Carolion's favorite Christmas Cookies

I was so excited to find that mom had actually written down 2 of her recipes! These are the cookies we would make together at Christmas and bring to share at the Shepherd Plays in Yellow Springs. I'm going to bake a batch of Mint Surprise this weekend. I'll add a photo to this post when I have one.


Starlight Mint Surprise Cookies
Sift together:
• 3 c flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
Cream:
• 3/4 c butter
• 1 c sugar
• 1/2 c brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 2 T water
• 1 tsp vanilla
Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375.
• 2 pkg 6 oz mint wafers*
• 60 walnuts, halved (optional)
Roll dough into a ball in your palm and insert a mint* into the center of the ball. Optional: press a half walnut into the top of the dough ball. Place 2" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake until done.
y=60 cookies

*My mom made these with either Andes chocolate mints or another kind that looks kind of like a peppermint patty--it has chocolate on the outside and a melty white mint filling. The idea is that the mint chocolate melts together inside the cookie, and the cookie looks plain on the outside, but has a delicious center. If you use Andes, use 1/2 mint per cookie. The other chocolate mint was, I think, 1/4 per cookie.




Almond Cookies
Sift together:
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Cream:
• 1 c butter
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/4 c brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond extract
Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Form dough into logs, wrap and refrigerate 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350.
Slice dough into 1/2" medallions, place on ungreased cookie sheet and top slices with:
• 5 dozen whole blanched almonds
Brush tops with:
• 1 egg yolk + 2 T water, whisked together

Aunt Carolion.....You are love...RIP!!

Friday, November 27, 2009 at 4:53am

These are the words that I have
to express my gratitude to you
for all the gifts you've given me
by simply sharing your spirit with mine

In the last year I am so blessed to have witnessed
The childlike joy for life
That radiated from every corner of your spirit
I don't know where to start and grieve your loss

Thank you for your relationship to the spirit
Those gifts are priceless and timeless for my journey
Thank you for your creativity that you shared with the world
Thank you for your authenticity and boldness
Thank you for your crusade for peace and understanding that
Love truly heals all

Thank you healing me
And revealing to me my gifts
Thank you for living your life exactly as you wanted to
Without excuses, without borders, without apologies,
without a plan, without the answers, without hate
Thank you for living your life as an example to me
Of love, of peace, of music, of soul, of laughter, of brilliance,
Of understanding, of compassion, of joy, of buddha, of the shaman,
of jesus, of the creator, of the father and mother earth, of all our ancestors,
of the goddess, of the oneness, of the essence, of light....

Thank you for bringing the light and guidance to all of those you knew
Thank you for your faith and your trust in the divine for all things always
Thank you for your visions of hope
Thank you for your unapologetic character for who
God created you to be.

I'll miss your color, your laughter, your guidance, your wisdom
your richness, your magnificent soul, your divine path, your puppets, your
plays, your songs, your hugs and kisses, and all your love.

I'll always hold the place of acceptance for you in my heart
Of letting go and letting God take you to a place of comfort
with no worries and anxiety of pain and suffering
Even though the physical manifestation of you is gone
You have left me with pieces of you that have changed me forever
You expanded my understanding of the spirit...vibrant and limitless
I'm clearer on who I am and who I want to be
I'm less serious about life and just grateful I get to show up today
to laugh and love and bring a smile to someone's face like you always did

Continue to show my how to walk with God and be love and be light and be color and be music, and be healing, and be grateful for every gift and miracle
Continue to dance, sing, paint, love, laugh....

My favorite games with you...
Mexican train, boggle, yahtzee, PIT!!!!!

I'm out of words but you remind me that love and peace always remain in my heart and that only light comes from our source. Thank you God for Carolion and Carolion thank you for teaching me what being true to myself looks like up close and personal.

Forever grateful,

Megan

Obituary

Carolion

Yellow Springs resident Carolion died peacefully in her home on November 18th. She was 62.

Born Caroline Elizabeth Welton April 24th, 1947 in Cambridge, MA, she was the second of four children by Jean and Theodore Welton, an acclaimed nuclear physicist. Carolion spent her childhood in Oak Ridge Tennessee where she developed her skills as a young musician and her love for animals and nature. In 1969 she graduated from Miami University with a degree in music theory and composition. After college she lived in Columbus, OH, Minneapolis, and Granite Falls, Minnesota, where in 1976 she and husband Paul Van Ausdal adopted three children from Inchon, S. Korea, and had a fourth child a year later. The family moved to Yellow Springs in 1979. Carolion resided on Spillan Road until 1996, when she moved to Portland Oregon, Texas and California. In 2004 she moved back to Yellow Springs and worked at the Yellow Springs Library until August of this year.

Carolion was a musician and music teacher, playwright and director, writer and storyteller, gardener, healer, animal communicator, reverend, wife, mother, dear friend, and reference librarian. She studied Shamanic Practice at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and taught at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York, where she founded the Devic Garden and yearly Peace Pow Wow.

She is preceded in death by her mother, and is survived by her father, Ted Welton of Crossville, TN; two sons, Ben Van Ausdal of Fairborn, OH and Max Van Ausdal stationed at RAF Lakenheath UK; two daughers, Jessie Van Ausdal of Littleton, CO and Corrie Van Ausdal of Kansas City, KS; eight grandchildren, Katie, Conrad, Emmie, Caleb, Aryn, Gabe, Alex and Tiger; former husband Paul Van Ausdal; two brothers, Will Welton of Seattle, WA, John Welton of San Diego, CA; one sister, Mary Lou Dillon of Knoxville, TN and numerous in-laws, neices, nephews and cousins.

A memorial service will be held Friday, November 27th at the Glen Helen Building at 405 Corry Street in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, donations should be sent to the Dayton Peace Museum, the Friends Music Camp Scholarship Fund, The Glen Helen, or Hospice of Springfield, Ohio.