Mother's Christmas Cookies
“Christmas
may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of
remembrance—a day in which we think of everything I have ever loved.”
Augusta
E. Randel
One day
this week, my first husband posted a picture on Facebook of an old-fashioned
candy called “Peanut Butter Pinwheels.” They are made with potatoes and confectioner’s
sugar and creamy peanut butter. I was instantly transported back to my mother’s
kitchen at Christmas when she made these by the hundreds. They were so good and
so simple, and I loved them, but the memory of them had not been roused in
decades. Christmas is like that. It’s a memory lane. There is a great recipe
for Potato Peanut Butter Pinwheels on the Shockingly Delicious website. Check it
out.
What I
discovered attached to that memory was a flood of memories of Mother baking
Christmas cookies. She chopped candied fruit for days for her famous (or
possibly, infamous) fruitcake cookies. She chopped and baked and gave away tins
and boxes and bags of cookies, cookies, cookies. Fruitcake cookies, Pecan
Sandies, Snickerdoodles, fudge balls dipped in melted chocolate that contained a small
amount of paraffin, so it formed a shell around the peanut butter fudge center.
My mother was a great cook. Even though she did not teach me how to cook, I
think I inherited her “cooking genes.” Cooking, and especially baking, was her main
creative outlet. When we went to visit after I had children, she would have baked one of each person’s
favorite cake—mine was Italian Cream Cake, which is an all-day project by itself.
There would also be a chocolate cake with mint icing for Ian, a Chocolate Cake with
chocolate icing for Joe, and a platter of chocolate chip cookies for Jake. (And
now I’m hungry!)
One of
the best things about Christmas is the memories we share when we are together
around the table, or just visiting. I will have a zoom visit with my kinfolks
today. I think I may suggest that we share a favorite family recipe with each
other. I can’t think of a better way to honor the traditions of generations of
family than through its food. I wish for each of you a sweet and peaceful
day filled with love and memories.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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