Grandmother's Sugar Cookies

One of my fondest childhood memories is that of going over to my grandmother Marguerite's house at Christmastime to bake sugar cookies. She lived in a small house on a cozy street, and it was always warm and fragrant inside. It smelled like cinnamon candles and pine trees and freshly baked bread. Soon after I arrived the aromas got even better as Spekulazi sugar cookies began to brown in the oven.

My grandmother came to this country from Norway many years before I was born, bringing secret family recipes with her that had been handed down for generations. All of my Norwegian relatives loved sweets; there was always a chocolate cake, cinnamon apple strudel, or a batch of cookies cooling on a rack in the kitchen.

One crisp December afternoon I arrived to find the Christmas tree lights twinkling and a fire roaring and crackling in the fireplace. My grandmother had a twinkle in her eye. She crooked her finger and I followed her into the kitchen. "Let's bake cookies," she suggested, as if I were a co-conspirator and we were about to do something naughty.
She pulled down her heavy recipe box, but I didn't need to look inside. I already knew what I wanted to make. "Want to make Sweethearts?" she suggested. Sweethearts were small round butter cookies dotted with raspberry jam.

"Um," I pretended to consider the Sweethearts, and then shook my head. "No, thank you. I don't think so."

"How about Berliner Krunzer?" These nutty crescent-shaped cookies were a favorite of hers, but they weren't sweet enough for me. I knew what I wanted to bake: my favorite sugar cookies.

"Can we make Spekulazi?" I pleaded.

My grandmother laughed, hugging me. "I thought you'd never ask. You get the cookie cutters out and I'll get the dough out of the fridge. I mixed it up last night." She winked at me. Grandma knew these sugar cookies were my favorite.

Once she had the dough rolled out, she let me cut out cookies in different shapes. There were bells and diamonds, which I thought were boring, so I made very few. There was a heart and a star, which I liked, but my favorites were the tall skinny Christmas tree and the short squat one. Those were the most fun cookies to decorate.