Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. –William Morris

No kitchen is complete without a container of wooden spoons on the counter. Both useful and beautiful. In our Paris apartment, a wire basket holds an assortment of spoons, soup ladles, spatulas, salad servers and flat bladed stirrers. When home in Colorado, an antique stoneware pitcher and sugar bowl overflow with old and new implements. All wood.

I come about this affection genetically. My mother had a collection of well-used wooden spoons. Some were from her mother, whom we called “Gram”.

Before she married my grandfather, Gram was a Home Economics teacher in the local high school. That was when “Home Ec” was taught in U.S. public schools. Several of her oldest spoons now have an asymmetrical edge on the left side. This came about after many years of right-handed stirring by my grandmother, my mother, and me.

In Gabrielle Hamilton’s book, Blood, Bones, and Butter, her French-born mother was known to wield a wooden spoon as an extension of her arm:

“She lived in our kitchen, ruled the house with an oily wooden spoon in her hand, and forced us all to eat dark, briny, wrinkled olives, small birds we would have liked as pets, and cheeses that looked like they might well bear Legionnaire’s Disease….Her burnt orange Le Creuset pots and casseroles, scuffed and blackened, were constantly at work…cooking things with tails, claws, and marrow-filled bones–whatever she was stewing and braising and simmering to feed our family of seven.” –from Blood, Bones & Butter, Random House, 2011

Legacy spoons are recycled pieces of history. The patina and grain are enhanced by generations of cooks stirring rich stews, thick hot chocolate, or biscuit batters.

Wooden spoons and implements are not meant to be purely decorative. I use them all the time for cooking or baking. The difference is I treat them like royalty compared to other kitchenware. They don’t roll around in overstuffed kitchen drawers. They aren’t abused in soapy cycles of the dishwasher. They are hand washed with a scrub brush and hot running water.

When my spoons become noticeably dry and splintery, it’s time for a sanding, smoothing, oiling timeout.

Fine grade sandpaper exfoliates surface problems. Smooth wood grain quickly emerges. Rinse off sanding dust under tap water. Air-dry and then apply the final finish.

No olive oil or furniture polish should condition wood used in food preparation. Use an inexpensive bottle of plain mineral oil. Massage into the wood from head to handle. Buff off excess oil. Admire them briefly.

Drawing on William Morris’ philosophy, it’s time to make them useful. Baking is a good idea. The gold standard of baking in our household for many years was Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

In my teens, I learned that the best homemade cookie batters are creamed, beaten, and stirred by hand with a sturdy, long handled wooden spoon. I have been making these cookies for decades–for my adolescent sweet-tooth cravings, for a young husband in early marriage, for the children-raising years overseas, for nieces, nephews, sisters, and countless friends. The contractor and crews who built our Colorado cabin ate “Wendy’s Cookies” from beginning to end of construction. Some say it is better built because of that mixture of oats, chocolate, and physical labor.

Wooden spoons are like the trees from which they are honed. They are organically beautiful. They are eminently utilitarian. They can be passed through many generations of kitchens and cooks. In this way they live…maybe forever.

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CHOCOLATE CHIP OATIES

Ingredient lineup

• 2 C butter [454 gm]
• 1 1/2 C packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 granulated sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla extract [use high quality vanilla]
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 C unbleached flour [adding an extra 1/2 to 3/4 C. flour makes cookies thicker rather than flat]
• 4 C whole oats [not instant]
• 3 C semi-sweet chocolate chips or cut up dark chocolate bars or a mixture of both. Can use mini-sized chips for variety.

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and creamy. You can melt the butter first to speed this up. Beat eggs lightly together. Add to creamed ingredients.

Beat everything together with a sturdy wooden spoon. Stir in salt and soda. Add flour one cup at a time, mixing in each cup completely. Stir in oats and finally chocolate bits.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto un-greased baking sheet. [A melon ball or small ice cream scoop holds the perfect amount.] Bake at 375 F. [190 C.] 7-10 minutes, depending on oven hotness. For crispy cookies, bake to a darker brown. Lighter brown results in chewy cookies.

Remove immediately from baking sheet to cool. If you transfer to newspaper for cooling, it will soak up extra oil from bottom of cookies. Store in food tins lined with wax or parchment paper. Or in jars as my daughter does. Keep one container out for noshing. Freeze the rest.