John's Favorite Oatmeal Cookies

This my husband's absolute favorite cookie.  He doesn't think any other cookies are nearly as good as these chewy, crisp cookies.  I tried several oatmeal cooky recipes from my cookbooks when we first got married and he requested oatmeal cookies.  When I finally simply made the one on the box, he said "this is it".  I've been making them for 44 years now.  You can tell by how yellowed my recipe card is.  Why mess with a good thing?
This is not the recipe on the Quaker website - apparently theirs has changed over the years.

Famous Oatmeal Cookies

1 Cup Shortening -- 7 ounces

1/2 Cup Butter -- 1 stick
1 Cup Sugar -- 7 ounces
2 Cups Brown Sugar -- 1 pound
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Water
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Flour, All-purpose -- 10 ounces
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
6 Cups Oats -- 18 ounces
1 -2 Cups Chocolate Chips -- or raisins
• Cream together shortening, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, water and vanilla extract until light.
• Mix together the flour, soda and salt. Beat into creamed mixture.
• Stir oats in by hand or with a large mixer.
• Stir in chocolate chips or raisins.
• Drop on ungreased cookie sheet.  (I use a size 60 scoop.)  Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes. Let them rest on the sheet a minute or two before cooling on a rack.
This recipe is a good one to freeze. I drop them close together on waxed paper on a half sheet pan and freeze them till they are solid. Then I roll up the wax paper, cookies and all, and put it in a freezer bag. Mark the bag with baking time and temp. I bake them right from the freezer, usually for 15 minutes.
Yield: "5 Dozen"

Mom's Chocolate Frosted Cookies

This recipe is from the 1946 Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.  Myrna says it’s the one our mom used - to make my very favorite chocolate cookies – she’s right!  I had used a recipe from my 1968 cook book that I got when I first got married, and although good, they weren’t quite what I remembered, so I was eager to try these.

 These looked terrible in the oven at first – they appeared to be melting and losing their shape completely – turning into thin cookies before my eyes.  Then, a miracle, they began to rise and there they were – those favorite cookies I remembered - tender and cake-like! 

1946 Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook

 My husband, not a chocolate fan, eagerly cleaned the bowl and beaters and thought these were just OK for chocolate cookies – high praise from him.  I had to fight him for the last ones.

Both Myrna and I remember shelling black walnuts from our trees for these – a thankless job, except that I, for one, loved these cookies.  Do put a whole nut half on top.

Mom's Chocolate Frosted Cookies

  1        large  eggs -- well beaten

  1        cup  Brown Sugar -- 8 ounces

  1        teaspoon  Vanilla Extract

  1/4     cup  butter -- 2 ounces

  1/4     cup  shortening -- 1 3/4 ounces

  2         Baking Chocolate Squares -- melted with butter and shortening

  1 2/3  cups  Cake Flour *-- 8 ounces

  1/2     teaspoon  salt

  1/2     teaspoon  soda

  1/2     cup  milk -- sweet or sour (I used buttermilk I had on hand)

  1/2     cup  Walnuts, Broken (2 ounces) Or pecans

Melt the chocolate squares with the shortening and butter.  Let cool.   Beat egg and sugar until light; add vanilla extract, then shortening and butter, (melted with chocolate and cooled); blend well.

 Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with milk; add nut meats.  The dough will be very soft, almost like very thick cake batter.  (Use a spoon or whisk for this step so your cookies don't get tough from overmixing.)  They also benefit from chilling the dough.  Be sure you don't use a warm cookie sheet.

Drop from teaspoon two inches apart onto greased cooky sheet.  (I used a size 100 scoop on parchment paper).  Bake in 350° oven 10 to 12 minutes.

Frost with Mocha frosting and top with a walnut or pecan half.  Makes 3 dozen.

