I’ve
got my shopping list, and I’m making a quick pass along select
aisles. For no other reason than just because, I look up and my
focus looks onto a small bottle in the spice section.
Cream
of tartar.
I’ve
got a funny history with cream of tartar. It’s actually not all
that much of a history, but it does have two specific segments.
The first would be as a child, when I recall it being an ingredient
in snickerdoodle cookies. And the second would be as a writer,
when I made fun of it on an occasion or two as an item that everyone
seems familiar enough with that it isn’t a strange pantry item
(and yet it’s likely not in as many kitchens as you might think).
Anyway…
there I was… orange juice and vegetables and assorted specifics
on my shopping list, and I had arrived at a moment where I was
staring at cream of tartar. I had joked about craving snickerdoodles
on a few previous occasions, but never came close to adding it
to any shopping list so I never bought it and never made them,
and here I was…
…well…
…staring
at the container on a shelf.
Never
even looking for it. Just stood out.
The
bottle wasn’t even three bucks. I laughed and bought it.
(And
this is where the story takes a funny turn.)
Did
you ever have a cooking with mom moment as a kid? I think most
of have had some type of kitchen moment with a family member.
Mom, dad or a grandparent most likely. Might not have even been
a single moment as much as a run of experiences.
My
mother introduced me to a chocolate cake that I can vividly recall
as having vinegar for an ingredient. And, we made snickerdoodles.
It’s
been decades, and I can still see a cookbook with the recipe in
my mind. The image is faded and blurred, but it’s still there.
And it was the memory of the experience and the purchase of the
cream of tartar that led to a phone call. I wanted the recipe.
At
first, Mom didn’t get it. She tried telling me about the recipe
she’s used for decades to make snickerdoodles, and how I probably
had it in the stack of recipes she had passed along to all the
kids, and insisted I should try that one.
She
didn’t understand that this wasn’t a phone call asking about a
snickerdoodle recipe. This was a phone call asking about THE
snickerdoodle recipe. I wasn’t looking for a recipe, I was chasing
a memory.
Eventually
she understood. But she couldn’t locate the cookbook, and I was
at a loss.
Still,
finding a snickerdoodle recipe isn’t exactly difficult. There
are plenty of them around. I got one, began lining up the items
needed to make a batch, and I stumbled across a completely unexpected
treat.
Cinnamon
sugar.
Yes,
cinnamon sugar.
Have
you ever made some toast and finished it off with a bit of butter
and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar?
I
love peanut butter and banana sandwiches. As a kid, my banana
sandwiches were made on toast with a bit of cinnamon sugar. So,
when I make my peanut butter and banana sandwiches today, I usually
add a bit of cinnamon sugar to the party.
As
of this moment, my mother is still searching the kitchen and basement
to see if she can find that old cookbook. There are dozens of
places, between cabinets and shelves and boxes, where it might
be.
We
haven’t been able to find the recipe. But I did get some snickerdoodles.
I also got a few smiles and a handful of memories stirred in the
process.
Cream
of tartar. Never would have guessed that it would have been the
main ingredient in such a wide-ranging story. But it is. And even
though I won’t be using it, I will think about it in a few minutes,
when I head to the kitchen to make a peanut butter and banana
sandwich.