from Tracey G.

This week’s offerings are more about the stories surrounding the recipes rather than the recipes themselves but that doesn’t make them less yummy!

My planning for a class treat for Harry’s upcoming Birthday started months ago. I’d seen the Paint-Your-Own cookie stencils at my 2 favorite online places for my cookie decorating supplies – The Cookie Countess & Flour Box Bakery – and thought that would be an easy and fun thing for the kids to do. They could do them in class if they had time, or take them home. The ready-to-decorate cookies get packaged with a little brush and food color paint palette – it’s pretty neat! So a few months ago I went ahead and ordered the Birthday Cupcake stencil, with Harry’s blessing of course.

Fast forward to last week – I was as getting the rest of the supplies ready to order: cookie bags, palettes, brushes and the little bags to package the palettes & brushes in. I went to show Jeremy the stencil we were going to use and Harry decided oh no no no, the cupcake was stupid, he didn’t want that at ALL. Needless to say mama was not pleased at ALL. I was ready and willing to scrap it all. Done.

Then, I talked with Kris later and she mentioned possibly a different stencil or something. I wasn’t too sure because most of the PYO (paint-your-own) stencils Are holiday-specific etc. So, I went and looked. I ran across a llama. Now, with Fornite being the hit video game of the moment, and they have “Loot Llamas” in-game, the llama he was all for. Okaaaaaaay. Llama it will be. He’d better not change his mind again because it’s too late now!

For the longest time I used KAF’s Holiday Butter Cookies for my cookie making, but it just wasn’t working as I’d wanted it to, my cut edges weren’t staying nice and “sharp”, which I also knew was partly due to process too (cold dough etc). So, I started looking around and ran across the Bearfoot Baker’s recipe, AND her rolling/cutting method which got me the edges I was looking for and a cookie the boys really liked! Bingo!

I do modify her recipe slightly, I don’t add any baking powder at all. Here’s the ingredients list:

*Butter

*Sugar

*Eggs

*Vanilla

*Salt

*Baking Powder

*Flour

All the usual suspects as you can see. And here’s a link to her recipe and she talks about her method too!!

The Bearfoot Baker’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

Her recipe is so easy and produces a really nice cookie for decorating or as Harry prefers, plain or with a soft frosting. Give them a try next time you’re in the mood to decorate some cookies!

from Kris B.

I suspect that for most kids, the first kind of cookies they learn how to make “all by themselves” is chocolate chip.  For me, it was Snickerdoodles.  I don’t know why this was the case.  I also don’t know where my mom’s recipe originated.  I only ever knew it as being on a vanilla-stained recipe card written in her handwriting and being perpetually misfiled in her recipe box.

When I got married, I no longer had mom’s recipe box at my fingertips, so I turned to the The New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (copyright 1981), which I received as a wedding gift, for a Snickerdoodle recipe.  I couldn’t remember mom’s recipe exactly, but the one in the cookbook seemed fairly close, and now has been my go-to Snickerdoodle recipe for thirty-five years.

Here is a link to that recipe:

Better Homes and Gardens Snickerdoodle recipe

At some point, I did get my mom’s recipe.  It is written in her handwriting on a clean blue index card;  her recipe varies slightly from the above – a little less flour, a little more sugar, an extra egg, and salt.  I still use the one from the cookbook.

At the beginning of last week, one of my college level classes started talking about the lack of good coffee on campus.  Since our next class meeting after this discussion was Valentines Day, I told them that I would bring coffee as a Valentines Day treat.  Someone then said that if we have coffee, we need doughnuts too.  I offered cookies instead.  That was received well.  The conversation continued with them saying that maybe we needed snacks every week.  I told them that I was good with snacks, but someone was going to have to volunteer to be our room parent and organize it all.  I had done my time in that particular role.  With that, the idea of weekly snacks quickly died.

I did keep my promise and took them fresh coffee and cookies – Snickerdoodles.  I chose to make Snickerdoodles not only because they are a favorite of mine, but also because they avoid many of the common allergy ingredients found in cookies – chocolate and peanuts or peanut butter.  And let’s face it, the cinnamon-y goodness of Snickerdoodles is the perfect companion to a good cup of coffee!

My students, who range in age from 18 to 65, were most appreciative.  And as is often the case with the younger ones, there was amazement in the fact that the cookies were homemade.  It’s funny to me how such a simple gesture of hospitality can transform the dynamic of a group of people.  We had the best time in class that day – sharing stories and ideas…and eating cookies and drinking coffee.  Very little of what we discussed had anything to do with our class material, but does that really matter?  Sometimes the most important lessons in life come from spending time getting to know others, especially in a group like this that is diverse in age, gender, race, and, obviously, life experiences.

As a bonus, someone did bring doughnuts, as well.  We had quite the feast!

It was such a great day that I may have to rethink being not only the professor, but also the room mother.