Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookies

Why This Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookies Works

During mixing, the butter, sugar, and brown sugar trap a lot of tiny air pockets as they are beaten together. Those little pockets stay in the dough and give the cookies a lighter, softer bite instead of a dense, heavy one. The eggs then come in and act like glue, holding the sugar, butter, and flour together so the cookies don’t crumble apart.

Once the dry ingredients go in, the flour soaks up the moisture from the butter and eggs. Baking soda and baking powder start to react as soon as the dough warms in the oven, so the cookies puff a bit instead of staying flat. As they bake, the edges dry out and brown first, so they turn crisp, while the centers stay a little softer.

In the oven, the raisins plump slightly and the candied cherries soften, so the chewy bits are spread through the cookie instead of feeling hard. The walnuts stay firm, giving little crunchy spots. Cooling on the sheet for a few minutes lets the cookies finish setting so they can be moved without breaking.

Mistakes To Avoid

Overbaking these cookies dries them out fast. Once the edges turn deep brown instead of light golden, the centers lose their soft chew and the fruit and nuts start to harden, so the cookies end up tough instead of tender.

Starting with butter that is melted instead of just soft makes the dough too loose. In the oven, that kind of dough spreads too much, the cookies bake flat and thin, and the edges can burn before the centers are fully set.

Skipping the step of creaming the butter with both sugars until fluffy leaves the mixture dense and grainy. The dough then doesn’t trap much air, so the cookies bake up heavy and a bit hard instead of slightly puffy and light.

Adding all the flour at once and beating it hard overworks the dough. The flour soaks up too much liquid and the gluten tightens, so the baked cookies turn out chewy in a stiff way, with a firm bite instead of a soft, cookie-like crumb.