Daddy Alex’s Birthday Cookies

My grandchildren love to cook with me, and together, we had a horrible month of August, which is why such a long time has gone by since the last recipe was posted. Our 87-year-old mother and great-grandmother died at home in bed after almost a year on hospice care, and we had to cut our summer vacation together in Orlando by a week because we received word that her time was short after our first week there. We rushed home to our suburb of Philadelphia from Florida and drove the entire distance in one day. All three granddaughters were super terrific about the grueling journey and the disappointment of leaving.

In order to salvage what was left of our vacation and be home to say a final goodbye, we made special cookies together during that week, my mother’s last, for their daddy’s birthday on August 31. Sami invented them and supervised Izzy and me while we put the dough together. Alex is allergic to chocolate and Sami loves peanut butter and bananas. I had a package of dried cherries in the freezer. A new winner was born! We learned to work very well as a team, sharing the labor, each according to her strength. Afterward, the girls made a card and we packed Daddy’s cookies carefully into the freezer. Two days after that, they helped me begin assembling Haley’s wedding cake for her wedding on August 22. Mom died on August 20. She waited for the moment that I finished decorating the cake at 11:15 p.m. and went in to sit with her. Her funeral was on August 24, the Monday morning after the Saturday night wedding.

Baking cookies seems to be a way that we comfort ourselves in this family. Fussing over the wedding cake with the girls helped me get through a really terrible time in my life.

Daddy Alex’s Birthday Cookies
(Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, Banana, and Dried Cherries)
(Pareve, meat and dairy free)

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 cup granulated organic cane sugar
• 1 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted pareve Fleischmann’s margarine
• 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1/4 cup premium orange juice
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose, unbleached Ceresota or Hecker’s flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
• 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1 large, firm ripe banana, diced finely (not mashed)

Preheat oven to 350°. Spray baking sheets with non-stick spray.

Cream sugars with margarine and peanut butter in large bowl of mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in orange juice and vanilla.

Mix in flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Stir in both kinds of oats and dried cherries on lowest speed.

Stir in chopped banana gently by hand with a spatula.

Drop dough onto prepared baking sheets with a leveled 1-1/2-inch ice-cream scoop, leaving at least two inches between them for expansion.

Bake until golden brown, about 8 minutes in a convection oven, about 10 in a conventional oven.

Makes about 60-70. These freeze really well.