12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Holly Berry Cookies

A family tradition.

Every Christmas, I'd wait for my Aunt Kathy to bring the Holly Berry cookies.

The entire family would be there: grandparents, their six kids & spouses, & the 19 grandchildren. It got loud & too hot, but we had fun. Lots of laughter before, during & after the seemingly-endless 'youngest-to-oldest' or vice versa gift giving.

And there was food. Christmas eve was about pick-up-able foods. Grammy might have ham cooked & sliced, ready for sandwiches. Cheese, crackers (always Ritz & Wheat Thins), & of course summer sausage from Am. Grammy's fudge & penuche. But few cookies.

Grammy didn't really bake. It's not that she couldn't, but I think being the oldest girl of ten kids herself & mother to six, the years of putting three meals a day on the table left her with little desire for baking. (I pretend the zucchini bread didn't happen.)

She might make her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. My own mother, at least in the later years, would bring sugar & other types.

In my late teens/early twenties, I started making cookies for the family get-together.

But it was Kathy's Holly Berry cookies that I always craved.

Crunchy, sweet but not too sweet, with that jolt of spice from the 'berries'.

I got the recipe from my Aunt some years ago, even though, as a vegetarian, I could no longer eat them myself. I continued making them for the family, & for my new family. (My brother-in-law is a huge fan.)

A couple of years ago, I discovered Sweet & Sara Vegan Marshmallows.

Absolutely perfect, with a fantastic taste. And they work like their gelatin-based counterparts.

Guess what I did that year?

That's right. Made Holly Berry Cookies with vegan marshmallows. And ate quite a few myself.

...any bets on how long these last?

There are even more amazing cookies to crave at Abby Sweets!