Mocha Frosting

3 tbsp cocoa

1-2 tbsp hot coffee or milk or cream

3 tbsp butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups powdered sugar

36 walnut halves or pecans

Per Serving: 99 Calories; 5g Fat (42.8% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 58mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

*Cake flour has a 6-8% protein content and is made from soft wheat flour. It is chlorinated to further break down the strength of the gluten and is smooth and velvety in texture. Good for making cakes (especially white cakes and biscuits) and cookies where a tender and delicate texture is desired.  To substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour for every cup of all-purpose flour.  Make your own - one cup sifted cake flour can be substituted with 3/4 cup (84 grams) sifted bleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch.

Christmas Cookie Memories

Christmas time was always a favorite of mine. Even as a small child, I can remember coming home from school and walking into the house smelling like a wonderful bakery. As Sue has said, our Mom was a cookie baker. I also think baking cookies is one of my favorite pastimes. I no longer do all the fancy decorated cookies I did as a young housewife. My children and I used to spend a whole day decorating rolled out christmas cookies. Lots of frosting and colored sugar everywhere and no one wanted to eat supper that night.

 One year, I made lollipops using my cookie cutters for molds. They tasted great, but what a mess. Not one of those things to do again. Of course there were the filled cookies to make. Dates being a favorite of everyone. I am still of the generation who entertained for afternoon coffee parties with the neighbor ladies and you must have a fancy tray of cookies and hopefully something new to show off. Everyone tried to out do each other.
 Happy baking - and do it as something to enjoy not as a chore and it will go so much better.

Production Cooking

Now is the time, while you're less busy after the holidays, to get a head start on canning or freezing convenience foods like soups, stews and meats. 
Look at other seasonal sale items, like baking supplies, too.  One of the biggest benefits of production cooking is buying the ingredients on sale and saving on more than one meal.  

I keep cookie dough and a few baked cookies, bars and quick breads on hand for ‘instant’ desserts and coffee times.  Myrna makes extra pie crusts to keep in the freezer.  I usually keep sliced homemade bread (I make 2-3 loaves at a time) and hamburger buns or rolls for quick sandwiches.  I keep a covered plastic box of bags of homemade noodles and homemade spaghetti – they cook in less than 10 minutes from frozen – not many recipes are quicker than fettuccine Alfredo or spaghetti with canned or frozen meat sauce. 

We keep canned beef, chicken or turkey and a variety of canned beans, stew and soups, as well as canned potatoes and other vegetables.  
Some dishes are made by doubling a large recipe and portioning in freezer bags to bake or reheat later.  Mashed Potatoes (with cream cheese) and cooked rice are two sides I often have on hand.  I freeze them in quart freezer bags; ready to microwave.    
Some frozen “production” recipes I make to keep on hand are french toast or waffles and cheese-stuffed shells.  Both take more time to make than I usually like to spend for a single meal – by making larger recipes and freezing them, I can confine the mess to one time for 8 or 9 meals – the day I want to use them, I add sauce or gravy and heat or bake.  

To do this for yourself, take a look at what is available to purchase canned or frozen – could you do it yourself?  Think about what your family likes that is more fuss than you want to have at the last minute.  If you prepare it ahead, at your convenience, you could avoid that last minute trip through the fast-food drive-thru.  
If you prepare these dishes yourself, you can control the amount of sodium, fat and sugar.  You can eliminate high fructose corn syrup and a lot of other additives.

If making large recipes seems like too much, could you double favorite recipes so you build up some cushion for those “I don’t want to cook” days?
Check out the food sales and plan on saving too. 

Christmas Cherry Slices

Here’s the easiest Christmassy- looking cookie ever – the cherries make ‘em Christmas without any elaborate decorating.   I found this recipe in a Pillsbury booklet  Simply from Scratch Vol 2, 1978 and have made them every season since. 

