"The Cookbook" is a group of wonderful recipes that were collected over the years by my mother. My mother, Eleanor, was a fussy, discriminating baker. She would pour over the Boston Globe's food pages, check the labels or boxes of products, or ask a person for a recipe. There were many tests that she would apply to a completed recipe to decide if it was worth keeping. One factor in the decision as to whether to keep a recipe or not was how long the product stayed around after it was cooked.
During the years that my sister Mary, brother Joe, and I were in elementary school,we never failed to volunteer to "bring in some cookies for the party". My mother would patiently make whatever cookies we had requested. The favorites were always the Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies and the Gingersnaps. My father's favorites were the Cream Puffs and the Date Bars. As each of us married, our spouses quickly became aware of the location of the cookies jar and helped to empty it. The cookies that had been our favorites growing up quickly became the favorites of all the grandchildren.
Eleanor
December 17, 2000
Even without my aunt's description, one may easily see which recipes are most special from how tattered and stained the pages are in The Cookbook. Gingersnaps are definitely a favorite of Eleanor's great grandchildren.
