So many people are Grandma, and even Grandma Joan is no longer a unique identifier -- but these cookies were a staple from the kitchen of Grandma Joan the First. I can only speak from my own experience, but my memories of every family trip to Virginia begin the same way: we would get in the car after Mom and Dad got off work, and then we would drive ... and at some point we would fall asleep. Eventually, the car would come to a stop, and we would wake up -- sometimes to find ourselves at a gas station, at which point we'd go back to sleep after the false alarm, but more often to find ourselves in a familiar driveway, looking at a familiar house. The car doors would open, and we'd get out, usually swaying back and forth a little in our half-asleep states, and make our way through the chorus of chirping crickets to the front door. Inside the door the light was bright, made only brighter so by the super-white floor of the hallway, and we'd move quickly across that hallway to the staircase. Up that staircase was the living room, and occasionally we'd have to sit on the super-scratchy sofa for a bit while all the hellos were said, but at some point we'd be offered a bite to eat. Then we'd go in the kitchen and sit at the old enameled metal table with the drawer on the side, and Grandma would open up the Krispy-Kan and bring out the spritz cookies. We'd eat a few cookies, turning them this way and that to say what they looked like. We'd drink a glass of milk ... and in a little while, we'd start to nod off ... and be shuffled off to bed. This is her recipe, that I copied out of her cookbook when I was old enough to help her make them and before I went to college. -Jennie
1 c. butter
1 egg
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
Cream together butter and sugar, add egg and beat, then the flour. Use the star disk on a cookie press to squeeze out long strings, feeding dough a little faster than you move backwards so that the string foms curlicues and loops. DO NOT USE A THIN PAN. Bake 8-10 minutes in a 450 oven, then cut to form individual cookies.