Around the Kitchen Table: Cookie Nostalgia + 3-Book #Giveaway

 

MOLLY MACRAE: I’m a fan of cookies. Almost any kind of cookie (except raisin oatmeal). I’m also a fan of those goofy national days that exist for just about every person, place, animal, occasion, or thing under the sun. So I’m in luck because there’s a day coming up this month that I can really sink my teeth into—National Animal Crackers Day. It falls on April 18^th which gives you a few weeks to plan your celebration if you’re feeling so inclined. The history of animal crackers is fairly interesting and you’ll find an article about it, based on authoritative research, at The Food Timeline. 

Thinking about animal crackers sent my mind wandering back to other favorite childhood cookies. My mother didn’t bake cookies often, except at Christmas, but sometimes she came home from the grocery store with windmill cookies or sidewalk cookies. When I learned to read I found out that sidewalk cookies were really called sugar wafers. You’d think I’d be over the disappointment of that by now.

What’s your favorite nostalgic cookie or treat from your childhood?

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MADDIE DAY: I love this topic. I inherited my mother's sweet tooth, so cookies were a big part of my childhood (and still are...). Being the third Girl Scout of the family, with a mom who was a leader, our house was filled with cartons of cookies every year. I still can't get through a year without a freezer door full of Thin Mints and a couple of other types.

And then there were Hostess Twinkies. If you'd asked this California kiddo at about age eight what her favorite foods were, she would have said avocados and Twinkies. But my mom also baked cookies year round. Certainly at Christmas, but usually there were a couple of logs of what we called refrigerator cookies in the freezer. Did I often sneak in and cut off a couple of slices to eat uncooked (raw eggs be damned)? Readers, I did, and I'm alive to tell the tale sixty years later. 

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LESLIE BUDEWITZ: "With every bowl of soup I eat, lions and tigers are watching me. I make them jump right through the hoop. Those animal crackers in my soup!"

That's what my dad sang every time a box of animal crackers appeared in our house, usually because he brought them home. Needless to say, I was confused about why cookies were called crackers and what they were doing in the soup, but the song stuck. And I pretty much guarantee that my brother, 10 years older than I, would start singing too, if you prompted him. 

Like Edith, I was a Girl Scout (a Girl Sprout, in dad speak), and cookie sales were an important part of my early work experience. My dad was a furniture salesman with the personality you'd expect -- if he sang to his customers, I never heard the story, but I wouldn't put it past him -- and the lessons he taught me selling cookies and later when I worked in a bookstore have served me well in selling books as an author! Molly, I never knew sugar wafers were called sidewalk cookies -- I might have liked them if I had; instead, they signaled nap time in kindergarten, and the scars remain.   

My mother was a great baker, especially of pies and cookies -- that's her cookbook and rolling pin -- so we didn't often have "store bought" cookies, but I do remember boxes of Nilla Vanilla wafers. Did you know you can use them as communion wafers while playing Mass if you don't have Necco wafers (a candy, not a cookie)? You're welcome. 

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LUCY BURDETTE: Molly, I will take your oatmeal raisin cookies! Like you, my mom didn't bake except for the holidays. Then she made hundreds of sugar cookies with an aluminum press. And yes, we had many boxes of Girl Scout cookies too. My dad loved Fig Newtons, but I will only eat those in an emergency! 

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Cookie Confessions by LIBBY KLEIN. I'm with you on the oatmeal raisin, Molly. There's nothing worse than getting an oatmeal raisin cookie you thought was chocolate chip. Although I used to make them for my grandfather every Christmas because they were his favorite. 

I don't remember getting a lot of store bought cookies as a child. I remember my Mother's Christmas Sugar Cookies made with Mace - the spice - not the attack spray. You'd be surprised how often that is misunderstood in Murder Mystery circles. And of course she made chocolate chip cookies from the Toll House yellow bag. But I've never loved Oreos or Chips Ahoy - please don't take my American citizenship away. Now Nutter Butters - that's a different story! And those Little Debbie Nutty Bars. *Swoon. I need to learn how to make those gluten-free. Also, I remember getting cookies at McDonalds. They were like Animal Crackers, but they were in the shapes of Ronald McDonald, Grimace, the Hamburglar... Does anyone else remember this? 

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LESLIE KARST: My favorite cookies growing up were my grandmother's "sugar cookies" (though I realize now that they were really what we'd call "butter" cookies--which was no doubt the reason I loved them so). But I also loved decorating the Christmas cookies my mom would make each year. She had a set of cookie cutters in traditional shapes--Santa, reindeer, angels, etc.--which we kids would make into things like aliens, dogs, and other oddities with the creative use of frosting and sprinkles. And I still occasionally make Christmas cookies. Here's a musher and dog sled made from cutters I picked up in Fairbanks, Alaska: 

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MAYA CORRIGAN:  When I was growing up, our pantry had a supply of store-bought chocolate chip cookies, which I loved. When those cookies ran out, fig newtons were the alternative, which I didn't love but ate anyway. My absolute favorite cookie was the one I only got to eat on holidays: my Polish aunt's rugelach, rolled pastry with a sweet filling. The crescent-shaped cookie is made by cutting thinly rolled dough into triangles and wrapping the triangles around a filling. My aunt filled one batch with nuts, cinnamon, sugar, and raisins, and another batch with a fruit jam. I've tried rugelach from bakeries, but I've yet to find any that come close to my aunt's rich and crispy version. Back when she was baking, we didn't take pictures of food. The photo here is of rugelach resembling my aunt's. 

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KORINA MOSS: Until I started the first grade, I often had to tag along with my mother to the grocery store (being the youngest of six children) while the others were at school, which took two shopping carts and what felt like hours. The only saving grace was the little box of animal crackers she'd take off the shelf and give me to eat while we were shopping. So I still have an affinity for animal crackers. As far as oatmeal raisin cookies go, I seem to be in the minority -- they are one of my favorite cookies, but they have to be good ones. The recipe under the lid of the Quaker oatmeal box makes fabulous oatmeal cookies. As far as my childhood favorite cookie, it was probably 'Nilla Wafers. By themselves or with banana pudding, they taste wholesome and delicious. I don't really eat packaged cookies as an adult, but when I get a hankering, I'll pick up a box of 'Nilla Wafers. 

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VICKI DELANY: Another one NOT for raisin oatmeal cookies here. I can't actually remember any store-bought cookies being a favourite. Maybe my mom didn't buy many of those. Even now, I never eat them. But I love little more than a good cookie. My mom made these every Christmas. She just called them Christmas cookies, no fancy name needed. I am now the head baker in my family and I make them every year. I've been told they're called stained glass cookies, and you can see why. Here's the link for when I put the recipe on MLK, way back when I was a guest.

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen:
Welcome guest Vicki Delany! (mysteryloverskitchen.com)

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CLEO COYLE: While I still love the many Italian cookies that I grew up eating, my childhood crush will forever remain with the cute little Pillsbury Doughboy and his tempting tubes of ready-to-bake cookie dough. My sister and I had great fun baking that dough, but we also secretly indulged in the guilty (and, yes, dangerous) pleasure of noshing it raw. Did any of you do that, too? Today, of course, Cookie Dough is a legit dessert, made without raw eggs and the risk of bacterial infection. Even my Doughboy crush has changed his dangerous ways. The Pillsbury company eventually realized how many of us were eating the dough raw and updated their ingredients accordingly. Now a “safe to eat raw” label is displayed on all of its cookie dough tubes. 

By age twelve, I'd outgrown those tasty tubes and moved on to obsessing over scratch baking chocolate chip cookies with add-in tweaks using everyone’s favorite Toll House recipe on the Nestlé chips package. Fast-forward to today, and I’m still having fun experimenting with that classic American recipe. One of my favorite kitchen creations is this Mini “Silver Dollar” Chocolate Chip Cookie with notes of buttery caramel and tangy sea salt. The mini size is perfect for kids, yet this cute, little cookie also makes a great whimsical dessert for adults when served with after-dinner coffee, which is why my husband and I featured the recipe in our Coffeehouse Mystery series. For the recipe & free PDF click the photo below (or the live link above) and may you eat with plenty of joy. ~ Cleo

Click here or on the
photo above for Cleo's recipe.

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B O O K  
G I V E A W A Y!

Readers, join the conversation!

What is your favorite nostalgic cookie or treat from your childhood?

Add your comment below and...

COME SHELL OR HIGH WATER by Molly MacRae

MURDER AT A CAPE BOOKSTOREY by Maddie Day

INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS by Lucy Burdette

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so we can contact the winner

 Comments open through
Wednesday, April 10. 

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