Luella Walters Everyday Cookies

Luella Walters is right -- these cookies could be eaten every day, as they are truly delicious and worth every calorie.  Other than that, I have no idea why Ms. Walters bequeathed them such a name. They have rice krispies and coconut, two ingredients I don't consider "every day" ones. They are also unusual in that they call for both butter AND oil -- and plenty of both.  And, typical of vintage recipes, these aren't overly sweet. but still rather addicting. In fact, this is one of the few things I've baked that I, ahem, overindulged in. 

These cookies are very easy to make. The recipe, on two cards, is little more than a list of ingredients. Perhaps the third card got lost? In any event, I've written my method at the end of the post. This recipe makes a lot of cookies.

Start by combining the sugars and butter.



Add the eggs.



Add the oil and beat well, until the batter is smooth.



If you're like me, you'll be gathering ingredients as you go (not recommended; it's better to assemble everything before starting the recipe). But while the oil blended in, I combines the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and added to the mixture.  As that is combining, prepare the add-ins -- coconut, rice krispies and chopped nuts.  Add them to the batter.



At this point, I popped the dough into the fridge for a couple of hours to run some errands.  This will firm up the dough so it's easier to work with, but not necessary if you're in a rush for the cookies.  With a small cookie scoop, or your hands, form small balls and place them on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Reuse the parchment for all of the batches.



Pull from the oven after about 15 minutes or so, depending on your oven temperature. The bottoms should be lightly browned, and the tops will appear somewhat loose.



After a few minutes, transfer to a wire rack to cool.



Ms. Walter's recipe below, and below that, the method I used.

Luella Walters Everyday Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F (if you're baking immediately; or 20 minutes before baking)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter (two sticks, softened)

2 eggs

1 cup Wesson or Crisco oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 1/8 cup rolled oats

1 cup rice krispies

1 cup sweetened coconut

1 cup chopped nuts (pecans are good)

Blend sugars and butter until well combined.

Add eggs and blend.

Add oil and beat well, so mixture doesn’t separate.

Add vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar in a separate bowl, and add to mixture.

Add the oats, rice krispies, coconut and nuts.

Blend well.

You can refrigerate dough

Form golf-ball sized balls of dough and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 12 to 16 minutes, depending on your oven.

Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire racks.

These will keep a long time (but they’ll be long gone before then).

Ruth Hamilton Cookies

If you yearn for a crisp coconut brown sugar cookie, then these are your ticket to happiness. I didn't love them (I like chewier cookies) yet found them very, very addicting.

You can feed this habit with ease -- Ruth Hamilton (whoever she was/is) created a recipe that can be put together quickly and simply.  You just need the simple ingredients, a wooden spoon and a saucepan.

I found this vintage recipe in a large binder filled with family recipes dating back to about 1920. As you can see at the end of the post, a younger generation family member carefully copied the original recipe, and may others. (Somehow this family treasure trove ended up on eBay. So much for tradition.)

These cookies are a dream to make. Butter is melted, sugar is added, and the rest of the ingredients are simply added to the saucepan.

Adding the eggs and vanilla smooths this out.

After the liquid mixture cools, the dry ingredients are introduced.

Mix it all together very well.

You can drop these cookies from a teaspoon or, as I did, scoop them with a small cookie scoop (or roll the dough in your hands).

Bake and watch them disappear.

Here's the original recipe, and below that, the recipe copied over by a daughter or granddaughter.

Production notes: I followed this recipe exactly, but used half light brown and half dark brown sugar (mostly because that's what I had on hand). Using light brown sugar will make the cookies lighter in color. I used old-fashioned oats, and Angel Flake coconut. And butter, of course, instead of shortening.

Karo Lace Cookies

Depending on who you listen to, these lace cookies are either very, very good cookies or, as my friend Jay exclaimed (after touting their deliciousness), very large communion wafers. They are thin, crisp, buttery and sweet.

Although lace cookies may look complicated -- as in, "How did you get that intricate pattern to appear?" -- they couldn't be simpler to make. Just whip together a few common pantry ingredients and watch the magic happen in the oven. They are somewhat fragile and, while they survived a subway ride intact, I wouldn't send them on a much longer journey.

This vintage recipe is from the estate of a Texas collection.

It's important to note that Karo corn syrup is NOT the much-maligned high-fructose corn syrup.

Unlike most cookies, these begin on the stove top. Combine the Karo, brown sugar and butter.

Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.

Add in the flour and coconut (or nuts, if you choose that option).

It will look like this when done.

Spoon small portions (about one-inch in diameter) onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

My portion size was too large the first time around and the cookies spread into one another, though someone at my job said that he preferred the very large cookies. Go figure.

I experimented with different baking times and sizes. Both were good, though I preferred the darker version.

