Merry Christmas, friends!

A reader and fellow food enthusiast, Angela in Mahoning County, shared one of her favorite memories involving food.

Enjoy her memory and recipe.

ANGELA’S CHRISTMAS MEMORY

The year was 1963 and I was 13 years old. I had been working for three months at my friend’s family-owned greenhouse and saved enough money to buy my own “grown-up” Christmas gifts for my mom, dad, brother and sister.

My mom was the easiest to buy for because she had three great passions: music, cooking and baking.

So, I went to Strouss downtown to the book department with my grandma and bought mom “The Betty Crocker Cookie Book.” The recipe I’ve included is the first one from that book that mom and I ever tried. I can still remember reading the ingredients aloud while she mixed, stirred, and pressed these delicious cookies onto the “cookie sheets.” I was only allowed to sprinkle on the sugars that first year, but I still took partial credit for making them!

Our family has been making this recipe from the same (now well-used) cookbook every Christmas for 60 years. Matriarch, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren alike. Four generations of Christmas bakers started with a 13-year-old girl spending her first paycheck.

Through the years, each one of us 11 family bakers has changed the decorating process a little. I guess you could say that the final recipe changes a little with each passing year, just like we all did.

When our old cookie press finally died, it was kind of hard to buy a new one. Now you can get them online like almost everything else.

We still make these cookies every year.

They can be made right after Thanksgiving and stored lightly covered at room temperature for 3 weeks.

INGREDIENTS

1 c softened butter

1/2 c sugar

1/4 t salt

1 egg

2 1/4 c flour leveled

1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract (we liked the almond better)

Red / green colored sugar, maraschino cherries, colored sprinkles (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

Refrigerate cookie sheets (our idea)

Set up cookie press with desired decorative disk following manufacturing instructions.

Beat the butter until smooth, scraping bowl often.

Add sugar and salt, beating 1-2 minutes until fluffy

Add egg and extract. Beat well

Add flour to mixing bowl, combining with other ingredients until mixed well but not over mixed (we found if you mix too much the cookies are rubbery)

Take a handful of dough and roll it with your hands into a cylinder shape about the size of the cookie press.

Feed into the cookie press up to the top.

Screw the plunger onto the cylinder, following manufacturer’s instructions.

Press cookie dough onto cooled, ungreased cookie sheet with a light touch. Pressing out too much dough will cause cookies to lose their shape.

Use enough dough to fill up the cookie sheet so that each tray has just one shape of cookie. This allows for even baking of individual shapes. Use a new cookie sheet with each different disk shape when the dough is used up in the cylinder. (don’t know how to explain this better but you know what I mean) One recipe usually produces 3 different shapes.

Sprinkle colored sugar or colored sprinkles onto unbaked cookies as desired. If making the wreath shape, green sugar and 1/2 a maraschino cherry looks really cute (my idea). However, using too much colored sugar will result in the sugar melting around the cookie unevenly, spoiling the look. (found this out the hard way)

Bake for 6-8 minutes until cookies are set, but not brown.

After baking, leave on cookie sheets about 5 minutes, then place on baking rack until completely cooled.

Yields about 60 cookies.

Share your favorite recipes with Features Editor Ashley Fox at afox@trib

today.com.