By Linda Porter Carlyle
Joseph Anderson Donetti stared at G.M. (G.M. was Joseph’s special name for his Grandma Maddie.) “Are you going to sit there forever?” he demanded.
G.M. straightened up in her chair and rubbed the back of her neck. She looked at Joseph and grinned. “Maybe!” she answered.
Joseph scowled. “I didn’t know when you got a computer, that you would be using it all the time! You haven’t talked to me for two days!”
G.M. laughed. “I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “I have been very preoccupied with this thing.” She patted the top of the computer monitor. “Getting it set up and running, figuring out how to use it, and surfing the Internet is so much fun!”
“I’m not having any fun!” Joseph grumped.
G.M. stood up. “Go, call Mac and see if she can come over tonight after supper. I found a recipe on the Net that I thought we might try.”
“If you found a good recipe, how come you’re not making it for supper instead of after supper?” Joseph asked.
“Because it’s a recipe for cookies!” G.M. answered, thumping him lightly on the top of his head. “And we have to eat something else first.”
Joseph grinned. He hurried to the kitchen to make his call.
As G.M. finished washing the supper dishes, there was a familiar thud on the back porch. Joseph flung the door open, and Mac danced in.
“What kind of cookies are we making?” she asked, pulling off her sweatshirt.
“Resurrection cookies!” G.M. answered. “I found the recipe on the Internet. We’ll make cookies for worship tonight.”
“That’s a great idea!” Mac exclaimed. “I never did that before!”
“Get one of those big plastic bags that zip shut,” G.M. said to Joseph. “And find a wooden spoon,” she told Mac as she opened the freezer door to get out pecans. “We’ll need a measuring cup too,” she added.
Joseph found a bag. Mac put a wooden spoon on the counter and opened cupboard doors, looking for a measuring cup.
“And the bottle of vinegar,” G.M. went on, reading from the paper she had printed out. “And three eggs, the salt, and the sugar.”
Joseph and Mac scurried around the kitchen, rounding up the ingredients.
“Turn the oven on to 300 degrees,” G.M. instructed.
“I can do that,” Mac said.
“Joseph, you measure out 1 cupful of the pecans and put them in the bag.”
“OK,” Joseph said.
“Why did you call these ‘resurrection cookies’?” Mac asked.
“Because making the cookies illustrates the story of Jesus’ resurrection,” G.M. answered. “And this is the beginning of the story. Take the wooden spoon and beat the nuts to break them up.”
“I don’t get it,” Joseph said, picking up the spoon.
“I do!” Mac exclaimed. “The soldiers beat Jesus before He was crucified!”
G.M. smiled. “That’s right.”
Joseph and Mac took turns beating the nuts in the bag to bits.
“Now, Mac, you measure 1 teaspoon of vinegar into a mixing bowl,” G.M. said.
“I know why!” Joseph shouted. “The soldiers offered Jesus vinegar, or something nasty-tasting like that, when He was on the cross!”
The tip of Mac’s tongue poked out between her teeth as she carefully measured the vinegar.
“Now we add just the egg whites to the vinegar,” G.M. said, consulting the recipe again. “I’ll separate the eggs. That’s a little complicated. In the story,” she explained, “the eggs represent life because life comes from eggs. Jesus gave His life so we could live with Him forever.”
After the egg whites were successfully separated from their yolks and added to the bowl with the vinegar, G.M. poured a little salt into her hand. “Take a pinch, and add it to the egg whites,” she told Joseph. “What do you think the salt represents?”
Mac wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know!” she said. “I can’t think of anything salty in the story.”
“Me, either,” Joseph admitted.
“How about the salty tears of Jesus’ followers?” G.M. asked.
“I should have thought of that!” Mac muttered.
“Now we add one cup of sugar,” G.M. said. “It represents the sweetest part of the story, which is that Jesus died because He loves you so very much.”
“This is really cool!” Mac exclaimed. “We should invite Pastor Chuck and Mrs. Pastor Chuck over and make these cookies with them!”
“Now what?” Joseph asked, dumping in the sugar.
“Now you guys can take turns beating the eggs with the mixer until they are very stiff. Maybe about 15 minutes.”
“What part of the story does that represent?” Joseph asked.
“The beaten egg whites will be a pure white color,” G.M. hinted. “What do you think?”
“Snow!” Mac shouted. “The Bible says Jesus’ blood will wash away our sins, and we will be as clean as snow!”
“I would have guessed that in a minute!” Joseph said.
While Joseph and Mac beat the egg whites, G.M. covered a cookie sheet with waxed paper. “I think that’s good,” she said, peering into the bowl. “See? When you pull up the beaters, the egg whites make stiff peaks. Now you need to very carefully fold in the broken nuts. Then you can drop teaspoons of the mixture on the cookie sheet. And each mound will represent the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid to rest.”
“I love this! Story cookies!” Mac exclaimed.
When the cookie sheet was covered with the nutty mounds, G.M. put it in the oven. She turned off the heat and handed Joseph a roll of masking tape. “Pull off a long piece of tape and seal the oven door,” she said.
“The soldiers sealed Jesus’ tomb!” Joseph exclaimed, understanding.
G.M. leaned against the stove. “They sealed the tomb, and Jesus’ followers had no hope. Their world had fallen apart. But early on Sunday morning, they discovered the tomb was empty!”
“So to finish the story, the cookies should be empty!” Mac interrupted. “But how can cookies be empty! That’s impossible!”
“The oven is sealed like the tomb,” G.M. said. “We will leave it sealed all night. You can come over in the morning, and we’ll open it up and see what has happened.”
“Come before breakfast!” Joseph urged. “Come as soon as you get up!”
“Don’t worry! I will!” Mac assured him. “I’ll put on my bathrobe and come over in my pajamas!”
