Cookies on a Stick

When I was a kid Grandma Dean would make cookies for us kids. She was notorious for baking them "real good" - translated almost burnt. They would always be crunchy no matter their ingredients. All but the "cookies on a stick."

Her mom, Great-Grandma Williams (AKA "Great Williams" as Mark called her!), would always have a Tupperware container full of the most delicious, plain, soft, fluffy cookies for us great-grandkids when we'd go visit her in the hills of West Virginia. She lived in a trailer on 'top of the hill' in Littleton, WV. A modified trailer, but a trailer nonetheless. It had the tiniest bathroom I think I've ever seen. And was always clean as a whistle.

Anyways, she had the most amazing cookies in that container and I remember being so anxious to get to her house to gobble them up! West Virginia may be "Almost Heaven", but to this kid who was barred from almost anything that contained sugar (food Nazis! LOL! Just kidding, Mom!), those cookies WERE a slice of heaven! Especially when they'd take a dive in a cold glass of milk first. Mmmmmmm!

I don't exactly remember when Grandma Dean started making the very same cookies "on a stick", but I know they hold an equally special spot in my memory! She'd always have cookies in the freezer in the basement. She must've made cookies in large numbers on a given day, then freeze them so they would always be available for us kids. I suppose the novelty of the stick gave them a higher level of affection over the others. And I'm supposing the same 'logic' holds true for my kids. And I'm so very thankful they have that memory!

This morning while go thru Grandma's box of hand written recipes, I came across her recipe for "Mom's Cookies". I knew exactly what that meant! My kids have begged me for years to make Grandma Dean's "cookies on a stick" and I have always told them I would...someday.

Today is their lucky day! The recipe is written in a rather vague way. It must be against West Virginian customs to write things with exact measurements. Or maybe they didn't know how. Whichever, it made following the recipe a bit challenging. But I was determined to try it. The kids were so very anxious to see if I could pull it off. (Quite frankly, so was I!)

The one thing I was a bit unsure of was whether Grandma rolled the cookies and cut them or dropped them onto the cookie sheet. Grandma may be in the end stages of Alzheimer's, but I thought I'd give it a shot. One never knows what she will know...or not. Besides, it presented me a great opportunity to hear her and Grandad's voices. It's simply music to my ears. With my other Grandparents now in heaven, I've learned to treasure each chance I can get to talk to them.

Six out of seven days a week I talk to Grandad, with rare exception. And our daily chat has morphed into a 'normal' call time. When I called today it was outside the normal call time, and it threw Grandad for a loop! Too funny! He told me, once he figured out who I was (he's VERY hard of hearing), he reminded me that I was calling 'early'. THAT is funny to me!

So, we started talking cookies, and Grandma was within earshot of our conversation. We must have caught her in a good moment, because she miraculously knew what we were talking about and told Grandad to tell me something...and he just stuck the phone in her ear. She said, "Laura, I was telling Grandad to tell you that you are too sweet already and you don't need to eat all those cookies." I replied, "Grandma, I am making them for the kids. They wanted some of your cookies on a stick and they knew you were too far away, so they asked me to make them." She said, "Oh, that would be ok then. The kids need cookies."

What an amazing conversation! Did you hear that? She not only caught what our conversation was about, she knew WHO I was and what Grandad's relation to me was! This is a big deal now days!!!! Glory, thank you Jesus for such a gift!

Anywho, I asked about rolling vs cutting the cookies, and she promptly answered the question. Again, what a gift!

I began making the cookies, using Grandma's measuring spoons and cups. Her wedding set is now mine and I had it on while making the cookies. It caught my attention while measuring the baking soda. Oh, to see them and the measuring utensils in her hands again. What treasured memories!

The cookies are ok. The kids loved them, which I suppose is most important. They aren't exactly how I remember them, but close. There is no doubt that Great-Grandma Williams and Grandma Dean had an extra special touch. It must've been all that extra love they stirred in.

Life...and cookies on a stick - they're pretty sweet.