I don’t bake them until I want to use them, as the cherries soften the cookies somewhat if they are stored too long already baked.  But they are so easy, that’s not a problem.  They bake just fine from the frozen rolls; they are simply decorated shortbread.  I look for holiday cherries when they are on sale, and keep several rolls of this recipe on hand all season.  Candied cherries can be stored for a year or two in your refrigerator, according to the manufacturer, so buying them right after the holiday sales may make sense too.         

                    Christmas Cherry Slices

     1/2     Pound  Butter -- softened

  4           Ounces  Powdered Sugar -- (1 cup)

  1           medium  Egg

  1           teaspoon  Vanilla Extract

  2 1/4     cups  Flour, All-purpose

  16          Ounces  Candied Cherries -- red and green, halved

  4            Ounces  Pecans -- or walnuts, chopped

·         Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla.  Add flour; mix well. Stir in cherries and nuts.  Chill for 1 hour.  Shape into three 10" rolls, wrap in plastic wrap and place in freezer bag.  Freeze up to 2 months.  Or refrigerate overnight and bake as directed.

·         Cut frozen rolls into 1/8" slices.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake at 325° for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Cool on wire rack. 
 Cost 2005:  $7.34 per recipe or 8 cents per cookie.    46 calories per cookie

Yield:  "3 Rolls"  98 cookies

Thanksgiving

We wish you a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving

The Iowa Housewife
Myrna and Sue

Apricot Orange Oatmeal Bars

These are a pretty addition to a cookie tray - a variation on fruit-filled oatmeal bars like date-filled or jam-filled.
Be sure you chop the apricots fairly fine so they cook into a thick, jam-like filling.
Apricot Orange Oatmeal Bars

1/4 cup Butter -- softened
2 tablespoons Shortening
1/2 cup Brown Sugar -- packed
3/4 cup Flour, All-purpose
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 cup Oatmeal -- quick cooking
Filling
1 1/4 Cups Dried Apricots -- cut fine
2 tablespoons Sugar
2/3 Cup Orange Juice or water
1/4 cup Pecans or Walnuts -- chopped
Heat oven to 400°. Grease 8” square baking pan.
Cook apricots, sugar and orange juice together, about 5-10 minutes, until thick. Add nuts. Set aside.
Mix butter, shortening and brown sugar. Stir in flour, salt, baking soda and oats. Press half of the crumbly mixture in pan. Mix cooked apricots and nuts and spread over top. Sprinkle with remaining crumbly mixture, pressing lightly. Bake until light brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
While warm cut in squares. About 16 cookies.
Cost 2010: $2.36 or 15¢ each.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 134 Calories; 6g Fat (38.3% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 20g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 8mg Cholesterol; 119mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Swedish Butter Cookies

These simple cookies, made with ingredients I almost always have on hand, are delicious.  The recipe is from 100 Years of Downhome Cookin' in Packwood, a community cookbook from our friend, Bettie.  The contributor was Jane Adam. 

I love slice and bake cookies and these are some of the best I’ve tried, crisp and delicious.  I made them more “special” by dipping half of the cookie in melted chocolate; they can certainly stand on their own; my husband likes them best plain.  

These taste better, like most shortbread-type cookies, the 2nd day.  A few toasty, nutty cookies like these are a relief from too-sweet treats during the holidays too. You can make 4 rolls too...just shorter, so you can freeze them in smaller rolls to bake anytime.  I only thaw the rolls long enough to be able to slice them before baking.                          
Swedish Butter Cookies

  1           Cup  Butter -- 2 sticks

     1/2     Cup  Sugar -- 3 1/2 ounces

  1 3/4     Cups  Flour -- 7 3/4 ounces

     1/4     Teaspoon  Salt

     1/2     Cup  Nuts -- chopped (2 ounces)

Cream butter and sugar, combine remaining ingredients and add to creamed mixture.  Form into 2 long rolls (about 10 1/2 ounces each) and wrap in wax paper.  Refrigerate 1 hour.  (These rolls can be frozen and baked anytime). 
Slice and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Cool and dip half of cookie in melted chocolate, (1 cup semisweet chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon shortening) if desired.
Makes 3 dozen.
2010 Cost: $2.10 per recipe

Date Orange Cookies

Dates always remind me of the Holidays. When we were younger that was about the only time of the year they were available in the stores, so date cookies of any kind were a Christmas Treat.

