The Melting Teapot

Last week, a friend and fellow blogger posted photos of  a teacup in her favorite color, lemon yellow.  I read Marilyn's blog on my birthday, and it inspired me to pull out one of my favorite cups for my birthday tea.

Notice my salted caramel cupcake, which my wonderful husband brought home (as requested)?

This is one of several chintz cup-and-saucer sets I inherited from my grandmother.  Many of the teacups were actually given to her as Christmas or birthday gifts, and she kept them on display in her china cabinet.  Most of these now sit in my tea cabinet, and I love to pull them out when enjoying a British-style afternoon tea.

My father’s mother was a short, round, constantly bustling woman, who maintained a strong order and made sure we were all fed very well. Indeed, most of my memories of her involve cooking and serving huge meals at her Minnesota farmhouse.  With four children, thirteen grandchildren, multiple sisters and brothers, cousins, and second cousins, it always seemed like there was a crowd of people there on weekends and holidays.

As a teen and then adult who lived in a different state, I only visited with my grandmother once or twice a year.  Occasionally, I was able to steal some time alone with her.  During those rare, quiet moments, Grandma would get out her brown betty teapot (actually a blue-green color), fill it with water, and stick it in the microwave to heat.  As she pulled out a few Lipton teabags, she’d tell me how I was the only family member who liked tea instead of coffee, and that it was nice to have an excuse to use her teapot.  Usually she’d pour our tea into chunky white Corelle glass coffee cups and we’d sit at her formica kitchen table to chat. Only once did she open the door of her dining room cabinet to select two teacups from her collection.  To her, those were for display more than use.

If I were really lucky, she would have made me some of my favorite sugar cookies.  These were incredibly creamy, soft, and flavorful.  She wrote out the recipe after I begged for it, which I’ve tried to reproduce, but it has never come out the same as hers.  Grandma never looked at recipes, and she rarely used a measuring cup – she weighed flour and sugar in her hands instead.  I’ve included her recipe below, just in case anyone would like to post suggestions for alterations.  I need to do a bit of thinking about adjustments and re-attempt these soon.

GrandmaW’s White Sugar Cookies

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups sweet cream
• 3 eggs + 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup shortening (Crisco)
• About 5 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt (or about ½ teaspoon)

Mix it all then put in refrigerator for at least a couple hours.  I put mine in usually overnite. Put flour on countertop, enough to roll it but not too stiff – keep dough soft.

Bake at 350 about 8 to 10 minutes.