Baking for the North Pole

I remember it well. Christmas morning when I was four years old. I ran down the hallway to the living room and screeched to a halt in front of the Christmas tree. And there they were! Right before me. My presents from Santa!

As I happily admired each gift, I also took a moment to eye the plate of cookies I had left for Santa on a nearby table. Sure enough, the plate was empty. He had eaten all the cookies, and only a few crumbs remained. But beside the empty plate lay a piece of paper. It turned out to be a note from Santa himself!

In his own scribbly handwriting, Santa told me that the peanut butter cookies I had made for him the previous year had been SO good that he had taken one back to the North Pole with him to share with Mrs. Claus. She had loved it! She told Santa it was the best peanut butter cookie she had ever eaten, AND she wanted the recipe! I was thrilled! I remember smiling up at my mother and excitedly asking if we could send the recipe to Mrs. Claus. Of course, my mother agreed!

And so it began. My childhood Christmas recipe mailings to Mrs. Claus. Each year, as my mother and I baked our way to Christmas, I would choose the recipes I wanted to send to the North Pole. No letter to Santa ever left my hands without a separate letter to Mrs. Claus telling exactly how to make the treats I would be leaving for Santa. And each year Santa always left me a note from Mrs. Claus telling of her adventures with my recipes and how much the elves and reindeer liked them, too. Mrs. Claus and I quickly became friends.

From her notes, I learned that, not only did Mrs. Claus bake wonderful treats for the North Pole inhabitants, she also grew fruits and vegetables to use in her cooking. Being a child from a rural area where growing our own food was the custom, I was thrilled to find that Mrs. Claus enjoyed growing and harvesting vegetables and preserving fruit jams and jellies. She loved strawberries! So did I!

This lady behind the man in the red suit was fascinating to my little imagination. And, many winter nights, I fell asleep thinking how great it would be to visit the North Pole. Seeing Santa's workshop would have been nice, but what would have thrilled me more would have been to get in that kitchen with Mrs. Claus and bake!

Well, fast forward the years, and, as it happens with us all, I'm not little anymore. Quite grown up now, the passing of years has led to many changes and a distance of many miles from that small, cozy house where my mother and I baked for Christmas. But, oh, the gifts I received there! I'm not referring to the ones under the decorated tree each year, though they were wonderful, too. The gifts that remain with me to this day are the ones that sparked my imagination and fueled my desire to communicate and reach beyond my own little everyday world. Stretching. Growing. Becoming. After all, helping to fill up the recipe box of sweet treats for the entire population of the North Pole to enjoy...well...that's a big responsibility for the small shoulders of a four-year-old. But, oh, how I reveled in the challenge.

And now the baking season for Christmas 2020 has arrived. I've begun to call this Christmas the Season for Baking and Believing. Believing that the world will turn right side up again. That, before long, we will all gather as our customs have been, crowded shoulder to shoulder around an overflowing table to eat, laugh, hug, kiss all the cousins, babies, and great-aunt Cha-Chee, and be the merriest folks and families we've ever been. Now, that's a beautiful thought. And I, for one, say it's high time for beautiful thoughts.

So, it is with my own dedicated vision of hope that I have started my Season of Baking and Believing by creating a soft, delightful, very uncomplicated, very peanut buttery morsel that has sweet strawberry fruit baked right in. This cookie turned out to be so delicious that, if I were four years old, I would mail this recipe straight to the North Pole! (And I'm sure Mrs. Claus would use her own homemade strawberry fruit spread to bake them...and you know how much she adores a really good peanut butter cookie. :) )

But...I'm not four anymore. However...I will keep the instructions to duplicating my new cookie in a file. On a table. In a very visible red container. Close to the Christmas tree. And...if this year Santa just happens to snoop a little in my recipe box...well...who knows? This cookie could wind up at the North Pole after all. :)

Remember to look for the magic. It's still there. Even in 2020.

Keep baking and believing...

North Pole Cookies

(The ingredient mixing process can be accomplished by simply stirring it all together with a big mixing spoon. No electric mixer is needed.)

One 16 oz jar of Creamy Peanut Butter (I used Jif.)

One 10 oz jar of Strawberry All-Fruit Spreadable Fruit (I used Polaner.)

One tablespoon of Pure Vanilla Extract (I used McCormick.)

Two cups of Baking Mix (I used Bisquick.)

Step 1: Turn on some Christmas music, and light a festive, cozy candle. (I chose Bing Crosby and peppermint.)

Step 2: Get out any Christmas dishes that may be hanging out in the back of your cupboard! (As you can see, I found several!)

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit and measure out the ingredients.

Step 4: In a large bowl, combine the entire jar of Creamy Peanut Butter with the entire jar of the Strawberry Spreadable Fruit. Stir until mixed well. Add one tablespoon of Pure Vanilla Extract, and blend it in. Add two cups of Baking Mix, a little at a time, and stir until the Baking Mix is thoroughly incorporated, and the dough becomes a consistent color.

Step 5: Using your hands, roll the dough into balls, approximately the size of a large walnut, and place them on an un-greased cookie sheet.

Step 6: Flatten the cookies with the back of a fork, making a criss-cross pattern on the top of each cookie.

Step 7: Bake at 375° for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe yields 44 cookies, so there will be plenty for you to enjoy--and to share!