Mimi's Marvelous Orange Cookies

by Rebecca Hale

April 18, 2019

(left to right) Mimi, Jay, Hope, Angel (my grandma)

I was very close with my great grandma, Mimi. Well, that's what I called her anyway. Before she moved out to Grand Lake to live with Hope and Jay (middle), she would watch me while my mom went to work. I would always wake up and sneak down the hall to scare her while she was reading the paper. We'd laugh it off and go on about our day. We always had ice cream at her house, so there was never really a need to make the cookies then. When she died they found a lot of stuff that she wanted to give me, including a valentines day card for the next year, but she never got to sign it. I kept receiving stuff for a few years, until Hope and Jay had finally finished looking through it all. I hold all of it close to my heart.

At every big holiday, without fail, Mimi (far left) would make her wonderful Orange Cookies. Except, I didn’t always think they were wonderful. In fact, I never quite enjoyed them until it was too late. By the time I really loved them, she was close to passing away, we just didn't know it.

At the three holidays we spent at Hope and Jay’s house, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, Mimi would have the cookies made and put into the same container: a long, shallow, hard-plastic container with teal travel handles and hands that clicked to hold it shut. It was usually empty by the end of the night.

Nobody has made them since she died in 2012, but we still use the container with the teal clicky handles. I hope that when I make them for the first time, I can taste them and say “Just like Mimi”. And when I make some for my family I hope the cookies are something they want me to continue making them.

Making Mimi's Cookies

Time: About 20-30 mins

Ingredients

Cookie

1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour milk
1/2 cup orange juice (squeezed from orange)
4 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda

Icing

1 box powdered sugar
3 tablespoons shortening
Juice of 1 orange
Grated orange peel

Directions

Cookie

Add salt to shortening then slowly add sugar until it creams

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well

Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with the liquid

Drop spoonfuls on a cookie sheet about an inch apar

Bake at 370° for about 10-12 minutes

Let cool and ice

Icing

Combine powdered sugar with shortening

Add orange juice and grated peel

ENJOY!