by admin

Start Baking

Amy Ephron at The Huffington Post has a theory: “In order to be First Lady you have to have a cookie recipe.” Ephron’s tone is (of course) tongue-in-cheek as she describes Martha Washington’s “jumbles,” Jackie Kennedy’s peanut brittle, and Nancy Reagan’s coconut macaroons – but she brings up several serious questions.

If Clinton gets elected President, what sort of “cookies” will Bill be required to make? In other words, how would a woman’s presidency change the traditional roles of first spouse? And, more importantly, how would it change the presidency itself?

What sort of expectations of traditional “feminine/motherly” conduct would be foisted on Clinton in the White House? How would she balance her necessary role as Commander-in-Chief with these expectations (or would she)? Would she be pressured – like former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was – to serve a literal “steaming pot of tea and [homemade] cookies” to diplomats? The answers to these questions remain to be seen – but if yesterday’s primary in Pennsylvania has anything to do with it, Bill better start perfecting his sugar cookie technique.

Golda Meir’s Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here; Hillary Clinton’s Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here.

–Leah Koenig