. Press it into a flattened disk and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F or 325°F for convection. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Remove the dough from the fridge and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick. (If the dough is getting hard to handle, place it back in the fridge to firm up but we find this dough is amazing to work with!) Cut it into desired shapes and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheets.

Brush each top of the cookie with egg white and sprinkle it with sugar. (You could use pearl or sanding sugar if you prefer.)

Bake in the oven for around 14 minutes until the edges are just golden brown for the large-sized snowflakes in the photo. Remove them from the oven and cool on a wire rack

Depending on the size of your cookie cutter, the baking times will differ. The larger snowflakes took around 14 minutes to bake, and the smaller snowflakes took around 10.

Before packing up to give to loved ones or serving at your holiday party, lightly dust the cookies with icing sugar.