Santas From Around The World: The U.S. of A.- The Coca-Cola Santa (Advent 2020, Day 25)

It’s December 25th! Christmas! We made it through another Advent.

To finish everything up, we take a look at the most well-known Santa of them all- the Santa Claus of the Coca-Cola Corporation. 

Santa Claus had been in existence way before Coca-Cola left their mark on the Christmas icon. Mostly, how America and other parts of the world viewed Kris Kringle was based on Clement Moore’s 1823 poem ‘A Visit From St. Nicolas’ AKA: Twas The Night Before Christmas. But as we’ve seen, some parts of the world view Santa as this terrifying figure. 

In 1931, Coca-Cola decided that it was time to make Coke the official beverage of Christmas. To do that, the company decided to modernize Santa and they built an entire advertising campaign around this new version of a classic. Thus Coke hired Haddon Sundblom to commission a series of paintings in which Santa enjoys a cold refreshing bottle of cola instead of the traditional milk and cookies. 

Taking inspiration from Moore’s poem, Sundblom turned Santa into the ultimate vessel of happiness and joy with his rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes and infectious smile. The red robe was replaced with a sleek red fur suit. His clunky boots were replaced with galoshes that offered more traction on icy roofs and inside those pesky chimneys. Perhaps the most lasting detail Sundblom added to the modern Santa was replacing the bishop like crown with a red stocking cap tipped with a fluffy white puff. 

Coke’s campaign worked. Sales of the fizzy stuff sky-rocketed. To this day, Coke manages to outsell just about all other beverages (except alcohol) for the holidays. And yes, there are still some families that will leave Santa an unopened classic green bottle of Coke with his cookies. Hopefully, they remember to leave out a bottle opener. 

Of course, I am going to share with you a cookie recipe made from Coke. My favorite version is Cherry. So enjoy my last Advent present for 2020 with this recipe for chocolate Cherry Coke cookies.

Until next year- Enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Coke Cookies

Ingredients

  

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 3 Tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cola cherry 
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dried cherries

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a small bowl mix the flaxseed and water. Set aside a few minutes to gel.
• In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
• Cream together the margarine and sugars until smooth.
• Add the flaxseed mixture and vanilla. Add the cola and mix until fully incorporated.
• Add the flour mixture until a smooth dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips and cherries until they’re evenly distributed throughout the dough.
• Use a cookie scoop to scoop out the dough and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat, spacing the cookies about 3 inches apart from each other.
• Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 14-16 minutes or until the cookies are very lightly golden around the edges.