Old Fashioned Ice Box Cookies
A traditional Spice cookie that has the flavors of the season.
This is an old recipe that has been in my family for at least 80 years.
I bake these cookies every Christmas. I made a few changes to the recipe. Most of us don’t cook with Lard any longer! Yep, the original recipe called for lard and needed a little updating.
For you youngsters out there, “Icebox” is an old term referring to an old style refrigerator of sorts. Before homes had electricity they would have an Icebox, usually made of wood that had blocks of ice in it, to keep food items cold. Once the refrigerator was developed, some people still called their refrigerator “the Ice box”.
So the recipe name “Old Fashioned Ice Box Cookies” refers to the fact that you refrigerate the Cookie Dough before baking and since this is a very old recipe, they still referred to the refrigerator as an Ice Box.
Because you make the dough ahead of time, you can take out a roll, slice and bake just before company comes over. The aroma in your home will certainly entice your guests.
I hope you enjoy these Cookies as much as my family has all these years!
OLD FASHIONED ICE BOX COOKIES
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Cup Canola Oil
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
- 1 Teaspoon Cloves
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 5 Cups Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
Directions:
1. In a medium bowl stir together the Flour, Baking Soda and Salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine the Butter and Oil, using a hand mixer on low speed.
3. Beat in the Eggs one at a time with your hand mixer. Then add the Sugars and mix until well combined.
4. Add in the Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cloves. Mix until well blended.
5. Add the Flour mixture, 1 Cup at a time, and stir well with a wooden spoon.
6. Once the Flour is all incorporated, stir in the Walnuts. Form the Dough and separate it into 3-4 balls.
7. Roll and shape each Dough ball into desired length (I usually go with 2 & 1/2 inches wide by 12 inch long rolls, you should get about 3-4 rolls) then wrap each roll tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. You can keep the Dough in the refrigerator for several days if you want to make the Dough ahead of time.
8. When ready to bake, Preheat oven to 375 degrees, slice the Dough into 1/2 inch slices, then place them on an non-greased cookie sheet.
note: any unused Dough or Cookie slices should be kept in the refrigerator until they go directly in the oven. The cold Dough is easier to slice and helps the Cookie retain it’s shape.
9. Bake the Cookies until the edges are golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.
10. Transfer the Cookies to a cookie cooling rack and cool completely.
My recipe makes about 60 Cookies. Store them in an airtight container.
Recipe by: Hot Dish Homemaker
The icebox cookie recipe came from Grandma Hazel who got it from a lady she babysat for back when she was a young girl. Glad to see it is being passed down and used. I also make them every year.
I live in Cocoa Beach, FLORIDA , and when I was a kid , I used to buy these at the Publix Supermarket. I’m wondering if anyone knows if this recipe makes cookies like those at Publix backers. Would love to have that recipe. This recipe looks good and the pics look great. I’ll be making these for Christmas for sure! Thank you!
Those look almost exactly like my Aunt’s traditional Christmas cookie. The recipe is also almost spot on.
This is very close to my Grandma’s recipe that is also in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook with the red and white checkered cover. But those recipes do not use oil and not that much butter. Originally it calls for 1 and 1/2 cup shortening. I do half butter and shortening or a third each plus a third margarine. And 4 and 1/2 cups flour.
Traditionally we make these for Christmas but I just made some yesterday using half whole wheat and half white flour. Have never put nuts in these.
Interesting the variations on things over time. We call them refrigerator cookies or just spice cookies so we don’t have to explaine the later.
I just came across your recipe looking while researching my family’s own version of this very same cookie. Imagine my surprise at seeing what my family for some reason calls Baptist cookies (no one knows the origin story on that one) right here on your website! Our version is also an old family recipe and since we’re in north Texas we use pecans instead of walnuts, but otherwise it’s almost exactly the same cookie. When I was a kid, I made them year round, but now I restrain myself to only making them around the holidays. So neat to see everyone’s stories about their version of this cookie. Anyways, thank you for sharing this very special (and delicious) recipe with the world. 🙂
I am so happy to have found your recipe, my Grandmother and I used to bake cookies for Christmas and this version the family called “Overnight Cookies”. This recipe is very close to the ones that we used to make. Unfortunately, all of my recipes are packed away in storage as we are building our new home. These are delicious and remind me of the years back when I used to bake with my Grandmother. The smell of the spices fills the home with the most wonderful aroma when baking. We will enjoy them very much!