Baking Across the Generations: Sugar Cookies II

I knew as soon as the kitchen started to fill with that familiar sweet vanilla aroma that I had done a disservice to my son, and all those people who have sampled my test-kitchen sugar cookie recipes, bypassing the old-familiar recipe of my youth. I opened the oven door, closed my eyes from the 400 degree blast of the hot steamy goodness, and was washed in buttery goodness; that it, maybe this sugar cookie recipe was more similar to a shortbread recipe - explaining why it was so crumbly in coming together.



Some of the heart-shaped cookies were sprinkled in pink sugar crystals, the others simply topped with milk. After a brief stay on the cooling rack, Owen, Matt and I gave them a try. I tried to be objective, I think I was successful - despite the obstacles faced when mixing up the dough, and a momentary snag rolling the dough out between parchment paper...I should have, and did after one wrestling match, start with a flour covered surface, dough, and a sprinkling of flour over the top. While others recipe suffer from being too tough after one rolling, this recipe holds up to multiple rolls; a testament to the frugal nature that the environment demanded of my grandmother's generation. Could I really be objective, setting aside my journal of sentimental tidings and recollections of this recipe - mostly tied to my own childhood and baking with my mother - and let my tastebuds and brain form an honest opinion? Well, they were good, really really good. Perfectly crisp edges, tender centers, buttery, vanilla-y, and filling after you have a few: ) While Matt is not huge on sweets, the aroma was enough to convince him to be "a taker" and deem them the best buttery-sugar cookie yet. Owen was the first taker, and he gave them 2 thumbs up, telling me that the best part was the SUGAR!! followed by a "your the best mom."

For me, I guess that's what makes Grandma Burns's Sugar Cookies the best sugar cookies... the fact that time hasn't erased my memories, and instead the familiar aroma transports me and comforts me. If I continue with this recipe in the coming years, I hope that it will make an impression on Owen and (the bun in the oven) in ways so that they too will have an unmistaken link to their childhood and to the generations before them.

Baking Across the Generations: Sugar Cookies I

I've been baking with Owen since he could stand next to me on a chair at the counter. I think he was 1.5; in my estimation he is officially the fourth generation of cookie-dough eaters - with only recent awareness of the necessity of baking with fresh eggs his hesitation is only a fraction of a millisecond.

I promised Owen that we would make another batch of sugar cookies; continuing the endeavor started before Christmas to find the perfect sugar cookie recipe. Maybe I should have started with Grandma Burns's Sugar Cookie recipe, it's been the staple sugar cookie in my life for as long as I can remember, instead, I tried three other recipes without satisfaction.

This Saturday afternoon, reading a photocopied version of my mother's notebook page recipe, her cursive writing textbook, it is faded and barely legible on the page; the original recipe is just as faded and the butter and vanilla stains mark the 38+ years since it was written by Maxine's daughter-in-law, Mary Elaine, my mother. The original recipe made 6-7 dozen, not bad when you have 16 kids, but I'm following the one-half recipe my mom added to left-hand margin of the page (that was enough for 6 kids) and that should be enough for Owen, Matt and I.

As I start the recipe I realize that the technique is completely different from any other recipe I've made - cutting in soft butter - What!?! I make biscuits and scones often so cutting in cold butter is one thing, but soft butter? I call my mother. She doesn't think it makes a difference, but I think it does. I've read too many Test Kitchen recipes, watched too many episodes on Food Network; Alton Brown would describe the science of the bonding and the reaction when baking. I really want to eat some perfect sugar cookies this afternoon so this is a major hiccup in my plan. Luckily Matt comes home from the grocery store and when I suggest throwing the butter in the Kitchen Aid and adding the remaining wet ingredients asks, "you're just going to disregard your ancestor's recipe?"

The truth is, I'm not, and I didn't. That is what I set out to do actually, make my grandmother's recipe and honestly, up until the point when I started to over analyze the technique, it felt right and honest and I was physically following in the steps of my paternal grandmother and my mother. So I cut in the softened butter and Owen added the egg, cream and vanilla. While not coming together at first, the warmth from my hands shaping the dough into a ball was enough to bind the dough into the color and shape I often saw resting in my parents fridge as Christmas approached. A pinch for me, and a pinch for Owen, it tasted the way it was supposed to; the way I remember.

A Bun in the Oven: figuratively and literally

I admit, I have been MIA since September. This is for several reason, the first being that Matt and I got sucked into the vortex of selling our house and purchasing another. It's almost unbearable to recount the experience but I'll do so for posterity here, now. It was almost the exact scenario from one year prior, we had an offer on our house, we found one we could live with (although after several hundred dollars and inspections we discovered we couldn't actually live with it, and moved on to looking at a brand new house in a new subdivision), and then, at the last minute, the offer on the house is retracted (in this case because the old fucker didn't want to pay a commercial rate or commercial terms BUT he did have the cash to make a cash offer if we wanted to reduce the price another $35,000; this on top of the $75,000 reduction already made). We found out on Owen's birthday, put on happy faces and had a celebration.


The second reason I've been MIA is because it was a week earlier that I had the feeling that I could be pregnant... and (happily) I am. This fall really was a whirl-wind, and especially now that Owen is in school, it is chalk full of events, birthdays, holidays, and commitments. It's fine to be busy but it makes me appreciate the weekends with no events, no commitments, just sitting at home feeling guilty for reading a book during daylight, wearing sweatpants and baking bread, scones, cookies, whatever... while a pot of stock simmers on the back burner for the coming week's soup. People like to travel, go places (and I'm not saying that we don't) but when you're so busy running all week, the best thing sometimes is just sitting at home doing what you want to do.

The third reason I've been MIA is because I've taken a break from my virtual life. I logged some serious hours in the past year and have become the receptacle for some pretty odd data on random shit I may never actually need to know - while I felt connected I felt a lack of real spice in my life - thank you Morrissey on the old turntable - and I needed some physical connection to life and feel like I'm about to overflow with creative energy. Therefore, I've dived back into baking and cooking and really do love the planning, the process, the eating and sharing - Matt and I recently watched Julie & Julia and it renewed my passion for Julie Child - not that it had waned but had simply been eclipsed. We've made some changes in the organization of the house and I'm SO close to getting a work space again. Never underestimate the importance of personal space. In a 780 square foot house (no, I'll never stop reminding you all) you learn a certain amount of respect for others and their space, lessons on togetherness and patience, and the sanctity of privacy: )

So there it is. I've been super busy like everyone else through the holidays and now that I've emerged on this side of the new year, I'm ready to start utilizing this site better and fleshing out my own potential: )