Granny cookies
Today Crash wanted to buy some cookies in the grocery bakery. They were labeled "no-bake cookies" but I looked at them and recognized them by their true name, Granny cookies. These were the cookies my Granny Long, my maternal grandmother made for us at her house.
They are perfect cookies for a busy person to whip up. She was a mother of six with a somewhat unreliable husband, so she certainly qualified as busy. Plus all the ingredients are things you're likely to have on hand.
1/2 c. butter 3 cups 1-minute oatmeal
1/2 c. milk 1/2 cup peanut butter (I use smooth because crunchy is gross)
1/3 c. cocoa powder
2 c. sugar
Melt ingredients from left-hand column, then boil mixture for one minute, stirring continuously. Remove from heat and add oatmeal and peanut butter. Stir until peanut butter is melted and mixture is thoroughly combined.
Stir together and drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper. Let cool and enjoy.
I thought about my grandmother's house: the china cabinet with porcelain figures and a music box my grandfather bought from Germany. Thought about the toys all the kids played with: an old Brownie camera, a medicine chest we turned into a dollhouse, a game of Aggravation that spawned endless battles between cousins. Thought about the braided oval rug, rings of different colors, that we raced cars on. Thought about the apple tree in the front yard -- good for climbing, although the apples were only useful as misshapen, wormy missiles.
Thought about my grandmother making cookies. Sometimes she'd let one of us lick the spoon when she was done, and that was my favorite part, the thick fudge mixture still warm.
My grandmother's house is here in the town I live in, although it's now the headquarters of some kind of cement business. I can see it every time I take Crash to the movies, and every time I point it out to him and tell him it is where my Granny Long lived. She died when I was six months pregnant with Crash, so he has no idea who she was or what she was like.
I miss my grandmother tonight.
They are perfect cookies for a busy person to whip up. She was a mother of six with a somewhat unreliable husband, so she certainly qualified as busy. Plus all the ingredients are things you're likely to have on hand.
1/2 c. butter 3 cups 1-minute oatmeal
1/2 c. milk 1/2 cup peanut butter (I use smooth because crunchy is gross)
1/3 c. cocoa powder
2 c. sugar
Melt ingredients from left-hand column, then boil mixture for one minute, stirring continuously. Remove from heat and add oatmeal and peanut butter. Stir until peanut butter is melted and mixture is thoroughly combined.
Stir together and drop by spoonfuls on waxed paper. Let cool and enjoy.
I thought about my grandmother's house: the china cabinet with porcelain figures and a music box my grandfather bought from Germany. Thought about the toys all the kids played with: an old Brownie camera, a medicine chest we turned into a dollhouse, a game of Aggravation that spawned endless battles between cousins. Thought about the braided oval rug, rings of different colors, that we raced cars on. Thought about the apple tree in the front yard -- good for climbing, although the apples were only useful as misshapen, wormy missiles.
Thought about my grandmother making cookies. Sometimes she'd let one of us lick the spoon when she was done, and that was my favorite part, the thick fudge mixture still warm.
My grandmother's house is here in the town I live in, although it's now the headquarters of some kind of cement business. I can see it every time I take Crash to the movies, and every time I point it out to him and tell him it is where my Granny Long lived. She died when I was six months pregnant with Crash, so he has no idea who she was or what she was like.
I miss my grandmother tonight.