Advent Calendar - Ma's Cookies

Earlier in the year I wrote a lengthy post about Ma's (Nellie Cox Beyersdoerfer) sugar cookies. They have been an absolute favorite and permanent Christmas tradition for at least four generations. The recipe is simple but when cooked to proper perfection (done on the bottom but taken out before browning), they are light, soft and chewy, with a wonderfully light nutmeg and Cinnamon essence. The picture I have included is their traditional round form, but the various forms they can take are endless. With this round form, we have dressed them up for Christmas with red and green sugar sprinkled on top. However, it really wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't use some of our old cookie cutters to make things more festive. When shapes are used, we have added the tradition of a light confectioner's sugar icing on top - which can be tinted to any color you prefer. Uber delicious!

I have included the recipe again below. The image of that cook-stained original clipping from Ma's kitchen is one of those wonderful pieces of heritage genealogy that I adore most of all. In fact, it is so precious to the family, that whenever anyone gets married, we make a color copy on photographic paper and then frame it to give to the brides. A surefire way to implement an old tradition into a new household!

In my previous post I included a lot about Nellie and my memories of her cookies on the kitchen table, but since this cookie tradition was started in her home, I've decided to include some photos we have of the home place which was torn down just a few years ago.
This precious photo, as faded as it is, has a caption on the back: Christmas 1936. This was taken on the front porch of Nellie and John's home. All of their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren grew up visiting Ma here, and sneaking more than one cookie during their visit. Nellie is the woman center front. Travelling to the left is her mother, Oleva Ellen Mockbee Cox, and the young woman on the far left, trying to hide, is one of the daughters (my Grandmother), Freida Beyersdoerfer Watts. This is the house a few years fore they razed it.....but no one has lived in it for years, and with no indoor bathroom facilities (there's another memory I have from childhood!), I'm not very surprised. It sat on a hill in northeastern Pendleton County Kentucky. Each time we make these cookies, we picture this place, and the warm, loving woman inside working to make her family welcome and comfortable.

Be sure to give these cookies a try! You'll be glad you did!

CD

12/8/10

Too Much Turkey!

It is only right and proper that we should stop the onslaught of Christmas for just a moment to remember our blessings and give thanks before we head out, en masse, with credit cards in hand to storm the malls for decking the halls. So, as we are flooded with Pilgrim and Native American imagery, enough turkey and tofu recipes to gag on, this is the best time to reminisce about the good ole days. In other words: the food!

Thanksgivings with the Grandparents were crowded and tension filled, but the food helped us all get along in those cramped quarters. As a kid, I didn't notice the family tensions or politics, just the FUN. We kids played together well, and packed enough toys to supply an underprivileged country. However, as the years progressed, one thing stayed constant: that fantastic cooking!

The feasts on either side of my family were tremendously indulgent. As I look back, what seemed to me a feast meant for a small village was actually a familial act of appeasement. I was so impressed by what my Grandmothers made. Every wonderful side dish imaginable was there, plus that ginormous turkey, followed by several different desserts! But why did they go to soooo much trouble? As my Mom has taken over the main Thanksgiving meal over the years, we have a great turkey, plus a few side dishes, bread and then pumpkin pie for dessert. Nothing as complex as the "olden days". So what gives?

I finally realized that my Grandmothers were practicing that age old talent of keeping everyone happy. If we took a tally, each person would probably have a favorite something - and the Grandmothers cleverly remembered what those were. Which meant slaving over the stove for hours, making sure everyone got their favorite dish for Thanksgiving. This practice of appeasement.....or, aka, selfless love.....was the reason we had such a wondrous feast every year. And which is why the above picture of Grandpa was taken by my Dad back in the late 60s after the feast....obviously Grandpa had many favorites....and whoa to those of us who indulge in all of our favorites on the table, or you too will be grabbing for the first sight of that clever product placement as seen in the photo!

To wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, a safe and profitable Black Friday, and a creative leftover turkey weekend, I will offer the following tidbits:

Primary Sources from the First Thanksgiving

**Note, the number of adult married women present at the first Thanksgiving was 4! That's right! 4! And according to the accounts of who attended, there were 5 adolescent girls, 9 adolescent boys (good grief), 13 young children, 22 adult men....and drum roll please.....at least 91 Native American male guests! So, maybe our Mothers and Grandmothers have really just been carrying on the tradition of female exhaustion for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Quotes from the Quote Garden

Oh, and try to spend as much time as possible WITH the family, and not glued to the TV like this group of naughty pilgrims:

From the Gizmodo Thanksgiving Photoshop Contest

Remember....eat lots of Turkey...but not too much!

CD

11/23/10

Ah! on Thanksgiving day....
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before.
What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?
~John Greenleaf Whittier