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Did you ever stop to wonder how the delicious tradition of Christmas cookies came about? Cookies are as much a part of the holiday celebration as the nativity scene, a decorated tree, and prettily wrapped presents. For many families, cutting and decorating Christmas cookies is an annual ritual, and a day is reserved just to uphold this tradition. On Christmas Eve, kids love to leave a plate out for Santa Claus as he makes his journey across the globe delivering toys.
Good things come in small packages and Christmas cookies have been a favorite holiday treat for many, many years. The custom started in medieval times when sugar and spice were both rare and expensive ingredients and only used at special times of the year. Small, hard cakes of flour and other ingredients were baked as a method of preserving them for longer periods of time. Sugar was so expensive that it was used with great fanfare and was considered a special treat. In fact, because of the high cost of sugar many traditional European cookies were not all that sweet and were seasoned with cinnamon raisins, and pepper.
Nowadays sugar is pretty cheap and easy to come by, and there's a never ending variety of holiday cookies - both new recipes and time tested ones – to sample. We all have that favorite holiday cookie – the one you return to year after year. Maybe the recipe has been in your family for years, and makes its faithful annual appearance in the cookie tin.
Your favorite cookie recipe could be an all American variety like the snickerdoodle, festive candy cane cookies, or peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s kiss in the center, or one that traveled to America with your ancestors. These varieties all stand the test of time and belong to a rich holiday tradition.
In the United States, our melting pot of cultures brings together cookies of all different ethnic origins. You might sample some Greek baklava at the office holiday gathering, then have Italian pizzelles at your next door neighbor's house. Then your son or daughter could bring home some Benne wafers that a friend with Southern roots brought in to school (This crisp sesame cookie come from South Carolina and has east African origins). You could travel the world in a simple plate of cookies.
My family favorite is the rugelach, a cookie that my mom remembers her Hungarian grandmother making. This cookie's origins are Eastern European Jewish, but it has always meant Christmas to me. The family cookie jar is kept full with a steady supply from Thanksgiving through New Year's. It has actually passed down through my family as "rohlicky", one variation of the name.
This cookie, whether it goes by Rohlicky, Rugelach, or Kolache, originates from the Eastern European art of fine pastry and can also be found in Czech, Austrian, and Polish cookbooks. They are crescent shaped cookies of flaky pastry dough wrapped around a filling of cinnamon, sugar and walnuts. Well, that’s how my Hungarian great grandmother’s recipe goes, but all different varieties include fillings with almonds, vanilla, lemon peel, dried prunes, apricot jam or poppy seeds. The dough can be lightened with sour cream, cream cheese or shortening.
However you make them and whatever you call them, they’re so good, you may finish half a batch just out of the oven! Merry Christmas!
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
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Have Yourself a Merry Little Cookie
Good things come in small packages and Christmas cookies have been a favorite holiday treat for many, many years. The custom started in medieval times when sugar and spice were both rare and expensive ingredients and only used at special times of the year. Small, hard cakes of flour and other ingredients were baked as a method of preserving them for longer periods of time. Sugar was so expensive that it was used with great fanfare and was considered a special treat. In fact, because of the high cost of sugar many traditional European cookies were not all that sweet and were seasoned with cinnamon raisins, and pepper.
Nowadays sugar is pretty cheap and easy to come by, and there's a never ending variety of holiday cookies - both new recipes and time tested ones – to sample. We all have that favorite holiday cookie – the one you return to year after year. Maybe the recipe has been in your family for years, and makes its faithful annual appearance in the cookie tin.
Your favorite cookie recipe could be an all American variety like the snickerdoodle, festive candy cane cookies, or peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s kiss in the center, or one that traveled to America with your ancestors. These varieties all stand the test of time and belong to a rich holiday tradition.
In the United States, our melting pot of cultures brings together cookies of all different ethnic origins. You might sample some Greek baklava at the office holiday gathering, then have Italian pizzelles at your next door neighbor's house. Then your son or daughter could bring home some Benne wafers that a friend with Southern roots brought in to school (This crisp sesame cookie come from South Carolina and has east African origins). You could travel the world in a simple plate of cookies.
My family favorite is the rugelach, a cookie that my mom remembers her Hungarian grandmother making. This cookie's origins are Eastern European Jewish, but it has always meant Christmas to me. The family cookie jar is kept full with a steady supply from Thanksgiving through New Year's. It has actually passed down through my family as "rohlicky", one variation of the name.
This cookie, whether it goes by Rohlicky, Rugelach, or Kolache, originates from the Eastern European art of fine pastry and can also be found in Czech, Austrian, and Polish cookbooks. They are crescent shaped cookies of flaky pastry dough wrapped around a filling of cinnamon, sugar and walnuts. Well, that’s how my Hungarian great grandmother’s recipe goes, but all different varieties include fillings with almonds, vanilla, lemon peel, dried prunes, apricot jam or poppy seeds. The dough can be lightened with sour cream, cream cheese or shortening.
However you make them and whatever you call them, they’re so good, you may finish half a batch just out of the oven! Merry Christmas!
Rohlicky
Made with powdered sugar, raisins, cinnamon, butter, all-purpose flour, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar, vanilla extract, walnuts
Made with powdered sugar, raisins, cinnamon, butter, all-purpose flour, egg yolk, sour cream, sugar, vanilla extract, walnuts
Serves/Makes: 48
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 egg yolk
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 3/4 cup raisins
- powdered sugar, for dusting
Cut the butter into flour as for pie crust. Blend the egg yolk with sour cream and add to flour. Blend thoroughly, then form into a ball and cover with waxed paper. Chill in the refrigerator several hours or overnight.
Divide dough into three portions. Roll each portion into a 12 inch circle. Cut each into 16 wedges.
Blend sugar, vanilla, nuts, cinnamon and raisins. Sprinkle 1/3 of mixture over each circle.
Roll each wedge starting from the outside of the circle to form a crescent shape.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes, until delicately browned. Dust with powdered sugar.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1116-ethnic-christmas-cookies/