Hey, Cookie!

When I was still in “Children’s House” or preschool, my mother blew my mind. At that time, in the early 1970’s, she was still into doing the SAHM stuff. She was good at crafts and pretty good at cooking. She made our Halloween costumes, summer dresses, and all that stuff. That part of her life didn’t last, she had other ambitions, but I loved it. It was during this time that I was part of what I think was my first school valentine exchange. My mom helped my sister and I make valentines boxes with glossy paper, glue, and glitter. I was too young to have a vote in what my valentines were going to be. She managed that and for some reason she decided that I should give out iced sugar cookies with my name on them not paper valentines. You must believe me when I say they were so excellent! Cut out hearts with pink icing and my name piped in red on each one - Mind. Blown. I carried an oversized shirt box, the kind from a department store into the school like a nascent Martha Stewart and yes, I crushed Valentine’s Day that year. Never again was it so glorious but never again was my mom what she dismissively called “a cookie mommy.”

I don’t remember if she made the same cookies for my sister. She probably did, but when I think back on it the whole episode was a special thing between just my mother and me. It’s more likely that I cared about it more than my sister did so I edited her cookies out of the story. Either way, since then making cut out cookies for Valentines’ Day has been a minor passion. I like them with red-hots to balance the sweetness and to get a nice crisp red color into my inexpert designs.

There are lots of ways to make iced cookies, even making cut outs from a tube of dough works. The day is not over so …. if you want to feel some love, even if it’s just from you for you - get into the kitchen and make some cookies with your name on it.