Is there anything more symbolic of the season, more – well, more Christmassy…than the humble Christmas cookie tin?

Every year the festively-decorated tins begin to arrive from friends and family, lined inside with layers of tissue or plastic wrap, overflowing with homemade cookies. Fruitcake cookies, shortbread, wedding cake cookies, Pfeffernuesse, sugar cookies…chocolate chip, oatmeal, and my favorite, raspberry rugelach.

And that’s just one tin.

We attack them while we watch ‘A Christmas Story’ or ‘Love Actually’ for the umpteenth time, until there’s nothing left inside of that cookie tin but traces of powdered sugar and a few forlorn crumbs. Delicious, all of it, and fattening as hell – but who cares? It’s Christmas, after all.

 

 

But the best thing, after the Christmas tin is empty, is that it can be reused. Or ‘repurposed,’ to use the more trendy term. Those tins have housed everything from my kids’ crayons, my collection of buttons and sewing thread, Mr Oliver’s screws and bolts, to small Christmas ornaments stored away until next year.

 

The cookie tins I remember from childhood were plaid, just like the Thermos jug. Whether red or dark green, when those plaid tins started to show up, you knew – just as sure as you heard Bing Crosby crooning ‘White Christmas’ on the radio or saw ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’ on TV – that Christmas was just around the corner.

I learned early on that the ones with the cherry in the middle were yucky and that the green-tinted coconut macaroon wreaths were sublime. Anything reeking of bourbon or whiskey was given a wide berth and left for the grown ups.

The sugar cookies always looked pretty, decorated as they were with tinted royal icing, but got hard way too fast. A chocolate chip cookie was a rare prize to be grabbed before anyone else found it – because there were usually only a few of those, and way too many of the fruitcake cookies.

Although I never spent an entire day making dozens of varieties of cookies, I still do my share of holiday baking. Mostly, I stick to stuff we like – tried-and-true basics like Buckeyes (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate), cranberry-walnut cookies, and shortbread. Oh – and plenty of chocolate chip cookies.

Of course, with all of the dozens of varieties and sizes of cookie tins available in pretty much every style and design one could imagine or want, there’s no shortage of containers for storing all of those homemade cookie masterpieces.

As for me? Make my cookie tin retro plaid. And, no offense, but…leave out those ones with the cherries on top, okay? Thanks.

 

Katie’s No-Bake Buckeyes

1 lb confectioner’s sugar

2 Tablespoons vanilla

2 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter

1 stick melted butter

Mix together all ingredients until smooth. Roll into balls. Chill a few hours or overnight.

When buckeyes are chilled, melt 1/3 bar of paraffin wax over a double boiler; add 12 oz. bag of semisweet chocolate chips and melt until smooth. Dip peanut butter balls into chocolate mixture halfway. Place on wax paper to harden.

 

Scottish Shortbread

1 cup butter, no substitutions

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups sifted flour

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy; stir in flour. Chill dough.

When ready to bake, place dough on lightly floured surface and roll to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out with cookie cutters or cut into strips; prick with a fork. Bake on UNGREASED cookie sheet in a preheated 300 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.  Cool.

Yield: 2-3 dozen

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