When my sister and I were young, we had a standing Christmas- cookie-decoration date with a family friend. Eleanor's kids were grown, but she loved mixing up several batches of dough (some colored red and green with food-safe dye), pulling out the cookie cutters, and helping us make and bake fancy tray after tray of cookies.

I looked forward to that afternoon in Eleanor’s kitchen every year. Even after I got too old for the annual cookie party, I thought about it fondly (and dreamed about her delicious, buttery cookies).

When December rolled around this year, I found myself craving the experience of making and decorating holiday sugar cookies. I used to have a copy of Eleanor’s recipe, but no matter how much I looked, I couldn't put my hands on it. And so I went looking for options and found The Pioneer Woman’s Favorite Christmas Cookies.

It uses vegetable shortening in place of butter and adds a little bit of orange zest to the dough, but otherwise seems very close to the recipe I once knew. And truly, it's a delightful dough to work with. It comes together quickly, rolls out beautifully and holds its shape nicely while baking. If you're still in the midst of your holiday baking, stir together a batch of this dough and cut out some cookies for your  Weekender!

— Like so many sugar cookie doughs, this one needs a rest in the fridge or freezer before it's ready for rolling. I like to make it the night before I want to bake, so that it can firm up nicely.

— Make sure to sprinkle your board or countertop generously with flour before rolling the cookies out. It's no fun when your dough sticks and tears.

— This is a flexible dough that can be decorated before or after baking. Before the cookies go into the oven, sprinkle them with colored sugar, add silver dragees or embellish with small cinnamon candies. Once the cookies are baked and cooled, you can glaze or frost.

Marisa McClellan is a food writer and canning teacher who lives in Center City Philadelphia. Find more of her food (all cooked up in her 80-square-foot kitchen) at her blog, Food in Jars. Her first cookbook, Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round, is now available.