This recipe for Date drop cookies with orange are a good cake like cookie. While we prefer crisp cookies, they were well received and as it makes a fairly small batch that works well for a cookie tray or afternoon coffee.

Old-fashioned Date Cookies with Orange Butter frosting

About 3 Dozen cookies

COOKIE

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water 

1 (8 ounce) package chopped Dates (if chopping use kitchen scissors)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup chopped Pecans

1/4 cup orange juice

1 egg

1 Tablespoon freshly grated orange zest

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

FROSTING

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter softened

1 Tablespoon freshly grated orange zest

2 to 3 Tablespoons orange juice

Heat oven to 350°. Combine 3/4 cup butter, sugar, water and dates in 3 quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until dates are softened (5 to 8 minutes). Remove from heat; cool 15 minutes. Add all of the remaining cookie ingredients; mix well.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls, (cookie scoop works well), 2 inches apart; on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire cooling rack and cool completely.

Combine all frosting ingredients except orange juice in small bowl. Beat at low speed adding enough orange juice till of spreading consistency. Frost cooled cookies.

Use all of that turkey!

Don't throw away an excellent part of that turkey - use those bones to make nice stock for many future meals without preservatives and too much salt.  It's easy - the carcass cooks with little attention, drain and can it - it only takes 20 minutes to process strained stock.
Broth is made using the meat while stock uses the bones (or veggie scraps), which gives off a richer flavor due to the gelatin released during cooking.  We like this combination of seasonings.  The two jars on the front right are Brown Stock, and the rest are Regular Stock.

2 right front jars are brown stock so you can see the difference   

Home Canned Turkey Stock
15-20# Turkey carcass, broken up
2 1/2 Quarts Drippings and Juice From Bird and Pan (and Giblets if desired)
3 1/2 quarts cold water or enough added to drippings to make 6 quarts total
1 teaspoon Rosemary
1/2 Teaspoon Sage
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 tablespoon Dried Parsley
2 large Bay Leaves
4 whole Black Peppercorn
1 1/2 tablespoons Minced Dry Onion
1 teaspoon Minced Dry Garlic
4 medium carrot -- diced
4 stalks celery -- diced
1 1/2 medium onion -- diced
1/2 cup White Wine (optional)

Let roasted turkey set 1/2 hour; remove meat from bones.  Remove as much meat as you can, as it will not be good after long cooking.

For Brown Stock:
Place bones and skin back on the pan and roast at 275° for 2 hours. After removing the bones and skin from the pan, and starting step 2, place the vegetables on the same roaster pan with a small amount of drippings and roast 1/2 hour at 400°. Add vegetables to the stockpot with the carcass when they are roasted. Deglaze pan with wine, add to pot.

For Regular, quicker stock: Go straight to Step 2.  
Step 2: Place the bones and skin and juices and drippings and water in a large stockpot. Bring the carcass to a boil and add the remaining ingredients, putting the seasonings in a tea ball, cheesecloth or coffee filter tied with string. Reduce heat and cook stock and carcass 3 hours total. Giblet broth may be added as well. Reducing the heat prevents the calcium from leaching from the bones and giving it an undesirable color (it doesn’t hurt it otherwise).
After 3 hours, strain, removing any additional meat and discarding bones, skin and vegetables. The meat and vegetables remaining after 3 hours of cooking have given their all. 
Cool your broth in 2 or 3 containers to get the temperature down quickly, if you plan to can or freeze it the next day. It should be jellied after being cooled overnight. Remove excess fat, but I don’t mind leaving a little for flavor if it’s hard to remove. Chicken fat or Schmaltz will not be hard like beef fat.
Can broth at 10# pressure for 20 minutes for pints with 1” headspace.   More information HERE.  This can also be frozen in freezer bags - lay them flat in a pan in the freezer so they don't leak.

