Everyone has their own Toronto Maple Leafs traditions. GranGran’s just might have been better than the rest. Finally, her secrets are revealed.
My great grandmother was nothing if not a giant fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. She showed her passion for the team in many ways but her favourite way was by sharing her Super Secret Maple Leafs Cookies.
Today’s your lucky day because I’m going to share that secret with you.
In order to fully appreciate these baked goods, it’s important to get a sense of the way GamGam treasured them. You may expect that the cookies were in the shape of either Maple Leaves, skates or sticks. They looked nothing like any of those.
Toronto Maple Leafs Cookies
If anything, the cookies looked mostly like hockey pucks.
That’s because they were very ordinary looking round biscuits. The reason that they were known as her Maple Leafs batch was because she’d always say, “These Maple Leafs cookies are for my favourite great-grandson who loves the Leafs.” It was really sweet. After he had his fill, she would then offer me a cookie too.
GranGran would always go on about all the hockey players she dated when she was younger. We never believed her stories about her time with greats of the game like Tim Horton and Allan Stanley. That’s mostly because she came over from Europe as an adult already married to PopPopPop. Plus she didn’t speak a lick of English.
Every once in a while she’d not just surprise us with the cookies but also an autograph from a legend. The scene would play out with her telling a long-winded story about meeting someone like Bobby Orr and asking him to autograph a napkin. She’d share her internal monologue about knowing she’d one day give the autograph to someone responsible who could keep it clean and crisp so that it could one day be sold.
Before we’d accidentally pour an entire glass of grape juice all over it, GranGran would make us promise to cherish it always. Then she’d say something like, “lt doesn’t look at all like your great-grandfather’s signature does it?”
But enough about GranGran. You’re here for the super secret recipe to be revealed. Well, while she wouldn’t tell a soul what she put in those cookies one time I managed to sneak a peek.
When she thought I was napping, I watched as she fixed herself some tea. That consisted of emptying a bottle of peach schnapps into an empty teapot. I remember thinking that that was a great way to kill the awful taste of tea. You see, I never had any tea at her place because she would always say that it tasted terrible and only she liked it.
With her beverage poured, she then reached into the fridge and pulled out the only ingredient she needed. GranGran removed a tube of Pillsbury cookie dough. She then separated them into balls and baked them to perfection.
That’s it. Now you know the entire super secret recipe in case you want to make Maple Leafs cookies of your own.
When you do try making them, please think about my sweet late GranGran. She actually passed away at age 101 while resting peacefully in the chair. Everyone thought it was a nice way to go but her hairdresser who had another client waiting wasn’t so pleased.