Meat Grinder Cookie Recipe

This recipe is one of those very special and near to heart traditional recipes that was passed down to me by my mom. I am very excited to share it with you today! Before posting this recipe, I actually checked on Amazon to see if there is still such a thing as a manual meat grinder, with cookie attachments that can be obtained today. And behold! The old-fashioned hand-cranked grinders are still around. So I decided to post this recipe, because what’s the point in posting a recipe if it cannot be replicated by others in the same way. I usually make these cookies for major holidays only. As I mentioned earlier, and as with “Golubtsi,” there are certain recipes I reserve for holidays to keep it special and traditional.

This was one of my mother’s favorite recipes and she made it for major holidays as well. And always for Christmas. I enjoyed them very much every year growing up. They are easy to make but so delicious and crunchy. Every bite just melts in your mouth with every sip of hot tea or coffee. I don’t think we ever had a Christmas without these traditional cookies. Both in my mom’s household, and my own. They perfectly match a winter theme; dusted in powdered sugar, reminding me of nature dusted with snow.

Let me go a little deeper and explain why are these cookies are very special

… to me. It is a simple recipe, but heavy with memories. The attachment on this meat grinder is the exactly same one that my mother used. Just days before she passed, she made enough of these cookies to feed an army for a week. (As well as a ton of other delicious food.) She also absolutely loved dunking them in hot tea, herself, and extend fun conversations at the table after meals. When they’re made at Christmastime, we have bittersweet memories of how she loved to make them for us as kids, who would happily nibble on them for days to come. On one fateful Christmas Day, mom left this earth, and all the toil, to be with The Heavenly Father. But not before leaving the kids with food to last for weeks.

As you can imagine, Christmas Day has been a bit sad for a while there, and especially turbulent for my younger siblings. Christmas is not the same for them either without loads of mom’s traditional Ukrainian food, including these delicious meat grinder cookies. It’s nice to keep her traditions alive. She was only 39 years old and my youngest sibling was only 2 years old at that time. I was the firstborn and a newlywed, living in a different city from my parents. The rest of my siblings were at home with my parents. The saddest thing for them was to watch her pass away before their eyes 19 years ago. But since, she’s always brought us together in her memory.

So, that is a bit of a sadder side to my story, but the Lord makes all things work together for good. We abruptly and harshly learned the true value of having a mother. My advice to all children who still have their mothers is to respect and love mothers. And fathers. Pleasantly and spontaneously surprise them with a helping hand, a gift or a bouquet of flowers. Not only on birthdays, on a holiday or for Mother’s and Father’s Day. Have “just because” times. Even in the middle of a typically busy week.

Comfort them in their burdens and verbalize how much you appreciate them for all they do and express how much they mean to you. They’re not as invincible as children think and may be gone in seconds. “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12. Parents don’t need huge and beautiful bouquets of flowers on their grave but deserve them when they are alive! Let us be generous in words of appreciation and respect for them while they are still with us.

So, I really wanted to post these cookies before Christmas because they put a smile on my face and reminds me what a wonderful mother I had. We will be making 3 batches of this recipe a week before Christmas. They are easy, delicious, and well-loved. They keep well in a container and are delicious to enjoy at any time of the day. At home or on the road. I hope you enjoy them and make them a favorite traditional cookies for you as well!

Now, on to the recipe.

Ingredients:
4 ½ -4 ¾ cup (576 g – 608 g) – all-purpose flour (I used organic whole wheat white flour)
6 oz. (170 g) – unsalted organic room temperature butter
2 oz. (56 g) – LARD room temperature; I used homemade lard. (What is LARD? Read HERE)
½ cup (115 g) – sour cream
1 cup (200 g) – granulated sugar
1 large – egg
1 tbsp. (15 ml) – baking soda
1 tbsp. (15 ml) – vinegar
1 tsp. (5 ml) – pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp. (1.25 ml) – sea salt

Manual meat grinder with cookie disk attachment. This is the closest meat grinder I found on Amazon to mine. The shapes are a little different, but will certainly not change the taste! 😛

Instructions:
1. Sift flour onto a working surface. Add room temperature butter and lard. Rub butter and lard into flour with both hands until well incorporated and the mixture resembles tiny breadcrumbs.

