"Glory to God in the Highest"

It is difficult to think of Christ's birth without thinking of what we have made, and allowed, Christmas to become in our lives and in our hearts. I know a family who still celebrates the season with decorating their home with outdoor lights, a tree full of ornaments, watching good holiday movies, etc., but they open their presents earlier in December so their full focus on Christmas Eve and Day is on Jesus Christ, and what His glorious birth means to a sinful world.
 I really enjoy the lights, decorations, shopping for and making gifts, making fudge, singing Christmas hymns and fun Christmas songs, sending cards to friends and family, and most of the other holiday activities, but I find the greatest JOY in knowing that Jesus Christ was born; that God Himself, in a human vessel, came down and lived among His creation (Isaiah 9:6) to lay down His life that we all, through Him, might be forgiven and  have eternal life (John 3:14-19). Isn't that the greatest gift anyone could ever give? The joy that this gift gives me is a lasting and fulfilling joy that I cannot contain nor keep silent. My cup truly runneth over. What a blessing!!  Beautiful grace!!
I pray that the JOY of the LORD fills your heart now and forever more.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Linzer Cookies

These cookies are so pretty and look so special, and are surprisingly simple to make. I used the "Joy of Cooking" Roll Cookies recipe and boiled down my own home made jam for the filling. The Joy of Cooking states that this dough is "remarkable for its handling quality...can be shaped into crusts for filled cookies or tarts, as well as cut into intricate patterns." I found this to be very true. The least amount of handling is better. I gathered up the scraps after cutting out the first batch of cookies and pushed them together to cut out more, but the results were not as good as the less handled first cookies. They were not as flaky and light, and just a bit tougher.

Rolled Cookies
Cream:
1/2 cup white sugar
with:
1/2 cup butter
Beat in:
1 teaspoon vanilla (Linzer cookies use almond or orange or your favorite flavoring)
2 eggs
21/2 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Chill the dough 3 to 4 hours before rolling.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. (I cooked them at 350 so I could watch them easier without over cooking.)
To roll and cut, use a pastry cloth and rolling pin cover. These practically do away with sticking and require the use of very little flour. Roll cookies to 1/4 inch thick. (I rolled mine just slightly thinner.) Cut out half the dough with a Linzer cookie cutter or a 2 inch scalloped cookie cutter. The other half of the dough can be cut with a Linzer cookie cutter with the smaller Christmas shaped cutter insert or use your scalloped cookie cutter and then a smaller cutter to cut out the shape for the jam to show through. Bake for 7 to 12 minutes. Pull out just before they begin to brown. Cool on a cooling rack. The flat part of each half is the inside of the cookie. Spoon a small amount of "boiled down" jam onto the bottom half of cookie and place the cookie with the shape cut out on top of jam. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. (Another option- try sprinkling a granulated sugar and ground almond mixture on top.)


Boiled Down Jam

1 1/2 cups Jam (store bought or home made)

Put jam into a pan and bring to a soft boil over medium heat. Continue to boil until jam is 2/3 the amount you started with. Jam will now be firmer a little hard to spread, but just right for your Linzer cookies. (Another option- try filling with a cream center)

Take a picture of your cookies and start a blog of your own. It is a lot of fun, and you can enjoy your beautiful Linzer cookies long after they have been eaten.