HOW TO BE A COOL GRANDMOTHER or Sharing Secrets around a batch of home baked cookies

The kids were on a school break, mid-winter vacation and with not much to do for entertainment.  The weather was lousy so they couldn’t go outside and play.  It was sleeting and cold and dreary, just not a very fun day.  They were bored with board games.  We’d watched a couple of movies and read a whole book from cover to cover but they were bored and antsy and getting whiny and their whining was starting to get on my nerves, my last nerve.

“Let’s bake cookies,” I suggested.  “It will be fun and we will have a cookie party once they are done.  We’ll make oatmeal cookies, some with walnuts and some with raisins and peanut butter and some with both raisins and walnuts.  You can even decorate them with frosting once they have baked and I’ll show you how to make a decorator from a plastic sandwich bag so you can each have your own decorator to use.  It will be fun.” 

I had an ulterior motive for using the walnuts but I waited until cookie party time to explain that.  I took down the bag of in the shell walnuts from the top of the cupboard, opened it up and dumped the contents in a basket and put it on the table.

I got the nut picks from the utility ware drawer of my kitchen cabinet, my nut crackers and three small cheese spreaders to help open the nuts without breaking the shell halves.  I needed to save as many of them as possible to use later.

First we have to shell the nuts and pick out the nutmeats.  I’ll help you.  We will need 2 cups of nutmeats to make a double batch so we can make all three kinds of cookies.  I showed them how to crack the nutshells so the halves didn’t break and how to remove the nutmeats from the shell.  That was a challenge but they tackled it with a vigor and enthusiasm that can only be found in 7 and 8 year olds.  By the time we had managed to get 2 cups of nut meats we had to take time out to sweep the floor and clean up the mess on the table but they had become willing helpers who were looking forward to their cookie reward for their efforts.  Any fighting or whining meant no party later.

I told them to save all the shell halves that were not cracked or chipped because we would need them later.  I knew a special secret about walnut shell that I would tell them about if they were good.

“For what,” they wanted to know. 

I told them it was a surprise but promised it would be fun; that it was something I used to do with the shells when I was a little girl.  It is a secret my grandfather taught me and if you help me bake the cookies I will tell it to you the secret and show you how to use it.

While they cleaned up the mess they had made and set aside the good shell halves, I pre heated the oven, got out three cookie sheets and measured out the rest of the ingredients dividing it into thirds and putting it into three mixing bowls.  While I mixed up the basic ingredients they got to take turns chopping up the walnuts in my nut chopper.  We drew lots to see who would make which kind.  They got to mix in the nuts and raisins and help make the cookie dough balls to be pressed into cookies place them on the cookie sheets and within an hour and a half our cookies were baked and cooling on the kitchen counter.  The aroma of fresh baked cookies can be a marvelous peacemaker on a miserable day.  The whining and arguing had stopped.

 While the cookies were baking I divided the shell halves in two piles of 8 and took the remaining 11 unbroken halves and set them aside.  I mixed up peanut butter, oatmeal, bird seed, raisins and small pieces of apple and gave them each a spoon to stuff the 11 shells I’d set aside.  Using my glue gun, I attached string to each shell to make a hanger.  “After the storm has stopped we will go out and hang these on the lilac bush to feed the birds,” I said.  “They will be very hungry after the storm and will enjoy having this special treat.”

“Is this the secret,” they wanted to know.

“No,” I said, “The secret is much more fun and exciting than this but this was a nice thing to do, don’t you think, and now you have learned how to make walnut shell bird feeders.”

They thought it was pretty clever and ran to the window to see if it was still storming.  They were now anxious to feed the birds but the sleet was still coming down.  Feeding the birds might have to wait until in the morning.  “I learned to make these when I was in Girl Scouts but Cub Scouts could make them too,” I said.  “The next time it is your turn to share you can teach your scouting friends how to make walnut shell bird feeders.  If you let me know, I would be willing to come to your meeting and help you, or you can do it yourself now that you know how but you should ask an adult to help with the glue gun because it gets very hot and I wouldn’t want any of you to get burned.”

They thought this was a great idea.

While our last batch of cookies was baking I spread newspapers on the table and handed them the box of paint sticks from my arts and crafts kit.  I had them each take a pile of eight shells and paint them whatever colors and way they wanted to.

“Why,” they asked me?

“Because I asked you to.  It is part of the secret,” I answered them.  The paint sticks are quick drying and the painted shells would be completely dry in ten minutes.  You don’t necessarily have to paint the shells but it makes the project a little more fun and the results a lot more unique.

Once the last batch of cookies was cooling I told them the secret.  “We are going to create,” I said, “make Walnut Shell Sail Boats and then we are going to have a great sailing regatta to see whose boats can cross the finish line first.”

“Cool,” they chimed together as they crowded in on either side of me. 

“You will each have eight boats and you will have to be the first to get all eight of your boats across the finish line to win.  How to make them is the secret my grandfather taught me.”  I took an indelible marker and put their initials on their boats so there could be no argument later about whose boats were whose.

Here is how to make WALNUT SHELL SAIL BOATS

First:  Carefully separate the shell halves and remove the nutmeats.  Enjoy snacking on the nutmeats or place them in an airtight container to use later. (Or bake up a batch of cookies to snack on while you create your sailboats)

I gathered the rest of the supplies I would need from my arts and crafts kit.  These are rainy day supplies all grandmothers should keep on hand for those stormy days when the grandchildren are visiting; or just for your own amusement when you are experiencing one of those nothing much to do days.  Knowing secrets and having fun things to do and create are what makes grandparent really “cool,” you know.

List of supplies needed

Glue gun and glue sticks

Small corks that will fit inside the shell (or you can use play-dough or plasticine)

Cocktail straws or sticks (toothpicks or wooden match sticks will also work)

White art paper

Colored pencils, crayons or markers

Elmer’s Glue sticks for gluing paper cut outs

Scissors

Dish pan or other deep, elongated pan or even the bathtub (rectangular) and water

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Paint and decorate shell halves or leave plain

Glue cork in the center of the inside of the shell (If using play-dough or plasticine,  make a small ball of the material and glue that inside the shell.)

Cut out and decorate you sail (about 2 inches long) It can be triangular, square or a rectangle.  You need two equal pieces for each sail.

Glue the double sail to the cocktail straw or other item you will be using for your mast so the mast is covered on both sides.  Center your mast between the sails when gluing your two pieces of sail together. Leave about 1 inch of the mast free to be secured into the cork or other material.

Push the cocktail stick mast into the cork or other material and be sure the sail sits straight and even to keep your boat from tipping to one side.

Fill dish pan or other pan with water about 2/3 full and launch your boats. (Two at a time)  Blow gently on the sails to get them to move and sail to the opposite end of the pan.  The first boat to reach the opposite end is the winner.  Repeat.

Now that is “cool” Grandma, that is really “cool.”  Aren’t you glad your grandfather was so wise and knew such a great secret?