Today is the fifth anniversary of the day my mom died. Those years have passed in a flash and there are times when the loss still feels raw and fresh. At Christmas time, especially, I feel my mother's absence. There are certain things that bring her memory especially close and create that poignant feeling of bittersweet. Cooking from her Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook is one of those things.
The cookbook, which doesn't have a copyright date but was published sometime in the 1940s, is just about in shreds. It is a loose leaf notebook, with many additional recipes that my mom pasted in here and there. When I open it to the Russian Teacake recipe on page 206 I see her penciled note that these cookies are "Aunt Sue's favorite." I remember making these at Christmas time for Aunt Sue—a dear family friend—when I was a child. After my mother died, I started to make them again, carefully packing them in a holiday tin and shipping them off to Aunt Sue's condominium in Florida. This renewed tradition has become one of my favorite parts of Christmas.
I made a batch last night, using my mom's little glass nut chopper to chop the walnuts. I mixed the dough in the lovely Hall Royal Rose bowl that she grabbed for me at a church rummage sale many years ago. (My mother told me that when she spied the set of three matching bowls, she reached in front of the crowd to claim them saying "These are for my daughter.")
I never look at these things—the bowls, the nut chopper, the dear frail Betty Crocker cookbook—without thinking of my mom. Using them to make a batch of cookies for one of her dearest friends is a wonderful way to honor her memory—and to reclaim a little piece of Christmas past.
Russian Tea Cakes
1 cup vegan margarine, softened
1/2 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sifted white flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cups finely chopped nuts
More confectioner's sugar for rolling
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cream together the margarine, confectioner's sugar and vanilla. Stir the salt into the flour and blend into the margarine mixture. (I find that it helps to use a pastry blender.) Mix in the walnuts.
Roll into balls about the size of walnuts and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I line it with parchment paper since these tend to burn easily.) Bake 10 to 12 minutes until set but not browned (although they will be a little bit brown on the bottom). While still warm, roll in confectioner's sugar. Cool. Roll in the sugar again.
Pack them up carefully, and mail to someone you love.
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