Okay, I admit I’m out of practice making cookies.  Except for a few afternoons of cookie-baking with my little friend Sam, I’ve been out of the cookie-baking habit since 1988.

Sam and Claire, December 2018

Claire’s birthday was last week.  Needless to say, the family is practicing strict self-isolation.  So…no party.

I baked chocolate chip cookies and, despite the almost-burned bottoms, they turned out just fine.  So I packaged up a dozen or so and, along a pink box filled with pink Barbie gowns, delivered them to Claire.

How did I have pink Barbie gowns?  Well, my daughters had dozens of Barbie dolls and assorted outfits.  A few years ago I found them all stuffed in a garbage bag, so I picked out the decent clothes, washed them by hand and dried them on a towel in front of fireplace.  Then I packed them in a plastic bin marked “Barbie”.

Which meant I could find them almost immediately when I entered the storage room.  Banjo Man was incredulous.  For Claire’s birthday gift, I picked out all the pink dresses and outfits to put in the pink gift box.  It was a success, according to Claire’s mom.

Last Sunday (Easter) was Sammy’s birthday.  Can you imagine the disappointment?  Not only don’t you have a party, you can’t even visit your grandparents or go to the beach!  I did have some new Matchbox cars put away, along with a New Englands Patriots “Spot It” game, so it was easy to put together a birthday basket.

But I needed cookies.  So I turned to an old favorite, my grandmother’s sugar cookies.  Make the dough, roll them into balls, press them with a fork, sprinkle sugar on top and bake.  Easy, right?  Sam and I had made them before.  I even had fancy sprinkles.

Ready for the oven.

Except…

The cookies melted together and turned into a sheet cake.  I had made a double batch so the disaster continued on for a while.  You see them in the bowl?  I had to cut them in pieces to get them out of the pan.  They were buttery and crispy and yummy, but they were too ugly for a birthday gift.

In the midst of all of this chaos, Banjo Man poured himself a glass of milk, sat down at the table and ate six of the bad cookies.

So I started over.   What had I done wrong?  I realized the original recipe called for shortening.  I had used half butter and half Crisco.  BIG MISTAKE.

What on earth was I thinking????

The next two dozen cookies were perfect.

Thick, dry and crunchy.  Not too sweet.

Happy Birthday, Sam!  Next year will be much more fun, we promise.