Suggestion: Read this story aloud or tell it to someone. Put yourself into the story. Personalize it to fit you, instead of me. Play with it. I give you permission.
Gram’s Cookie Recipe
It’s the holiday season again. Many of our kitchens are warm and filled with the incredible scents of baking. Cinnamon and nutmeg perfume the air. Family members bustle about smiling and singing Chanukah or Christmas songs. (In our family we have both, in recognition of our melting pot household and extended family. When the kids were small we sometimes had a Kwanzaa celebration too! ) Packages are rushed into the house and sequestered in special places, waiting to be lovingly wrapped in store-bought or hand-decorated paper. Though secrets often don’t generate smiles and happiness, at this season of the year there are good secrets waiting to be revealed, plentiful smiles and wonderful expectations. Tables are covered with baskets of holiday cards, some newly arrived and some waiting to be mailed. Special treasures are unwrapped and put on display. Each one has a memory attached to it and inspires the telling of tales that are old and familiar. but that perhaps get embellished with the passage of time. Holidays are memories in the making for young and old alike.
I unwrap my menorah collection and admire my departed mother’s silver one, as well as the ones I have acquired over the years. Then I look at the Christmas items, some of which were originally from my late first husband’s family and ornaments our children collected or created as they grew up. Most of these have been distributed among my adult children. We no longer have Christmas at our house. It isn’t really my holiday, so I don’t need it any longer, now that the kids are grown. They have formed and are forming their own traditions. We often have a Chanukah get-together here and we have Christmas Eve together at my younger son’s home.
As the holiday mood begins to spread and to warm us, I am reminded of a story. I ask your indulgence today, though I know you must also be busy with your holiday preparations. With your permission I will proceed. Please keep mixing and chopping or writing out cards while you listen, or take a short break if you are reading.
Some time ago, an elderly relative told me the story of her mother’s cookies. Her mother was a talented cook, but her true fame was claimed through her baked goods. She made cakes that were heavenly, moist with fruits and spices and strudels that melted on your tongue and made you yearn for a second piece before you had finished the first. Her cookies, which I never had the pleasure of tasting, were unmatched by those of any other mother or grandmother, according to her daughters and grandchildren. When her daughters grew up, they begged their aging mother for her cookie recipes and set about trying to replicate her little bit of kitchen heaven for their spouses, friends and kids.
They tried many times, conferring with each other, and following their mother’s hand-written recipes with the exactitude of a chemist. Though the end results were reasonably tasty, their cookies simply did not compare with their mother’s masterpieces. They grew increasingly more frustrated with each attempt. Their husbands and children remarked that they did not hold a candle to Gram in the baking department and they could not figure out why. Finally, a couple of them gave up, deciding they just were not talented at baking. The other daughters puzzled over their mother’s secrets, fearing that she would take them to her grave and they would be forever deprived. They decided to swallow their pride and sense of defeat. They asked her why their cookies never compared to hers and what they were forgetting to do, or perhaps were doing incorrectly.
The eldest grandson had stood at his grandmother’s elbow many times, eagerly watching and waiting for his chance to lick the mixing bowl. He piped up with his observation that Gram never simply followed a recipe, but changed it based on both her mood of the moment, and on whatever she had on hand. Thus, she might chop up a piece of a large chocolate bar that had almost been forgotten in the cupboard, a few maraschino cherries, some dates, pieces of apple, prunes, a handful of raisins, nuts, or a little leftover orange juice. She would throw in a little of this and a little of that, as the inspiration washed over her. In fact she often said she was unable to duplicate a cookie or another type of culinary delight that someone requested because she could not recall what ingredients had contributed to the previous success. She didn’t seem to care.
The wise grandmother, somewhat hard of hearing, strained to hear what her grandson was saying, but her eyes twinkled as she caught the drift of his explanation. Upon hearing her secrets revealed, she said, “You don’t live a delicious life by following a recipe to the letter and refusing to try something new and different. If you do, you will probably get similar results each time, but there won’t be anything surprising or exiting about them. If you take whatever you have and use it to the fullest, not only won’t you waste precious resources, but I promise that you won’t be bored. You will delight yourself and others with often unexpected results. Sure you might make a mistake here and there. But have you ever tasted a really bad cookie? As long as you don’t burn them, even bad cookies are yummy.”
So my esteemed listeners or readers, I wish you whatever you need and want to experience during this season. Is it the comfort of perpetuating well-established and familiar traditions, including the cookies you expect and crave during the holidays? Is it the satisfaction and learning that come with change, risk-taking and allowing yourself to deviate from a predictable course once in a while?
Ruth Z Deming says
great story, iris! how’s this as an answer to your question about deviating from the norm. i just made some hot tea – a delicious new flavor a friend brought me from celestial seasoning – chamomile with honey and other flavors – but the liquid i used was saved from cooking my green veggies tonite. so, extra nutrition and saving of our precious natural resources.
Iris Arenson-Fuller says
Sounds quite interesting but then, you thought of it, so it’s no surprise. I’m allergic to chamomile or else I would try it.