My Mother’s Cookbook; Recipes from Younger Friends: Cindy’s Cookies, Gaby’s Butter Cookies with Jam, California Cheesecake, and Cynthia’s Lemon Bars

The bond of womanhood serves us well throughout our lives. My mother valued the companionship of friends her own age, but she also liked learning about the tastes, interests, and ideas of younger women. This worked to her advantage as she grew older and faced the hard reality that the long-time friends of her generation were leaving this earth in far too rapid succession. The friendships she cultivated with younger women helped to soften those repeated losses.

A house feels empty after the children grow up and move away, and my brothers and I had chosen to locate so far afield that frequents visits home weren't possible. We communicated regularly by letter or telephone. Once, on the phone, I complained to Dad that coping with the turmoil of four sons in my life made me yearn for the day when they'd all be grown up. His immediate answer was, "Well, it'll damned dull around the house without them."

To help fill this void, my parents developed friendships with some of the neighborhood children. These little tykes got in the habit of stopping by for brief visits and called my parents by their first names, Anna May and Beanie. They didn't just troop in uninvited but knocked politely first at the kitchen door. It didn't take a wizard to notice that they had an ulterior motive beyond reporting on the day's events and examining Dad's paperweight collection.

Mom had an oversized brandy snifter that she sometimes used for floating flower arrangements. More frequently, she filled the snifter with her favorite peppermint and butterscotch hard candies. This tantalizing bowl sat on an end table, in the corner of the living room close by both dining room and library. She'd always offered her young visitors a few candies to take with them, small payback for the joy they gave my parents.

When I came home with my sons for summer visits, they found ready-made playmates among these neighborhood kids. Cindy, one of the older girls in the gang of candy seekers, was old enough by then to help with household chores and look after the grandchildren when my parents' house was again full of family members.

After my father died, Cindy never lost her childhood habit of checking in on my mother. Even after she married, moved away from Harlan, Iowa, and had children of her own, she still made time for a brief visit when back in town to see her own mother. Mom acknowledged Cindy's loyalty by including a cookie recipe from her in the family cookbook. They are just the kind of cookies that young children love to help make, decorate, and, especially, eat!

Cindy's Cookies

3 sticks of margarine or butter (1 1/2 cups), softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 small eggs

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

dash of salt

Cream margarine and sugar; add eggs, then remaining ingredients.

Mom's Note: For frosting and cookie cutters.

My Note: The directions for this recipe are sketchy, so I've added more detail.

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My Mother’s Cookbook; Recipes from Younger Friends: Cindy’s Cookies, Gaby’s Butter Cookies with Jam, California Cheesecake, and Cynthia’s Lemon Bars

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