By Donna Cornelius
Journal features writer
Cookie swaps are a great way to go home with a plateful of holiday treats.
But they also can turn into occasions that remind participants of Christmases past – and help them create new memories.
Peter Northcutt of Inverness said he thinks about his mother when he’s whipping up cookies for Birmingham Bake and Cook’s annual cookie swap. He and his brothers grew up eating delicious mom-made food, he said.
“My love for cooking came from having a mom who was at home with us until we were in our early teens,” Northcott said. “We have German and English heritage, so she made dishes from both. She made everything from scratch.
“At holiday times, she had a sweet tooth, as I did. She would make every kind of pie and dessert. I learned to cook through her.”
Northcott is originally from Michigan but spent 15 years in Kansas City, Mo. He came to Birmingham about two and half years ago when his partner, Dr. Keith Gurley, became a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he said.
He’s a Realtor at LAH Realty’s Hoover office and a Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce ambassador. He’s also at home in the kitchen.
“I like all types of cookies,” he said. “Keith and I are vegetarians. We do eat cheese and eggs.”
Northcott said he got to know Susan Green, owner of Birmingham Bake and Cook, when her shop was on Valleydale Road. Green recently moved the store to Cahaba Heights.
“When Susan’s shop was on Valleydale Road, she taught cooking classes there,” he said. “I would help her in the kitchen. This is my third Christmas with Susan.”
For this year’s swap, Northcott made his mom’s spritz cookies. (For more on the Cookie Swap Contest at Birmingham Bake and Cook–including the winning recipe, see our story here.)
“Mom didn’t just make cookies with a few little sprinkles and with frosting slapped on,” he said. “They were like little pictures. They were gorgeous. She’d make little gingerbread men and hand-pipe the edges.”
This year, Northcott’s cookie-making session was a poignant one.
“My mom died June 2,” he said. “Before then, she’d pulled together all her favorite recipes, and my aunt put them into a file box for me. They’re all my mom’s original recipes. I’d look at them and say, ‘I remember this one.’”
Cooking is “a tribute to traditions my mom helped me to love and enjoy,” he said.
Northcott said his association with Green also has inspired him as a cook.
“Because of Susan, I’m more active in my kitchen,” he said. “I pay more attention to detail, more attention to flavor and more attention to good ingredients.”
Three Generations of Bakers
Maggie Czeskleba is an experienced Birmingham Bake and Cook cookie swap participant. She’s taken cookies to the event for the past four years.
Not bad for a 6-year-old.
Jamie Czeskleba, Maggie’s mom, said she learned about the swap from visiting Susan Green’s store when it was on Valleydale Road.
“It was about two minutes from our house,” said Jamie Czeskleba, who lives with her family in Oak Mountain. “We’d go in just to look around. The shop was so inviting, and Susan always remembered who we were.
“Maggie has a twin brother, and when they were 3 years old, I’d gone into the store to buy a pancake pan with bug shapes. Susan mentioned the cookie swap, and I asked if kids could come.”
Green said she’d be happy to have Maggie at the swap.
“But she said both of us would have to bring a cookie,” Czeskleba said. “We pulled out recipe books, flipped through them to find recipes and had a great time baking together.”
Maggie, who’s a kindergarten student at Oak Mountain Elementary School, already has preferences when it comes to ingredients, her mom said.
“She knows the difference between golden raisins and regular raisins,” Czeskleba said.
The cookie swap has not only helped Maggie hone her culinary skills but has boosted her public speaking ability, her mom said.
“You have to stand up at the swap and talk about your cookies, so that’s helped Maggie learn to talk in front of people,” Czeskleba said. “It’s been a lot of fun for her.”
Czeskleba said her own grandmother taught her to bake.
“We have all her old recipes, and Maggie pulled out one for a sugar cookie,” she said.
For the past two years, Karen Czeskleba of Montevallo has joined her daughter-in-law and granddaughter at the swap.
“A lot of the same people come every year, so it’s like seeing family,” Karen Czeskleba said. “Maggie always seems excited about it. And we eat together before we go to the cookie swap.”
This year, Karen Czeskleba made oatmeal cookies with cranberries and almonds.
“You have to bring 48 cookies, so I was looking for a recipe that made a large volume,” she said. “I thought the dried cranberries in these cookies made them more Christmassy.”
Thanks to Maggie, there’s little chance that the three generational bakers will ever miss the Birmingham Bake and Cook swap.
“She’s the one who always remembers it,” Jamie Czeskleba said. “She can kind of sense when it’s getting close.”
Spritz Cookies
This recipe was a favorite of Peter Northcott’s mother, Mary Ann Wright Northcott Mace, he said.
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
4 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place oven racks apart to have two oven levels somewhere in the middle.
Thoroughly cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract; beat well.
Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture, mixing to a smooth dough. Do not chill! Place dough into cookie press and press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Add some colored sanding sugar to the tops of cookies if desired.
Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes (3 minutes on lower rack and 3 minutes on upper rack).
Makes 6 dozen cookies.
Cook’s note: Do a test cookie to see if the mixture needs more flour to function well in the cookie press. Do not brown bottoms of cookies, so monitor oven temperatures.
Nutmeg Cookie Logs
Peter Northcott took these treats to the Birmingham Bake and Cook cookie swap two years ago, he said.
Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
2 teaspoons rum-flavored extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugar. Stir in vanilla, egg, and rum flavoring. Mix well. Add flour and nutmeg.
Roll in long “logs” ¾ inch in diameter. Cut into 3-inch strips. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets or on plain parchment paper and bake 12 to 15 minutes.
Cook’s note: Keep bottoms of cookies very light, so check them often. Preferably they should have no color.
Frosting:
3 tablespoons butter
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon rum-flavored extract
Directions:
Cream together butter and confectioner’s sugar. Add vanilla and rum flavoring. Stir in milk (may add more to reach desired consistency). Spread frosting over tops of cookie and go over the top of the frosting with a fork for texture. Dust with fresh ground nutmeg sparingly.
Maggie Czeskleba’s Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg onto waxed paper.
Beat butter, egg and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Stir in milk and vanilla. Stir in sifted dry ingredients.
Chill the dough until you can handle it easily. Roll to ¼-inch thickness on floured surface and cut into desired shapes.
Put cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until golden.
Cook’s note: “Most of the time we put the cookie dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, then you can handle it,” Jamie Czeskleba said.
Jamie Czeskleba’s Oatmeal Apple Cookies
Directions:
1 cup brown sugar, packed firm
½ cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups Quaker Oats (quick or regular)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 medium apple, shredded
½ cup raisins, optional
½ cup nuts, optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients (oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt) in separate bowl.
Beat together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Add combined dry ingredients and mix well.
Stir in apple and raisins and nuts, if using.
Drop by tablespoons on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes.
Frosting: Mix ½ cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon milk and drizzle on top of the cookies.
Karen Czeskleba’s Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cardamom
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup white chocolate chips, optional
2/3 cup sliced almonds, optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla.
Combine dry ingredients and then add to butter mixture and stir until well blended. Add dried cranberries. Stir in white chocolate chips and almonds if using.
Drop by teaspoonfuls on parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
