I have another holiday cookie recipe to share with you this week. Mandelschnitte.

It is a friends’ family recipe from my junior high school days. Cinnamon and cloves. So fragrant. I loved the smell and the taste of these cookies and looked forward every year for a chance to have them again.

Life happened and my friends and I moved to different places. The cookies became just memories until years later when we reconnected. I asked for and got the recipe. The first time I made mandelschnitte using their recipe, it took me back to when I was a young teenager in their kitchen. It had been over 30 years since I had had them last. It still makes me so happy to have this recipe. I make it and pecan balls every year now for Christmas. Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Do you have a recipe you only make this time of year? What is it and what’s its story?