Auger Cookies

There were always plenty of cookies on hand in Mother's kitchen. The usual varieties were chocolate chip, molasses and ice box. At Christmastime, we always had cut-out sugar cookies too. Mother had lots of the old fashioned metal cookie cutters in shapes like Santa, a tree and an angel.

One Fall when I was 5 or 6 years old, my sister, Linda decided to make cut-out Halloween cookies. While we had plenty of Christmas cookie cutters, we didn't have any Halloween ones. I'm not sure there were even any available to buy way back then. Linda had the idea to make our own cookie stencils out of an empty cereal box. She drew a witch's hat and a pumpkin on the box and cut out the stencils. We then put the stencils on the rolled out cookie dough and cut around them with a knife. Besides the witch's hat and the pumpkin, we also wanted to have a ghost stencil. Some how I was put in charge of making that stencil. I drew my best ghost and cut it out of the cereal box. I don't remember Linda commenting on my finished stencil. We made the cookies and when Daddy came into the house, we offered him one to eat. He knew what the pumpkins and the witch's hats were. He then looked at my ghosts and said, "What are those? Augers?" Did I mention that I was never good at art? I honestly don't remember my reaction at the time. But I can tell you that we kept all three of our cookie stencils and made those same cookies for several years. And every year, my ghosts were called Auger Cookies. I'm pretty sure they were Daddy's favorites.

When Daddy died and his casket had the secret little drawer I mentioned in another entry, family members put pictures and notes in the drawer. I wrote a letter that I placed in the drawer. But I wanted to put something more in there as well. I thought for a long time about what that 'something more' could be. And then I remembered the long forgotten Auger Cookies. So, I drew a ghost (or should I say an auger) on a piece of paper, cut it out and put it in the drawer. I smiled and was satisfied with my choice.

My drawing (today) similar to
the ghost/auger I drew as a kid

I now have quite a collection of cookie cutters of my own, ranging from the traditional reindeer and Christmas trees to less common shaped ones like the state of Minnesota, a cactus and even a margarita glass. And I do have Halloween ones shaped like pumpkins, bats and ghosts. But no matter how hard I look, I can not find an auger shaped cookie cutter. Luckily, I know how to make an auger stencil.