Week 23: Cupboard Cookies

This week I chose to make cupboard cookies.  I found this recipe in one of my many cookbooks published by Gooseberry Patch.  I have been a fan of Gooseberry Patch since the early 90's. They have published dozens of community style cookbooks and I own most of them.  I actually submitted a few recipes, and had one of my Grandma Ann's cookie recipes published (that recipe to be featured at at later date. ☺) If you are interested here is a link to their website: http://www.gooseberrypatch.com/ 
The name of the cookbook that contained the recipe for this week  is titled  "Sweet and Simple."  This week's recipe is a bit unusual  in that it didn't contain vanilla, or baking powder.  The other unusual thing is this recipe's secret ingredient...crushed potato chips.  Before I baked the cookies I had the kids taste the dough, to see whether the cookies would be better with or without the addition of mini chocolate chips. The result was split so, I added mini chocolate chips to half the dough and kept the other half plain.   I scoured the internet for this recipe and couldn't find it.  I did find a ton of recipes titled "clean out the cupboard cookies" but they added a ton of ingredients that my recipe didn't include.  Due to copyright laws I cannot include the recipe that I used,  but here is a link to one of the recipes I found that is similar: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/clear-the-cupboard-cookies-10000000520785/
To make the version I used omit the baking powder and all the ingredients listed after the salt.  Then add 1 cup of crushed potato chips, 1 cup of chopped walnuts, and bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet.  The resulting cookies are yummy, and my family really enjoyed them.  They are not my favorite, but I do prefer the cookies with the mini chocolate chips in them as opposed to the plain ones.  I love love love salty and sweet together and these cookies satisfy that craving. 

I had a difficult time selecting a cookie recipe for this week.  I think it was (in part) due to the fact that I have baked a lot lately, and I wasn't feeling super creative.  Over the weekend I baked off some snickerdoodles for Ryan (see recipe week 2 1/2) and some chocolate chip cookies for Victoria (see recipe week 1 1/2).  I also have been a candy making fool!  I got a great recipe for raw chocolate candy from my good friend Colleen, and I have been making them and eating them on a daily basis!  Also, I have been making kale chips like a mad woman!!  I swear I cannot stop eating them!  I have bought a ridiculous amount of kale lately, and that prompted Dan and the kids to make kale part of my mother's day gift.  We took a trip to a local nursery and we bought 34 kale plants.  Yes 34!   I am sure that we bought too much kale, but I literally cannot keep up with my addiction to these kale chips.  So, with all of that in mind, when it came time to choose a cookie recipe, I was looking for straightforward instructions, and ingredients that did not require another trip to the grocery store.

Initially, the name of this recipe intrigued me...cupboard cookies.  To be honest I love the word cupboard.  I also love the word pantry.  These words conjure such "homey" images for me.  I always imagine the wonderful ingredients that are in cupboards and pantries just waiting to be made into something delicious. I love love love to look through cupboards and pantries too.  In fact, if I am watching a movie or tv show where someone opens a cupboard or pantry, I'll pause and rewind the scene multiple times so I can take a peek inside.  Thank goodness for my DVR. ☺  In case you share my odd curiosity regarding the contents of cupboards and pantries, here are a few pictures from my "baking cupboard" and kitchen pantry. 

My Dad hates my fascination with cupboards and pantries, because when I am at his house and I need something from his cupboard, I'll pitch anything that I find that is expired.  He is a stockpiler of ingredients and I swear on my life that I have found things in his pantry from the 70's!  I threw them away of course (all while he yelled "...hey...I might need that!") but I also took pause to marvel at the packaging and of course the other contents of the cupboard. ☺ 

Yesterday was mother's day.  I had a good day.  It started with a yummy breakfast that Dan and the kids made for me.  Then I was afforded the opportunity to lay on the couch and watch an old black and white movie that I had DVR'd.  It was titled "Love in the Afternoon" and it starred Audrey Hepburn, Gary Cooper, and Maurice Chevalier.  Then the kids decided to make me cookies. (see picture on the right)  They made chocolate chip bars and they were scrumptious! Then we went outside to plant my mother's day gifts.   Dan and the kids bought me 2 McIntosh apple trees and 2 raspberry bushes to add to "the Sutherland orchard."  Then we planted 16 of the 34 kale plants.  I still have to plant the other 18 but I am waiting for my next garden box to be constructed.☺ Then I potted some of my annual herbs (dill and basil), and pruned the fruit trees already in our orchard.  The day was completed with a yummy dinner (Dan's amazing vegetarian chili) and a few games with the kids.  All in all it was a great day...I have no complaints. 

As I reflected on the day, I had mixed emotions though.  Without a doubt, I had a lovely day with my amazing husband and my precious babies, but something was missing.  It was my Mom of course. I absolutely hate that there is a day solely devoted to celebrating mothers and my Mom is absent.  I know she is always with me in spirit but that is not enough for me. I want her here. Physically here.  I want to talk to her and hear her voice answering me.  I want to hug her and feel her physically hug me back.   I want to sit with her and discuss my garden, or my new recipes that I think she'd love.  I want to laugh with her about something silly that one of the kids said.  I want to get irritated that she forgot some minute detail that I've already told her about a million times. Then, I want to hear her laugh and apologize that she forgot...again.  I want to pick up my ringing phone and hear her quizzically say my nickname "...Key??"  (as if someone else would be answering my phone in the middle of the day.) I want to lecture her about taking better care of herself, and see her roll her eyes and say "I know mumma...I know" all the while intending to do exactly as she pleased.  In short... I want my Mom. Period.  BUT for the rest of my life I'll have to want something I cannot have.  I'll have a wish that will never be granted.  I'll have an ache that can never be soothed.  I'll have a hole in my life that will never...ever.. be filled. 



My family at the Grand Hotel 2010

I am fortunate to have family that I love and that I know loves me.  I am grateful everyday for my husband and my children.  I am grateful everyday for my Dad, my sister, my brothers (from another mother), my Kimmy, and my niece and nephew.  I am grateful everyday for my extended family (especially those of you who loved my Mom and try so hard to fill her void...thank you ♥).  I am grateful everyday for my wonderful friends who I consider my family. But you only get one Mom... and mine is gone. No matter how happy I seem, or how loud I laugh, the fact is I will always be without her.  I will always miss her, and I will never be okay with her absence.  Cruelly but necessarily life goes on.  Despite her absence I have not quit life.  The sentiment that gets me out of bed (even on the roughest of days) is that I have beautiful children to raise, I have a wonderful family to love, a home to take care of, and plenty of cookies to bake. ♥