Mom's Cookies

Our mom was a prodigious baker – and she didn’t even know how to cook when she got married! For the holidays, she steadily filled big metal Old Dutch potato chip cans with cookies of all kinds. They were stashed away, and we kids were supposed to keep out of them until she needed them for entertaining, to take with us to dinners and coffee times, and to share at Ladies’ Aid meetings, for school and Sunday school parties and the like.

The cookies we could eat, with permission, were kept in this Owl cookie jar, which was given as a Jewel Tea promotion in the forties. It matched her Forties kitchen, white cabinets with red and black linoleum floors and countertops, and white appliances.  I used to think that she might have painted the trim on the owl, until we found them, although infrequently, at yard sales and flea markets, painted the same way.

We hope you’ll bake a few cookies and make some memories for your family.

Cookie Baking Equipment and Gadgets

Are you ready for holiday baking?  Here are some items that will help you be successful in your cookie baking efforts this year or to add to your Christmas list for Santa.

Let’s start with measuring – besides the usual glass measuring cups and dry measuring cups take a look at a better set – there are liquid measures that help you measure by ounces, tablespoons, etc. – very useful.  When purchasing a dry cup set I try to find ones that have at least 6 cups – I don’t like to have to combine cups to get 2/3 or 3/4 cups measures.  I love measuring spoon sets that have MORE – especially half tablespoon and 1/8 teaspoon and 1/16 teaspoon  sizes – so I can halve recipes easily if I want. 

Let’s take a look at cookie pans – they should be shiny and low sided like the ones on the top left.  You need at least 2 - so they can cool off before baking another batch.  Mini muffin pans come in 12 and 24 cup sizes – very handy for tassies and bite-size brownies.  
A half sheet with a rack is a real workhorse – for baking, roasting, cooling cookies, frosting (the pan catches the drips) – I have 3 of these sets, each with a plastic cover, and work them hard.  The 10x15” jelly roll pan and the 13x9” quarter sheet pan both come with covers – great for bar cookies and jelly rolls, as well as toting assorted cookies to parties, pot lucks and picnics.  A rack that fits in these half sheet pans is great for cooling all your baked goods.
I use parchment paper almost exclusively for baking cookies, as well as lining quick bread pans and brownie pans.  If you haven't tried it - this may be your year to make baking easier.  I like the heavy parchment available at Costco, and the precut half-sheet size parchment from King Arthur Flour.  I cut some of the precut half-sheet size in half for 13X9" pans.  I use it frequently, and I don't want to run out!

Shaping cookies call for cutters – often available at yard sales and thrift shops.  The old ones are Myrna's – from our Mom's and Grandmother’s kitchens - treasured old favorites.  The nested sets in the metal containers are ideal for cookies of any size, biscuits, pastry (cut out dough to fit in muffin tins, hand pies,etc.), fancy sandwiches, petit fours, etc.  
I purchased my cookie press for $2, complete with the original box and recipe book, at my church thrift shop.  They had a boxful to choose from.  It’s handy for cookies and cheese straws, etc.  
Cookie scoops make drop cookies go fast and evenly sized so they bake evenly too.  I also use them for meatballs and the like.  Buy the best quality scoops - I have one I have used at least every week for 40 years.  I like a size 100, a size 50 or 60, and a size 24 for standard muffins and muffin mixes.  The sizes are usually on the scoop scraper bar, or on a tag, like the red button, on the handle.  I like Zeroll for a good brand that are about $10-$15 each.

I personally use my kitchen scale all the time for baking and portioning – I can weigh ingredients right into the bowl – no counting how many cups – as well as weigh out bread batters and doughs to get even-sized loaves that bake in the same amount of time.

A good quality mixer is very helpful, either a good stand mixer or a good-quality portable mixer or both.  You also need a reliable rolling pin and board – whatever kind you like.  A good oven – and you’re set!

Snickerdoodles

This recipe is one I have used since I bought this cookbook in 1963. Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book. Betty Crocker (General Mills) reprinted it in later years and the recipes are the same if you can’t find a earlier edition.

One of the secrets to them is NOT to roll them in the cinnamon and sugar. Just dip the tops in. They burn on the bottom otherwise, and to keep them crispy and not hard, do not add more flour or use all shortening or all butter but the half and half of each that the recipe calls for. This is a all time favorite with most men and children.

Snickerdoodles  

1 cup shortening (half butter or margarine) I always use butter.

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar (spice section of store)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dip mixture:

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. (if you are using a better grade of cinnamon it won’t take as much)

Preheat oven to 400°. Mix shortening and butter, sugar and eggs thoroughly.

Measure flour, whisk in cream of tartar, soda and salt. Stir into butter, sugar, egg mixture. Shape dough in 1 inch balls. Dip into cinnamon and sugar mixture

Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet (they will spread) Bake 8 to 10 minutes. These cookies puff up at first, then flatten out. Makes about 5 to 6 dozen.

Fudgie Ice Box Cookies

I like chocolate cookies but they are often too rich. I thought these Brownie Nut Slices might be a refreshing change. They were easy to make; it made 3 rolls to keep on hand in the freezer, and they baked up nice and fudgy.
Cut them thick enough and don’t over bake to get the fudgy, not dry, texture. This is an older recipe, so the nuts seemed skimpy, but I made them as called for, using ¼ cup on each roll, and they were enough. Using 1/3 cup on each roll might give better coverage. Measure your flour carefully so they don’t get too dry, there is no extra liquid in the recipe.

Brownie Nut Slices
1 Cup Butter -- 2 sticks
1 1/2 Cups Sugar -- 10 1/2 ounces`
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
1 Large Egg
4 Ounces Semisweet Chocolate -- melted and cooled
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 1/2 Cups Flour -- 13 1/2 ounces
Milk
3/4 - 1 Cup Nuts -- finely chopped--3 – 4 ounces
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat in egg, melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix in flour. (I used my Kitchenaid).
Divide into 3 equal portions, about 12 1/2 ounces each. Shape each into an 8 1/2" log. Brush rolls with milk; roll in nuts, pressing in slightly. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill 4-48 hours or freeze the wrapped rolls in a gallon freezer bag.
If frozen, thaw a couple of hours in refrigerator. To bake, cut into 3/8" slices, place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 375° about 10 minutes just until edges are set. Cool on sheet 1 minute, transfer to wire rack to cool.
5 dozen or 20 slices per roll.
**What they don't tell you in this recipe is to spread the nuts evenly on the waxed paper in front of the dough roll and then roll the dough into the nuts, pressing in slightly.
**Melt your chocolate squares according to the package directions, I micro waved for 1 minute 40 seconds.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 87 Calories; 5g Fat (47.9% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 12mg Cholesterol; 51mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Gumdrop Bars

This is a recipe that the cookbook, The Golden Treasury of Cooking 1973 from Better Homes and Gardens, says it's from the Thirties. It makes a large pan and is good for bake sales and as a take-along for Holiday get-togethers. There is no fat in the recipe – I had to double-check! 4 eggs provide the fat necessary and they are rich. Cut in small bars.  I use red and green gumdrops for Christmas and regular "spice drops" for Halloween and Thanksgiving, minus the licorice flavored ones.  You can slice a few additional ones and decorate the tops if you wish.
Gumdrop Bars

