My First Batch

I did it! I made the cookies. In fear of all my family hunting me down I will not share the coveted recipe.  However will show you the steps.

Beat

Sift

Alternate

 

Mix

Fridge

Roll

Cut

Bake

ps. these were one of my first and WAY too thick.

I ran home one day and made the dough then went to practice and along the way got some tips from one of the master bakers elves...my Dad.  His advice was don't use flour to roll out, good to know as I would have floured that rolling pin right up.  I'm not gonna lie, the first couple I rolled out were way too thick, but I slowly got the hang of it and got them as thin as I could.  They were so thin I could see the grain of the wood from our table through the dough.  My hands and shoulders are killing me,  AND STILL! They are not as thin as my Grammy's.

So I visited my Grammy tonight and got to the bottom of some important questions about her cookies.

Why did she decide on roll outs and not drop cookies to sell?  She started by having my Pappy bring them in to work, then slowly she started getting orders for them.  It evolved into a huge production, people would visit from the surrounding states to get her cookies, she said they would also ship cookies.  Plus she did roll outs because she likes rollouts 'best'.

How sore did she get when making them?  Grammy said her wrists would get so sore they would double in size.  She assured me that if I build up the muscles in my hands they wouldn't ache so much today.

Did she roll out all the cookies? No, she would pay the kids, a small amount she assured me for every task done. 

Where did she get the recipe?  She got the recipe from her mother.  One day she baked with her mother in the kitchen and measured every ingredient she would put in.  her mother would use a 'handful of flour' as a measurement, to get a more precise measurement she told her to 'holdon a minute' and would measure it out.  Don't you love when you hear a story like that?

Reviews on my rollouts?

Dad said-too dark, but good, Pappy would have liked them.  (too dark is lightly browned on the bottom fyi)

Grammy said- rolled them too much, don't fuss with them, "but 'good'" head nod and all.

So I guess I have some things to work on for next year.  Good news is I don't plan on selling 800 lbs of these, I'd be in trouble.

P.S. I'm loving the family history I'm getting out of some quality one on one time with my Grammy.  I'll be the first to admit that we were never super close.  I feel my connection with her is getting stronger, and while it is a sad to know that we have limited time with her, I feel blessed to be able to be with her now.