TRANSFERWARE AND COOKIES

You can serve cookies on stilton cheese stands. Fruit too.

My youngest grandson asked if we could make cookies together. He had some Australian animal cookie cutters that he wanted to use for the first time. I rarely, if ever, turn down a request from a grandchild, but this meant I couldn't make the simple drop cookies I usually do. The ones that take no talent or time (at least for me). I looked online for the best cookie dough recipe for cookie cutters.  I soon learned that cookie dough needed to be refrigerated ahead of time so it would be easy to roll and cut. At least an hour or two. My grandson is five, so I made the dough the night before his visit.  I practiced rolling and cutting the next morning, so that I could avoid any difficulties. I needn't have worried. I channeled my Bubby, Fanny (Faiga) Berenson (1882-1960). Really, it was nearly as if she had taken over my hands! Bubby, who lived with us, made cookies every week. I always helped her.  My hands remembered rolling, cutting, folding the extra dough, and rolling again.

I digress.  As this is a transferware blog, I'll show you how I served and displayed the nearly 100 cookies Joey and I made. You may wonder what happened to the Australian animals we cut out with his cookie cutters. He ate one, and took the rest home to his mom and dad. Below, you'll just see round cookies. (I used a glass to cut them, like my Bubby did.)

A small footed bowl, ca. 1825. It was probably used as a waste bowl for tea dregs, but it is excellent for holding cookies.

"The Goldfinch" 12 inch platter, ca. 1820. 

Thomas Fell (1817-1890) "Antiquarian" dessert dish. Perfect for cookies!

One of my favorite stilton cheese stands (I own nine). The pattern is known as Willow Mandarin I, ca. 1790-1800.

Did I mention that I learned about transferware from my Bubby? She lived in London at the turn of the 20th century, where she enjoyed finding pieces of blue and white pottery at the Petticoat Lane markets. She loved her Willow plates, so I have shown you an early Willow cheese stand.

One more thing. I used Bubby's rolling pin to roll out the cookie dough. I only wish I had her cookie recipe. It wasn't written down.  Let me know if you have a good sugar cookie recipe that you are willing to share.

Bubby's rolling pin and some cookies