Molasses Cookies – A 1940s Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.  

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

The woman who wrote down the recipes in this book liked quick, easy recipes for flavorful, family-friendly food.  These Molasses Cookies are a good example.  They go together very quickly and a 2-½ inch cookie cutter produces a big 3-½ inch cookie – one is enough in most cases.  The recipe below is one-half of the original.  I really liked this cookie – it is crisp, spicy and very satisfying.

MOLASSES COOKIES

• Servings: 2-3 doz., depending on size of cutter and thickness of dough
• Print

• ¾ cup shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Have ungreased cookie sheets at hand and cookie cutter (I used a 2-½ inch diameter cutter)

In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar and molasses.  Add the egg and beat well.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, ginger and cinnamon.

Add the flour mixture gradually to the shortening mixture and mix well.

Turn dough out on a lightly floured board.  This is a nice dough to handle.

Roll 1/8 to ¼ inch thick and cut with a floured cookie cutter.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until cookies are golden brown on top.

Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Yield:  2 to 3 dozen cookies, depending on size. 

Cut Out Sugar Cookies – a 1940s Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.  

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

I cut this recipe in half and then increased the  flour so the dough would be easier to handle.  This recipe gave me a good opportunity to use my vintage hatchet cookie cutter just in time for Washington’s Birthday.

These cookies are like so many from that era – plain, good, inexpensive and easy to make.

CUT OUT SUGAR COOKIES

• Servings: Approx. 3 doz. cookies, depending on size of cutter and thickness of dough
• Print

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ cup sour milk*
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ½ tsp. salt
• 3-½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. soda
• Colored sugar for sprinkling on top

*To make sour milk:  Place ½ Tblsp. white vinegar in a one-cup measure.  Add milk to make ½ cup.  Let stand 5 minutes before using.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream shortening, sugar, egg, sour milk and vanilla.  Whisk together salt, flour and soda.  Add gradually to creamed mixture, blending well.

Roll out to 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured board and cut out with desired cookie cutter.

Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkle with colored sugar.

Bake @ 375 degrees F for 7-8 minutes.  Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies, depending on the thickness and size of cutter. 

I’m displaying the cookies on a handkerchief commemorating Washington’s Birthday in 1932 – the year I was born.

To My Valentine Cookies – a 1940s Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.  

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

This is a big, thick, old-fashioned oatmeal cookie.  It’s not fancy – just sweet and good.  With the lack of directions, I wasn’t sure until I had the dough mixed whether they would be drop cookies or rolled cookies.  I was glad the dough turned out to be very easy-to-roll so I could use my vintage heart cookie cutters.

TO MY VALENTINE OATMEAL COOKIES

• Servings: 2-3 doz. depending on size of cutter and thickness of dough
• Print

• 2-½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 cup oats (quick cooking)
• ¾ cup margarine
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Lightly grease cookie sheets

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and oats.

In a large mixer bowl, cream the margarine, sugar, egg and vanilla.

Add the whisked dry ingredients gradually to the creamed mixture and beat until blended.

Roll dough on lightly floured surface to ¼ inch thickness.

Cut out with 2-inch to 3-inch cookie cutters.

Place on greased cookie sheets, two inches apart.

Bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until cookies are golden brown.

Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size. 

I also liked them with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar before baking.

These cookies are also good rolled 1/8 thick and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and baked until crisp (8-10 minutes).

I like to think about this mother in the 1940s, having these cookies waiting for her kids when they came home from school with their penny Valentines.

Filled Cookies – a 1940s Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.  

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

These are big, old-fashioned 3-½ inch diameter filled cookies – perfect for the lunchbox – and one is enough.

I was surprised at how good this cookie is.  It is crunchy, lemon-flavored and delicious with that surprise bite or two of raisin filling in the center.  This cookie was a big hit with my two taster-daughters.

• Servings: 14 large cookies
• Print

Cookie Dough:

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2-¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• ¼ cup milk
• ½ tsp. lemon flavoring or extract

Filling:

• ¾ cup raisins
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2-½ tsp. all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Lightly grease two cookie sheets

First, prepare the filling:  In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together the raisins, sugar and flour; add water.  Stir until mixture comes to a boil and continue stirring for about 8 minutes until mixture has thickened.  The mixture should look like thick jam.  Let mixture cool while preparing cookies.

To make the cookies:

In a large mixer bowl, cream shortening, sugar and egg.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add half of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat to incorporate dry ingredients.  Add the milk, beat to incorporate the milk, then add the remaining flour mixture and lemon flavoring.  Beat until mixed.

On a lightly floured board, roll dough to ¼ inch thickness and cut out with floured 2-½ inch cookie cutter.

Place half of the rounds on a lightly greased cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches between rounds.  Place 1 teaspoon of raisin filling in the center of the cookie round.

Place another cookie round on top and press edges with a fork to seal and press tines into top of cookie to make 4 small holes..

Repeat with remaining dough/filling.

Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes @ 375 degrees F until the cookies are golden on brown on top and bottom.  Remove cookies to a rack to cool.

Yield about 14 large cookies (3-½ inches diameter). 

A 1953 Birthday Gift

The Great-Grandkids Bake Christmas Cookies

My two great-grandchildren have never come to my house before to make Christmas cookies, but this year their mother thought they were old enough at 2 and 4 years to have the fun she used to have with all the flour and butter and cookie cutters.  Here’s their mother baking cookies when she was nine years old.

I supervised as great-granddaughter measured flour and sugar, and even broke an egg.

The two-year-old wanted to do anything his sister was doing and got right into the spirit.

Great-granddaughter soon caught on to the art of rolling cookie dough….

….and great-grandson let his mother help him, his only comment being, “Bite, bite” for bits of the cookie dough which we didn’t want him to have.

They each brushed milk and sprinkled colored sugar on a sheet full of wonderful cookies.

We used the same recipe from all those years ago – it’s a good one.

Grandma’s Sugar Crisps

Dolphin Bakes Valentine Cookies

Granddaughter Dolphin (4-1/2) came for her weekly visit and she made some beautiful Valentine cookies.  While I started the mixer for our old standby recipe for butter crisps, she waded through my big copper breadbox of vintage cookie cutters.  She came up with three heart-shaped cutters and was soon rolling out dough and cutting cookies.

I helped her get the cookies onto a baking sheet and she was able to paint with an egg wash and decorate without any help from me this time.  She was very discreet with the colored sugar and didn’t have mounds of the stuff on the cookies as she and her brother have done in the past.

She brought four buddies along with her – a stuffed cat named Ruby and 3 giraffes, all named Buford after the famous Civil War general and bought in Gettysburg.

 

The cookies were beautiful little Valentines when they were finished and Dolphin was very proud.  She ate just one and took the rest home to her parents and big brother.

Windmill Spice Cookies

When I was growing up in the 1930s-40s, we didn’t have cookies very often.  My mother didn’t care to make them and we seldom had store-bought cookies.  Once in a great while, when there was a small amount of change left in the food budget, Mother would let us get a few large, brown, spicy windmill cookies that were sold in bulk from a big tin container in our corner grocery store.  I loved these cookies, particularly the bits of sliced almonds scattered here and there.

Sadly, the “windmill” cookies found now in plastic wrappers aren’t shaped like windmills, don’t have almonds and don’t taste nearly as good as I remember.  I found a recipe about 25 years ago that I thought was very reminiscent of the wonderful cookies of my childhood.

• Servings: Depends on size of cutter and thickness of dough
• Print

• 1 cup margarine
• 1-1/2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream margarine and sugar, add egg and mix well.  Stir together the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture.  Mix well.

Roll out on floured board to desired thickness (I like the crisp ones about 1/4″ thick).  Cut with floured cookie cutter and place an inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.   Press sliced almonds into the cookies.

Bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes.  Remove to wire rack to cool. 

I have a nice collection of Dutch items and one of my favorites is this piece my daughter made for me a few years ago.  I love the Delft scenes all around the border.

The Grandkids Bake Christmas Cookies

When my children were growing up, I don’t recall their ever being interested in helping with the cookie baking and I didn’t have the time or ingredients to waste, so I just made the cookies myself without any help from them.  When my grandchildren started arriving in the 1980s, though, I thought it would be nice to have them come to the house, starting when they were about 3 years old, to make Christmas cookies.  Granddaughter #1 loved mixing the dough, using all the different cutters, and decorating with sugar.

She is now married with two children and her husband is in Iraq this Christmas.

Grandson #1 joined his sister when he turned 3, and his specialty was piling lots of sugar on the cookies and cracking the eggs to mix in the batter.

Granddaughter #2 made it a threesome and her favorite cookies are still the cutout Butter Crisps. She has two children who are too young to help her with baking, but the 2-1/2 year old likes the cookies, too.

There was a hiatus of a few years between when the older grandchildren grew up and before the youngest came along.  This year, Dolphin and Jellyfish came to do their best  and Jellyfish takes it all very seriously.

Dolphin is also serious about her baking but takes a more fun approach.

All of the kids have enjoyed the baking but most of all, enjoyed taking home plates of their own creations.

Here is a gingerbread cookie that the older grandchildren liked to make.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES

• Servings: Depends on size of cutters and thickness of dough
• Print

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream sugar, shortening and molasses until smooth.  Blend in egg.  Mix together dry ingredients.  Add to creamed mixture and blend well.  Form into a flat circle, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate dough at least one hour.

Roll out dough on floured board 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick.  Cut out with floured cutters.  Place cookies 1/2″ apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. 

Granddaughter Dolphin Bakes Cookies

Since we got our first major snowfall of the year yesterday, I wasn’t sure 4-year-old granddaughter Dolphin would be here for her weekly Wednesday visit, but here she came, all bundled up in pink coat and boots, ready to make Christmas cookies.

I brought out my big copper breadbox filled with all kinds of cookie cutters and it was a hard decision to narrow the choice down to 7 or 8 cutters.  She picked them out, though, and I don’t believe any of them were Christmas cutters, but the colored sugar would make a Christmas cookie out of any design.

With the older grandchildren (now in college and beyond) the best part was mixing the cookies, especially breaking the eggs, but the two youngest grandchildren, Dolphin and her brother Jellyfish, are somewhat squeamish about getting stuff on their hands so I normally have the dough ready for rolling and cutting when they get here.  This time, though, Dolphin wanted to make the cookies from scratch and did all of the measuring, pouring and mixing.

She did a good job rolling out the dough, asking every few seconds, “Is this good enough?” until she had the cookies cut out and on the sheet.

Then came the fun of using all the sugar and decorations she wanted – and she used a lot, as the grandchildren always do.

When the cookies were finished, she was extremely proud and only ate a portion of one pony, saving the rest for her mom and dad and for Jellyfish when he got off the school bus.

Here is the recipe the grandchildren have been using for about 25 years.  It’s the favorite Christmas cookie of my son-in-law and one older granddaughter and they both like the cookies cut rather thick and barely golden around the edges.  I personally like the cookies rolled very thin and baked to a crisp brown.  The baking time and the yield will depend on how you like your cookies.

GRANDMA'S BUTTER CRISPS

• Servings: Depends on size of cutters and thickness of dough
• Print

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup softened margarine
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tsp. vanilla

In mixer bowl, blend flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt.  Mix in butter and margarine.  Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of beaten egg and 2 teaspoons of vanilla over the flour mixture. Blend well and form into a ball.

Roll out 1/3 of dough at a time to desired thickness on floured board.  Cut with floured cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheets, an inch apart.  Brush with remaining egg and sprinkle with colored sugar.  Bake @ 375 degrees F 5-8 minutes for thin cookies, several minutes more for thicker cookies to a golden brown.