I'm no Betty Crocker, but what little I do know about baking I learned by helping my mom make Kringle's Cutouts sugar cookies. She found the recipe in a free holiday booklet released by Crisco in 1989, and we've prepared them together nearly every year since then, usually while listening to Christmas music and wearing kitschy aprons with candy cane-shaped buttons.

When I was a kid, my mom would give me a special job to do. At first it was just helping to cut out the cookies and decorate them. Over the years, I graduated to more advanced skills, like finessing how to crack an egg or safely use a mixer. These days, we divide and conquer the project like an assembly line, cooking up dozens and dozens of cookies by tripling the recipe. When finished, you'll have something that's as beautiful to look at as they are yummy to eat. (They're not overly sweet or too crunchy.) For me, though, the sweetest part about them is the memories made while baking them that last long after the cookie jar is empty.

— Sara Bauknecht, style and dance writer 

Kringle's Cutouts 

PG tested

Don't forget the flour! Thoroughly cover work surface and rolling pin to prevent dough from sticking.

⅔ cup butter-flavored Crisco

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon milk

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Coarse colored sugars for decorating

Cream Crisco with sugar, vanilla and milk. It’s best done in a large bowl with an electric mixer set to a medium speed; continue until well blended.

Beat in egg.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly add to creamed mixture with electric mixer.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

Break off a hunk of dough and roll out to about ⅛-inch thickness.

Cut out festive shapes with cookie cutters of your choice.

Sprinkle sugars in seasonal colors on cookies to decorate.

Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in oven for 7 to 9 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool. 

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

— Adapted from a Crisco holiday booklet

First Published: November 28, 2017, 4:17 p.m.