What would Grandpa think?

When I was a kid, (and probably when my dad was a kid as well), my grandfather made these cookies at Christmas called "gallettes".  These are not what you might think, or you might find if you googled, but they were waffle cookies, similar to "pizelles" (without all of the anise).  They are also somewhat similar to Belgian waffles, but not as thick and cakey.  My grandfather used a gallette iron, which made one cookie, and spent the afternoon cooking them one at a time.  We didn't live near them, and weren't always with them on the holidays, so I remember getting a shoe-box full of these every year.  This was always a great time when the box of gallettes arrived.  They were wonderful cookies, and they were a small, but memorable thing for me with regards to the holiday.

When my grandmother, and soon after my grandfather died many years ago, so did this tradition, and the recipe.  Its unfortunate that I didnt talk to him more.  I was young when he passed, but I don't think I new him very well. The same goes for my grandparents on both my mom and dads side. I remember all of my grandparents, but really knew nothing about them.  I know my background is Polish and French, I know the town my one grandfather is from in France, and thats about it.  My folks dont talk about their parents much, and the one person who knows more about my family than anyone is my brothers soon to be ex-wife. There goes the knowledge base.

The gallette is one of those things that I have always wanted to replicate.  Taste and smell are wonderful memory aids. Its amazing how you can catch a whiff of something; fresh cut grass, a summer rain, baking, and be taken back years to a childhood, to be placed back in the very scene.  You can almost look around and see and smell everything around you in great detail. A simple scent can transport you in full HD back to a time you could not have recalled if you tried.  So for years that is what I have wanted to do. Create a time machine powered by the elusive gallette.


My father informed me that all he recalled was that the recipe had a lot of eggs and butter.  I knew it could not have been that complicated, but still I wanted some idea of the ingredient portions, so I could try to make these.  As luck would have it, a year ago my ex-wife discovered the gallette iron in the basement of her house, and returned it to me.  So last year I decided I was going to try and reawaken this tradition.  So last year, after much googling, and ingredient tweaking. I made a variation of the (clearly non-vegan ) following recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups butter
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 cups white sugar
• 9 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the gallette iron over medium-high heat for 10 to 15 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the flour, then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Finally, stir in the vanilla.
3. Drop batter by rounded teaspoons onto the heated iron, two at a time. Close the iron, and hold on the burner for 30 to 45 seconds, turn over and cook for an additional 30 to 45 seconds. Carefully remove cookies and cool on wire racks.

Simple right?  I think the iron is key, and of course all of the love.  You do have to make these one at a time, about 45 seconds on each side.  If that isn't love, I don't know what is.

I made numerous batches, and of course boxed them up and sent them out to my family.  The gallettes were a huge success. For the first time in years, we were all enjoying what is a rather simple confection, that we all identified the holidays with.

So 4 months after the holidays, with thoughts of gallettes safely tucked back in my memory, I went Vegan without a thought to how my life would be affected.  Over the last 9 months, I thought I met and dealt will all of these things as they came up.  This was until I pulled the iron out this past week and thought "oh crap, now what?".

My first reaction was to just say "screw it" (i used other words), and make them as I did last year, and just put up my blinders. I thought about that briefly. And I wondered if I could even explain Vegan to my grandparents, and what they might think? My grandparents were "meat and potatoes" folk, and I doubt  they would get "veganism".  There is no point in trying to figure that out.  I've no idea what Grandpa would think.


So what is important here? Making a cookie that tastes a lot like what my grandfather used to make?  Am I really conjuring up the spirit or essence of my grandfather by doing this?  If I alter this recipe, will he care?  Will anyone care?  I'm actually surprised at how I feel pulled in different directions over a very simple recipe, that we have all basically forgotten for almost 30 years.  I have decided that I'm not going to make this recipe in its original form.  I'm going to contemplate my family heritage, and in the meantime, I could use some advice on this recipe.  


The drama is to be continued,... as is the veganization of the gallette.