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BaronessSasla badge: Community Member

Cookies From An Angel

I am the Mother of six simply extraordinary kids, all grown now, but our struggles growing up together were remarkable and I say that with a full heart. I raised them alone ;there was precious little to go around;hand-me-down clothes and shoes until they literally tattered,furniture salvaged from other people's trash that we painted and made new; we found inventive ways to survive, but my children had very little in the way of luxuries.
I always baked bread for them because it was infinitely more economical to buy a 5 lb bag of King Arthur than to buy several (expensive) loaves of empty-calorie white bread in the store. Our life choices were all mediated thus, what made the most sense for our meager finances.
I had the great good fortune to make a lifelong & dear friend when my kids were babies, and being adopted/having no real family to speak of,she became much beloved Aunt Shar to my children. Her incredible Mother, Shirley Packard, to me was the archetype of Maternal Ideal, and she sort of took my kids on as grandkids and crocheted hats,mittens and other goodies for them, but the greatest gift Shirley sent my children was her Frosted Sugar Cookies. The box would arrive in the mail and the children would mill about, excited, anticipating the slow dissolve in their hungry mouths of egg-white,vanilla & confectioner's sugar frosting which Shirley tinted pale pastels to delight the eye. The cookies were crumb-tender inside but had this whisper-thin layer of crisp on the bottom, a true culinary wonder. The gift box was always layered with tissue paper and you could see cookie-crumbs and bits of frosting here and there, the kids just went bonkers. :) Each cookie was treasured, each bite an experience. The cookies meant so much to them that at times I even used them as a disciplinary tool, as in "if you pull your sister's hair again, you don't get any of Shirley's cookies !"
Those boxes came every holiday, every Easter,Halloween,Christmas,Birthday and each of my children reveled in the gift of love they represented. She never forgot a single holiday or birthday; the cookies arrived regularly, dependably, in a family's life where so little could be depended upon. For us they came to mean hope; something to look forward to in the midst of a landscape of deprivation,struggle and forced sacrifice. I often felt the tears well in my eyes as they laughed and ate Shirley's cookies. They were magical in their ability to lift all of us up for a little while.
An immeasurable loss to us all, Shirley left Life about thirteen years ago, and I began making those cookies for my children and now my grandchildren. Just this last Christmas, my grandsons came from Florida for the holidays and of course, we baked Shirley Packard's Sugar Cookies. I told the boys, 5 and 4 yrs old, that they must do a magic hand gesture over the dough or they wouldn't come out right. I think Shirley would've loved seeing the boys, in dead earnest, doing wild hand movements over the bowl. :) Needless to say, the cookies were amazing, as they have always been the entire lives of my children. As my grandboys and I frosted cookies together, I had the sense Shirley was watching,smiling.
It would seem such a simple thing, a box of home-baked cookies. But for us,those cookies meant someone loved us, someone was looking out for us,someone understood what the reality of our lives were and wanted to make it better, if even for a few minutes.
My children grew up to make incredible lives for themselves, as I have also, but some memories stay forever cherished in the heart. It is my great honor and even obligation to share the story of Shirley Packard's Amazing Sugar Cookies with you; it is my hope that you have a Shirley Packard in your life, too.~

Tags: sugar cookies

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mikes
  • Reply by mikes on March 18, 2011 at 2:01 pm
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Your story is a testament to the fact that food not only nourishes our bodies, it also nourishes our soul.
My wife and I try eat sensibly. But if all you think about are calories, salt intake, sugar, and fat, you'll miss the joy of sharing food with others.
Tomorrow, we are having a combination birthday party for my 81 year old mother-in-law and a baby shower for a niece-in-law. Among other things, we are going to have home-cooked turkey, homemade carrot cake, homemade ice cream, and homemade cupcakes. We are so looking forward to a time of fellowship and sharing.

sofia100
  • Reply by sofia100 on March 18, 2011 at 6:14 pm
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Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful and heartwarming story. As a therapist I hear many stories of bleak childhoods. When we realize that we all carry within us the children we once were, that also can bring hope, b/c each person can, acting as "surrogate Mother/Father" to ourselves, heal that wound of emptiness by baking wonderful things for ourselves/our inner children. I en-'courage' these clients to take charge and change that history instead of wishing someone would have done it for you. You can't change the past, but you can change the present!

kittykat3308

This s a wonderful story, Would you please share Shirley's recipe for the cookies and frosting with us. Thank you

Blessings,
Kat

Blue-eyed Baker

You wrote this story so beautifully that it brought tears to my eyes! What a beautiful, loving gesture by Shirley, and by you to share it with us! I'd love to have the recipe!

BaronessSasla

Thanks to all of you who took time to make such lovely,thoughtful postings in response to my story; it is appreciated~ :)
As for posting the recipe, I will do that, but I must ask that anyone who prints/uses this recipe be good enough to keep it in your files and or share it with the title "Shirley Packards' Frosted Sugar Cookies". This is a small way of paying tribute to a remarkable woman who gave so much to me and my children; I want to honor her by sharing her recipe in her name and ask that all who copy it also honor her name. She deserves at least that.~

I am in the midst of preparing for a huge art show end of March, after that, I'll post the recipe for Shirley's Cookies + Frosting. Tinted to pastel colors, they are the perfect Easter treat~!