Holly Cookies

I spent yesterday making Christmas cookies over at Mom's house. They look incredibly festive. I usually also make a batch of blue dough and cut it into tiny blue stars to mix in with the holly cookies. Add a few small candy canes as decoration and these cookies will hold up to even the most sophisticated party. And they taste incredibly good, too, and are super easy to make. Here's my recipe:

Holly Cookies

1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

To color the dough, add a generous squirt of food coloring (not just a few drops--the color fades as the cookies bake) to the butter mixture before adding the flour mixture. Chill dough before rolling out and cutting. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 350 for 10-11 minutes.

Buy Brach's red hots if you can; don't use those big red hots they sell as cake decorations. They're too big and hard, and they melt and look awful. Also, don't press the red hots down so far that they touch the pan, because that makes them melt too. I usually make a batch of blue batter and cut them into small stars to mix in with the holly cookies.

My mom blogged about making these a few years ago, with lots of pictures.