2. Form a crater in the middle of the flour mixture and add the rest of the ingredients: sugar, sour cream, egg, salt, vanilla, and baking soda activated with vinegar. Start by mixing all the ingredients together inside the crater with your fingers, then gradually incorporating flour, a little at a time, until all the flour is well incorporated. Remove all dough from your hands, knead it well and form a dough ball. The dough is very easy to work with. It should have the consistency of play-doh; not too sticky but cleans the surface of crumbs and flour well.

3. Knead the dough into a ball. Place it onto a plate, cover with plastic food wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two.

4. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Remove from the fridge, pinch off a fist-size chunk of dough and push it through the meat grinder. Cut the cookie bar from the meat grinder disc when it’s about 3 inches long.

5. Line them out on a greased cookie sheet.
Like so:

6. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F (180 C) or until light golden brown.

7. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and place them into a large Tupperware container to finish cooling. Once completely cooled, dust each row of cookies with powdered sugar, and cover with a lid. They also freeze perfectly if the recipe turns out to be too large for your family.

4.67 from 6 votes

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Meat Grinder Cookie Recipe

This was one of my mother’s favorite cookie recipes. She made these cookies for major holidays, and always for Christmas. I enjoyed them very much every year growing up. They are easy to make but so delicious and crunchy. Every bite just melts in your mouth with every sip of hot tea or coffee. I don't think we ever had a Christmas where we did not enjoy these traditional cookies. They perfectly match a winter theme. Cookies dusted with powdered sugar remind me of nature dusted with snow.

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Servings: 6 dozen

Author: Valya at Valya's Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 4 ½ -4 ¾ cup 576 g – 608 g – all-purpose flour (I used organic whole wheat white flour)
• 6 oz. 170 g – unsalted organic room temperature butter
• 2 oz. 56 g – LARD room temperature (read what LARD is? HERE)
• ½ cup 115 g – sour cream
• 1 cup 200 g – granulated sugar
• 1 large – egg
• 1 tbsp. 15 ml – baking soda
• 1 tbsp. 15 ml – vinegar
• 1 tsp. 5 ml – pure vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp. 1.25 ml – sea salt
• Meat grinder with cookie disk attachment

Instructions

1. Sift flour onto a working surface. Add room temperature butter and lard. Rub butter and lard into flour with both hands until well incorporated and the mixture resembles tiny breadcrumbs.
2. Form a crater in the middle of the flour mixture and add the rest of the ingredients: sugar, sour cream, egg, salt, vanilla, and baking soda activated with vinegar. Start by mixing all the ingredients together inside the crater with your fingers, then gradually incorporating flour, a little at a time, until all the flour is well incorporated. Remove all dough from your hands, knead it well and form a dough ball. The dough is very easy to work with. It should have the consistency of play-doh; not too sticky but cleans the surface of crumbs and flour well.
3. Knead the dough into a ball. Place it onto a plate, cover with plastic food wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two.
4. Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Remove from the fridge, pinch off a fist-size chunk of dough and push it through the meat grinder. Cut the cookie bar from the meat grinder disc when it’s about 3 inches long.
5. Line them out on a greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F (180 C) or until light golden brown.
7. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and place them into a large Tupperware container to finish cooling. Once completely cooled, dust each row of cookies with powdered sugar, and cover with a lid. They also freeze perfectly if the recipe turns out to be too large for your family.

If you make this Meat Grinder Cookie Recipe please share a picture with me on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest. Tag it with #valyastasteofhome. I’d love to see your creations! 🙂

Looking for more cookie recipes to make for Christmas? Here are some of our favorites:
MINT CANDY CANE COOKIES
PEPPERMINT GLAZED COOKIES
CHRISTMAS SPRITZ COOKIES

Kitchen item I used in making this recipe:
(if you need any of these items, simply press on the picture to order)

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