Sharing Christmas Cookies

Each year, on the day after Thanksgiving, the modest home of Don and Marge Reichardt is transformed into a Christmas cookie factory. For nearly 30 years, the Reichardts have made the holidays a little brighter in their hometown of Watertown, Wis., (pop. 21,598), by baking treats for neighbors and friends and delivering sweet packages of Christmas cheer.

“We always try something new every year,” Marge says, noting that the family baked and decorated 56 kinds of cookies last year. “When we ask people who get our cookies what they want next year, they tell us, ‘We want more cookies and more kinds.’”

Over the years, the Reichardt cookie-baking crew has grown along with their family, as has their list of recipients, which has swelled to more than 60. The 2003 crew, with Don and Marge at the helm, included daughters Sue Pochop and Lea Fischer, daughter-in-law Christine Reichardt, and sister-in-law Marlene West. Five granddaughters, ranging in age from 3 to 13, represent the family’s third generation of cookie elves.

During the month-long process, the family keeps busy most evenings and weekends until Christmas Eve, mixing, rolling, cutting, baking, and decorating thousands of cookies. Last year, the Reichardts gave away more than 45 boxes containing about 12 to 15 dozen cookies each. Another 20 to 30 bags, containing three to four dozen treats, went to teachers and co-workers.

Although the Reichardts’ 9-by-10-foot kitchen seems small for the large volume of cookies baked, they have the process down to a science. A black vinyl three-ring binder, containing hundreds of tried-and-true recipes, is pulled from the cupboard. Marge’s Kitchen Aid mixer churns on the countertop next to her double oven. The remaining kitchen counters hold precariously stacked cookie sheets and platters, six to eight deep, waiting to be popped into the oven or filled with decorated cookies.

The 6-foot oval dining room table serves as the cookie-decorating center. With assembly-line precision, members of the Reichardt crew work elbow-to-elbow, using white frosting and colored sugar to give cut-out bells, stars, candy canes, and snowmen a special holiday dazzle. Some younger members of the crew can’t resist their own creations. But the Reichardts have a rule: If you eat more than you decorate, you’re off the cookie crew.

As Christmas draws near, bagging and boxing cookies also requires team effort. A 4-by-8-foot piece of plywood, propped on wooden sawhorses in the unheated garage, becomes the packaging line. “We walk around filling boxes until our fingers are too numb to pick up any more cookies,” Marge says.

The Reichardts admit that their annual undertaking is a little hectic, but they can’t seem to stop themselves from doing it. “She (Marge) buys boxes on sale every year the day after Christmas, and then we have to fill them up the next year,” Don quips.

Their recipients are glad they do. “It just makes the season more meaningful,” says Beth Mueller, whose family has received cookies from the Reichardts for 12 years. “When Don comes to the door, it’s almost like one of those heartwarming Hallmark commercials you’d see on TV that make some people say, ‘Right, like that really happens.’ For us, it does every year.”

All Day Cookies

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup Crisco shortening
• 1/2 cup sour milk, buttermilk, or sour cream
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups flour

Mix all ingredients together. Form dough into four ropes and refrigerate overnight. Slice rope into 1/2-inch cookies. Sprinkle each cookie with 1 teaspoon of red, white and green sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes. Makes six to eight dozen.

Chocolate Dipped Creams

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar for rolling
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
• Chopped nuts, coconut, chocolate jimmies

Cream butter, add sugar gradually; add vanilla. Sift flour and cornstarch together; blend into creamed mixture; chill. Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, triangles, and crescents or bars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees about 12 minutes. Cool; roll in powdered sugar. Frost the top of each cookie with melted chocolate, then immediately dip in nuts, coconut, or jimmies. Makes about six dozen.

Aunt Thelma’s Butter Cookies

• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pound butter or margarine, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk (sweet or sour)

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. In separate large bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Cream together and add milk. Then gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended (about 3 minutes). Refrigerate dough until easy to handle. Preheat oven at 375 degrees. Roll part of dough on lightly floured surface to 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter. Lift with spatula, if necessary, onto greased cookie sheet and sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown. Makes six dozen.

Cupcake Cookies

• 40 graham crackers, finely crushed (3 cups)
• 1 cup whipping cream, unwhipped
• 2 cups miniature chocolate chips
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 pound butter, softened
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Fill smalI candy liners (smaller than the smallest cupcake liners) with dough. Place side-by-side on cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool and frost with white or chocolate frosting. Makes 100 cookies.

Chocolate Crinkles

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar as needed

Mix sugar, oil, chocolate, and vanilla. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least three hours. This is very important for the cookies to turn out. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take only enough dough out of the refrigerator that you will need for a cookie sheet so the dough stays cool and stiff while you work with it. Shape dough by rounded teaspoons into balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Makes about six dozen cookies.

Good Cookies

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup Rice Krispies
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup nuts
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups flour

Mix all ingredients together. Roll into walnut-size balls and flatten on a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle each cookie with 1 teaspoon of red, white and green sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about six dozen.

Gingerbread

• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup dark molasses
• 3 cups sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cloves

Pour water over butter. Add sugar and molasses. Mix well. In separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together. Add to molasses mixture. Blend. Chill thoroughly. Roll dough on floured surface to 1/8 to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutter. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees about 10 minutes. Makes about four dozen cookies, depending on the size of the cutter.

Mary Miller is a freelance writer in Lakeland, Minn.

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