A long, long time ago, there was a bakery in Kansas City, Kansas called the Finkemeier Bakery. It was just down the street from my father's house and I remember him taking me there on Saturday mornings for fresh donut holes. More than anything, however, I remember their Christmas cookies. These cookies were shaped like wreaths and were so delicate that they would crumble in your hand as you brought them to your mouth. They were only slightly sweet and very buttery. Those little cookies with the multicolored sprinkles are Christmas to me.
In 1997, Luisa and I were going back to Kansas City for Christmas. My sister bought two dozen of these special cookies so that we could all enjoy them when we arrived. We got to her house late at night and I bolted up the stairs and into her kitchen, anxious for my first Finkemeier cookie in a long time. We exchanged greetings and hugs and then I noticed the large box sitting on the counter. I tore the lid open to find only crumbs. While my sister waited for us to arrive, she ate every single one of those cookies. Her excuse? She said she just couldn't help herself -they were SO good. The bakery closed in 1999 and I never had another chance at those cookies.
In the years since, I have searched for a similar cookie. One year, I drove to nearly every bakery in Minneapolis (and two suburban bakeries) searching for a cookie that could pass as a substitute. I tasted many cookies but left each bakery shaking my head. I have tried every recipe for butter cookies that I have come across, each time hoping that I have finally found a way to replicate the cookie of my youth. Each recipe has been a failure. I guess this is the part where I should make some sort of insightful reference to the past and the elusive nature of memory blah blah blah. I won't. My cookie is out there...somewhere. I just have to find it.
If you have a butter cookie recipe that is piped, please share it. It could be the one.
9 comments:
i have nothing. but would be willing to volunteer as a taster.
nope. i just know how to make the hershey hugs melty things that kristin said are "wierd." that, along with "bold hair," shoes that "look like ankle braces" have been the comments disguised as compliments given to me today. wait, this is not my blog. okay bye.
Have you tried 'The Baker's Wife' on 26th and 42nd?
they are closed mondays. even if they didn't have it. they would probably attempt to do so.
JIL
Did the recipe at Williams Sonoma work?
hey! i said "weird" but "good weird"
i am going to ask my mother
peace & love
leigh
i think you should just take a stick of butter, sprinkle it with sugar and call it a day... : )
susan
Write a letter to Bon Appetit- they might be able to get the recipe for you- especially with a story like that one.
We googled Finkemeier, since we are Finkemeiers. I'll ask HILDA (our grandma) if she can remember the recipe. She'll be 98 in March. They did stuff in such huge batches, she has a hard time figuring it out. Annie
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