sarahcentric

I am technology’s number 1 fan.

If technology had an official store, I would buy the foam finger. If it had its own theme restaurant in Times Square, I would bus tables until I could waitress.

Still, there is something great about a piece of old school, homemade mail.

Of course, this time of year, there are all kinds of items in your mailbox that aren’t stupid Con Ed bills or flyers from Bed Bath and Beyond. There are the gigantic boxes Amazon uses to ship that one keychain free overnight. There are the Christmas cards with pictures of your college friend’s kids whose sole purpose is to make you feel a 1000 years old. “What?! I just gave this dude money for a keg of Labatt’s last weekend! Oh wait, that was 12 years ago…”

That’s all well and Christmas’y- but a 20 minute music/video/Port Douglas, Queensland postcard from Conan is something special.

Conan is from Sweden, lives in Australia, and he’s excellent. I thought he was “Colin from Luxembourg” when I first met him in Port Douglas. (Long story… but basically it was a misunderstanding brought on by too much sun, too many mai tais, and too good conversation with another excellent person from Port Douglas.) Conan’s magnum opus “Straliacentric” is nothing but 20 minutes of the most fantastic summer adventures you can possibly imagine. And thanks to Australia’s reverse-ies climate, it all could have happened yesterday.

Therefore, I thought it may be enlightening for Conan to see exactly what I was doing yesterday-what this poor Aussie DVD arrived just in time for…

The first winter storm of the season!

…The first little brother chasing his big brother with a snowball…

…The first morning of shoveling in Queens…

…The first showing of Avatar with my little brother before the first snow storm started…

…and my first batch of Greek Butter Cookies.

Greek Butter Cookies are a classic Jackson Christmas cookie. Nevermind that we are not Greek- when a cookie is as simple and delicious as this, we just go with it.

I very rarely say that anything without chocolate is amazing, but these truly are. My poor mother, knowing that we would inhale every single cookie warm, would hide her own personal jar way back in the pantry. You probably noticed that I knew the “hiding” place…because we found them..and we ate them..because we were terrible children.

Simple, yet over the top decadent. Butter, confectioner’s sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, baking powder. That’s it, making it the perfect cookie when you are snowed in because there is a good chance you have every ingredient. It’s the proportions that make this butter cookie the best one you have have ever had, guaranteed. One POUND of butter, only a quarter cup of sugar in the dough, but at least a ton sprinkled on top when they are warm.

Conan, maybe I was jealous of you for like 2 minutes into “Straliacentric”. But I was watching while eating a Greek Butter Cookie. Words cannot describe how awesome the first snowstorm of the year is for us, but Greek Butter Cookies definitely taste just like it.

If they weren’t so delicate, I would send a couple dozen to Port Douglas.
Something simple, something special.

Greek Butter Cookies
from an old, stained index card in my family’s kitchen cabinet that looks like a prop from a movie about the 50s, via the Greek Orthodox family who lived down the street from us growing up.

1 lb butter
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
3 teasp vanilla (ummm, a tablespoon right. Whatever, that’s what the index card says)
2 eggs

Sift together the following 3 items
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 cups sifted flour

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Mix butter with sugar, add eggs, next vanilla, then flour mixture. Put by teasp on
to cookie sheet then lightly press with spoon or thumb. (Love “put by teaspoon”) Bake at 350 for 15 - 20mins. Remove and sprinkle heavily with confectioners sugar while warm. (and I mean, HEAVILY)

Some notes to add to your index card
-This really is a traditional Greek Christmas cookie. It’s worth looking at the variations on this recipe, many of which include orange water or lemon extract. My family would pretty much kill me if I changed this recipe at all, but I thought you should know.
-Yes, that is a POUND of butter. 4 sticks. Sorry. Believe it or not, this doesn’t make a huge batch, just over 3 dozen. But I also ignored the index card’s directions for the teaspoon measurement, and just made snowballs instead. Don’t tell the index card.
-These are the best cookies ever.
-I have actually lost weight this holiday season. The Christmas Cookie Diet works!