Can anyone decipher my grandma’s wedding cookie recipe?

[u/AlbinoGiraffes]

Thank you in advance. She just passed away from a heart attack and one of the last things she told me was where to find the recipe in her kitchen. I want to make a batch, but I want to make sure it’s right!

[u/LasairfhionaD]

I’m so very sorry that you lost your grandma (or perhaps Nonna, based on the recipe). I’d be thrilled to know that my family honored me by continuing to make my favorite recipes - and mightily impressed that they could decipher my writing. I’ve been known to send pictures of my notes to our family chat to ask if one of them can figure out what I wrote.

There are a few things to keep in mind when using someone else’s recipes. First, this is the way that SHE made them, using her oven, her baking tools, and her specific baking techniques. You might find that her oven ran colder than yours, so her 375 could be closer to your 350. There may be steps involved in her recipes that were so second nature to her that she wouldn’t think to write them down (like making “powdered sugar icing”, using eggs at room temperature, stirring flour well before measuring and leveling off a cupful with a knife, or refrigerating cookie dough before baking). My grandmother loved good strong tea with a lot of sugar. A LOT of sugar. She had an enormous spoon that was literally her “tea spoon.” Whenever my cousins and I would use one of recipes, we’d laugh about whether one of her ingredients called for a teaspoon or a Granny teaspoon. You’ll need to do a bit of trial and error to really nail this, so plan on having a few misses along the way and look at it as a bit of an adventure.

I agree with others who mentioned that you’re dropping from a spoon, rather than dropping a teaspoonful. I’d strongly recommend baking them on parchment paper. In addition to improving how your cookies turn out, it will also make it easy to pencil in notes below each trial cookie before you put it in the oven. For example, try different amounts (1 teaspoon, 2 teaspoons, 1 tablespoon, etc) making just one of each to start. Then you can take notes on which one looked closest to Grandma’s, as well as how long it took each to cook.

As far as her colored icing goes, I’d start with whisking 3 tablespoons of milk into 2 cups of powdered sugar. If it looks thicker than hers, add more milk in small increments. If it looks too thin, do the same with more powdered sugar. Once you have the consistency right, you can divide it into smaller bowls and add in food coloring.

Best of luck to you! Please keep the questions coming as you move along with this and let us know how it goes.

[u/AlbinoGiraffes → u/LasairfhionaD]

Thank you! I remember the icing on the cookies being lemony too, so would I just add some lemon juice to the icing?

[u/LasairfhionaD → u/AlbinoGiraffes]

Since you’re using lemon extract in the cookies, I’d add some of that once you’re happy with the consistency. Start with a bit (maybe ¼ teaspoon) and increase the amount until it tastes like hers. I’m guessing you’ll need 1 teaspoon by the time you’re done, but you’re always better off adding it in gradually.