Mrs. Whitney’s Cookies from Uxbridge, Ontario
My mother used to make these really great cookies called Mrs. Whitney’s Cookies. When I asked her why they were called that, said told me that she got the recipe from a very kind, elderly woman who used to hand them out to neighbourhood children from her porch. Maybe the real story was Mrs. Whitney was known for her baking skills and my mother was bold enough to asked her for one of her cookies on her way back home from school. Either way, she inherited the recipe for these cookies and now so have I. But looking at this recipe again made me want to dig deeper into the early days of Uxbridge, Ontario. This town during the 1930s was one of those places just off the beaten path in southern Ontario somewhat north and east of Toronto.
This is a story of one of the best cookies ever made. That is quite a claim to make about cookies but there is something about these little delectable treats that I just couldn’t get enough of. And the backstory about these cookies is just about as intriguing as the cookie itself.
Uxbridge, Ontario
This little pond shown in the photo was called Electric Light Pond was part of my Grandfather’s property, well, at least the shoreline was. It lay on the west end of Uxbridge, Ontario along Toronto Street just as it leaves the town limits. Despite my Grandfather’s exquisite woodworking skills, his house was for ever unfinished. My mom and her five other sisters and brother lived together with my Grandmother and a pet goat. It had no indoor plumbing to speak of, an outhouse and a small bit of grassy area facing the pond. To the back of the house was a short, steep ridge carved out by a small creek that flowed from the pond along the floor of the ravine and under a bridge where it emerged to power a dairy mill. This much I remember.
From this humble home my mom and her sisters made their way to their various schools in town. As my mom had some health issues as a child, she probably was a bit weak on her return home from school. Taking a short detour to visit Mrs. Whitney was most likely a much needed break and a moment of joy in an otherwise dreary day. Mrs. Whitney must have sensed this as my mom was sure to get a warm cookie from her to give her strength for the rest of the day.
Mrs. Whitney
My mother called these cookies after her but I never knew whether she really existed. To me Mrs. Whitney was an imaginary person but as it turned out she really did exist and she really did make these cookies for my mom and other children in the area.
As a child I imagined Mrs. Whitney dressed in her home baking dress and apron sitting on a rocking chair that sat to the right of the house door waiting for my mom to walk by on the way home. This was the 1930s small-town Uxbridge, Ontario in a time and place quite different than my own in Richmond Hill, Ontario. My mom made these cookies but I don’t recall her offering these cookies to the many children walking down the street to or from school. It wasn’t done and people’s suspicious minds would run away from them.
Life in 1930s Uxbridge
In the early 1930s Uxbridge was quite small and everyone knew everyone. My mother would have been in grammar school (grades K to 5 or 6). My grandparents were poor in an already poor town. My Grandmother was raising her large brood of children alone for most of the time. My Grandfather was a master Cabinetmaker working for Gold Electric making cabinets for radios. Most industries in Uxbridge focused on serving the farmers around the town so my Grandfather was fortunate to be working for a well known company making cabinets for radios and record players. Sadly, a fire burned the factory and then the Depression closed the company for good. Once this factory was gone his skills were no longer in demand although he did create some intricately designed porches for a few homes. Eventually he found a good position with the T. Eaton Company in downtown Toronto repairing furniture for customers. He stayed with this company until his retirement.
Farming country in rural Ontario was a bit slower and kinder, in my imagination anyway. Mrs. Whitney would know all the neighbourhood children by name, where they lived, who their parents were and what school they attended. She also probably served as the local guardian looking out for these children as they made their way home. She would know if one of them didn’t pass by the house and would ask their parents about the health of the child.
Uxbridge was not completely unknown. It had some quite famous residents. The Gould family lived across the field from my mother’s home. This was the family that had a famous grandchild Glenn Gould known world-wide for his spectacular piano playing skills. Also a mayor of Toronto hailed from Uxbridge. So, the town had its celestial objects. My grandparents weren’t blessed with such stardom. They were working class people eking out a living as best they could. But they were one of the few residents that had a (almost) private pond and a gurgling stream passing by their house. They even had a Creamery whose machinery were powered by the stream which flowed out of the pond. In the mornings one of the children would have to trudge out to the creamer to fresh cheeses and milk. And with a pond so close to the house, my mother’s family learned to swim at an early age. They had to. Drowning was a serious concern so all five daughters and a their brother learn to swim in that pond. So did I for that matter.
When my Grandfather took the job in Toronto he would leave Sundays to catch the nearest train into the city but that was a 12 mile walk from Uxbridge to the Goodwood train station. Similarly, he would return on Friday evenings with another 12 mile walk back, unless fortune shined on him and he managed to catch a ride with someone with a passenger car. Having a house on the western edge of town made the walk a bit closer but still, it was a long slog. In 1939 just before the world turned upside down with World War II he came home from Toronto to announce he had bought a house. He kept the house in Uxbridge and moved the family to Toronto. Weekends and holidays he would return with his family to their Uxbridge home for some fresh air.
The joy of cookies
Life was hard for my mother and her family so a little joy in life in my mother’s life, besides swimming in the pond, was the daily visit to Mrs. Whitney to enjoy a very delicious cookie or two. This moment in her childhood meant so much to her. Amongst the poverty, the missing dad away in the big city, the tough chores and typical farming community life, these cookies were for her an escape, a joy, a small journey into a peaceful moment before returning home for more work and family life.
And she brought this joy to her children. She would bake a batch of these cookies for us and put them in the cookie box for us to enjoy as we got home. It was my mother’s treat to give us these cookies even as it must have been for Mrs. Whitney.
The recipe
If you want to try making these cookies, here is the recipe for Mrs. Whitney’s cookies given to me by my mother Joan Lea of Guelph, Ontario Canada.
- 1 cup butter
- 1.5 cup browns sugar
- 1 tsp soda
- 3 eggs well beaten
- 2 3/4 cup flour
- 1.5 cup raisons
- .5 cup nuts
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
- Mix in order listed.
- Place on greased backing sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes.