Grandmother's Ice Cream Cookies

I wish these were as marvelous as they sound.  But instead of being "lovely for afternoon tea" as described in the recipe, the cookies tasted like, well, a cow pasture.  And I know the culprit -- farm fresh butter that turned out to be a *bit* too assertive for the recipe.

I love butter to the point that in Paris, for example, I spend as much time in fromageries buying butter as in museums looking at art.

But this particular butter (purchased at the wonderful Saxelby's in the Essex Market) while delicious on bread, did not work in these shortbread-like cookies where butter is the star. I wanted to taste sunshine and cream; instead the flavor was of damp meadow grass.

Ironically, this is probably exactly what these cookies tasted like to Grandmother, who surely used farm fresh butter in baking.

The recipe is from Mrs. Osborn's Cakes of Quality, published in 1919.   Those who want to try this, using a mild but good butter (Plugra, for example), will find that the dough is too soft to knead.  I just formed it into a circle and placed between waxed paper in the fridge for a few minutes, before fitting it into a 9-inch cake pan and baking. Next, invite the grandchildren over for some cookies and ice cream.

Pecan Crispies -- The Atlantis of Cookies?

Want a simple-to-make, delicious-to-eat old-fashioned and, yet unusual, cookie?  Then try these pecan crispies.  For some reason, these gems didn't make the cookie hit parade. 

Is it because they lack the novelty of the chocolate chip, the homeyness of the oatmeal or the silly name of the snickerdoodle? We may never know, but that's no reason to let these almost elegant sweets -- with their wonderfully chewy (and first) and (later) crispy texture -- languish on a yellowed recipe card.

These were a snap to make (see instructions below) and quite well received both at work and at Michaels, the Park Slope hair salon where I spend way too much time and money, but always leave very happy and up-to-date on People magazine.  

John, left, the savior of my tresses, with colleague Armani, posing with pecan crispies.

I do hope some of my readers will take a stab at these "lost" cookies.  They deserve to be rediscovered and eaten in the 21st century.

Pecan Crispies (reinterpreted)

1 c. unsalted butter

2 1/2 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

2 1/2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. chopped  pecans

Mix softened butter with brown sugar and combine til light and fluffy.  Add eggs and mix well.  Meantime, combine flour, salt and baking soda, blend well, and add to butter mixture.  Combine.  Fold in chopped pecans. 

Drop from spoon on cookie sheet lined with parchment.  Bake at 350 about 10 minutes until very lightly browned.

The pecans should be chopped rather fine.

At first the dough will seem too soft, but it's perfect.  Really.

Lemon Drops in a Hail Storm

Last week, we had a real honest-to-goodness hail storm in Brooklyn so intense that the elephant ear plant in our front garden went from this:

to this --  in less than five minutes.

Of course, while all this was happening, I was busy baking from a recipe card labeled only "Lemon Drops."  It took me a while, but I finally decoded recipe which included some -- but certainly not all -- the instructions needed to make these.  I wasn't even sure if they were rolled cookies, bar cookies or drop cookies when I started, but I was drawn to the hand-written (in pencil!) recipe card and who doesn't like lemon.  Furthermore, I was excited to use my new-old lemon reamer (marked with the date July 10, 1888!) that I bought at an antique shop in Copley, Ohio.

These take a tiny bit of prep (zesting and reaming a couple of lemons -- always zest the lemon before reaming it), allowing time for the butter soften to room temperature and rolling the cookies into balls, but they are very quick and easy. And amazingly lemon-y.

I finally figured out how to make these.  My instructions follow the recipe below.

Cream the shortening (I always use butter) and sugar.  Stir in the egg, juice and peel.  Sift flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the butter-sugar mixture.  Refrigerate for about 15 minutes or so, until the dough can be easily handled.  Mix together the 3 tbs. of sugar with the cinnamon and reserve. Roll dough  into one-inch balls and the roll each until completely covered in the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Place on parchment covered cookie sheet and bake about eight minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Production note: The cookies in the top two rows (in the first pictures) were done before I figured out that you are supposed to roll the cookies in a ball and roll in the cinnamon sugar.  They look a bit more "rustic," but if you don't have the time or inclination to go the extra mile, they work fine like this.