Mother Lovett: A Recipe.
Don’t know much about Mother Lovett – my deaf, blind, bossy and utterly hilarious grandma? She is funnier than a cross between Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld.
You can find out more about her here, here, here, and here.
I loved hearing about the dialogues with your own grandmother (or mother!) in my weekend recap. I could laugh for hours reminiscing our Mother Lovett stories. Such as the one below – one for the history books.
Summer 2008, pre election.
Me: How are you, Grandma?
ML: Oh. I’m not great. I’m all in.
Me: Why is that?
ML: There is nothing on TV! I tried to watch the story but even that wasn’t on.
(for the record, ‘the story’ refers to The Young and The Restless, for which, my entire life, I have heard about as if the characters are her friends.)
Me: Oh that’s right, the election coverage is on.
ML: Yes. All I hear is Omaha, Omaha, Omaha. There is nothing else on but Omaha. I just want to watch the story.
Me: Omaha?
ML: Omaha! The man running for president!
Enough said.
Orange cookies are one of my mom’s favorite cookies that Mother Lovett and I would bake at Christmastime. We didn’t always make them. The last couple of years we made them because since she could not see, hear, and successfully walked around with 4 blockages in 3 arteries for 20 years, I ran the show.
Her recipe called for shortening. I used butter.
Big mistake. I tried not to use shortening because it just seems so…fatty. And filled with bad, fake…stuff. And I know this is surprising, given some of my favorite recipes.
Oranges.
I always zested the oranges for Mother Lovett when I was younger, and now I know why.
It is a huge pain in the arse.
We aren’t talking a tiny bit of zest here.
We are talking the zest of 4-5 oranges.
For the cookies, and the glaze.
Why does it taste so bad, but make food taste so good?
The world will never know.
I probably shouldn’t say that because I’m sure one of you can google it.
Juiced those babies all on my own.
Freshly squeezed.
Into my mouth.
Err..the bowl.
I have an old-school juicer that was Mother Lovett’s, but I couldn’t find it.
So I jabbed these babies with a fork and let their flesh runneth dry.
Does that make sense? Did I even say it right?
Discard the seeds!
No one wants a cookie with a hugh jass citrus seed inside. Especially me, cause I don’t want no orange growing inside my belly.
I really don’t talk like that. In fact, when my husband reads this post, he will probably scold me for even typing like that.
He like to remind me to say ‘I’m doing well‘ instead of ‘I’m doing good.’ For all of you wives out there, I’m sure you just love when your husband corrects things like this, right?
Not. It drives me batty. Do you hear that hubs? Stop. It’s annoying. Kind of like your treasures that are in our beautiful home.
I used buttermilk in the cookies.
I used buttermilk that expired on 9/15/09. Â But I promise I did it in respect of Mother Lovett. She had a plethora of expired items, such as soy sauce that expired in 1978, yellow mustard that expired in 1999, and Campbell’s soup that expired in 1985.
Soup is a CANNED GOOD. Do you have any idea how long it takes for that to expire?
Oh well. At her house we all just slathered that yellow mustard on our chipped ham sandwiches and partied like it was 1999. Even though 1999 was almost 10 years ago.
Zest in the batter.
Cookies ready to go in the oven.
I should mention these are more of a ‘cake-like’ cookie. Like the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from last month.
I set the extra batter aside so I could use my mixer to make the glaze.
Freshly squeezed orange juice and powdered sugar. And zest.
That’s IT. So simple and so, so delicious.
Almost thick enough – better add some more sugar.
Ahhh…perfect.
‘Cake-like’ texture.
After the glaze is brushed on, it dries and slightly ‘cracks.’
Tastes like Christmas. Â I would be lying if I told you I didn’t eat the glaze by the spoonful.
I didn’t eat the glaze by the spoonful.
Orange Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cups fresh orange juice
- zest of 4-5 oranges
- 1 pound powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cream shortening, sugar and eggs until fluffy. Sift flour, baking soda and powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet, alternating with 1 cup of buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Add 1/2 cup of orange juice and half of orange zest. Drop on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
- For glaze, begin with remaining orange juice and zest in mixing bowl. On low speed, add powdered sugar in 1 cup increments until it reaches desired thickness.
