The 87-Year-Old Christmas Cookie Recipe Fans Call 'Perfect'
Watkins 1936 Christmas Cookies
I love cookies just as much as the next person. To me, there's just something so nostalgic about the smell of freshly baked cookies flowing throughout the house and the anticipation of reaching my hand into the cookie jar over and over day in and day out until they're all gone.
While I can of course eat a cookie fresh out of the oven all year-round, there's something about the holiday season that just makes me want to enjoy them even more. So, after I stumbled across this "perfect" recipe for the 1936 Watkins Christmas Cookie, I figured what better way to jumpstart the holidays than with this one?
To put the claim of them being "perfect" to the test, I grabbed all the ingredients needed, turned on my holiday playlist and got to work making what I hoped would become a Christmas favorite.
Get the recipe: 1936 Watkins Christmas Cookies
Courtesy of Choya Johnson
Ingredients for the 1936 Watkins Christmas Cookies
For those who are avid bakers, you may have all the ingredients needed at home already. All you'll need is butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla, lemon or almond extract, blanched almonds, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. While the extract, flour, baking powder and cinnamon were all noted in the recipe to be Watkins-brand, if you don't have those specifically, use what you have.
How to Make the 1936 Watkins Christmas Cookies
To start, you'll cream your butter, add your sugar, and add in your well beaten eggs into a bowl. Then, add in the nuts and either the vanilla, lemon or almond extract. I used vanilla as that is what I had handy and omitted the nuts due to an allergy.
Next, add in your sifted flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder, and mix those ingredients together thoroughly.
Courtesy of Choya Johnson
After all ingredients are mixed well, roll out your dough and using the cookie cutters of your choice, cut out the dough into holiday shapes. Brush the top of each cut out with egg white and in a greased baking pan, bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
Related: Loretta Lynn's Easy Christmas Cookies Are Holiday Magic
What I Thought of the 1936 Watkins Christmas Cookies
Recently, I've been on a roll with finding and recreating some delicious cookie recipes (with my most recent recipe being The Original 1938 Toll House Cookie Recipe). So, I couldn't fight the urge with this Watkins Christmas Cookie Recipe from 1936. And, just like the other cookie recipes I've done, this one was a hit, too!
The process was very straightforward and didn't take long to create or bake. The results for this batch of cookies was absolutely grand, with a perfectly delicious and chewy cookie as the final product.
Courtesy of Choya Johnson
Tips for Making the 1936 Watkins Christmas Cookies
1. Use a stand mixer. Of course, if a hand mixer is all you have, go for it. But, I can't express enough how this simple tool can make the blending process so much easier.
