Christmas Goodies at Our Home

I am not sure when my Mom would start her Christmas baking, but I do remember that once Christmas arrived; we had a great selection of goodies. The only things purchased at the store would be the hard Christmas Candies (which gave you sores in your mouth if you ate too many). My favorite goodie (cookie wise) that my mother made was coconut macaroons. They were not the soft type, as, I think, she put in extra eggs whites, which really harden up the coconut, and they looked like porcupine quills sticking out from the cookie. I loved them, and would always hover around the dish they were on. I cannot remember them being made, but we always had the dreaded (in my mind) Christmas cake, filled with all the fruit, raisins, etc. which I did not like – and of course to me it was a waste of space to even put them out to eat. Also, Mom made what we call today, refrigerator cookies. I am pretty sure she made these before we had a fridge, and would let them cool overnight (part of the recipe) by putting them in our cool storage place. This was in a space about 8 X 10 and around 15 feet deep under our ‘pump house’. The temperature in this storage area, even though well below freezing outside, would be more or less the equivalent to a fridge. (This is also where we would store our potatoes, turnips, cabbage, carrots, and canned products for winter use). Getting on with these cookies, the main ingredients were cocoa and peanuts, and you would roll them in loafs, wrap in wax paper, and store in fridge overnight. To bake, you would cut the roll into thin slices; put them on the cookie tray, in the oven – and boy were they good. I have always been partial to burnt cookies, and would always hope that mom would forget they were in the oven! Then came the shortbread – ahhhhhhhhhhhhh… eat your heart out all you vegans – real butter – melt in your mouth cookies. (I am sitting here with a smile on my face remembering). Another goodie that I was not very keen on was mincemeat tarts, but in our family, they were a must – and real whipped cream on top (after they had been reheated in the oven). I am sure we had other ‘special’ Christmas goodies, but the winner by a mile, was the home made fudge – wow!!! What can I say!!! Great - we would have two kinds (dark and light) and making it, sometimes was better than the finished product. Unless you have experienced cleaning out the mixing bowls and cooking pans after making fudge, you truly have not lived!