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 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
-
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.
-
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.
-
Knead the dough into a ball. Place it onto a plate, cover with plastic food wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two.
-
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.
-
Line them out on a greased cookie sheet.
-
Bake for 25 minutes at 350 F (180 C) or until light golden brown.
-
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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Hello! Is it required to use a meat grinder? Can you cut the dough into shapes?
This recipe is for the meat grinder only.
Couldn’t you use a cookie press? Like this?
http://amzn.to/2gH32Zr
Great recipe Valyusha! My family used to make similar kind of cookies, but round with a little jam in the middle.
Hi Marina. This dough is little to hard for the cookie press. I have spritz cookie dough recipe on my blog. Thank you for your comment dear 🙂
Oh, the memories… I can “taste” those buttery flaky cookies…
I know. Thank you Tatyana 🙂
Hi, can I use butter instead of lard?
You can try. I don’t know if they will turn out as flaky and crispy.
I think as I recall correctly, when my mom makes these, she uses butter instead lard. I remember her saying..its so much butter here ..but these r insanely delish
The recipe has very little lard and it gives delicious aroma, taste and crunchiness. I will try using only butter to compare. Thank you for stopping by and commenting Olga! 🙂
Wow, we made these cookies every year for holidays as well! This recipe looks a little different, but really want to try it:)) they were a favorite at our home as well when I was growing up:) we called them “kovriki”
If I have a cookie attachment, do you think I can use my kitchen aid meat grinder? I know my mom has the cookie disc for these…
Check if it fits. I read review on Amazon that it does not fit Kitchen Aid mixer. I do have Kitchen aid mixer, but don’t have meat grinder attachment since I’ve always used separate heavy duty meat grinders. I would love you to come back and tell me the results, since others may have the same question. Thank you Lena!
I tried to see if my mom’s cookie attachment would work on kitchen aid. .. sadly, no, it didn’t. But then again, the manual meat grinder my mom has, is the one she brought over from Europe 20yrs ago. .. so it’s still possible that the ones made and/or sold in US might be compatible…
I think so too. Let me know after you try it out. Thank you Lena.
I finally made these today! Delicious, and even better than the ones we made before:) I asked my mom for her recipe, but she just adds everything “na glaz” so I’m very thankful you posted this recipe! Now I can make these every year too!
That’s awesome! I was making this recipe “na glaz” most of my life. I am glad you liked the recipe. Thank you for such an amazing review. 🙂
Hi Valichka!
Thank you for sharing such a special recipe. These were made by my aunt for any major get togethers. She called them хрустики. Back in the day, we didn’t have the means of making fancy cakes.So it was a feast every time she made them.
Also, thank you for sharing your personal story… I can’t imagine going what you guys went thru.
Such a heartbreaking event. I hope that God позаботился for all of your siblings. Sounds like you guys are a close family, and that is so important.
With much love and compassion,
your sister in Christ,
Lena
Hi Lena! Hrustiki are different kind of cookies. They are twisty cookies fried in oil and drenched in powder sugar. I don’t have recipe on my blog yet, but we do make them too. Thank you very much for kind words! God’s blessings to you! 🙂
Valya, can i use a store bought lard as i don’t have a homemade? Thank you!
You sure can.
Valya i think you made a mistake in ingredients description 12 oz =340 gr and 4 oz = 113 gr. Now I am not sure how much do I have to put in the dough. I already started to make the cookies.
Oh, I am so sorry. Thank you for catching that. I made mistake in oz. You need 6 oz.(170 g) – butter and 2 oz. (56 g) lard. I’ll fix that right now.
Thank you Valya
You are welcome, I hope your cookies worked out.
Ahh…those are from my childhood, good times, delicious cookies….thank you for the recipe!
You are very welcome! 🙂
What a wonderful story and a tribute to your Mom. Thank you for sharing because it makes me appreciate my Mom that much more and be thankful for every moment I have with her. She will be 89 in Feb. Could you tell me the exact brand of the meat grinder you use? I have an old manual Oster meat grinder but I do not think it has a cookie attachment. It is in the attic because I have a meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid. Wishing you and all your loved ones a Blessed Christmas.
Hi Candice! My meat grinder was brought to me from Ukraine and it has no name on it. Thank you very much for kind words! 🙂
Thank you for sharing this. My Polish Babcia use to make cookies just like this. Brought back some memories.
You are very welcome! Thank you for stopping by Virginia 🙂
I make these as well. Also a tradition passed down from my mother. My recipe is different but the cookies are also made with the meat grinder. So nice to see, we call them Spritz.
🙂
I do have Spritz cookie recipe as well. Check the recipe HERE. Thank you for your comment Nadja.
I was looking for this recipe for a long time , but I just want to make sure that it’s 1 tbsp of baking soda and not 1 tsp ? Thank you
My mom used to add 1 tbsp. of baking soda, so did I. If it seems to much for you you can add 1 tsp. and let me know the results. Thanks
Can u use parchment paper instead of greasing the cookie sheet, making this today
You sure can, but it’s not necessary to waste parchment paper, the cookies come of a pan very easily.
What do u make your homemade lard from?
Pigs fat, preferably fat on the stomach.
Thank you for this recipe. Got my cookie attachment which worked just fine on my Wearing Pro electric meat grinder. Cookies turned out great without much effort.
That is so awesome!!! I’m glad to hear that the recipe was easy for you. Nothing compares to homemade cookies. Thank you for sharing your experience with me! 🙂
Oops, it’s Waring Pro 🙂
Hi Valya
Can you make the dough the night before?
Yes. Make sure the dough is not exposed to light (some fridges have constant light on) otherwise it will darken a bit. But if it does it will get to normal color after baking.
Cookies had an aftertaste from too much baking soda, I followed the recipe exactly as written.
WOW, you really must be sensitive to baking soda then. Vinegar activated with baking soda usually removes that taste. You may reduce it to a teaspoon of each (baking soda and vinegar) next time you make it. Let me know if the cookies will have the airy texture do to baking soda reduction.