2023 Holiday Issue

COOKING
WITH SCRATCH ©
Cookies Are My
Love Language!
36
Story and photos by
BARBARA SIMMONS
If you’re a fan of Instagram psychotherapy,
I’m sure you’ve run across the term “peoplepleaser.”
According to the most recent definition from
Merriam Webster’s online dictionary, a peoplepleaser
is a “person who has an emotional need
to please others at the expense of his or her
own needs or desires. But people-pleasing isn’t
necessarily a bad thing, as it shows you are a
caring person who values social connections and
enjoys making others happy.”
I think all of us can relate to this definition.
Granted, some people-pleasing behaviors are
detrimental, such as overexplaining, not being
able to say no and feeling responsible for other
people’s feelings. An overabundance of these
behaviors can lead to resentment, said author
Amy Morin in a 2017 Psychology Today article.
As a mother and grandmother, I have lots of
behaviors that could be considered peoplepleasing,
but I feel that my motivation, especially
when baking for others is concerned, comes
from a good place.
Gifting a beautiful plate of certifiably delicious
homemade cookies is a wonderful way to
share your love and show your appreciation to
family, friends, co-workers, your car mechanic,
hairdresser and anybody else you’d like to
include.
The act of baking and giving to others, I
believe, exemplifies caring behavior.
My motivation is love and gratitude. Baking
Christmas cookies (with scratch!) has been fun
for me since I was a little girl. I’ve collected a
ton of excellent recipes over the years and still
love the whole process of baking, decorating and
giving away gifts of homemade cookies.
Over the years, I’d get together with my
cookie baking crew early in December to bake
lots and lots of cookies. Regulars from back in
the day were Rita Earle and Sue Elam; both of
whom were always so generous sharing their
family recipes and cookie baking tips and tricks.
Back in the day we all had our “cookie
obligations” and spent two to three days mixing,
baking, assembling and decorating 13 or 14
LAKE HOPATCONG NEWS Holiday 2023
different kinds of cookies to give to friends and
relatives far and wide.
After the final cleanup, Sue, using large number
estimation, would divvy up all of the cookies.
We’d transport them home where we were then
faced with the task of packing them all up.
I started by making a list of the usual suspects
of cookie recipients and preparing tins for
shipping and trays for in-person giving.
I carefully layered the cookies between doilies
in the tins, sealed them up with a note inside,
made the address labels and packed them in
priority mail cardboard boxes jammed with
newspaper so the cookies would arrive fairly
intact.
I sent cookies to friends in California, New
Hampshire, Texas, Ohio, Connecticut, Virginia,
Maryland and Germany.
For the trays, I lined pretty Christmas paper
plates with a doily and arranged an assortment
of cookies on top. With crinkly cellophane, I
wrapped them, gathering the cellophane up on
top and tying them with a pretty wire-edged
bow. I must say, they were quite attractive.
The cookie trays went to post office
employees, neighbors, the workers at the
auto repair shop, my hairdresser, a few of my
husband’s subcontractors and mostly to school,
where I taught.
The janitors, IT employees and front office
secretaries were priorities—you can’t do your job
without their support—and Christmas cookies
were a great way to thank them. Of course, the
administrators each received their own tray, and
the biggest one was for my colleagues in the
world languages office.
I remember how joyful I felt, like I was the OG
Call Jim to buy or list today!
House Values
James J. Leffler
Realtor
RE/MAX House Values
131 Landing Road
Landing, NJ 07850
201-919-5414 Cell
973-770-7777 Office
jimleff.rmx@gmail.com
Left to right: Gingersnaps fresh from the oven.
The author’s niece and daughter, Kelly Stewart
and Erika Simmons, making gingersnaps in 2021.
Christmas elf as I flitted from office to office
delivering these gifts.
I still bake a ton of Christmas cookies to send
off every year. I could complain about the price
of postage and the cost of gas, but these are
presents for people I don’t see very often.
It really makes me happy to share Christmas
this way, and it’s a great way to spread my love!
A personal preference when baking and
sharing your results: I think it is important to have
a nice variety of cookies—some nutty, some
fruity, some citrusy, some chocolatey and a few
spicy—represented in your tray or tin.
This issue’s recipe is for my wicked spicy
gingersnaps. They can cause a bit of afterburn, so
when I say wicked, I mean it. Not only do they fill
the bill in the spicy category, they are pretty, too.
About the gingerroot: I use quite a bit of fresh
ginger for teas, cooking and baking, so I buy a
large “hand” (about a pound or more) of ginger
then peel and slice it before putting it into the
blender to mince it. Then I freeze whatever is
left over from the 5 tablespoons called for in the
recipe.
I put the remaining minced ginger in cupcake
tins and then later bag these ginger “pucks” for
teas or other recipes.
James J. Leffler
Realtor