Scraps of memory...

When I was a little kid, my mom used to buy us the most wonderful St. Nicholas cookies. My sisters and I each got one in our shoe every year. There was a paper St. Nick scrap stuck to the top by the icing, and then they were shrink wrapped. They were so good. When I met my husband (the lovely raulgonemobile), his grandma had actually bought him the same ones! It was a really fun coincidence. The only place I knew of to get them was at a small bakery near our house that has been out of business for many years. Incidentally, they had the best gingerbread cookies in the whole world. They were cut into shapes and decorated with funny faces. I feel like I can still smell them.

So I went online trying to find the St. Nick cookies - I don't think they were exclusive to the little bakery because my husband's grandma probably wouldn't have known about it. But she's very wise, so maybe she did... Needless to say, I couldn't find them. But I did find the St. Nick scraps at the German Corner Store. They're really beautiful. If I can find a recipe, I can make them - but most of the recipes for St. Nicholas Day cookies are very similar to gingerbread, and these were definitely not gingerbread. They were more of a butter cookie with icing.

Maybe I can make some sort of butter cookie, or cut-out cookie. I don't think I need a cookie cutter, because I can cut around a scrap with a knife... I'll have to think on this one. Authentic would be so much better.