By Jamie Kimbrell
Staff Writer
@jaynicole2015

The holiday season is full of love, family, and in my house, cookies. Every year around Christmas, my family participates in a cookie swap with close family-friends, leaving us with many delicious recipes that are cookie swap favorites. Throughout the years I have eaten various award winning cookies, but none of them trump my Great Aunt’s Angel Kiss Cookie recipe. These Angel Kiss cookies are sure to be a hit at any cookie swap you attend.

Angel Kiss Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4-1/2 cup sifted flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Cream together butter, shortening and both sugars.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix thoroughly. Then mix in vanilla.
3. Sift together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Add to creamed mixture gradually.
4. Stir in nuts (optional).
5. Chill for 30 minutes or until easy to handle (not sticking to your hands).
6. Shape into balls the size of a walnut (about 1 1/2 inches), then dip tops in granulated sugar.
7. Arrange on baking sheet sugar side up, two inches apart. Sprinkle several drops of water on each ball of dough.
8. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.

As good as the cookies are, the legend behind them makes the divine treat even sweeter. My Great Aunt was a kindergarten teacher, and every year she would make this recipe with her students before Christmas.

As they made them she would sprinkle a little bit of water on top of each cookie, telling her students that the sprinkle of water was an angel’s kiss. The kiss would be baked into the cookie so that each time they ate one, they would be blessed. She created this tradition to show each kid how special they were, in turn creating special memories during the holidays.