"Cookies Around the World" - A Christmas Tradition

Those of you that have been following me for a while now might know that we’re a homeschooling family. And one year, several years back, I had this idea that to supplement our geography curriculum, we would COOK around the world. It was getting close to Christmas time so I thought, why don’t we start with traditional Christmas cookies around the world? It was a hit! We have done it many Christmases since. Not all our recipes are necessarily “Christmas” cookies, but all the cookie recipes can be traced back to a certain country or culture. We have our tried and true favorites we do every year and we always try a new one or two each year.

It also makes great gifts! We love filling Christmas tins with extra cookies (because there’s no way we can eat them all!) and giving them out to friends and family!

Our first “Cookies Around the World” for Christmas.

I recently did this as a class for our homeschool co-op, so I finally compiled all my recipes into neat printables AND created little country info sheets to go along with them. I have now made that available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store under “Cookies around the World”.

I am going to give you one of my Cookies Around the World recipes! (All recipes AND the country info sheets can be purchased from my Teachers Pay Teachers store.)

Guatemalan Champurradas

Ingredients:4

1 ½ cups all purpose Flour
½ cup Masa flour (corn flour)*
¼ cup Piloncillo sugar*
½ cup white granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
8 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 tbsp vegetable shortening
1 pinch salt
3 eggs at room temperature – set one aside for the egg wash
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp sesame seeds

Makes 24 cookies

*I purchased Masa and Piloncillo from Amazon. You can use equivalent amounts of regular flour and dark brown sugar in their place.

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours, sugars, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.

Add the butter, shortening, 2 of the eggs, and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients. Beat with a mixer on medium until all the ingredients are combined and a dough is formed.

Knead the dough slightly to help the mixture form a ball.

Chill dough for 15 minutes in the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out dough on a floured surface until thin (around 1/8 inch thick.) Cut dough into circles with a circle cookie cutter. (You can also use the rim of a glass to cut – OR, roll portions of the dough into a ball and then flatten by hand. Cookies should be around 3 inches in diameter.)

Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet – position cookies about 2 inches apart.

In a small bowl, combine the remaining egg with a tablespoon of cold water to create an egg wash. Whisk until pale yellow and frothy.

Use a pastry brush to brush the tops of the cookies evenly with the egg wash.Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake until the cookies are golden brown but still tender to the touch, around 15-18 minutes.

Transfer baked cookies to a wire rack and let cool completely.