The Best Recipe

When I was in boarding school I had the best roommate, Nancy Mack. Nancy had the best Mom, Jane. Jane was a superior Mother, Doctor, and Baker. I was always in awe of all that Jane did. She worked full time as the pediatrician for a whole town. She raised five children and kept Nancy’s Dad, also a Doctor, in line.

Sometimes she would just pop up to school and take Nancy and me out to lunch and then leave Nancy a tin of homemade snickerdoodles.

These snickerdoodles were so far superior to any other cookies on earth that we would talk about them long after they had been consumed. Since I had a mother who not only did not bake or eat cookies I especially appreciated Jane.

Today Nancy shared her mother’s hand written recipe. She said it is too good not to share. So I share it with you, with Nancy’s clarifying notes. I did ask Nancy what her mother meant by “shortening” and she confirmed it was always Butter.

So do yourself a favor and bake these cookies. I wish Jane were still alive so I could run a batch by her to get her opinion. I am going to have to make some next time I see Nancy so we can have them with milk just like we did at Walkers. They are a happy memory.