Cookies mean more for the holidays than just leaving them out for Santa on Christmas Eve. People around the world channel their holiday spirit into their baking Cookies are a great way to show you care by giving them to a neighbor or enjoying them with friends and some hot cocoa. . From the classic and snappy gingerbread cookie to soft and complex Italian rainbow cookies.
Check out some of the cookies people around the world make to spread their holiday cheer.
Spritz
These buttery cookies take a fun shape according to the stencil you use at the end of your tool. Once the dough is made, it is placed in a cookie gun that produces a cookie like a cookie press. “Spritz” comes from the German word “spritzen” which means “to squirt” in English.
Puzzle
Anise, a licorice-like flavor, takes over this traditional Italian cookie. Pizzelles are flat and crispy. With five simple ingredients of eggs, oil, flour, sugar, and of course anise, the only other item you need is your Pizzelle pan to make this perfect Italian Holiday treat.
Gingerbread Cookies
Germany is often given credit for creating gingerbread and it’s baking around Christmas. It was there that gingerbread houses started to take shape. Ginger was affordable and it was in England that Queen Victoria, along with her people, popularized Gingerbread as a use for Christmas cheer and as an affordable tree decoration.
Shortbread
Traditional shortbread is a sweet and brittle bread made in Scotland to celebrate, especially at Christmas. This cookie was at one point considered so expensive as to only be bought for special occasions. Another tradition is to break shortbread over the head of a new bride as she entered her new home for good luck.
Polvorones
Like shortbread, these Latin American cookies are brought out to celebrate the holidays. They were created due to an excess of lard and cereal. They provided a filling snack with affordable ingredients. These cookies are traditionally round, rise about half an inch when baked, and are topped with sugar for sweetness.
Rainbow Cookies
These Italian cookies have been given many names including Italian flag cookies, napoleon cookies, seven-layer cookies, and the list goes on. These cookies contain a red, yellow, and green layer with chocolate borders throughout the year in America. However, in Italy they are only made and sold in bakeries around the holidays. They like to keep the sweetness special!
Like the real Hamish bake with love and ENJOY!