Cool on a cookie sheet.

Production notes: I followed this exactly, though substituted butter for margarine and chose coconut over nuts. I used the clear (not the dark) Karo syrup.

Coconut Cookies

Who doesn't like a nice, crispy coconut cookie? These treats -- from a vintage Kansas recipe -- are easy to make, virtually foolproof and would be an ideal Superbowl party dessert.

Though these are called coconut cookies, that flavor isn't overly predominant. The nuts and oats also play starring roles.  

 As always, it's best to gather the ingredients first. This has more than a few, but the recipe is easy, trust me.

Mix the butter and the sugars, then add the egg.

The dough will be somewhat stiff -- ideal for rolling it into balls.

Flatten each ball with the bottom of a drinking glass or your palm and sprinkle the cookies with a bit of white sugar.

When they're finished in the oven, let cool on the pan slightly before transferring them to a baking sheet.

Like many vintage recipes, this one doesn't have a method. (Doesn't everyone know how to make a cookie dough? Probably in 1950, but certainly not today.) I've written out the method below.

Coconut Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F

1/2 c. (one stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 c. rolled oats
1 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla

Beat butter and sugars together until smooth.
Add egg and beat.
Add vanilla.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in small bowl. Add to batter and blend.
Mix in nuts, oats and coconut.
Form dough into balls (about the size of golf balls) and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
Press with the bottom of a glass or your palm to flatten.
Sprinkle each cookie with some sugar.
Bake 12 to 16 minutes. For a chewier cookie, reduce the baking time.

Elsie's Buffalo Chip Cookies

At dinner last night with my former boss, she turned to me and said, "Would you please write something new? I'm sick of looking at that fig!"
And so, Lyn, even though I never tire of looking at figs, this post is for you.

I was so intrigued by the name of this confection, Buffalo Chip Cookies, that I stepped away from the presidential debate on Tuesday night and opened my binder -- of recipes, that is! I figured I could simply watch the highlights later.  (Talk about having your cookie and eating it too!)

These had enormous promise: pecans, chocolate chips, coconut, cornflakes and plenty of brown sugar.  I visions of Momofuko Compost Cookies in my head: Could this recipe be the grandmother of those amazing treats?

The short answer is no.  They're really quite good and they disappeared in just minutes as the ladies of Henry Street Settlement's Home Planning Workshop took a break from their knitting and sewing projects to indulge.  But, like many things in life, the reality fell short of the anticipation.

Still, it's an interesting and easy recipe and something different than the standard chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies.  (And it's getting the fig off the top post.)

Mix the wet ingredients and then add the dry ones.  Later, fold in all the good stuff -- the chips, coconut, etc.

I used a small cookie scoop to make the cookies uniform.  And to make the process quicker and easier.

This recipe makes A LOT of cookies.  I halved it and still had almost 40 cookies.  I still have no idea why these are called Buffalo Chip Cookies but a Google search turned up one explanation: it's a reference to their large size.

Titanic: The Cookie

Like many, I've held a longtime fascination with the Titanic and when the book, Last Dinner on the Titanic was published in 1997, I attended the opening dinner -- where we were served the April 14, 1912, first class menu that was to be the last meal of many of the passengers.  (And one of my favorite afternoons ever was spent in Walter Lord's apartment on Manhattan's Upper East Side -- he wrote A Night to Remember, the best book about the Titanic -- where I interviewed him for a story and he signed a 1955 first edition of his book for me.)

And so, to commemorate the centennial of the ship's sinking, I baked a dessert on the second class dining saloon menu that last night, published in the Last Dinner book.  Coconut Sandwiches sounded great -- a creamy filling between two coconut cookies, like re-imagined homemade Oreo, using coconut instead of chocolate.

But like the ship, these sunk.  Not in flavor -- they are quite delicious -- but the process to make these was a bit frustrating.  (And the fact that my oven is barely working added to problem and explains why the cookies above look so different from one another.)

But before we get to baking, I'd like to encourage everyone to visit the South Street Seaport Museum's new exhibit about the Titanic.  The luggage tag, below, was printed at the Museum's Bowne & Co., Stationers, a letterpress shop where everything is done the old-fashioned way.  Bowne is also open -- do visit, watch printing at its best and buy some lovely gifts there to support the Museum.

So if you feel like throwing caution to the wind, and paying sweet tribute to the great ocean liner, you can make these unusual and wonderful (at the end) cookies.

Don't worry if the mixture looks like it's breaking (above).  Just keep combining and it will come together beautifully (below).

The dough is nearly impossible to roll out, as called for in the recipe.  You can just roll the chilled dough into balls and press them down with the heel of your hand.  And do make more filling than the recipe says, or you won't have enough.