2 cups flour, all-purpose
1 cup gumdrops -- finely chopped (6 oz)
1/2 cup walnuts -- chopped
4 each eggs
1 tablespoon water
2 cups brown sugar -- packed
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Icing
3 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Orange Juice
Powdered Sugar
Mix gumdrops, flour and nuts, set aside. Beat eggs with water until foamy. Gradually add brown sugar, beating till light. Beat in cinnamon and salt, stir in gumdrop mixture. Spread evenly in greased 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan. Bake at 375 till done, 15 to 20 minutes. Spread with orange icing while still warm: 3 tbsp butter, melted, 2 tbsp orange juice and powdered sugar to make thin icing.
Cut into 36 bars when cool.
Cost 2010: $3.12 or 9¢ per bar.
Per Serving: 102 Calories; 3g Fat (22.2% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 26mg Cholesterol; 38mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.
*1946 Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book baked this recipe in 9 x 13" pan at 350° for 25 minutes.

Cherry Bars

My niece, Amy, gave me this recipe she got from my sister, Kay Stone.  I think it was originally a recipe from the 1951 Pillsbury Bake Off from Deanna Thompson, of Alexandria, Minnesota, although I have seen it or versions of it in many other cookbooks, especially community cookbooks. The original recipe calls for coconut; Kay didn’t use it, and neither did I.  Kay, like Myrna, was an award-winning cook whose recipe judgment was right on - both of them are a hard act to follow.  I did try drizzling a little melted chocolate over some of the bars – chocolate cherry bars? We liked these, as did our coffee-time guests.
Cherry Bars

Cookie Base
1 Cup Flour, All-purpose
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
Topping
1/4 Cup Flour, All-purpose
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Maraschino Cherries -- chopped
1/2 Cup Nuts -- chopped
1/2 Cup Coconut, Shredded -- (optional - my sister didn't use it)
Mix first 3 ingredients together and press into a 9" square pan. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.
Combine the remaining ingredients and spread over the baked cookie base. Return to the oven and bake 30-40 minutes. Cut in 16 squares.
2010 cost: $2.09 without coconut or 14¢ per bar. $2.21 with coconut.
Per Serving: 176 Calories; 9g Fat (45.0% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 22g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 42mg Cholesterol; 120mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

Oatmeal Carmelitas

The Holidays are the time for Cookies. Rolled, drop, molded or bar. Any type of cookies is usually welcomed and most cookies will freeze well. Getting together with friends for a cookie exchange is always fun also. Try these bar cookies the next time you are planning to bake, Good any time of the year. 

Notice the ice cream topping, earlier versions of these bars called for unwrapping caramels and melting them with cream. This saves quite a lot of work and is just as good. A good idea to keep in mind. The flour gives it a little better consistency for baking.

Oatmeal Carmelitas
Pillsbury Cookies, Cookies and more Cookies 1980

Crust

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups butter softened

Filling

6 ounce package (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped nuts

12 ounce jar (1 cup) caramel ice cream topping

3 tablespoons flour

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9 inch pan. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, blend all crust ingredients until crumbly. Press half of crumbs, about 3 cups into prepared pan (save rest of crumbs for topping).

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes, sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Blend caramel topping and the 3 tablespoons flour; drizzle over chocolate and nuts. Sprinkle with the reserved crumbs. Return to oven and bake 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely; cut into bars. 36 bars

Chilling will make cutting easier and they will come out of the pan better.

Quick Cookie TIps

Myrna and I have gotten out our cookie books (these are just a few of the many we have - old and new) and are going to be baking cookies for the next few weeks – plenty of time to let you choose a few new recipes or old favorites to make this Holiday season.  Myrna says the Red Cooky Book - top right - is the bible of cookie baking - if you see one of these at a book sale, snatch it up!
I liked these suggestions from an old Occident/King Midas Flour booklet, 117 Bar Cookie Recipes.
Quick Cookie Tips
1. When cutting dates, figs and marshmallows use kitchen scissors. Dip in hot water if there is any sticking.
2. Use a French knife for chopping nuts, fruit and raisins. Grease the knife or coat fruit and raisins with 1 tablespoon of the four from the recipe to prevent sticking. Chopped raisins are easier to cut through in a bar cookie and cake.
3. Drain maraschino cherries and other moist fruit thoroughly on paper towels.
4. When toasting coconut, place in 375° oven for 5 to 8 minutes until golden brown; stir occasionally for even browning.
5. Melted squares of unsweetened chocolate may be substituted for envelopes of premelted chocolate.
6. To make sour milk, combine 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice with milk to measure 1 cup. (1 tablespoon for ½ cup).
7. When rolling or pressing out dough on cookie sheet, place on wet paper towel or cloth to prevent slipping.

