Snowflake Cookies (Unlocked)
and a Christmas Story
Originally published for paying subscribers December 18, 2022. Unlocked now!
If you’re looking for Christmas gifts for your foodie or bookish friends, follow the link below to find my gifting list on Bookshop!
This short fiction piece is inspired by my love for The Chronicles of Narnia and whimsical stories. I hope you enjoy it!
Words
In a big brown house with a great grey roof, there lived a big brown dog with large grey patches across her back and sides. People usually said the word “German” when they looked at her. She had enormous brown eyes, and when people looked into them, they said the words “people eyes.”
In addition to her people eyes, she possessed a nose of unrivaled prowess. When she wanted to find one of her people, she put her nose to the ground and followed their path through the house exactly, diverting here and there as they’d done, until she caught up with them.
All she wanted was to be with her people. She loved her people. They moved quickly and did many things, so she had to be ready for anything at anytime. She wore many hats throughout her days. She switched from personal secretary, sitting patiently under her person’s desk so as to provide emotional support, to head of reconnaissance, hiking for hours on end with her people, helping them find beautiful new places, with ease. With a swish of her tail and a few jumps up and down, she transitioned from job to job. She even served as a member of the pest control team. At the first sign of varmint, up she’d pounce to chase it off the premises. She was the best, as she was often told, and she took great pride in this.
She was patient when her shifts as secretary stretched on for days. She’d wait under the desk, listening to her person’s voice. This person liked something called “music.” She learned a lot of new words from listening with this person, words like “honky” and “blues.” She loved when one of the words in the music was “good,” or “outside,” a word that she knew. Sometimes, when she heard a word she knew, she wagged her tail. And she heard her person say the word “why?” very sweetly while he bent down to pet her.
Her vocabulary was extensive for someone with four legs. It had to be in order for her to do her job well. She must understand words like “sad” and “scared” and also “cheese” and “W-A-L-K.” She had worked very hard to learn these words.
She knew her people well. She had three of them. Every expression, every tone was to her a language. When one of them cried, she became so anxious to help that she would start to pant. She would place her paw on their chest, and they wouldn’t stop. She would lick their hand and they wouldn’t stop. She would lick the tears off their face, and they would laugh, which made her so happy, and she would know she was the best.
She loved when her people laughed. When they laughed in a room she was laying down in, she would wag her tail, which made them laugh more. She had three people, each with their own laugh. One person sat at his desk and took her with him for long hikes. One person was younger and sometimes had to leave for a very long time. Then she would come back with a large stack of books and sit on the couch and say words like “homework,” and “professors.” One person said words like “home,” and “love” and made the house look words like “pretty,” and “clean.” This was the first person she met. The first of her people she made laugh.
She had first made one of her people laugh when she was in a pen in a large room where the light was too bright. People walked by the pen and said words like “poor,” and “rescue,” and “please.” She didn’t like these people. They never laughed.
But, later that day, she saw a beautiful woman with kind eyes like her own walk toward her, and she jumped up on the side of the pen. The woman laughed, a sound that she loved, and she stretched her nose out to touch the woman. She heard the woman say words like “yes,” and “home,” and “tonight” as she scratched her ears. She watched the woman leave the store and slumped back onto the floor. Later that day, she was taken back to the big place where she lived
with lots of other dogs. She went back to her other pen at this other place and laid down, her eyes and ears drooping as she thought about the woman.
Then she saw someone walking toward her, and she popped her head up. She recognized her immediately. The woman was smiling. She jumped up on the side of her pen and nosed at the beautiful woman with the laugh she loved so much. She had come back to get her. She ran around the woman’s legs, so excited, and bounced along as she walked with the woman to the thing called the “car.”
Once they were in the car, she noticed another younger girl. The one who would later bring home books. She heard this girl say the words “name,” and “mischievous.” And the girl started saying the word “Junie” whenever she looked at her.
Junie. She liked that word. She knew that word. That word was her. There had never been a word for her.
This story, inspired by my love of children’s stories and my family dog’s story, means even more to me now. Not only will this story be included in my upcoming short story collection, “Eavesdrop: a collection of conversations across time,” I also found out this week that our family dog, Junie, who is fifteen years old this year and still going strong, is sick. I’m hope you enjoyed this story and that it reminded you of your own beloved pet.
I also hope you enjoy these yummy cookies. They have become a staple for me at any author event that I do, so if you ever come see me at an event, odds are you’ll get a package of these cookies! Click on the image below to watch my Instagram reel of me making the cookies!
Snowflake Cookies
You will need:
2 1/2 cups 60% dark chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon dark roast coffee, extra ground with mortar and pestle
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 large eggs
4 candy canes, crushed
What to do:
Melt 2 cups chocolate chips in double boiler on stove. Set aside 2/3 cups melted chocolate for drizzling.
Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, coffee, and salt together. In another bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add sugar, vanilla, and peppermint; beat. Add eggs; beat until smooth. Beat in all but those 2/3 cups of the melted chocolate just until combined. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Make tablespoon sized balls of dough and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes, or until tops are cracked. Cool for a few minutes, then use a fork to drizzle chocolate on cookies. Crush candy canes and drop on top of cookies.
Chill at least twenty minutes to set chocolate.
Looking for a Christmas gift? Now through December 24th you can get a paid subscription to “Food & Fodder” at a 20% off discount!
Join me next time for more good recipes for cold days. December will include an interview with a lovely local chocolatier and the next installment of my chocolate-making journey!
If you’re looking for Christmas gifts for your foodie or bookish friends, follow the link below to find my gifting list on Bookshop!
Until then, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year,
Juliana
PS —
Have you guys heard about Bookshop?
If you love supporting smaller, brick-and-mortar bookstores but love shopping from the comfort of your home (or, like me, you live in a teeny tiny town with a lovely but sometimes limited book selection) you’ve got to check them out. 10% of their sales go to local book stores, and 10% goes to their affiliates (like me!) every time you buy a book. They’ve got all the selection of a big online bookstore, and they’ve donated $20 million and counting to bookstores!
I now have a little “storefront” on their site, so if you’re wanting to see or buy some of my favorite books, head on over to my Bookshop site! Right now, my Bookshop lists include my Cookbook Collection, My Work, My Top 10 (always changing), and My New Foray into Scary Books.
You can find a favorite cookbook of mine, Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” there!
Sweet story, I hope your Junie will get better and be her dutiful self again soon.
Yummy recipe and in good time for holiday gifting. Performing is perfect.
Love your stories, keep them coming.