Aunt Marty was my favorite Aunt. She was married to my "Unca Leddie," and he was my favorite Uncle. My memories of them are as fond as they are many.
Aunt Marty, who was actually my Great Aunt Marty, owned a little "ladies store" in the Frankford section of Philadelphia. My little sister and I loved to visit and help her while she was working. The store had these wonderful wall mounted rolls of wrapping paper and mounted rolls of ribbon, the kind of ribbon that you could curl by holding it taut and running your scissors along it. She taught us how to "wrap and curl" because she wanted us to know how important it was to make the purchases her customers left with look beautiful.
At Christmastime, Aunt Marty was known to bake hundreds of cookies. These she would make as beautiful as the wrapped packages that left her store. My favorite of them were her Butter Cookies, and in our family she was famous for them. They were in shapes of trees, wreathes, reindeer, bells and bows and sprinkled with red and green colored sugar. They are still as delicious to eat as they are pretty to look at.
"Aunt Marty's Butter Cookies" have now been in our family for generations. They are one of the first things we talk about when planning for Christmas. They are a part of the love and tradition that makes us who we are and keeps us together.
It's never to early to bring a little Christmas into our lives. Let's make Christmas 2020 the best ever! Happy Baking!
Aunt Marty's Butter Cookies Recipe
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Using an electric mixer
Cream together
1/2 lb. of softened (not melted) butter
2/3 cup of sugar
Add
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon of salt
2-1/2 cups of sifted flour
Note: Even if flour comes pre-sifted, sifting it again makes for a lighter texture.
Measure flour after sifting.
Use a Cookie Press for pretty shapes
Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper (for ease of cleanup)
Decorate with red and green colored sugar
Place baking sheets into a
350 degree preheated oven
Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes
(my oven takes 9 minutes on the middle rack)
You may have to adjust depending on your oven
Remove from baking sheet and place cookies on a cooling rack