My Cape Cod Kitchen: The Gifts of Cookies and Daughters

Linda Maria Steele

“A daughter is a miracle that never ceases to be a miracle.”
~ Author unknown

I’m baking batches of Celebration Cookies in my kitchen today. They are my daughter Bella’s favorite and I wanted to send her a treat at school to let her know she’s in our thoughts at home. Besides with all the snow it’s a good time for baking.

I came up with this cookie combination a few years ago to celebrate July 4th weekend on the Cape. They’re a sweet combination of cranberry (red), blueberry (blue) and (white) chocolate. Since then I’ve made hundreds of batches. I like to package my cookies in cellophane bags tied with a colorful ribbon and share with people I’d like to thank for a recent kindness or just because I know a friend likes that particular kind of cookie. The way I see it, the sharing of a good cookie is an easy way to make someone else’s day a little brighter. Besides, when I share them I’m less likely to eat them all myself.

As for the miracle of daughters, I am blessed to have two. Some of my favorite moments and memories have to do with time spent with each of them. Last weekend I joined two friends for dinner. I hadn’t been out in a while and I was looking forward to some grown up girl talk. Bella recently bought an adorable new jumpsuit when we were out shopping one day before she went back to school. She let me try it on too and I felt happy when it fit well. She suggested I keep it to wear out for the girl’s dinner as long as I took good care of it and sent it in the mail to her at school. Borrowing her jumpsuit and then dropping it in the mail to return reminds me of that sweet film “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” but for us it’s more like Mother- and Daughter-Hood of the Traveling Jumpsuit.

There have been many occasions over the years when a good cookie has added just the right touch to one of my kids’ birthday parties. When Sophia turned five she asked for all things pony. I found different size horse- and pony-shaped cookie cutters and baked a tray of pink and purple shaped sugar cookies for her guests to enjoy and even a few to take home as a party gift.

If you find yourself in want of some good baking time soon, give my Celebration Cookies a try. In the meantime, I hope the snow lets up long enough so I can get to the Post Office and drop the cookies and the jumpsuit in the mail.

Linda Maria Steele’s Celebration Cookies

Celebration Cookies

*Baker’s Note: The very first time I made these I must have been feeling overly ambitious and I used fresh cranberries and blueberries that I carefully dehydrated on a baking sheet on a very low oven. It’s not hard, but it can be time consuming. Since then I’ve come to love the already dried fruit available in
the baking section at the grocery store just as much. There’s something about the combination of the dried fruit with the white chocolate that’s really yummy.

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
12 oz. white chocolate morsels
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup dried blueberries

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with foil.
2) Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a small bowl.
3) Beat butter, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla in a large mixer until creamy. Beat in egg.
4) Gradually stir in then beat until blended the flour mixture. Don’t over mix.

5) Stir in gently the white chocolate, cranberries and blueberries. Drop by large tablespoons onto
baking sheets. Bake for approximately 11-13 minutes. Oven times vary. You want the top of your
cooking to slightly brown. Enjoy!

Yield: 18 cookies

— By Linda Maria Steele

Linda Maria Steele’s ‘Meet Me In My Cape Cod Kitchen.’

Linda Maria Steele is a teacher, writer and baker who lives in Falmouth. She is the author of “Meet me in My Cape Cod Kitchen: Recipes for Seaside Living” and is adjunct faculty at Mass. Maritime Academy in the Humanities Department. She adores Cape Cod and enjoys cooking good food to share with friends and family.