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Food on Fridays with Ann
My grandmother passed away in 1987. If she were still alive, she would celebrate her 116th birthday on June 1.
In memory of this much loved lady, I decided to pull from the archives and republish the recipe for “Grandma Cookies.”
I remember the back door of Grandma’s house swinging open. I can still hear the spring stretching, squeaking and pulling the door shut with a solid thunk. I can see the porcelain kitchen sink, the linoleum floor and the baker’s cabinet in which she stored the flour and baking soda and sugar that she needed to make cookies.
When my brother and I burst into the kitchen, she pulled out her green pan, a vintage roasting pan, to offer us some “Grandma Cookies.” I hunted for the ones with gumdrops or sprinkles.
When I was a teen, Grandma showed me how she made her famous cookies, and I was pleased when my mom told me that my solo attempts at home were very close to Grandma’s.
I make them now and then for my own kids, but they don’t hold the same appeal for them as they do for me. One look at these cookies—one bite—and I am transported back to that kitchen, back to the wooden table where I would sit and nibble the cookie, working my way from the outside of the circle in, closer and closer to the center. Finally, I would eat the last bite, chewing slowly, appreciating the blend of cookie crumbles and grape spice drop mixing in my mouth.
When my kids eat them, they simply eat a sugar cookie.
But I will make these cookies regularly one day, when my children grow up, marry, and bring their kids to visit. Yes, I’ll bake those cookies in big batches and store them in the green vintage roasting pan. I’ll pass them out the minute those grandkids burst in the door, and I’ll serve glasses of milk at the wooden table in the kitchen. I’ll note if they hunt down their favorites, and then I’ll watch to see if they eat around the edges, working their way to the center.
And if all goes as planned, my Grandma Cookies will become their Grandma Cookies.
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Here’s Grandma’s recipe, with a few of my annotations in brackets.
“Grandma Cookies”Ingredients:
- 1 C shortening (oleo or oleo and part butter) [Note: instead of oleo, I combined 3/4 C butter and 1/4 C cooking oil]
- 2 C sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 C sour milk [Note: to make “sour milk,” stir in just a teaspoon or so of vinegar to make it curdle]
- 1 t soda
- 1 t baking powder
- 1 t vanilla
- about 4 cups of flour or more as needed
Directions: Cream shortening and sugar, and beat in eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with milk to egg mixture. [Note: I recall that alternating the dry and wet mixtures was key to success.]
Drop by teaspoons on cookie sheet. In the middle of each teaspoonful of dough, stick a gumdrop or a piece of walnut or pecan in the middle, or sprinkle with colored sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until done.
I have this note handwritten on the recipe from Grandma: “I used to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters. Now I drop by teaspoons right on the cookie sheet to bake.”
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Photo by Ann Kroeker. “Pin” these images in a way that links back to this particular page, giving proper credit.
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What a lovely post. It’s so wonderful to think that you will continue on this tradition. You would be making your Grandma so happy!
My Grandmother made cookies that are similar to yours if not the same. Her cookies were always a treat. Most of my favorite recipies have actually been passed down from mother, aunts, family member and friends. Tried and true. In a pinch I use Cooks.com where you can find some good ones too. Come to think of it, I have copied quite a few from your site and keep them in a folder.
Sweet! Uncle Don and I were trying to think of something I could post, but you have done it for us!
Just the word “oleo” brings back memories. It was years before I understood what my grandmother was talking about.
P.S. Love that childhood photo!
Oleo…oreo…oriole…
I had to ask, too, back then.
(I love that photo, too…when I asked my brother, he sent over a few he had scanned)
My next door neighbor turned 13 today and came over to hang out. We decided to make cookies, and I remembered this post, so we’re waiting for these to come out of the oven now. If they taste as good as the dough, I’m sure we won’t be disappointed! :] Thank you for sharing~
Also can I just say that you were an absolutely adorable little girl and your daughters look just like you– beautiful! :]
How did the cookies turn out? Did you make them with sprinkles on top?
And thank you…I adored my grandma. Can you tell from how I’m leaning into her?
Sigh. Nothing better than Grandma’s baked goods!!
I miss those cookies….
I ADORE that photo. Thank you for this – as a grandmother, it’s good to hear anyone say how much they loved their own. I’m not the best cookie baker, but I am interesting. :>) (sort of…)
Diana, I just had a conversation with two friends this morning at a soccer match, and one is a new grandma and the other could be a grandma in just a few years. They reminisced about what their grandmas did, and we all agreed it didn’t really matter what it was that the grandma did, only that it became that activity or tradition or food item that gave some kind of grounding and made a connection. One friend said her grandma gave them a chocolate covered ice cream bar every time they helped her with any kind of yard work; the other friend said her grandma had some kind of Styrofoam cookie jar and inside were store-bought cookies, and they were free to snitch any time. Her other grandma had a glass chicken bowl (the chicken body and head formed a lid, I think). Inside, she kept M&Ms. The only thing my friend didn’t like about possibly continuing this tradition for another generation is that it encourages freely consuming something that is really not good for you in large quantities. But all three of us had some memory attached to our grandmothers–some treat.
But the reason the treat mattered? Is because we each adored our grandmothers.
So…just lavish love and interest and attention in your own way, and they’ll find the thing that connects them to you or makes them think of you. It might be Fiesta Ware that always reminds them of you. Or books. Or some snack you bring out when they’re taking a break from swimming in your pool! 🙂
Heck, life isn’t good for us in large quantities but I want ALL God will allow me to have! -smile-
Oh, I love this story, miss Ann. So many details are mine too. The thunk! of the screen door stays with me. Today’s doors are too light and have too many catches built-in so they don’t properly slam into place.
Blessings.
Thank you, Miss Darlene! I’m glad we share that sensory memory of the screen door thunk!
Our porch door is breaking. Cheap, modern doors….
Just yesterday, Daddy and I were talking about our raisin’…as we called it. He had such a physically hard life, raised in Appalachia on a WV hardscrabble farm. My life wasn’t as physically difficult, chores and helping put up the garden…loved doing it then and still love doing it… The salient point is, we both knew we were loved and we both knew we were safe; so many children these days don’t know either and it’s SO sad.
The photo of your Grandmother is precious; the memories are precious. God bless you, Ann, as you pass along to your children, the love and safety you received.