I better quit posting and get baking...

Southwestern Pennsylvania has a great mix of ethnic heritage and culture. During this time of year, Friends are asking “Have you made your Christmas cookies?”
This is a tradition shared in this area by folks of every background. Making Christmas cookies is a must….and plenty of ‘em !
There’s the Italians with the Pizzelles,

the Czechoslovakians and polish with filled nut rolls and Kolachky (a light pastry filled with apricot,cheese or nuts...

Russian tea cakes and European Lady locks!

So you ask, “what's a lady lock?”
As anyone who ever bellied up to the “cookie table” at a wedding reception in Western Pennsylvania knows, a lady lock is a small, puff pastry cream horn filled with sweet butter-cream icing, usually vanilla in flavor.

One bite conjures memories of grandmothers and great-grandmothers who came from Europe, bringing the recipe with them from the old country. Sometimes the confections are called clothespin cookies because the puff pastry at one time was wrapped around a clothespin to shape it.

You will find these cookies at every wedding, church bazaar or any family event worth mentioning...in fact, Pittsburgh had their first Annual International cookie Festival in November!