Roxana wasn’t the most “Grandmotherly” in the world. Probably the result of her strict Methodist upbringing and her marriage to the quietest man that ever lived. However, she did make the best cookies in the world. My favorite cookie was a chocolate oatmeal no bake cookie. These cookies consisted of cocoa, sugar, oatmeal, and some sort of secret sauce that made them the equivalent of heroin on a plate. I have had many pale imitations of these cookies at multitudinous Christmas parties over the years, but none can compare to my memory of the ones that were so delicately placed on wax sheets by my Gramma.
The other type of cookie that I remember her making were called Chocolate Jumbos. At least that is what I remember them being called through my little kid ears. These cookies looked like a flattened chocolate donut and were covered with sugar icing. She kept them always in a clear cookie jar on the kitchen shelf. They also had a secret sauce, which I think contained a mixture of molasses and rum. I found the rum under the kitchen sink one day, so I can only assume that it was part of all secret sauces that she made. Or it may have been the inspiration for the secret sauces that she made. Either way, it made it into all of her cooking directly or indirectly.
I would find out years later that she had severe diabetes most of here adult life. She was a lover of all things sugary, and one can only assume that this was connected to her condition. In the end, she did not succumb to diabetes and instead was the victim of “natural causes” or “old age”. I think back in those days, when someone was found dead, it was always assumed to be natural causes unless there was foul play involved. In this case, the only foul play is that I have no idea how to create those magic cookies of yesteryear.
