Tuesday, October 13, 2026
By Rosie Hawthorne on December 13, 2011
My Christmas present for our readers is Twelve Days of Christmas Baking. Each installment, I’ll be offering you a favorite recipe to try for your own Christmas baking.
These are all tested recipes that I’ve been making for over 20 years and I hope they become some of your favorite Christmas recipes too.
Whenever I make these cookies, I am reminded of wonderful neighbors we used to have and the delicious food we used to share. These are Jo’s cookies and they set themselves apart from all other sugar cookies by the addition and positive impact of freshly grated nutmeg.
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 well-beaten eggs
1 tsp salt
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups plain flour + 4 TB (Sift before measuring.)
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
Green sugar
Red sugar
Freshly grated nutmeg
Cream butter and both sugars together. Beat eggs with salt and add to creamed mixture. Add oil and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate dough until very cold. Roll into small balls. Place on cookie sheet. Press balls down with bottom of glass dipped in mixture of freshly grated nutmeg and sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
I like to use colored sugar for these cookies. I do half a batch of red and half a batch of green sugar.
Previous Days of Christmas:
Day 1: Sweet holiday gifts from the oven »
Day 2: An intense chocolate rush »
See more at Kitchens Are Monkey Business »
