Kindness Cookies

Kindness is not about patronage or power. Kindness creates possibilities and connects us as human beings. Kindness is humble.

Over the years, kindness cookies became symbolic of our efforts to encourage social connectivity, and to increase our community’s social capital. We form such bridges and bonds with people grow when we interact positively with one another.  

When people act with kindness, whether random or intentional, and when others receive gifts as intended—enjoying the spirit of generosity and benevolence—our levels of happiness and connectivity rise. In that way, kindness can create ripple effects across any town, province or village…

No matter which route has brought you to this page, welcome! My hope is that this recipe will help you process, plan, and prioritize your next steps. For me, writing in my journal or a baking session are excellent therapies for sifting thoughts and ideas. This cookie recipe has been used for Random Acts of Kindness celebrations in Banff, for celebrating a wedding day, an Olympic moment, for backcountry ski trips or for rolling up before baking and storing the dough in the freezer. But first, a story.

Cousin Jack and his second wife, Mary, lived in Wisconsin. One day in the early ‘90s, someone in Mary’s circle of friends sent her an email, which was the first time my mother had ever heard of such a thing. Mary asked Jack to make a print copy of the message, so she could send it to my mother in the post, via snail mail. Inside the envelope was a recipe, along with a short note in Mary’s handwriting.

The story goes that Mary’s friend’s friend had eaten lunch with her daughter at a fancy restaurant in California. The two had finished the meal by ordering the restaurant’s signature dessert – a special cookie. The cookie was so delicious, the women asked for a copy of the recipe, the waitress frowned and replied, “Only if you pay for it.”

When the mother asked how much , the waitress said “Two-fifty,” a seemingly reasonable price, and she authorized an additional two-fifty to the credit card and paid her bill.

Later that month, the credit card statement arrived, and the woman discovered that two-fifty translated to $250, yes two hundred and fifty dollars, rather than the $2.50 she had anticipated. She called the restaurant and complained, but the restaurant denied her request for a refund.

Now flabbergasted, indignant and angry, the customer plotted her revenge by circulating the cookie recipe far and wide. In essence, she used the power of her pen to write a protest letter. Armed with the new technology of email, she started a personal campaign to share the recipe giving others the chance to read her cautionary tale, simultaneously diminishing the prestige of the restaurant’s coveted cookie. Empathetic, supportive and active in her own way, my mother generously agreed to share the recipe with all who cared to listen, passing it on via hardcopies and personal notes.

Although its distribution may have been spread in anger, try using this recipe to turn indignation and despair into generosity and kindness.