I have always liked to bake cookies. That's really not a true statement. I have always baked cookies, but I didn't necessarily like to bake cookies. I think the reason for that was probably it always seemed an effort in futility. I had 5 kids and their friends who really liked eating cookies and no matter how big the batch, they would all disappear in a very short time. (I ate my share, too) Some times I would freeze some of them and hide the package in the bottom of a big freezer. My son, Kirk, was the 'cookie sniffer.' He could find them no matter what kind of container they were in.
There is one recipe I dearly love to make; and eat, of course. It is my Grandma Grotrian's Sugar Cookies. They hold so many childhood memories for me, and I am usually almost in tears (good tears) by the time I am done. I wrote an article about these cookies and it was published along time ago. I am going to add that article to this post. I hope you enjoy it.
Grandma’s Sugar Cookies
Gloria Doty
The unmistakable aroma of warm from the oven cookies hit me even before I burst through the back door into the kitchen. I had just walked to our driveway down the gravel road from the corner where the school bus dropped me off. I had been hoping there would be something good to eat waiting for me. To my absolute delight, the round oak kitchen table was covered with big, beautiful creamy- colored sugar cookies.
These weren’t just any sugar cookies; they were the ones as big as saucers and as light as clouds. The tops were covered with sparkly grains of sugar and the lightly browned bottoms had the design of the cookie sheets baked into them. Of all the different kinds of cookies that my mother and grandmother made, these were my favorite!
If Grandma baked these cookies in the summer, she would let me help mix the dough and then roll it out. Then came the best part; I got to hold the short-stemmed glass goblet upside down and cut out the perfect circles. After Grandma carefully moved the delicate circles to a cookie sheet, I was allowed to sprinkle the tops with sugar. I never questioned the use of a goblet to cut them out as opposed to a biscuit cutter; I just thought that you had to use one if you wanted to make sugar cookies. As an adult, I am certain that Grandma used the goblet because it’s top was bigger in circumference and therefore resulted in the large, round cookies.
I have used Grandma’s recipe many times to make the cookies for my children and now for my grandchildren. I always use the goblet to cut the circles and when asked, I always tell the story of my grandma’s cookies and this is the way she made them.
The last time I made sugar cookies, I was in a bit of a hurry and decided to not bother with the glass goblet. All of my dessert goblets were out of reach at the back of the highest shelf in the cupboard, so I grabbed the biscuit cutter instead.
I hesitated as I started to cut the first circle, then I sighed and got my step stool. I reached to the back of the shelf and extracted a goblet. I smiled as I cut the cookies and knew that Grandma was smiling, too. I just couldn’t do it any other way. The cookies wouldn’t have been as big and even though I’m sure they would have tasted the same, somehow I knew they would not evoke the same memories as the big cookies always did.
Now, as a grandmother myself, I sometimes wish that I were able to take my grandchildren to faraway places for wonderful experiences and memories they will never forget, but I know in my heart that the memories which last the longest are usually the simplest and can come from something as simple as cutting out cookies with an upside- down goblet.
There is one recipe I dearly love to make; and eat, of course. It is my Grandma Grotrian's Sugar Cookies. They hold so many childhood memories for me, and I am usually almost in tears (good tears) by the time I am done. I wrote an article about these cookies and it was published along time ago. I am going to add that article to this post. I hope you enjoy it.
Grandma’s Sugar Cookies
Gloria Doty
The unmistakable aroma of warm from the oven cookies hit me even before I burst through the back door into the kitchen. I had just walked to our driveway down the gravel road from the corner where the school bus dropped me off. I had been hoping there would be something good to eat waiting for me. To my absolute delight, the round oak kitchen table was covered with big, beautiful creamy- colored sugar cookies.
These weren’t just any sugar cookies; they were the ones as big as saucers and as light as clouds. The tops were covered with sparkly grains of sugar and the lightly browned bottoms had the design of the cookie sheets baked into them. Of all the different kinds of cookies that my mother and grandmother made, these were my favorite!
If Grandma baked these cookies in the summer, she would let me help mix the dough and then roll it out. Then came the best part; I got to hold the short-stemmed glass goblet upside down and cut out the perfect circles. After Grandma carefully moved the delicate circles to a cookie sheet, I was allowed to sprinkle the tops with sugar. I never questioned the use of a goblet to cut them out as opposed to a biscuit cutter; I just thought that you had to use one if you wanted to make sugar cookies. As an adult, I am certain that Grandma used the goblet because it’s top was bigger in circumference and therefore resulted in the large, round cookies.
I have used Grandma’s recipe many times to make the cookies for my children and now for my grandchildren. I always use the goblet to cut the circles and when asked, I always tell the story of my grandma’s cookies and this is the way she made them.
The last time I made sugar cookies, I was in a bit of a hurry and decided to not bother with the glass goblet. All of my dessert goblets were out of reach at the back of the highest shelf in the cupboard, so I grabbed the biscuit cutter instead.
I hesitated as I started to cut the first circle, then I sighed and got my step stool. I reached to the back of the shelf and extracted a goblet. I smiled as I cut the cookies and knew that Grandma was smiling, too. I just couldn’t do it any other way. The cookies wouldn’t have been as big and even though I’m sure they would have tasted the same, somehow I knew they would not evoke the same memories as the big cookies always did.
Now, as a grandmother myself, I sometimes wish that I were able to take my grandchildren to faraway places for wonderful experiences and memories they will never forget, but I know in my heart that the memories which last the longest are usually the simplest and can come from something as simple as cutting out cookies with an upside- down goblet.
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