When I was young, I would go to visit my grandma, and she would make two things for me: lasagna and biscotti. Both were amazing, but at some point, she stopped making the lasagna. Maybe around the time I became vegetarian, but I feel like It was even before then. The biscotti, she just kept making. She would have a bowl full of these beautiful, two-bite, sugar-glazed, anise-kissed cookies that melted in my mouth on every visit. When I got older, I noticed the cookies were missing. Both my grandma and uncle had to go on diets that restricted their sugar intake. That’s when I decided I needed to get grandma’s secret cookie recipe.

I thought it would be easy, so I asked. Could I get the recipe? Grandma put me off and when the time came to leave, I didn’t have the recipe. On my next visit about six months later, I asked again. No luck. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t give me the recipe. She knew how much I loved these cookies.

I asked my sister for help. She lived closer to grandma and saw her more often. Finally, after about two years of asking, I showed up at grandma’s and she had a bag of cookies for me with the recipe attached. I was so excited that I would be able to make them on my own.

I tried the recipe a couple of times, and I don’t make them as good as she does. I can’t get the sugar glaze right. Sometimes, I don’t use enough anise. Maybe, I just don’t know how to put the love into them. Fortunately, when I am able to visit her, she makes me a huge bag full of cookies for me to take home. Considering the drive is about two days from where she lives to where I call home, the bag rarely makes it past breakfast the second day.

So after having explained this to you, you probably want grandma’s secret cookie recipe. However, I don’t feel like this is a cookie recipe that can be passed on to just anyone. While there is a good chance that my grandma only gave me the recipe after she made a batch of cookies because she never measured the ingredients before, I still don’t want to betray that trust. Maybe if you come by some day and I’ve made some cookies we can talk about the secret family recipe for deliciousness. Happy cookie Saturday!