Mondays & Memories of My Mom – Cookies Create Happiness

Thank God it’s Monday, again. I always look forward to Mondays, as they’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you! Therefore, happy Monday.

Happy December and happy National Cookie Cutter Week. If you haven’t started your holiday cookie making yet, now is a great time to do so because it’s National Cookie Cutter Week and Wednesday is National Cookie Day. Cookies happen to be on many Americans’ top 10 favorite foods list because they produce feelings of happiness.

There’s about a dozen specific kinds of cookies nationally celebrated throughout most of the year, as well as other cookie related observances. I’ve mentioned the following ones in many of my previous blog posts, from one of my favorite resources, NationalDayCalendar.com:

National Oreo Cookie Day, March 6
National Lacy Oatmeal Cookie Day, March 18
National Chinese Almond Cookie Day, April 9
National Oatmeal Cookie Day, April 30
National Peanut Butter Cookie Day, June 12
National Sugar Cookie Day, July 9
National Fortune Cookie Day, July 20
National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, August 4
National Pecan Cookie Day, September 21
National Homemade Cookies Day, October 1
National Spicy Hermit Cookie Day, November 15
National Gingerbread Cookie Day, November 21

There are so many different types of cookies – “more than Carter has pills”, as Mom used to say. Sometimes they’re called “biscuits” or “bars” or “squares”. Some are “baked” in an oven while others are “set” in the refrigerator or freezer. They can also vary in description as “soft”, “crispy”, or “chewy”.

Cookies use an array of ingredients including, but not limited to butter, eggs, oil, peanut butter; plus, various sugars, flours, oats, spices and cocoas/chocolates. Many optional additions include coconut, peanuts and other nuts, candies, baking chips, as well as raisins and other dried fruits. Some cookies are frosted or coated in some form of sugar.

Mom developed a short-cut cookie recipe a long time ago, blending dry cake and pudding mixes together with mayonnaise and a few other things. That was how she developed her imitation of the Famous Amos Cookies, originally created by Wally Amos.

In February 1988, thanks to her good friend, Carol Duvall, Mom was a guest on ABC’s Home show, talking about being the “Recipe Detective” and demonstrating some of her famous imitations. The show surprised her with an in-person visit from Wally Amos himself.

I really wish I could find a recording of that show. My own was lost in a move a long time ago. Mom said Wally Amos was a really nice man and that he loved her version of his product – but he also made her promise to never go into the cookie business.

FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 68)

THE HOME SHOW & WALLY AMOS

THE HOME SHOW… in February 1988, were wonderful to us [Paul and me]. They flew us to Los Angeles, and we appeared with Rob Weller and Sandy Hill in a [half] hour segment that re-created some of our recipes.

They were very specific that I do our ‘Famous Nameless Cookies’ and I could not see the reason they absolutely insisted on that recipe. I had trouble finding the right ingredients an hour before airtime, but we made compromises there and came up with an even BETTER version than before.

What had happened, without my knowing it, was Wally Amos, himself [was there]. They flew him in from Hawaii to taste-test my version of HIS product. What a delightful man! What a warm and generous soul.

He brought me a tin of an assortment of his favorite cookies and, after tasting my version of his product, made me promise that I would never go into the cookie business! Meeting Wally Amos was one of those cherished memories that I will always look back on warmly.

One of my earliest memories, from when I first started going to school, was of being afraid that I wouldn’t make any friends. Mom gave me a lunch sack full of cookies and told me “the quickest way to their hearts is through their stomachs.” She believed that, by sharing the cookies with the other kids, I’d surely make friends; and I did.

Food is commonly used as an ice-breaker. In later years, it worked just as well to help my own kids “break the ice” and make new friends. There’s no doubt that cookies create happiness and make people feel good. They’re also used often as a reward, to children, for such things as doing a good deed or using good manners, for a couple of examples.

There was a time when my youngest child was withdrawn and anti-social, rarely smiled or showed any kind of emotion – later, diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome – but Mom could usually pull her out of her shell, at least somewhat, with cookies. They genuinely made her smile.

MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…

As seen in…

Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, pp. 214-215). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret Recipes^TM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3^rd Edition).]

COOKIES AND CANDIES

COOKIES AND CANDIES really bring out the little child within us all. There is something almost rewarding about simple confections that the food industry has also been able to capitalize on the products of this division with great marketing success.

