Growing up, there were not many “family secret recipes” that I can remember.  However, there was a hard cover Betty Crocker Cook Book.  I don’t remember my mom using it very often.  Once I tried to make chocolate chip cookies from the cook book, but at that time I was not aware high altitude changes may need to be made.  The cookies turned out as chocolate chip crisps.  The cook book shows its’ years of wear.  The binding is off, divider tabs are torn, some pages are loose and yellowing.  If you finger your way through the sections and are able to locate the “Cookie” section, on the page with the Butter cookie recipe is a hand written recipe for Grandma Dole Cookies.  All that is listed are ingredients, amounts, and baking temperature.  No instructions, just an assumption that the process has been handed down through the family.  Grandma Dole was my mom’s mother.  Unfortunately, I did not have the honor of knowing here as she passed when I was an infant.

Grandma Dole cookies were different from any other cookie our family made.  They look like a crisp sugar cookie, but they are soft.  They were meant to be dipped in coffee or milk.  They were a holiday staple, dyed with holiday colors, sprinkles, sugar, and cut into festive shapes.  I wanted to put icing on them, mom thought that would be sacrilege, so we never did.  I remember making these cookies with my mother when I was young.  We used the large yellow ceramic mixing bowl, using only a fork to mix the dough.  We never used a mixer, because the dough is so stiff that in those days it would have burned out the mixer motor.  As I got older, my mom and I would alternate stirring duty.  With each flour addition stirring became more and more difficult.  In high school I would call mom from school (using a good ole’ pay phone) and have her take out the margarine/butter so it would be soft when I got home so I could make cookies.  I use to make them so often, I had the recipe memorized.  In my adult years, whenever I visited mom and dad I was asked if we were going to make Grandma Dole cookies.  I rarely turned the opportunity down.

I have fond memories of making Grandma Dole cookies and the family ties it has forged: mom helping stir the dough (and washing the dishes), my sister eating the dough as fast as we could roll it out, my daughter (2 years old at the time) sitting on the counter while we made cookies (eating the softened butter my mom left on the counter), making Grandma Dole cookies with my kids, and at times nieces and nephews.  In a few years, I have a couple of great nieces that will hopefully make and enjoy this not-so-secret family recipe.

There are a few tricks to making the perfect Grandma Dole cookies.  The full recipe is on the recipe page, but these tips may be helpful.  First, make sure your butter/or margarine (we always used margarine) is at room temperature and softened.  Follow the creaming method of mixing, which is: cream together the softened butter and sugar, then add the eggs.  For consistent mixing, alternately add the flour with the milk and vanilla extract.  The dough will be stiff.  You want to add just enough flour so the dough is not sticky so it is easier to pull out of the bowl and roll out.  **REMEMBER you will add more flour to the dough through the rolling and cutting process, so be conservative with the initial flour mixing.  Bake the cookies just until they are slightly brown, this will make for a softer cookie.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have the opportunity to make and enjoy Grandma Dole Cookies.