My Grandmother's Half Moon Cookies

My Grandmother is spectacular in the kitchen - she bakes, she cooks...and she makes it look easy. I should adjust my tenses however, as she doesn't do the things she used to since being in a car accident some years ago - it changed her and the energy just isn't there any longer.

Rather than letting some of her best creations languish in memory alone, I decided to take on a few of her recipes that were always a Christmas feature. One being these Half Moon Spice Cookies.

Filled with jam and having a very tender bite, these clove-y, cinnamon-y cookies are one of my favorites from my Grandmother's Christmas plate.

These cookie require quite a bit of time and effort as you must hand fold the dough around the jam and seal them so they keep all the sticky goodness inside. The recipe makes enough for a very large family gathering - I saved half of the dough in the freezer and still had plenty of cookies!


Grandma's Half Moon Cookies

1 cup sour cream
1 cup honey
1 cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
8 tsp baking powder
4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cloves
5-6 cups flour

Dissolve baking soda into sour cream. Combine remaining ingredients with it. Roll out and cut circles with a water glass or cookie cutter. Dab jam of choice in center, fold over and seal using a bit of milk. Bake approximately 10 minutes at 325. Ice with icing sugar and milk mixture.

I was nervous as I took the first tray out of the oven. Would they be the same as Grandma's?

They were - and Papa Bear was able to remember his own Grandmother through these cookies too.

My Grandmother's Half Moon Cookies