The Day Raisin Oatmeal Cookies Went to Africa

The text comes in at 11:00 a.m. - approximately the same time of day that it comes every day, from the other side of the world where it is evening and the internet is finally working. From Mozambique, Africa where my daughter is spending the summer volunteering for an organization working with boys living on the streets. Inner-city Africa, my daughter calls it.

Can you make rice pudding with leftover rice?

We have so much leftover rice.

I smile. In the past I have tried to encourage my daughter, now 22, to learn to cook, but without any luck. She was more interested in reading and studying, in drawing and creating. When she moved to her own apartment eleven months ago, she survived on her friends' cooking, goldfish crackers, fruit snacks and driving across town to raid our refrigerator.

But now she texts me across an ocean with requests for recipes.

How do you make tortilla soup?

I made brownies today.

Could you send me great-grandma's raisin cookie recipe?

Great-grandma's raisin cookie recipe. I remember my grand-mother mixing up a batch of cinnamon-scented goodness when I visited her on her farm in South Dakota. I loved to watch her stir the eggs and sugar together until they were a creamy yellow.

Later when I wanted to learn to make the cookies myself, my mother taught me how to boil the raisins on the stove to make them soft and tender. Mom would take over the stirring after the addtion of the flour when my young arms couldn't mix the stiff dough any longer.

The recipe has been passed from mother to daughter to granddaughter. And now to great-granddaughter. Four generations of women.

I send the recipe. The next day, my daughter writes,

I put out a plate of grandma's raisin cookies today for the boys. They ate them all.

I remember my grandmother praying every night at family devotions for God to send missionaries around the world to tell people about Jesus.

I find it very heart-warming to realize that not only did my grandmother's great-granddaughter go to Africa, but so did my grandmother's raisin cookies.

That makes me smile.

Grandma's Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Prepare ahead:

1 cup raisins

1 c water

Cook until 5 T of liquid remains. Cool. (I used to boil them in a pan on the stove. Now I use the microwave). Set aside.

For cookies:

1 c shortening

1 c sugar

Mix together.

2 eggs

Raisin liquid

1 t vanilla.

Combine.

3/4 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t cloves

2 c flours.

Stir.

1 1/2 c oatmeal (not the instant kind) - add

raisins - add

Drop on greased cookie sheet. bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees.