Sugar Cookies

It's Sunday afternoon, and I could go for something simple and sweet.

Sugar Cookies

1 cup shortening (or butter)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 ts lemon extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 ts baking powder
1/4 ts salt
Milk
Sugar

-Cream together shortening and 1/2 cup sugar.
-Beat egg and add to mixture.
-Add lemon extract to mixture.
-Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, then add to mixture.
-Shape dough into 2 rolls, 2" in diameter; wrap in waxed paper and chill.
-When firm, slice 1/8" thick disks.
-Place on greased baking sheet, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
-Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes. Yield 60.

Quick Peanut Cookies

Ah, the days before everybody had peanut allergies. If you're still able serve nuts to company, here's a cookie recipe:

Quick Peanut Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 ts vanilla
2 cups flour
1 ts baking powder
3/4 ts salt
2 TB milk
1/2 cup chopped peanuts

-Cream together shortening and sugar. Beat egg with vanilla extract and mix in.
-Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mix.
-Shape into 2 rolls in 2" diameter, and wrap in waxed paper.
-Chill until firm.
-Slice into rounds, place on greased baking sheet, brush with milk and sprinkle with nuts.
-Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

Ice Box Cookies

It was well into the 90s in Massachusetts today, and this recipe was selected entirely because it contains the phrase "ice box".
I feel cooler already.

Ice Box Cookies

2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup oleo/butter
3 eggs
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts cream of tarter
1/2 ts baking soda
1 ts vanilla
1 cup nuts
3 1/2 cup flour

- Mix wet ingredients; mix dry ingredients; mix everything together.
- Form dough into a log shape.
- Refrigerate or freeze dough log until needed.
- Slice cookie rounds from log and place on greased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 5-8 minutes.

Sour Cream - Date Dreams

Happy Friday! Here's a recipe for some homemade cookies. You can double click on the image to enlarge it.

Ginger Snaps

Though I can't recall ever eating ginger snaps, it sounds like a Christmas cookie recipe. Check below for Grammy's tips.

Ginger Snaps

1/2 cup shortening (or butter)

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup dark molasses

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups pastry flour

2 ts baking soda

1 ts cinnamon

1/2 ts cloves

1 heaping ts ginger

dash of salt

-Mix ingredients into dough. Spoon into drop cookies and place on baking sheet.

-Bake at 350 for 10 min.

"If you want them to be fancy -- when thoroughly mixed, take a rounded ts of dough, roll into ball in hands, then roll that in white sugar. Place on baking pan."

"I just make drop cookies, they taste just as good."

Pecan Puffs, aka Canon Balls

These cookies, which I associate with Christmas, also go by the name "Canon Balls". You can thank my 3 year old self for that. I misheard the word "pecan", and since they are ball-shaped... well, you can kind of see the logic. Kids know way more about pirate weaponry than about nut varieties.

Pecan Puffs

1 cup butter, softened

4 TB sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups pecans, chopped

2 cups flour

-Cream the butter and sugar.

-Add the vanilla, pecans and flour. Mix.

-Roll the dough into small balls (the circumference of a quarter)

-Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 300 for 45 minutes.

-Roll balls in powdered sugar.

Date Torte Cookies

Something sweet, to kick off your weekend!

Date Torte Cookies

2 eggs

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 ts vanilla

3 TB flour

1/2 ts salt

1 ts baking powder

1 cup dates, cut up

1 cup nuts, chopped

1/2 cup coconut

-Beat eggs until light. Add sugar and beat until thick.

-Mix together dry ingredients. Mix in dates, nuts and coconut.

-Mix all together.

-Spread into 9x10" pan that has been greased.

-Bake 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

-Cut into squares, dust with confectionary sugar

"From Mom Sept. 4 1972"

Mystery Cookies

I blame my scanner for this crooked recipe; We can't read what the recipe is called. It's something something cookies. I'm calling them Mystery Cookies until further notice:

Mystery Cookies

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups sifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped nuts

-Mix sugar and wet ingredients.

-Sift together dry ingredients, then stir into wet mix.

-Add nuts, mix and shape into balls.

-Flatten the doughballs and cook for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Crispy Swedish Cookies

If I remember correctly, you need a cookie press to make these (a cookie press is a handheld device that works similarly to the Play-Doh Spaghetti Factory).

