Believe it or not, the first cookies were made by accident. According to culinary historians, the first historic record of cookies was their use as test cakes. Before baking a large cake, a small amount of cake batter was used by cooks to test their oven temperature. These little test cakes were called “koekje”, which means “little cake” in Dutch.

I haven’t tried baking cookies so far. But, I love cookies, most especially chocolate chip cookies. Since Christmas is near, I will try baking some cookies to be given as gifts to our friends.

I will share a basic cookie recipe that you can easily turn into such a variety of easy to make Christmas treats.

Basic Cookie Dough Recipe

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) butter (or margarine) at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the flour. Beat with an electric mixer, scraping the sides of the bowl several times, until the mixture is light and fluffy. With mixer at a low speed, add the flour gradually, beating just until everything is well blended.

Place the mixture on a baking sheet using a tablespoon measure and press down with a spoon to flatten a bit. Or roll our and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake at 350ºF for about 12 to 15 minutes, until golden.

You can vary this basic dough to make different Christmas cookie recipes. You can add chopped dried fruits like mango, dates, raisins, nuts, chocolate chips or bake them plain in holiday shapes and decorate with colored icing.