My Grandmother’s Cookies

When I think about a family recipe. My mouth immediately starts to water as I think about the buttery Scottish shortbread cookies I’ve made over the years.

It’s a recipe I got from my grandmother one year, when I’d mentioned I wanted to learn how to make them. She told me it was Great Grandma’s recipe and was probably one of her favorites. I think we shared a moment of joy and also excitement over making Scottish shortbread cookies that were likely legit. I mean my dad’s side of the family had a lot of Scottish ancestry. That of which I was obsessed with but beyond a few names and a messy family tree that was almost impossible to create I didn’t feel like I had a connect to this history. So I was happy to add this one into my hoard of Scottish based obsession.

The recipe promised, golden buttery cookies that crumbled in your mouth. The end result of the first few batches were puffed up squares that were chewy. Nothing like how they should taste. But my roommate ate them regardless. I felt lost with the recipe because it was just a list of ingredients on a card. That’s how most of her recipes were written and she’d teach everyone how to make them herself. I don’t think she ever wrote down the steps.

Frantically I phoned my grandmother for help. Who advised that if I froze the butter and shredded it with grater into the flour it would be easier to mix. She also noted that sometimes Great Grandma would put in a splash of whiskey to help soften it. But not too much otherwise you’d get the puffy styled cookie. It wasn’t much to go off of. But I was determined to get this.

For me it wasn’t just about perfecting an old recipe, or a classic Christmas cookie. It was a connection to the past I wanted. I’d tried to make a tree on ancestor.ca and was having little to no luck with it. There just wasn’t a lot of records to go off of. Nothing that could give me solid connection. Just fragmented lines that may or may not have lead back to an average family in Scotland or one that lead back to the poet larriet and nobles. I favored the fun retelling of course. But we hardly know that side of the family. So for all I know it could be false or based on false claims. But this recipe was a real thing. I knew great grandma when she was alive, this was her recipe and by god I was going to get it right…. Well maybe after five more attempts.

Eventually I was able to get the recipe right. Now it’s a favorite of many of my friends at Christmas time. Sometimes I still manage to mix things incorrectly and we end up with less than perfect cookies. But at the end of the day I still think of my Grandma. I never called her great grandma. Just Grandma. And in honesty it does make me think of our Scottish roots. For I have never met a more stubborn cookie recipe.

I may never know if my family was really related to Robbie Burns, or royality. I may never reconnect with Scottish cousins one day down the line. But I can still have it be a part of my identity. I just don’t have to go as hardcore with it as I use to. And if anything. It’s the food that has stuck with me in my cultural exploration of Scotland. I love haggis, a good malt whiskey or a good Speyside. Adore the accent, and the tartans. And of course I love these cookies.

I have enjoyed them in their original form that my grandma made. I have researched how they would have been made in the 12th century and dabbled with it as well. I have even tried to recreate how Mary Queen of Scots would have had them. And through the years I’ve made them my own by splashing in different whiskeys to change the flavour profile just ever so slightly.

It’s a recipe that’s part of my history. And it’s one that’s been around for a long time. And while I may never pass it on to my own children, as I do not plan to have any. It’s a recipe that will still be apart of the world once I am gone. It unlike me will carry on. It might not be entirely the same cookie. But it will be one that’s been born from a rich history, modified by personal history, and then shared to become part of a greater history. And it’s just a cookie recipe! Imagine what could be done if more things were passed down and shared….

I think it’s more important to share these kinds of things. Because it’s all too easy to go online and find a recipe. We don’t necessarily need to engage with others to get something anymore. Even in articles where people pour their soul out, we often find ourselves clicking to the recipe. We don’t share in each others storeys very much anymore. And I’m at fault for that too. It’s convenient. Especially when you live far away from family. And well it’s sad. It makes this recipe all the more special.

To the point where I almost don’t want to give it away. But I also think it’s such a beautiful thing to do. Because it gets to be a part of something outside of me. Even if it is just in the form of a post.

So before I get too preach again, and go into another ramble of the importance of keeping history alive and connecting with our fellow humans! Here is the recipe, in the same way it was written. Hopefully you have as much fun figuring it out as I did.

Scottish Shortbread

6 cups of flour

2oz of sugar

1oz of fine suger

5oz of butter.

(I really wasn’t kidding when I said it was just a list. But may it inspire you to research and learn)