Court Pastry Cookies for All the Times of Our Lives

Twenty years ago today on the Feast of St. Anthony, when my firstborn son was one day old, my dad visited his new grandson at Long Island College Hospital.  He brought a St. Anthony statue vase filled with flowers from the now closed Benevento Florist and a box of fancy Court Pastry cookies.  When we arrived home the next day, there was a 5-lb. tray of Court Pastry cookies wrapped in cellophane and tied with festive “blue for a boy” ribbons on my table!! I asked my dad why he had bought such a huge tray of cookies and he replied that since I had just had a new baby, people would be visiting. Well, I did have guests who wanted to see the baby but I probably ate four out of those five pounds of cookies and I remember enjoying every single one.

My family celebrates all occasions with Court Pastry cookies.  On my sisters’ and my wedding days, my parents had the aforementioned 5-lb. trays studded with almond confetti on the dining room table along with a second tray of miniature cream puffs and champagne. When I visited my brand new nephew, Nicky, the first grandchild in our family, we brought a box of Court Pastry cookies and a “bringing the baby home from the hospital” outfit from Frank’s Department Store.  Whenever we have a Communion, Confirmation, or graduation, there is a tray or box of cookies.  And even in sad times, we turn to the cookies.  After my sister and aunt’s funerals we had Court Pastry cookies on the table.  In fact, in my sister’s hospital room, I was stunned to see a picture of the facade of Court Pastry taped to the wall. A kind and thoughtful friend had provided the perfect cheery gift for my sister with that picture. And it cheered the rest of us, too.

We bring Court Pastry cookies everywhere, when we’re invited to dinner or a barbecue. I sent my son to his prom with a small box of cookies in the limousine. We have even taken Court Pastry cookies with us on vacations. Who needs to bring food with them on a cruise? Well, we did. How could we have a bon voyage party without our favorite cookies? Whenever we visit family in California, we bring an extra-large box of cookies. When we were trying to fly to a cousin’s wedding in Virginia and our plane was delayed (and ultimately cancelled) because of a hurricane, we walked all over the airport lugging boxes of cookies and bags of lard bread from Caputo.

We send boxes of Court Pastry cookies to our relatives who have moved far away. Every year, my mom and aunt would send Court Pastry’s traditional Christmas cookies (ginger, fig cuccidati, molasses) to their brother in Virginia. We send my dear great-Uncle Moe in Colorado the same along with some of the fancy ones for his birthday. Is there a more splendid gift? My late Aunt Mary said that when she opened a box of biscotti that we had sent to her, the wafting aroma reminded her of her mother.

We all have our favorites, of course. I love the chocolate dot and the chocolate swirl but I also love the ones with the red and green cherries on top and the fig ones with sprinkles and the pink and green sandwiches and the chocolate spice drops and the oh so expensive pignoli. I have a lot of favorites. The kids all seem to like the 7-layer rainbow cookies and the savoiardi (also known as baby shoes). My brother’s favorite is the cinnamon S shaped biscotti. My mom’s are the almond bars and those were the cookies my grandmother would keep stashed in her house for whenever my mom popped over. My mother-in-law likes the sesame seeded regina biscotti. My dad liked those, too, along with the twists and he would dunk them in his lemon ice.  My Aunt Mary liked the scarily-named “Bones of the Dead” and my Nana liked the lemon anginettes. If you have been to Court Pastry, I’m sure you have a favorite, too.

My mom, aunt, sisters, two best friends and I were fortunate enough to tour Italy in the early 1980’s. We had some fabulous meals and visited the cafes. We tried different pastries and cookies wherever we went. But, sure enough, once we returned home, my sister, Lisa, concluded that not in all of Italy could she find a cookie to compare to Court Pastry.  And I concur.