Home on the ranger(er) cookies

My friend Sadie says it took her a year after she moved to Portland to stop missing the folks back in Boise, Idaho. She says I'll be completely homesick until I've experienced a full year in a new place -- a year of holidays, new friends, and new landscapes. After that, it's cake.

I needed some of that cake yesterday (preferably in the form of a cute petit-four.) Homesickness hit me hard. If you've ever moved away from a familiar landscape, you may have experienced this same unanchored feeling - being separated from an old life, not yet absorbed into a new one. I'm still an amalgam of Kansas and Oregon.

One of my coworkers wore a KMUW shirt yesterday. I looked at him, read the words "Wichita Public Radio" emblazoned on his chest and thought, "Hey cool. I've got that shirt." That my Portland coworker was wearing a shirt from a Kansas radio station sounded no alarms. I did not think, how did that shirt get here? (He begged the shirt off somebody from KMUW at a conference because it "looked so cool.")

I'm still trying to find my new anchor. That mental push-pin mapping where and what home is, since "home" is now a mental and no longer a physical place. It's a suitcase of memories, recipes, and post cards I tote around everywhere.



One of the recipes I carry in my suitcase is for Grandma Mickey's ranger cookies*. Grandma calls these ranger cookies, but I've heard other Kansas people call them "cowboy" or even "everything" cookies. Ranger cookies combine buttery, crunchy, chewy and sweet in one, easy-to-carry shape.

While the ranger cookies baked, I thought of how other Kansas transplants I know pack their home suitcase. Immediately, my friend Dustin came to mind.

Hello there

Dustin's a boy with ICT pride. He loves Wichita and being from Kansas, and he'll share this love with anyone he meets. He gets plenty of opportunities, since he sings the blues in a travelling band. People hear him play and say, "Man, they've got the blues in Kansas?" and he says, "Hell, yes." When people admit they don't know where Wichita is, all Dustin has to do is hold out his left arm.

I love it. You've got a covered wagon, an outline of the Sunflower State's major rivers, and a big yellow star where Dustin's heart lies - right in the Air Capital. I also love that the covered wagon conceals Medicine Lodge. Ugh, Medicine Lodge. Nobody needs to witness that.

Dustin's not the only friend I know with a Kansas tattoo.

Photo by Kelly Evans

Meet Isaac, one of my old hometown friends. As you can tell from the photo (he's on the left), Isaac's now lives in Texas. In Denton, he plays guitar, sings and loves the new NX35 music festival. Isaac loves living Texas, but he remembers his first home with the Kansas state motto: ad astra per aspera, or "to the stars, through difficulties." There's a motto that can take you places.

Some famous Kansans who have kept their sights on far on the horizon include: crazed abolitionist John Brown, aviation darling Amelia Earhart, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, axe-wielding temperance advocate Carry A. Nation, and poet Langston Hughes. They all reached for the stars, though I wish John Brown hadn't used so many guns to achieve his vision.

Perhaps we're all shooting stars, making our course through difficulties. All I know is that I'm not quite ready to have Kansas tattooed on my arm. Baking cookies cures my homesickness...for now.


"Ranger" or "cowboy" cookies makes 2 dozen

• 1/2 cup cool, unsalted butter
• 1 cup cane sugar
• 1 tsp. molasses
• 1 large egg
  
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
  
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt

Preheat an oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, then line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a stand mixer, whip the ever-lovin' heck out of the butter until it's fluffy. Beat in the sugar, molasses, and vanilla. Add in the egg on a medium speed.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Pour the whole mess in with the butter/sugar, and mix until just combined. Stir in the oats, coconut, and chopped walnuts.

Grease a tablespoon to plop heaping spoon-fulls of cookie dough onto the parchment paper. The cookies should be spaced at least two inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the very edges start to turn golden brown. The cookies should be thin, chewy, and crispy at the edges.

If you liked this recipe, you might enjoy:

Kate's red chili
Pan-fried chickpeas with cabbage and potatoes
Cashew macadamia nut butter cookies
Karen's hazelnut cookies

*Read more about my awesome grandma here. Really, she's fantastic.