Friday, 12/20

Well, I saw the movie last night. And while it sometimes takes a few days and/or a few viewings to fully digest, comprehend, and deal with a film of this magnitude, just let me say this--

I'm pretty happy with the way it wrapped everything up. It was a very good movie and, at the end, deeply satisfying.  And as I promised yesterday, that's all I'm gonna say about that, at least for now.

Aside from the movie and shooting a TV show (which I need to do in a few minutes) and writing two newspaper articles I'm also trying to get ready for the holidaze, which for me always means making cookies. I started them Wednesday night, and I'll wrap them up tonight, and it reminds me that a few weeks ago someone asked if I still make the Grandma cookies I came up with a couple of decades ago.

Well, of course I do.

I know I haven't told the story recently, so here goes—20 or so years ago I didn’t know what to get my grandmother for Christmas. She was just starting to descend into hell that is Alzheimer’s Disease, and I wanted to give her something that she, in that state, might appreciate.

So I invented her a cookie.

She always liked sweets, and was such a sweet person herself, so I figured the cookie would the perfect gifts. I came up with one that had a quite interesting frosting to it, and seemed to capture her personality. I gave a batch of them to her that Christmas, and I’ve made ‘em every holiday season since.

Wanna try them yourself?

THE GRANDMA COOKIE--

3 cups flour

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

½ cup sour cream

1 cup white chocolate (or vanilla) chips

½ pound almond bark

1 tablespoon raspberry extract

Cream the butter & sugars in a large bowl. Mix in vanilla, egg, & sour cream. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. Then add chips.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350, let completely cool.

To frost the cookies, melt the bark and raspberry flavoring over VERY low heat, constantly stirring. When melted, slather on cookies.

Makes about 4 dozen.

*****

On that note, I do need to get going for the day. I hope your weekend is as productive as mine (hopefully) will be!

(jim@wmqt.com)