Since I can remember, my mother Ruth baked dozens of varieties of Christmas cookies in preparation for the winter holidays.  She stood in the kitchen for hours at a time, sometimes well past midnight, baking until she had created countless sheets of cookies like edible works of art.  My brother, father and I greedily consumed the gourmet goodies as the holidays approached, but my mother also made and set aside plenty of her cookies to give away as gifts, wrapping each variety individually and packing them in decorative holiday tins.

Most of the cookies my mother bakes are German or Austrian in origin, especially the types she has been baking since I was a very young girl.  Every few years she would add a new variety or two, experimenting with current recipes. All of her creations are  exquisite in taste, texture, and appearance, and painstakingly crafted.

Ruth’s classic holiday baking portfolio includes: Lebkuchen, Stollen, Hazelnut Balls, Viennese Vanilla Crescents, Cinnamon Stars, Date and Nut Sticks, Anise Springerle, and Linzer Cookies. She also makes Ginger Snaps, Licorice Crinkles, Lemon Meringues, and Chocolate Korova Cookies. In addition (phew!), Ruth painstakingly creates festive and entirely edible Tannenbaum Cookie Trees to decorate the dining room table for our Christmas Eve traditional goose dinner.

My mother’s tried and true recipes are copied from old Gourmet cookbooks and cooking magazines, many with baker’s notes scribbled on them, and stashed away in a manilla folder for safekeeping.  I think it is high time to catalog, digitize and publish them, so these recipes can be used, shared and enjoyed.

My mother has just started her holiday baking again this year, and has agreed to share her recipes with you, with personal tips and suggestions. My father is the cookie photographer. I think it is most appropriate to start with German Lebkuchen, a delicious iced gingerbread cookie that just gets better with time.

Ruth's Christmas Cookies