One of the sweetest gifts..... (Nannie's Ice Cream Cookies)
Updated: Jul 4, 2018
It's funny how a simple thing, such as a cookie, can bring a flood of wonderful memories back to us as adults. These amazing cookies always bring back fond memories from my childhood. Particularly harvest. Nannie (my dad's mother, Ina Jean) would always make these during wheat harvest to send in meals to the field.
The recipe calls for lemon extract, but of course I use Lemon Vitality Essential Oil. You can add a little, or more if you want them to be more "lemony". It also calls for oleo, but I use all butter. Nannie always used the bottom of a dessert dish to make the pretty design on the cookie. Luckily I inherited the some of these dishes when she passed away, so they look just like hers! They are perfect for summertime.....light and refreshing!! Perfect for a hot harvest day!!
My Nannie was the epitome of a picture perfect grandma. She LOVED to bake (you can be sure there were always cookies in her cookie jar), you would wake up to the smell of blueberry muffins, she never said a curse word nor ever told you no, always had lots of hugs and kisses for you, her door was always open to all the neighborhood kids, and EVERYONE called her Nannie. She was one of the sweetest, kindest, most loving people I have ever met.
She lived just 2 blocks down from us, growing up in Utica, KS (population 220 when I was a kid). I can't tell you how many times I "ran away" after getting mad at my mom for something (I'm sure I wanted to do something really messy or ridiculous and she told me no) only to make it as far as Nannie's house. She'd give me cookies and we'd share coffee (lots of cream and sugar), maybe play a game of Scrabble, watch Sesame Street or Wheel of Fortune, or she'd let me join her in the kitchen to try out one of her latest recipes she'd cut out of a magazine. Before long all was forgotten as to why I had run away.
She'd give me a big hug and a kiss, tell me how much she loved me, then stand on the front porch (think big front porch with white railing and columns on a pink 2 story 1900's farmhouse with a porch swing), wave goodbye and watch me until I made it back to my block.
Luckily I got to have my Nannie in my life until after I was married. She passed away right before our first anniversary. So I got to appreciate all the wonderful memories she had made with all of us grandkids.
I still have the recipe book she gave me when I was an 8th grader and I filled it full of her favorites along with my mom's and Grandma Herman's favorites too. I'm also very blessed that many of the recipes are in their handwriting. You realize as you grow into an adult that some of the simplest things are the ones we will hold most dear.
A person's handwriting is just one more memory to hold onto after they are no longer here. Of course we will remember them when we smell and taste the delicious food, but to see their handwriting is almost like they are still here. To look at it and think, they were holding the pen that put the words on this paper......it was their love poured onto this page for me to hold onto.
One of the sweetest gifts that can ever be shared.
This means even more to me since I lost my Mom. I cherish the notes, recipes and anything that her pen touched. It makes my memories of her tangible.....more than just a memory.....a memory I can physically see and touch.....
If you have recipes or notes from loves ones, don't discard them.....no matter how silly they may seem at the time.....hold on to them.....cherish them. You never know when your life might be turned upside-down and that insignificant piece of paper might be the only memory you have to hold in your hands.
It just might turn into the sweetest gift you were ever given.
Nannie's Ice Cream Cookies
1/2 c. butter 1/2c. oleo (I use all butter)
1 c. white sugar
1 c. vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
1 c. powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 t. lemon extract (I use 2 drops Young Living Lemon Vitality Essential Oil)
4 1/2 c. flour
1 t. soda
1 t. cream of tartar
1 t. salt (I always use blessed salt and pray a blessing over the ingredients :)
Cream butter and sugar together. Add vegetable oil and powdered sugar, then cream again. Add eggs, vanilla and lemon eo and continue to cream (it won't get light and fluffy like a traditional recipe). Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl then add to creamed mixture. Stir until just combined. Drop by teaspoonful onto baking pan. Dip the bottom of a cup (with a pretty design) into white sugar then press down the cookie dough until approximately 1/4" thick. Bake at 375ยบ for 6-8 minutes. These taste amazing straight out of the freezer with a glass of ice cold milk!
Enjoy and think of the "Nannie" in your life!
#Nannie #Uticaks #grandmother #icecreamcookies #sugarcookies #tradition #familytradition #harvesttime #harvesttreat #harvestmeals #wheatharvest #shortbreadcookies #lemoneo #lemonvitality #lemoncookie #younglivingessentialoils #loveyl #bakingwitheos #bakingwithessentialoils #bakingwithbutter #prettydesign #presscookie #dipinsugar #beautifullyblessedoilers #apinchofchaos