Okay, first, here’s the recipe:
CRANBERRY BARS Cookie crust: oven at 350. Grease edges of 15x10 cookie sheet. Cut 1 c of cold butter into 2 1/2 c flour; don't use a cuisinart or anything that would pulverize the butter, you want it lumpy to come out crisp. Add 1/2 c sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Press firmly in pan, bake 20-23 minutes or till golden. Top with filling right away and bake again. Filling: 4 eggs, 1 c. corn syrup, 1 c sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 tbl melted butter, 2 c coarsely chopped cranberries, 1 c. coarsely chopped pecans. Beat eggs, corn syrup, sugar, and butter. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Immediately pour over hot crust as it comes out of the oven, spreading it out. Bake 25-30 minutes or until set. Cool; refrigerate it to be able to cut it really cleanly.
Now the story:
My son John has been on a mission for the Mormon Church for a year now. Like his brother did, he’s serving in the South.
My friend Bonnie, whom I’ve known online for ten years and have long wanted to meet in person, got to meet John instead. He had something that needed mending; she told me her shop’s address (she’s a seamstress) and warmly welcomed him in and waved away any offer of reimbursement and then told me what a nice kid I have. Look who’s talking. Thank you, Bonnie!
I got a phone call a few weeks ago from a member of John’s ward (congregation), asking me for a recipe for his favorite comfort-food cookies and for a few photographs of his childhood; she was going to throw a surprise Christmas party for all the missionaries around her area.
I sent off a few pictures and typed out my cranberry bar squares. And then John got transferred to a different city last week, and that, I thought, was the end of that.
My phone rang this afternoon: the woman had the cranberry bars in the oven and wanted to know how to tell for sure when they were done. Till the edges look golden, I told her. But–he’s been transferred! I added, not wanting to disappoint her, but.
Yes, Christy said, she knew that. But she was so sure it would make his day. (Well, yeah, it totally would. He could snarf half a 15×11 pan of those by himself.)
And then she stunned me: she said her husband was a pilot and they were going to go fly the quick hop skip and a jump and take him those cookies, warm out of the oven.
Oh. My. Goodness.
She told me her own son was serving a mission in a place where she’d sent him a Christmas box in November and he hadn’t gotten it yet and probably wouldn’t in time. She couldn’t fix that. But she could help my kid feel loved from home and by the people around him.
How on earth can you thank someone for something like that?!