My surviving brother Alan and I returned to the house the July after our mother's death to take care of legal matters and decide which mementos we wanted to take back to our own homes. One afternoon Cindy and her mother showed up unexpectedly at the kitchen door. After chatting with us for awhile, Cindy asked if she could have a copy of the cookbook. Alan had printed a limited number of copies for the family. I searched in the most likely spots where Mom might have put extras and found only a few left. Cindy got the remembrance she wanted of her good friend, Anna May.
Her paternal grandparents came from Germany, and my mother felt closely connected to that country. She never learned the language, but these relatives must have told her about the distinction between high and low German. It seemed to me that she asked every German-born person she met about that difference in dialects. No one could give her a clear answer, either because they didn't understand the question in English or were too young to know that the language had become more standardized with the advent of mass communication.
Mom liked making the caraway and ginger cookie recipes passed down from her German relatives during my childhood. Much later, she acquired another cookie recipe from a young German woman she'd met, a friend of my brother Ben's third wife. These cookies reflect the wide-spread habit in Germany of pausing for afternoon coffee, garnished with whipped cream, and richly succulent pastries. Mom always referred to these thumbprint cookies as "Gaby's cookies." Her introduction to the cookies in her cookbook exclaims, "Easy and always a hit!"
Gaby's Butter Cookies with Jam
1 stick soft butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour.
Cream butter and sugar, add flour. Put teaspoonfuls of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Press small indentation with thumb into each cookie and fill with jelly or jam of choice.Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Before lemon bars became the popular confection they remain today, Mom sent me a recipe from a good friend's daughter who had recently married. Judging by this recipe, she already showed the promise of being a good cook. The butter-infused crust and tart lemon filling of these bars quickly convinced me to place them among my favorite dessert offerings. The bars not only taste great but are easy to make, that ideal combination for busy bakers.
Variations on this perfect blend of flavors abound, such as adding eggs or brown sugar to the crust or poppy seeds, coconut, or nuts in the filling. My preference remains steadfast to the original recipe, which can be doubled and baked in a 9- by 12-inch baking pan. You'll be glad to have those extra bars to eat, and they keep well stored in an air-tight container.
Cynthia Murphy's Lemon Bars
Shortbread Crust:
1/2 cup chilled butter
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Cut the butter into dry ingredients and then press the mixture onto the bottom of a 9- by 9-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
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