This morning has been lovely.  There was one more roll of Grandma's Cookies in the freezer, so I sliced and baked it and enjoyed the cookies with my  morning coffee. 

Yesterday was my return home from San Francisco; I spent several hours past my bedtime yakking with KidTwo and KidThree, catching up on their four Mom-free days.  They had a major accomplishment during my absence, a trip to one of KidThree's doctors, on the bus, without Mom, on their own.  They got there on time, managed all logistics fine, met up with KidOne just fine (who was able to meet them there to provide a ride back and back-up with the medical personnel), asked so many questions that they think the doctor was almost irritated with them, and wrote down the answers to bring back to report to Mom. 

Picture me smug.

But back to the real subject of this entry, Grandma's Cookies.  My parents raised six children on a civil servant's salary.  Granted, Dad was high up in the world of civil servants, being a research scientist, but still--the money wasn't what it would have been in the private sector.  They managed by being very careful with what they had.  Mom made most of our clothes when we were little and Mom and Dad together did the cooking (Mom during the week and then one or both of them on the weekends).  All our jam was homemade and almost all our cookies were homemade (we did get the occasional Oreo or Fig Newton).

***They still make the jam.  I have about two dozen jars here now and there's more in the jam closet back home when we use that up.  My favorite ever is spiced plum, with strawberry jam and boysenberry jelly close seconds.  Loquat is good, too, but quince is a little sweet for me and I've never cared for apricots.

But back to the cookies: Because of the financial issue, Mom used shortening in all our cookies.  No butter, just shortening.  Given that we gobbled her cookies by the dozen, butter would probably have bankrupted them.  Mom's mixer had beaters that were joined together, so only one kid got to lick the beaters, with another kid getting to lick the bowl.  I remember that one day she made three batches of cookies, one after the other, with the six of us in the family room watching tv, waiting to see what batch we would get to enjoy the cookie dough of and trying to figure out if there was more dough left in the bowl or in the beaters.  (Usually it was the beaters--Mom could clear out a bowl with a rubber scraper like nobody's business.)

Grandma's Cookies, however, were a different story.  They were for Grandma, hence the name, and so got real butter.  All butter, no combination of butter and shortening or butter and margarine.  The name of the cookies in the cookbook was Icebox Cookies, but that got morphed to Grandma's Cookies because they were made especially for Grandma.  The recipe calls for mixing up the dough and then forming it into rolls that were then put in the freezer, later to be sliced into cookies and baked.

We loved Grandma's Cookies, but they were for Grandma, not for us.  We maneuvered to get to be the ones to lick the beaters or the bowl so we could revel in the dough made with real butter, but that didn't go far among the six of us.  The real fun was when Mom would take the rolls out of the freezer to bake.  We got to eat the ends of each roll (too uneven to bake) and then were the most exacting of inspectors, measuring with our eyes each cookie to determine if we could convince Mom that that cookie was too thin or (even better!) too thick to bake evenly with the others.  If we presented a good case, we could eat that poor doomed cookie before it ever got to the oven.

After the baking, we did the same.  Grandma was particular, to say the least, so we scanned the racks of cooling cookies in the hopes of spying one that was this much too light or that much too dark to meet her precise standards. 

The only problem with all that was that Mom was an extremely experienced cookie baker and so never made enough goofs to satisfy her inspectors, no matter how exacting their reviews.  Most of the cookies would pass all inspections, pre- and post-baking, and then be stacked carefully in Pringles' cans for the trip over the river and through the woods (or through Niles Canyon, anyway) to Grandma's house.

***Grandma used to boast that no one could make cookies like her daughter and that she would always know if someone else tried to make her cookies for her.  We never told her that the last few years of her life, the cookies were baked by yours truly here.

Now that I'm an adult and in charge of my own baking, all my cookies are made with butter, but Grandma's Cookies remain special.  I made a batch of dough a week ago, forming it into five rolls.  KidOne came over just as I had put them in the freezer and happily waiting two hours visiting so she could take out a roll and bake it (the roll can't be sliced too soon or the cookies won't hold their shape).  She took those cookies away with her to share with her boyfriend and his younger brother and sister.

I baked a roll for us at home, then took two rolls down to San Francisco to see if the children there would like them.  I didn't really think they would, as Grandma's Cookies are not quite so sweet as some and are more geared towards adult tastes, but the younger three loved them and demanded more.  Especially BoyTwo, which surprised me greatly, as he is the most reluctant to try anything new and the most likely to dismiss something as too spicy or too hot or too something else entirely.  He loved them the most, gobbling one after another.

And then to this morning, when I was thrilled to find upon checking the freezer that the last roll of dough was still there.  Given that KidOne knew of its existence, I couldn't be sure it would be.  Fortunately for me, it was, so I got the heavenly treat of Grandma's Cookies with my coffee.  (Grandma's Cookies are the best cookie ever with coffee, at least for this coffee-and-cookie lover.)

Here is the recipe for a single batch (although I don't think I've ever bothered making just a single batch):

     1 cup butter, barely soft enough to be beaten by the mixer

     1/2 cup white sugar

     1/2 cup light brown sugar

Mix the butter and sugars thoroughly.

     Add two eggs.

Mix thoroughly.

Blend together:

     3 cups all-purpose flour

     1 tsp salt

     1/2 tsp baking soda

     2 and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix thoroughly.

     Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix thoroughly.

That amount of dough can be formed into two or three rolls, each about 2 inches in diameter.  Form the rolls on a floured surface and wrap each one in waxed paper, then put them in the freezer for at least several hours.  The dough will last for weeks in the freezer, unless KidOne knows it's there. 

Set each roll on the counter at room temperature for fifteen to twenty minutes before you try to slice it, then slice each roll into cookies about 3/16th's of an inch thick.

Put the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet (I do so love the insulated ones) and bake at 375 for ten to twelve minutes until golden brown.  Cool on raised racks.

Enjoy!

A