Amish Sugar Cookies revisited

Jan here, strolling down memory lane. Come on along!

Years ago, probably about five million, I was a little girl. 

That's me, in the red sweatshirt. My brother
and I were having a yard sale.
Treasures abound!

I was blessed to have two grandmothers, and I loved them both.

But you know that while grandmothers have lots of things in common, each grandma is special in her own way. Do I hear an "amen?"

My dad's mother (a widow at an early age) lived an hour away in the same town in Indiana where I later (much later) lived with my own family. She's the one who taught me to quilt and sew, and even though she had sixteen grandchildren, she always found a way to show me how special I was to her.

My dad's parents soon after they
married in 1928

My mom's mother and father lived two hours away, and spent their winters in Florida. So we didn't get to see them as often. But this grandma had her own way to tell us how much she loved us.

My mom's parents
around 1962

Every time we went to visit, we could always count on there being a tin of special cookies on top of the refrigerator - Grandma's Sugar Cookies. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

5 rounded teaspoons baking powder

7-8 cups flour to make a stiff batter

1 1/2 cups milk

note: notice there is no salt in this recipe - that isn't a typo. There is no salt.

Cream together the butter and sugar, and then add the vanilla and the eggs. Stir together the baking powder and FIVE cups of the flour (the rest is to add later, if needed). Add in the flour mixture and the milk, alternately - this part is important - beating after each addition.

While you're mixing in the flour and milk, keep telling yourself you're making cake, not cookies. With cookies you're trying to make a dough - with cake you're making a delicate batter.

Believe me, you want a batter for these cookies. Grandma told me "the softer the batter, the better." But at the same time, it needs to be a bit thicker than a regular cake batter. You can add more flour than the original five cups if you need to - the amount of flour depends on your air temperature, humidity, altitude, etc. When we lived in the humid lowlands, I used more flour than I do now in the semi-arid highlands.

Refrigerate the batter for a couple hours.

While we're waiting for the batter to chill, let's take a rabbit trail to a different memory  - 

I included these cookies and the memories of my grandmother in my debut novel, "The Prodigal Son Returns," published by Love Inspired Historical more than seven years ago.

You can order
this book here

In the story, Ellie Miller is a widow with three children, and among the people in her life are her husband's elderly aunt and uncle, Miriam and Hezekiah Miller. They had provided a home for Ellie's husband from the time he was sixteen until he married, and they were the closest thing he had to parents after being orphaned as a young boy.

Every time Ellie takes her children to visit Grossmutti and Grossdawdi (Grandma and Grandpa), Grossmutti Miriam always has a container of these soft sugar cookies waiting for them. Sometimes four-year-old Susan is afraid Grossmutti will forget to make the cookies, but seven-year-old Johnny knows better. After all, what would Grossdawdi Hezekiah eat if there weren't any cookies?

But of course Miriam, just like my own Grandma, never forgot to have a fresh batch of these delicious cookies waiting whenever her grandchildren came to visit.

My Grandma always kept the cookies in a big round tin on top of her refrigerator, waiting for us. She never forgot to make them. When I was little, I was convinced she always had those cookies there for her and Grandpa to eat every day. But as I grew older I learned the truth - she made them just for us.

I worked for years to be able to make these cookies the right way. I knew I had done it when I took a batch to my brother one time. He took one bite and said "Now these are Grandma's cookies!"

Oh, and speaking of cookies!!! Has the dough been in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours? Then it's time to get that oven going!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 3/8" thick...or between 1/4" and 1/2" if you like to guesstimate :)

And be generous with the flour - remember that you made a cake batter, not a cookie dough. Treat the soft batter gently, and use plenty of flour while you're rolling.

Cut out round cookies, or whatever shape you like. I use my great-grandmother's biscuit cutter because...well...it just seems right to do it that way.

Around Valentine's Day, I color the dough pink dough and cut out some heart shapes!

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until they're done. You can tell they're done by lightly touching the top of one of them with your finger. If the depression stays, the cookie needs another minute of baking. But if it springs back, it's done. And don't let the edges get brown - that means they're too well done.

If you find your cookies are browning before the spring test says they're done, lower the heat on your oven a bit.

What memories do you have of your grandmothers? Or maybe you have a special "adopted" grandmother? Tell us about those special women in your life!

Jan Drexler has always been a "book girl" who still loves to spend time within the pages of her favorite books. She lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her dear husband of many years and their active, crazy dogs, Jack and Sam. You can learn more about Jan and her books on her website, www.JanDrexler.com.