Who doesn’t love a good holiday cookie? For the next six weeks, we’re going to bring you some of our favorite recipes, and recipes from our chambanamoms contributors. We also asked all of our writers to share why these cookies are so important to them and how they fit into their families’ holiday traditions.
We will share these recipes every week on Monday, right up to Christmas Eve. If you have a recipe (and a story to go with it!) submit it here and we’ll publish it!
by Kelly Youngblood
Grandma Joann’s Lemon Cookies
Many people are leery of lemons. We’re kind of brainwashed to dislike the little yellow citrus fruits. If you buy a bad car, it’s a “lemon.” We encourage others having a bad day with advice like, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” (As if receiving a lemon wasn’t a positive experience.)
And while I don’t sit around peeling lemons and eating them like oranges, I do enjoy lemon-flavored food and beverages. Lemonade shake-ups, lemon bars, lemon custard, lemon cake, lemon lush….ok someone stop me before I start to sound like Forrest Gump’s best buddy and shrimp connoisseur, Bubba. The point is, I’m a fan of lemons. And you can be too.
When I tell people my favorite holiday cookie recipe is for lemon cookies, the usual reaction I get is a sour face that looks like, well, er, they just sucked on a lemon.
But once they taste the moist and chewy delectable treats, they are instantly converted to lemon lovers and ready to shout out their undying love for the little yellow cookie. Oh, and did I mention they are really easy to make? A little messy, but easy. They only require four different ingredients.
My grandma introduced me to the wonderful world of lemon cookies. She always made them at Christmas time and I, of course, always looked forward to eating one (or a dozen) every year. When I got older I started to make the cookies with her, which was always a special tradition to me. I mean, does life get any better than baking cookies with your Grandma? I don’t think so.
Sadly, she passed away this summer. I’m literally typing through tears thinking that this will be the first Christmas without her here with us. But I can assure you it won’t be a Christmas without Grandma Joann’s Lemon Cookies. I know in my heart she would be thrilled if I continued our Christmas cookie tradition.
I have a picture of the two of us baking lemon cookies together from two Christmas’s ago. I think I’ll set it out on the countertop as I bake them this year. It’s just a small tribute to my grandma, who was an amazing woman in every imaginable way. I’m sure I’ll recruit my kids to help me bake them, so I can remind them how incredibly awesome my grandma was and hopefully, I can pass on the lemon cookie tradition to them. I know my grandma would like that.
Grandma Joann’s Lemon Cookies
1 lemon cake mix
2 cups whipped topping
2 eggs
powdered sugar
Mix together cake mix, whipped topping, and eggs. *Refrigerate 2 hours.
Preheat over to 350 degrees
Lightly grease a cookie pan. Roll cookie dough into small balls, then roll balls in powdered sugar. Space balls evenly on cookie sheet.
Bake 6-8 minute. Remove from pan and cool.
*We actually never did refrigerate the dough but I imagine it would make the process a little less messy. We just never wanted to wait that long to eat them!
Kelly is a mom to three wild and wonderful children and a freelance writer for a weekly newspaper. She lives in Mansfield with her husband, kids, and two dogs.