The Times They Are A-changin’

It’s a little hard, given what’s going on in the world, to write a light-hearted blog. At least without sounding tone-deaf. Suffice it to say, the news makes us disgruntled and dismayed. Maybe that’s what got Andy started on today’s Andy’s Corner. If we try to look on the positive side of things, are we “gruntled” and “mayed?”

The Times They Are A-changin’. Yes, everything – almost – makes me think of Bob Dylan and his lyrics. Which in turn reminds me of Heraclitus – who reportedly said “Nothing is constant but change” – or to put it another way, using the more apropos Greek: Panta Rhei (“life is flux”).

Andy and I got blindsided over Thanksgiving when L.A. friends were visiting. Vivi, our friends’ 11-year-old daughter, had joined us at the dinner table and was listening to our conversation when we casually mentioned “Raggedy Ann and Andy.” Vivi looked perplexed and innocently asked “Who are Raggedy Ann and Andy?”

We were devastated.

Can it possibly be that Generation Z-ers don’t know who Raggedy Ann and Andy are?

I had thought about entitling this blog “Forgotten But Not Gone.” But maybe we can’t even hope for that as times change and we move on. Here’s a site which is definitely worth checking out. It lists some of the favorite toys for each decade beginning with 1900. In 1900 my grandmother would have been about 11 years old. I was curious if I would recognize any toys she may have played with. Can you guess what the most popular toy was? Crayons. And Raggedy Ann and Andy top the 1920 list. I might mention that Mr Potato Head (1950s), Etch-a-Sketch (1960’s), and The Rubik’s Cube (1980’s) are also on the list. Is it possible that Vivi wouldn’t know about those either? Or are The Raggedys especially forgettable?

Coming right on top of the Raggedy incident was another one, further reminding me that all things change. Nothing is forever. Our son, Travis, who visited us for several weeks – made possible by our new work-at-home phenomenon – off-handedly mentioned that he just realized that we’re not supposed to be double-spacing at the end of sentences. WHAT? Since WHEN? Well, some quick research indicates that I’m not the only one out of sync. The Smithsonian Mag has a helpful review of the “two space” issue. And The Atlantic reported on a scientific study on this controversy.

Even more interesting about 2 spaces is the fact that WordPress, which is our host for this blog, has been automatically changing my 2 spaces to 1 space – and I hadn’t even realized it. Wow. This is huge.

And now on to recipes. Someone online posted a recipe from an old box of C&H cane sugar. It was for Raggedy Ann Cookies. Perfect. For remembrance.

Raggedy Ann Cookies – for remembrance. Note: I updated this a bit in the recipe below.

Then I thought about Space Cookies – to represent my new one-space awareness. When I looked up Space Cookies two things came up over and over. The most ho-hum is about the chocolate chip cookies baked in space by astronauts in the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft 2 years ago. But Space Cookies is also a “new, flavorful weed strain…”a hybrid that orbits on a cloud of sweetness with the booster power to blast you to the stars.” You may not all be interested in growing that – but we know some who may be. Wink, wink. And we probably know some who might be interested in baking some edibles by infusing chocolate chip cookies with weed, maybe even using the Space Cookies variety. Cookies in cookies. Oh my.

Space Cookies…”feminized.” Sounds interesting to me.

You can’t beat our recipe for Ultimate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, which we posted back in 2018. And here’s a link from Food52.com for how to infuse your butter with cannabis before making our yummy chocolate chip cookies. You might even go so far as use infused butter in the Raggedy Ann cookies. Good luck with that to all of you weed-lovers out there. LMK how they turn out. 🙂

But if you’re not interested in weed-infused cookies, rest assured that these are totally delicious as they are. They are only mildly sweet (if made with unsweetened coconut) – with a great crispiness. The Raggedy Ann Cookies will keep well for a number of days in an air-tight container and will freeze well too. We’ll definitely remember them the next time we need a cookie fix!

Raggedy Ann Cookies

Servings: about 5 dozen
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Note: the recipe is updated a little from the one pictured in the blog – which was on the back of a C&H Sugar box. Also, I’m sure that sweetened shredded coconut would have been used in the original recipe, but I prefer unsweetened shredded coconut. They’re not too sweet, crispy, and d-lish.

1 c brown sugar, packed
1 c softened butter (“infused”, if you wish 🙂
1 egg
2 tsp maple syrup – or 1 tsp pure maple flavoring
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp Diamond kosher salt
4 oz unsweetened – or sweetened – shredded coconut (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a mixer or food processor blend together brown sugar, butter, egg and maple syrup. In a bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the egg/sugar mixture and mix just until blended. Stir in the coconut.

Drop by spoonfuls 2″ apart on an ungreased cookie sheets (I made little balls about 1″ in diameter, rather than just spooning the dough out). Dip the greased bottom of a small glass (it needs to be about 2″ on the bottom) into a small bowl with about 1/3 cup of sugar; then press the glass onto a cookie until the cookie is flat. Repeat (dip into sugar, press down a cookie, dip into sugar, press down a cookie, etc).

Put in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe brought to you by BigLittleMeals.com and Andy and Ann.