The Power of the Wedding Cookie Table Tradition of Western Pennsylvania

It had to be you …

Big band notes bounce. A muted trombone calls. Arm-in-arm, hand-in-hand, decades of marriage twirl. Spirals in love, circle round. The radiant couple, joyfully joined. Newly wed, kiss.

True love, gracious hospitality, pure joy, and of course–excellent food. Thinking about these things makes me happy. My mother is a wedding planner who owned a local bridal shop. I suppose the art of celebrating love & marriage is baked into my DNA.

My Joy of Cooking began early. Witnessing first-hand how “together” baking sweetly connected generations of our family. At Christmas and Easter, but even more so in our Western Pennsylvanian tradition, that celebration of new Love–the Wedding Cookie Table.

What a glorious sight to behold! A tabernacle of bakers dressed to the nines. A community generous with their welcome, streaming into the reception hall early. Dozen by dozen, hundreds of their signature cookies arriving. All destined to adorn an awaiting open table.

Flaky Foldovers filled bright in apricot jam. Wedding Cake Cookies rounded to perfection, ready to melt in your mouth. Nuthorns rich on crunch rolled then bent into a nice curve–Oh my!

Showers of lacey Pizzelles. Criss crosses of Lemon Knots tart in glaze. Piles of Pecan Tassies teeter tottering. Every one finished with a poof of Confectioner’s Sugar.

And of course that special cookie made perfect for blissful occasions. It never failed to be present on any respectable cookie table—the Peanut Butter Blossom. That dynamic duo of flavors! Alot like marriage–the individuals elevated in a yoke of togetherness.

No ordinary Peanut Butter Cookie, this confection was made sweeter. Kissed with Hershey Pennsylvania’s finest chocolate.

Cookies! They had power. Power to pull people together in a quiet, most unassuming way. Often bringing closer those who knew each other well. And sometimes, introducing those who didn’t know each other at all. I’d observed it many times.

Family crowding into one kitchen. Tackling the large task of holiday baking. A pair of young cookie lovers breaking into a car’s locked trunk. Opening surreptitiously tins of stashed and frozen good. Folks in formalwear huddled at the sidelines of a wedding reception. Coffee cups close, shooting the breeze. Nibbling on Walnut Crescents as others danced on by.

Imagine my surprise when that special cookie with a chocolate kiss would unite two strangers in my mom’s kitchen at Christmastime. You see my future husband’s introduction to my grandmother came in the form of an impromtu evening of baking. He popped in for a visit and was recruited to help.

Gramma takes her baking seriously. She is methodical, requiring the utmost precision in any assistant. Uncertain if my boyfriend had ever baked in his life, I will admit to my concern. That concern realized when to my eye, what seemed to be a peanutbutter baseball hit the bowl of sugar. Everyone knew her mantra, “roll the cookie into the size of a walnut!”

What happened next is a story I retell often. I was shocked when gramma said nothing. Without his notice and not a single word spoken, she pinched each baseball in half. Reshaping his work into two perfect cookies. Finishing them in sugar. Her respect offered with a quiet action. No words needed–I knew she approved of him, her blessing given. That night 88 cookies and a good memory were made for the sharing.

I guess you can take the girl out of Pennsylvania, but you can’t take the PA out of the girl. Despite having our wedding reception in a suburb of Chicago, you better believe that 5-layers of cake did not stand alone. Of course there was a side table with sweets and– lots and lots of cookies. People stood there all night long. Made me smile.

Family traditions bring joy and laughter. To me, the wedding cookie table is an abundant serving of Western Pennsylvanian hospitality. The “doing” of I Love You in the spirit of rejoicing with those who rejoice. It’s one I hope to pass along to each one of our three sons.

My gramma’s recipe below for the traditional Peanut Butter Blossom has been enjoyed by wedding guests, at Christmas and most recently in summertime at the Lakehouse.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

• 1 cup of Dark Brown Sugar (packed)
• 1 cup of White Sugar
• 1 cup of Peanut Butter (rinse measuring cup in water for easy release of PB)
• 1 cup Oleo (I use Butter)
• 2 Eggs
• 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 3 cups All-purpose Flour
• pinch of Salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, then peanut butter and vanilla. Mix well. Add dry ingedients. Mix. Form dough into ball the size of a walnut. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet lined in foil or parchament paper. We use foil. Bake at 375 for 9 minutes. In the meantime, unwrap foil of Hershey Kisses. Press unwrapped kiss into the center of the cookie. Bake an additional 1 minute. Remove cookies from pan and move to wire rack. Let cool.

NOTE: Do not store cookie until kiss is completely set. Cookies can be stored in air-tight container in cool fridge, garage or locked car trunk. Do not freeze as chocolate kiss may become white when frozen.