The first bakery marketing efforts in the American frontier days included delicacies of French origin, Danish breads and cakes, Austrian strudel and pies of truly colonial persuasion.

The candies, which were originally for special religious observances, have been taken into the fold of a prospering industry and have continued, despite repercussions of the critics, skepticism of sugar and artificial sweeteners, to please the public…

…When I compiled my favorite cookie and candy recipes for this section, I was really torn between what to keep and what to leave out. I wanted to share with you every single wonderful memory of a pleasing product, you could hopefully imitate in your own kitchen, as a compliment to the original…

…In cookie-baking, the spirit of “reward” is still there, as it was when we were youngsters, and remains a tradition – we will always find a place and a reason for having a cookie jar in the kitchen…

…Years ago, when our 5 children were still in the sandbox set, holding tricycle symposiums in my flowerbeds and declaring our yard a national park for every child in the township, I had this ridiculous maternal notion that a cookie could cure countless conditions.

So, I was wrong! Cookies did not remedy a Barbie doll with a missing string in her back or a G.I. Joe without a backpack in the “complete accessory kit”, as promised in the catalog.

But special cookies from a warm and sunny, semi-cluttered kitchen, did take the “bite” out of a scraped knee and the “owie” out of a bump on the head – and even though it wouldn’t bring the pet turtle back to life, a cookie and a kiss from Mom made the world seem a little bit brighter.

I doubt that things have changed very much with mothers and their children since my own grew up… Even now…they all check the cookie jar with the same delight as they expressed when they were youngsters.

#GloriaPitzersCookbook

https://www.balboapress.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001062253

Cookies can put a ray of sunshine in any gloomy day. Maybe the reason that Santa is so jolly is because of all the wonderful cookies he gets on Christmas Eve. Cookies make us happy. They make a bad day better. Mom said that cookies can “take the ‘bite’ out of a scraped knee and the ‘owie’ out of a bump on the head”.

Trays, tins, or cookie jars full of homemade cookies continue to make terrific holiday gifts, putting a big smile on every receiver’s face. Additionally, they’re timeless treats for socializing and making new friends!

Cookie exchanges are just one of the many December holiday traditions, in which numerous people still participate – but, like other traditions, those numbers are dwindling. I wrote a blog post about six years ago, Making Memories With a Christmas Cookie Exchange, regarding my hosting of a cookie exchange party.

It had its flaws, as I had never participated in one previously; however, for the most part, it went well. I had the best of intentions to host another one but I never made the time to make it a new tradition. The same can be said for a lot of things these days – making the time for carrying on traditions.

LAST THOUGHTS…

Speaking of holiday traditions (and creating smiles), next Monday is Christmas Card Day. I love getting Christmas cards from my friends and family. It makes me feel good. That’s also why I send them.

I heard a story, on one of my local newscasts, about how many of our common holiday traditions are vanishing or changing, as new generations create new traditions. Mailing Christmas cards is one of those traditions, evolving into a digital form of its old self.

I used to send out Christmas cards from me and my husband, by regular mail, every Black Friday. There were so many dozens of cards and the list of recipients grew every year, as did our family and various circles of friends. It was just one of the countless traditions I had picked up from my parents, as they did from their parents.

But the older I get, the harder with which it is to keep up. I must admit, the new digital form of the old “snail mail” tradition is easier and more instant and I have used it, myself, over the last few years. I’ll write more about holiday traditions evolving with the digital age next week.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.

IN CLOSING…

In honor of this first week of December, which started yesterday (for 2024), celebrating National Cookie Cutter Week, plus Wednesday, being National Cookie Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for imitating “Windmill Cookies”; as seen in her self-published cookbook, Secret Fast Food Recipes – Revised (Secret Recipes^TM, Marysville, MI; Oct. 1998, 20^th printing; p. 43). As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.

#NationalCookieCutterWeek

#NationalCookieDay

[(*)For this recipe, see https://therecipedetective.com/2024/01/08/cookie-sheet-preparation/, also. EXTRA NOTE: Instead of using cookie cutters, with this dough, you can also create the base pieces for a gingerbread house – using 3 squares (one diagonally cut into 2 triangles) and 4 rectangles.]