Good Day for Baking Cookies

Some days are just better suited for baking cookies than other days and today is one of them. The snow is gently falling, a prelude to a predicted winter storm on the way. Jim came home early and he and George (our dog) are napping on the sofa by the fireplace. The soundtrack to 'Brokeback Mountain' is playing -- country music is a great accompaniment for baking cookies. And, the aroma of freshly baked cookies fills the house.

There is something comforting, satisfying, and happy about freshly baked cookies. That smell is what I think love must smell like. I don't just enjoy baking cookies, I LOVE baking cookies. I love the synergy of cookies. I love how each little part contributes to an amazing end product. I love the individuality of each cookie and their rustic aesthetic. I love the portability of cookies.

I guess I must get my love of baking cookies from my grandmothers. They both had quite a repetoir of cookie recipes. Christmas just wouldn't have been Christmas without the hundreds of cookies they baked.

My grandmother Koehler would fill dozens of the largest Tupperware containers with homemade cookies and she would make up trays of cookies to give to friends and family at Christmas. She would put homemade fudge and Hershey kisses and foil wrapped milk chocolate bells on the trays, too.

My grandmother Holk was a diabetic and never ate any of the cookies she baked. She was amazing at baking cakes, too, which she never touched. She made the most heavenly divinity, an art that is lost to most modern cooks. And, just knowing she would be making orange glazed pecans almost made the task of having to pick up all the pecans in the fall bearable.

I know many people swear cookies from a mix or refrigerated roll are just as good as homemade, and I will confess I have used the refrigerated rolls on occasion. On those occasions I could have just as well baked them from scratch by the time I got finished embellishing them. The sugar cookies are pretty good if you roll them in chopped almonds before cutting them and then baste the tops with a little almond extract prior to baking. Or, roll them in yellow sugar, split the roll lengthwise, cut the cookies, and baste with lemon extract to make lemon slice cookies.

Southern Living, the Bible of gracious entertaining for the Southern woman, had a recipe for cookies that looked like slices of watermelon. They were adorable and tasty. I made them only once. The dough had to be colored bright red and then shaped into a roll. By the time I had colored the dough, rolled it out, cut it into circles, and cut the circles in half I looked like I was wearing red gloves. As soon as the cookies came out of the oven I had to work rapidly to put each tiny mini chocolate chip 'seed' in place and when the cookies had cooled I had to dip the round edges in green frosting to make the 'rind'. Like I said, I made them only once.

Christmas of 2006 we were in Birmingham, AL. James and Kim came down from Connecticuit to celebrate with us. I thought it would be fun for James and Kim and William to decorate the Christmas tree shortbread cookies I had made. I made a big batch of royal icing and divided it into three decorating bags. I assumed I had nothing to worry about because they were all adults. It was a flashback to the old "I Love Lucy" shows. They had fun and I cleaned up the mess, like a good mother. It made a great Kodak moment for my Christmas photo of the three of them.

That's what cookies are for. Fun. Cookies are unpretentious. They don't have to be perfect like other pastries. They are user friendly. I love baking cookies!

Footnote: (February 13, 2008) This morning as I read the comics section of the newspaper I had to smile as my theory about cookies being the smell of love was confirmed. In the first panel of the comic Born Loser the husband is seen sniffing. Panel two has him saying, "AHH... Love is in the air!" And the last panel shows the wife with a pan of piping hot cookies saying, "He says that every time I bake cookies!"