Cook time: 1 hour

Makes: 1 Charles Chip tin full

• 1 pound brown sugar (2 ¼ cups)
• 4 cups flour
• 2 cups Crisco
• 4 eggs
• 1 large tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups buttermilk or sour milk
• 5 cups oatmeal
• 1 package raisins

Pull the chair to the cluttered counter, careful to grab onto its wooden spindles so you don’t fall.

Step slowly onto its worn top, both feet on its inside dip. 

Mix brown sugar, flour and Crisco while Grandmom explains that there’s more love in your hands for them than in a mixer.

Once you feel a pull under your arms, happily step aside for Grandmom to take over. Start mixing again once she says her arms are tired, too. Repeat 3 times until well combined.

Scoop the smallest of the stacking cups into the baking soda, making sure none of the powder flies outside of the bowl.

Scoop the second smallest cup into the cinnamon.

Add the eggs one at a time until blended, tiny fingers picking out the white pieces that have nose-dived into the bowl. Place them in one of the see-through dishes that Grandmom leaves around the kitchen for moments when there are new additions, like the shells, for her compost.

Team up to pour in the sweet-smelling milk. Grandmom pouring the liquid into a smaller cup and passing it for you to place in the mixing bowl. 

Drop in the oatmeal and raisins. Stir.

Bake at 350° until the scent of cinnamon makes it outside and Poppop takes a break from the garden to peek in.

Laugh when Grandmom says chefs get first taste. Nod in agreement that him eating one will spoil his supper.

Let the cookies cool just barely, until they cling to the tray and bend when you hold them between fingers.

Hoist the glass jug of milk out of the fridge. Standing on tip-toes, place it on the chair.

Crawl up onto your makeshift step stool. Grab the jug.

Shakily pour three glasses of milk.

Enjoy.

Process

I’ve been standing on step stools cooking with both of my grandmothers since I was a little girl. Food and cooking are cornerstones of my family. When I look back on my favorite family memories most of them have happened around a meal.