8. Frostings tend to thicken as they stand; thin with a few drops of cream. Frostings should hold their swirls and have a smooth shining appearance.

9. Store soft cookies and crisp cookies in separate containers with tight fitting covers.

10. Do not stack warm cookies; they will lose their shape.

11. Most bar cookies can be stored right in the pan. Cool completely, then cover tightly with a pan cover, foil, or slip in a plastic bag.

We hope you'll enjoy baking with us.

Bonnie's Waffles

Bonnie, my sister-in-law of more than 40 years, was with me when I purchased a new waffle iron – a regular one – not the deep Belgian type.  She gave me her favorite waffle recipe – she makes the whole recipe and freezes the leftovers to toast on another day.  She never uses mixes or prepared foods – they make their own.  I can see why, this recipe is simple and delicious.

The new waffle iron worked swell, and we’ll be making them a lot more often, using this recipe.    Our small waffle iron made 6 waffles, enough for 3 meals for us - we have them occasionally for a meal when I just don't want to cook.  

I’m sharing Bonnie’s recipe because I think it will be great to have some waffles in the freezer, ready to feed hungry holiday guests an easy breakfast.  Bake yours according to the directions for your waffle maker.  I toast my frozen ones in my toaster oven to serve.

 When you make the waffles for the freezer, take a little time to bake some bacon too – 400° for 20 minutes on a half sheet with a rack.  Drain, cool, lay out on waxed paper and freeze.  Then roll up the paper, bacon and all, and put it in a gallon freezer bag.  I save the bacon grease in a small covered measuring cup or glass jar in the refrigerator for lightly greasing  the pan when cooking eggs or making cornbread and the like.   Microwave the frozen bacon on a few thicknesses of a paper towels on a paper plate for 30-60 seconds or until it’s crisp.   This suggestion is from Myrna.

Now you can quickly have a waffle and bacon for guests whenever they get up.  I pour our syrup into a glass measure and heat it a little in the microwave too, so it doesn't cool off your waffle.

                             Bonnie's Waffles

  1 ¾    Cups  Flour, All-purpose -- 7 3/4 ounce

  2        Tablespoons  Sugar

  1        Tablespoon  Baking Powder

     ¼    Teaspoon  Salt

  2        Large  Eggs

  1 ¾    Cups  Milk

     ½    Cup  Butter -- melted (or cooking oil)

  1        Teaspoon  Vanilla

In 2  quart bowl, stir together, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Make a well in center of mixture, Set aside.

In a small bowl, beat eggs slightly, stir in milk, vanilla and butter (or oil).

Add egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture.  Stir just until moistened.  Batter should be slightly lumpy.

Bake according to your waffle maker’s directions.  When done, lift out and serve or put on rack in a half sheet pan and keep warm in oven until ready to serve, or let cool on rack and freeze.  (If freezing, don't cook completely.  I cut off a minute or so.  Remove from freezer and toast in your toaster or toaster oven).

Yield:  6 small round waffles or 4 larger ones.

2010 Cost:  $1.22 per recipe or 21¢ per small waffle or 31¢ per large waffle.   

Per Serving: 356 Calories; 20g Fat (49.9% calories from fat); 8g Protein; 36g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 122mg Cholesterol; 548mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 3 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.