My mother has this recipe written as "Danish Cookies". Once, she sent them in with me for a 4th grade school project on "Where my family comes from." I got to put my name on a Danish flag and pin it on our classroom map, which was way more interesting than everyone else's English, Irish, Scottish, German and Italian flags.

Turns out, however, that our family is not at all Scandinavian -- my mother made it up. In her defense, she didn't have any traditional cookie recipes for our actual heritage, and these Crispy Cookies are pretty good.

Crispy Swedish Cookies

1lb butter

2 cup sugar

2 eggs

5 cup flour

3tsp almond extract or vanilla or lemon extract

-Mix the dough and put into the cookie press.

-Squeeze out rippled rows onto a greased cookie tray.

-Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

-When they come out of the oven, cut the rows into cracker sized pieces, then allow to cool.

Rocks!

Note that this recipe calls for shortening.

Despite the inedible name of these cookies, we believe they will be delicious (no guarantee about how they feel in your stomach, however).

Happy Friday!

Rocks

-Mix together:

1/2 cup soft butter

1/2 cup shortening.

1 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

3 eggs

-Sift together and stir in:

- 3 cups sifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

-Stir in:

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped nuts

-Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet.

-Bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Yield: more than you'll want to eat.

Mom's Oatmeal Cookies

It's Friday -- and for some reason I always lean towards posting a dessert recipe on Friday. I think the "Mom" referred to here is (Great) Grandma Beal. She has another oatmeal cookie recipe in the box, but that one has coconut in it.

Mom's Oatmeal Cookies

2/3 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 ts baking soda

1 ts baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 cup flour

1 cup nuts

1/2 cup dates or raisins

1 tsp vanilla

-mix ingredients together. bake at 325 degrees for 10 min.

Hawaiian Drop Cookies

Double click on this recipe to inspect the picture -- it has that great 1960's, Blue Hawaii vibe to it.

Hawaiian Drop Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

2 ts baking powder

1/2 ts salt

2/3 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 ts vanilla extract

1/2 ts almond extract

3/4 cup crushed pineapple, well drained

1/2 cup coconut, shredded

-Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

-Cream butter, sugar and extracts. Beat in egg until fluffy.

-Blend in pineapple, and dry ingredient mixture.

-Drop by teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet.

-Sprinkle with coconut.

-Bake 325 degrees for 20 minutes.

Gram Fulton's Shortbread

This recipe comes from Evelyn Viets -- I'm not entirely sure who that is, but we'll ask Grammy later. Evelyn notes at the bottom of the recipe: "I got this recipe from Betty Fulton who grew up in Scotland :)"

Gram Fulton's Shortbread

1lb butter

1 1/2 cups confectionary sugar

4 cups flour

-Butter two 9x13 pans

-Mix butter and sugar together, add flour

-Press mixture evenly into the two pans

-Prick with fork and bake at 325 degrees 40-45 min

-When edges are lightly browns, remove from oven

-Cut into squares, cool, and sprinkle with powdered sugar

"Thin cookies are much more tasty than thick ones."

Starlight Mint Surprise Cookies

Happy Friday, have some cookies:

Starlight Mint Surprise Cookies

3 cups flour

1 ts baking soda

1/2 ts salt

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 TB water

1 ts vanilla

1 pkg Chocolate Mint Wafers

1 pkg walnuts

- Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt

- Cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar

- Gradually blend in the eggs, water and vanilla to the wet mix

- Mix dry and wet ingredients.

- Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours

- Wrap chocolate mint wafers in about 1 TB of chilled dough

- Top each doughball with a walnut half

- Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes

Grandma Beal's Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

I suppose this recipe is a bit of a family heirloom, since it came from Grammy Gertie's maternal grandmother.

Grammy Gertie on her Grandma Beal:

"My Grandmother Beal was not a big woman, but she worked hard. She raised five children. She was always very pleasant. She was a religious woman, and she was involved in Christian Science. I used to go and stay with her a lot in the summers when I was younger. That’s how I learned how to make butter, and work on the rug loom that I have a picture of now. I gave it to the museum in Lowell. I helped her with that. She was a nice gal."

Grandma Beal's Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup oleo

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup oats

1 cup coconut

-Mix ingredients, and shape in small balls on baking tray

-Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes

Snickerdoodles