- Glaze cookies while still warm. Let glaze dry.
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
Enjoy these cookies.
And each time you make them, think of all the 8 month old oranges I had to zest as a kid.
38 Comments on “Mother Lovett: A Recipe.”
Wow, those are delicious looking cookies (even if I cant eat em!!) .. I love orange flavored goodies. I bet they are really refreshing.
Your grandma sounds like a riot.. how great it is that you have her recipes to make your own :)
i taught my fiance to talk with poor grammar (“more better” is used a lot). i’m not sure which is worse- constant corrections or sounding like you’re four.
now i want cookies. it’s 7:30 am.
Seriously, could you possibly have a cuter writing style? I love it! :)
I love orange flavored cookies! Definitely Christmasy. And I too have a grandmother that sounds remarkably similar to yours, even up to the expired pantry items. Deciphering some of her old recipes is quite the task, but definitely worth it. :)
my nanny used to call that soap “the story” too?!?! so random haha… i love grandparents!
I love the recipe and you really do have a unique and charming writing style- made me want to use expired items too- almost :)
Jessica – those cookies look delicious!!! Zesting 4 oranges does sound like quite the task… but worth it with those cookies :)
Have a great weekend!
Yeah, you got some vitamin C in your diet today! haha
Your grandma sounds hilarious. You made me laugh when you said she’s funnier than cross between Everybody loves Raymond and Seinfeld! Did you know that Seinfeld is my all time favorite show? I sitll watch it sometimes twice a day :)
i looooove orange cookies. i’m not sure what i love more – your recipes or your writing style. you’re gifted, pretty lady!
Your cookies sound amazing and your Grandma like a very fun woman!!
Oh my gosh, those look amazing!! I love orange flavored desserts, and these sound awesome!
I just love your Mother Lovett stories :)
Haha your grandma is too funny! What a cute convo, I love how she called the young and the restless the story!
ahhhh these look so good! and i absolutely LOVE grandmas :)
This definitely makes me miss my gram! She sounds just as silly as yours! :)
Unrelated fitness question – are you running outside in this suddenly winter-esque weather? If so, any tips, tricks, etc? Those rivers are COLD!
LOL, Omaha? Isn’t that like a fish steak brand or something? Tee hee hee!! Man those cookies look absolutely LUSCIOUS!
These cookies look really delicious ..
Laila .. http://lailablogs.com/
Hey lady! I saw your comment on Sophia’s blog and just wanted to stop by. Yes, zesting stuff is the worst! I usuallly zest more of my fingers than anything else. ha ha :)
How delicious! Although it’s a pain to get the zest of citrus fruits, it’s so worth it for that wonderful flavor.
Your grandma seems so cute! Funny, because my grandma always talked about “the story” as well when I was growing up! Same “story”, The Young & The Restless. Now I am addicted to “the story”, I mean, I did grow up with all of those characters!!! Love the blog!!!
My family has a similar recipe. In the glaze we have added some grand marnier for a kick… delicious :)
The cookies sound great! I have a suggestion for the shortening…I am using SPECTRUM brand shortening (no trans fats)…not hydrogenated.
Much healthier than ordinary shortening. It is in the health food department of my grocery store…I think it is organic. Anyway, I couldn’t give up shortening because it makes pie crust so flaky! So this seems to be working out for me! Hope you try it! I LOVE your blog!
Ohmygosh thank you for mentioning this! I had no idea. I will look for that this weekend!
Thanks! :)
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Found this recipe when browsing through your cookie recipes, and read the post linked back to your old blog about “A Mother Lovett Kind of Weekend”. The story about your mom mispronouncing/naming things is SO funny. I will inform my mom that she is not alone.
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How many cookies does this recipe make?
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I’ve been wanting to make these for a while. I just sat down and read all your beautiful and hilarious memories of your wonderful Grandmother. I’m
Taking care of my 87 year old mom with very bad copd and I’m just grateful to have her. My 92 year old dad, sometimes he makes me crazier then I thought possible. Anyway, tomorrow night I’ll be baking these in honor of Mother Lovett
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Mother Lovett stories kill me! At our house, the story was As the World Turns…