Sweet Memories: Remembrance Cookies for Halloween and Samhain

I love Halloween. Essentially, I celebrate Halloween for the entire month of October.

Since I became a professional Tarot reader, my love for this season has blended into what I do for a living, and now I spend most of October in a witch hat reading the cards at parties and events, as well as for private clients who celebrate and honour this time of year as well. It is awesome.

When I was a kid, I thought it was the most thrilling day of the year…a day when you could transform into anyone or anything, when you get to roam the blustery streets of your neighborhood after dark, a time when the ordinary shifts into the shadowy unknown.

As I’ve gotten older, Halloween and Samhain have taken on deeper levels of significance, while still retaining the fun and mischief.

Now that I’ve lost people who I love dearly, who I am still grieving for, at this time of year I find that I’m longing even more than usual to find a way to honor them, remember them, and feel connected with them.

Last year, I baked Remembrance Cookies with this in mind. And I plan to do it again this year.

(I went to Google for a recipe, I found several, but thank you to Jasmeine Moonsong for this nice and easy one that I adapted just a little.)

I wanted to achieve those goals I mentioned in a sweet way, in a comforting way, rather than making myself feel even more sadness and grief. I’m not a baker, but they turned out really well, and it was comforting to make something tangible and real, something that could feed the body and soul.

Remembrance cookies are made with fresh rosemary, the herb of memory. I used a little person shaped cookie cutter, but you can make them any shape you like. As you eat the cookies, perhaps sharing them with your loved ones who are here with you now, talk about the loved ones who have passed on. Try to remember and share happy stories, funny stories, expressing gratitude for all they brought to your life. I am sure that you will feel that they are with you when you are doing this.

You may wish to set a place for the person you are missing, or leave a plate of cookies outside your door on Halloween night.

Remembrance Cookies

• One and a half cups of powdered sugar
• One cup of butter (softened)
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons of real vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of almond extract
• Two and a half cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 1 and a half tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary

In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, almond extract until creamy. Stir in the fresh rosemary.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.

Fold the flour mixture into the sugar mixture. Combine the mixtures until a dough forms.

Refrigerate the dough for three hours.

When you’re ready to start baking, pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.

Divide the dough in half, and roll it out on a floured surface.

Cut with cookie cutter (you can use a person/gingerbread man if you like or whatever your preference) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Continue the process with the other half of dough.

Bake for 5 to 7 minutes. Let them cool, and garnish with sprigs of rosemary if you like. Enjoy!

Let me know how your cookies turned out! Wishing you a sweet and meaningful Halloween and Samhain, filled with love and cherished memories.