Grandma Henry's Cut-Out Cookies for every season

This recipe came to me from Joyce O’Gorman. She was the mom of the five children--Brendan, Katie, Ryan, Brigid, and Connor-- I babysat starting when I was 11 as a mother’s helper. She was also married to our family doctor-- Kevin O’Gorman. Most notably, Joyce in many ways taught me how to be a mother. As the youngest of four, I never watched my mom care for babies and toddlers. From Joyce, I learned how to put a child down for a nap, how to manage the chaos of bedtime and lunch (Ryan liked A-1 on his sandwiches and Katie loved tomatoes). 

Joyce was also a farmer. I remember visiting Connor two days after he was born. Joyce was in the barn feeding the cows. Connor was tightly swaddled in his basket.  As a farmer, mother of five, Dr.’s wife, keeper of the calendar, and CEO of everything, she celebrated every holiday by making her grandma Henry’s cut out cookies-- which her grandma simply called “white cookies.” 

I remember the first time I tasted her holiday cookies. I was still trick or treating myself. We stopped by their home to find baby Ryan asleep. But his older brother and sister were each a pig in their respective houses of wood and brick. I can’t remember who the wolf was. Joyce invited my mom and me in for cider and cookies. I couldn’t stop eating the frosted ghosts. They were more cake-like than crisp cookie. They’re dense and soft all at the same time and with sweet frosting they’re perfect. Really, I’ve never tasted a cut out cookie like it.


By the time I was 13 I learned to make Joyce’s special cut out cookies. I’ll never forget when she lent me the recipe to copy. There was no measurement next to flour, but instead it read, “enough so you can handle.” Joyce explained, “This is what my grandmother told me.” And since then, when anyone asks me for the recipe of my much beloved holiday cut outs I explain the flour measurement is “enough so you can handle.” The recipe dates, I am guessing, from the early 1900’s, when buttermilk was frequently used on farms so as not to waste anything.  Buttermilk is basically a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream.


Enjoy these cookies at all and any holiday. Christmas of course is a favorite, but Halloween and Valentine’s day in my mind are a must! And if Christmas passes you by, make a bunch of stars for Epiphany. We did that this year since some child brought home the plague one weekend and I was too sick to orchestrate the much beloved cookie cut out extravaganza with our friends. 
Please if you share this recipe, don’t give out an exact amount on the flour. :) 

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (1 cup) of salted butter softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups of white sugar
• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda dissolved in a small amount of warm water
• 2 tsp of vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• Enough Flour so you can handle the dough

Preparation

1. Cream the butter and sugar and then add the eggs.  
2. After the eggs are well incorporated add the dissolved baking soda and vanilla. 
3. Measure out two cups of flour, add baking powder and salt  to flour and mix.
4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and then add ½ of the buttermilk to mixture. Add more flour. Add rest of buttermilk. Keep adding flour until cookie dough resembles more of a little bit sticky bread dough than cookie dough.
5. Roll out dough (no need for refrigeration). Cut with seasonal cookie cutters. (If you live near me you are welcome to borrow my vast collection, my favorite being a democratic donkey).
6. Bake at 350 for 12 mins (or less). Only the bottoms of the cookies should be slightly golden, not the tops.
7. Let cool for an hour then frost and decorate. Frosting

Frosting.  
In your trusty kitchen-aid:

1. Whip one stick of softened butter. 
2. Add tsp of vanilla.
3. Add three cups of powdered sugar.
4. Pour in ¼ cup of buttermilk.
5. Add another cup of powdered sugar. 
6. Scrap down sides of bowl and beat again. 
7. Taste. Want it sweeter or thicker, add more powdered sugar. I usually add up to five cups of powdered sugar (yes… five!). All depends on your taste.​

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