My grandmother came to live with us and became the babysitter, housekeeper, and cook which meant she influenced me greatly as I grew up. She was from the “depression generation” and life was a constant struggle to those who grew up in the 1930’s. So her methods and recipe ingredients tended to be on the “cheap” side although there was no scrimping when it came to flavor. She made nearly everything “from scratch” and kept most of her ancient recipes in her head. Around our house Christmas meant baking for days and days!
Here are a few of her old gems which I have updated with more convenient instructions and ingredients.
My mother herself was not especially involved in this because she was the “career minded” woman who preferred going to work in an office every day as opposed to being a housewife and cook meals for her family. So my Gram passed her vast knowledge on to me and I refined many of her original recipes, making them simpler, quicker, and most important of all, cheaper to make! She seldom wrote down items like time and temperature so I found out the hard way on many of these recipes. Today’s flour is more refined so we no longer need to sift unless it gets “clumpy”. It does help to sift several dry ingredients together for a more even mixture. Unless otherwise noted the flour used is just AP (all purpose).
Holidays were always special and ever thrifty
Home made cookies have so much more flavor and are, of course, fresher than store bought plus they are a whole lot cheaper!
Basic sugar cookies
1 C. Shortening (not cooking oil)
2 C. Sugar
6 TBS Milk
2 tsp Vanilla
3 Eggs, beaten
5 ½ C. Cake Flour
1 tsp Salt
3 tsp Baking Powder
Cream sugar and shortening together until smooth. Add milk and vanilla to beaten eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add into liquid. Chill dough. Roll out small portions to ¼“ thick, returning remainder of dough to fridge until needed. Cut with cookie cutters such as Christmas Trees, Santas,Turkeys, or appropriate for the season. Bake at 375 or 15 minutes or until slightly browned on edges.
Ice Box Cookies
2 C. Brown Sugar
¾ C. Shortening (not cooking oil)
1 Egg (beaten)
¼ C. Milk
3 C. Flour
1 tsp Cream of Tarter
1 tsp baking soda
2 C. Pecans or Walnuts
Mix ingredients together, roll up and form into a roll about 3” in diameter.
Refrigerate overnight then cut about ¼“ thick, place on cookie pan, and bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes.
Drop Cookies
A basic cookie that’s very flexible with ingredients!
3 Eggs (beaten)
1 ½ C. Brown sugar
1 C. Shortening (not cooking oil)
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
3 C. Flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
Raisins and nuts to suit
Combine brown sugar and shortening and “cream” until smooth. Add beaten eggs. Mix flour with soda and gradually add to sugar/shortening. Add vanilla and stir. Add in any nuts or raisins, or both. Drop onto cookie pan and bake at 350 about 15 minutes.
Chocolate Cream Cookies (for the chocoholic in all of us!)
½ C. Butter (or margarine)
½ C. Shortening (not cooking oil)
1= 3 oz pkg Cream Cheese
1 ½ C. Sugar
2 Eggs (beaten)
2 TBS Milk
½ tsp Vanilla
2 = 1 oz squares unsweetened chocolate (melted)
2 ¼ C. Flour
½ tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ C. Chopped walnuts or pecans
Cream shortening, sugar, cream cheese together, add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Stir in cooled chocolate. Sift flour and dry ingredients the add to chocolate batter and blend. Stir in nuts. Bake at 350 about 15 minutes.
Old fashioned oatmeal cookies (date filled)
1 C. Brown Sugar
1 C. Cold Butter
2 C. Flour
2 C. Oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 TBS water
Mix flour, salt & baking powder then add in butter. Add sugar, oatmeal, & vanilla. Mix baking soda into a TBS tap water and add.
Filling =
1 C. Dates
1 C. Sugar
¾ C. Water
Boil above until dates are soft. Fill cookies after they are baked.
Pumpkin Roll
Simple to make but elegant!
3 Eggs (beaten at high speed for 5 minutes)
1 C. Sugar (add to eggs gradually)
2/3 Cup Pumpkin (canned or fresh from your Jack ‘O Lantern)
1 TBS Lemon juice
Mix together =
¾ C. Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt
1 C. Walnuts
Then add to pumpkin/egg/sugar mixture above
Spread onto a 15” x 10” cookie sheet (sprayed with cooking spray), top with walnuts and bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly then turn out onto a cotton towel. Add filling and roll up then refrigerate. Slice and serve.
Filling =
8 oz softened cream cheese
4 TBS softened margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1 C. Powdered sugar
Beat ingredients until smooth then spread onto pumpkin “cake”, sprinkle on a few more nuts then roll up and refrigerate.
Festive Nut Bread (makes 2 loaves)
1 ¼ C. Dark or light brown sugar (dark makes a richer flavored bread)
2 Eggs
4 C. Flour
2 C. Buttermilk
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 C. Walnuts or Pecans
Beat eggs, add sugar and mix well. Add flour alternatively with buttermilk, stirring. Add salt and baking soda.
Bake 1 hour at 350.
Just for fun Rice Crispy Treats
These are super easy and a good starter recipe for kids!
¼ C. Margarine
1 10 oz package or about 40 regular size marshmallows (or 4 C. mini marshmallows)
6 C. Rice Crispy cereal
Melt marshmallows and stir in melted margarine then add in cereal. Press into 9” x 13” pan. Refrigerate until set then cut into squares.
Angel Food Cake Dessert
One more guilty pleasure!
1 large Angel Food Cake (store bought or home made) broken into pieces
1 pkg Strawberry Jello (large size)
½ C. Sugar (dissolved in 2 C. hot water)
When it starts to get “quivery” whip it
To this add one pint of whipping cream (whipped)
1 large can crushed pineapple
1 large jar maraschino cherries
15 large marshmallows
Layer the ingredients beginning with broken pieces of angel food cake
And finalizing with layer of jello – chill before serving. Yummy!
Don’t forget the cooking supplies
Any supplies to these delicious recipes can be found through cooking.com. I always get my cooking supplies from there! Use any coupons available to get the best deals.