When I was growing up, my family (parents, sister, brother and I) lived in New York (state, not city). I’d been home sick with the flu, while my sister had gone to school. By late afternoon, the skies turned grey. My grandmother had come to our house with a batch of her peanut butter cookies and oatmeal cookies. After my sister got home from school, just ahead of the rain, my grandmother regaled us over stories of her youth while we had tea and cookies. One of her stories entailed being introduced to one of her teacher’s friends, whose stage name happened to be Buffalo Bill Cody. So I’m always reminded of that when I bake either cookie recipe.
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
This was one of my grandmother's recipes, along with the oatmeal cookie recipe that follows. You can find them in my e-cookbook, Off The Wall Cooking.
1/2 C butter
1/2 C peanut butter
1/2 C sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/4 C flour
3/4 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Cream butter & peanut butter together. Add sugar gradually & cream thoroughly. Add egg. Sift flour once before measuring. Sift flour, soda, baking powder & salt together & add to creamed mixture. Chill dough well, then form into balls the size of walnuts. Place balls on lightly greased baking sheet. Flatten with fork dipped in flour, making criss-cross pattern. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
GRANDMA'S OATMEAL COOKIES
Another one of my grandmother's recipes. When it came to baking, cookies were her specialty. You can also find these in my e-cookbook, Off the Wall Cooking
1 C flour
1 C brown sugar
3 C quick cooking oatmeal (NOT the instant oats!)
1 C butter or margarine
1/4 C boiling water
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
Mix flour & brown sugar. Add oatmeal; stir. Melt butter; add to dry ingredients. Mix baking soda into boiling water; add to other ingredients, stirring well. Place batter into loaf pan, lined with aluminum foil & place in freeze for several hours. Slice & bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
Oatmeal Cookie dough, taken from the freezer; showing first cuts before baking
Then cut down the center, like so:
Placed on parchment paper-covered baking sheet, for easier handling
PEANUT BUTTER PIE
There’s also a story that goes along with the Peanut Butter Pie. I’d driven cab for several years. One Friday afternoon, I got a call to pick up a single dad from the store. When I dropped him off, his son and daughter came out of the trailer to help bring in the groceries.
“Did you remember to get the stuff for the peanut butter pie?” his daughter asked. They were taking it to an early Thanksgiving gathering that weekend.
“Sure did,” he answered.
“Peanut butter pie?” I asked, as we finished unloading the groceries. “How do you make that?”
“With peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, and a few other things,” came the answer.
The following week, I managed to pick the dad up again. This time, I managed to get the ingredients: pie crust, peanut butter, confectioner’s sugar, cream cheese and Cool Whip. It wasn’t until the third (and final) time I picked him up in as many weeks that I got the exact amounts. He used 1/3 cup each of peanut butter and sugar, both of which I upped to 1/2 cup each.
8-ounce tub of Cool Whip (see note)
8-ounce block of cream cheese (see note)
1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth is preferable)
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Pie crust (see note)
Put Cool Whip, cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. With beaters, beat on high. Pour into pie crust, smooth out, and freeze for 1 hour.
Note: Cool whip (or store equivalent) can be fat-free. Cream cheese can be regular cream cheese or the 1/3 less fat kind, but do not use fat free, as the pie won't set up right. I usually use a store-bought graham cracker crust for the pie, which is what the man used to make this. However, you can also use an Oreo cookie crust.
GINGERBREAD
Sweeten the season with our gingerbread.
Whoever first posted this (probably on one of the emailing lists I was on, years ago), added, "I LIKE MINE TOPPED WITH A DOLLOP OF COOL WHIP!" The recipe starts, “This simple recipe is the perfect holiday dessert, especially when topped with yogurt or fresh fruit. Just grab a fresh box of ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda- an important ingredient for great baking and prepare a treat for the whole family.”
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup light molasses
3/4 cup boiling water
DIRECTIONS:
Sift together flour, Baking Soda, ginger and salt. Using an electric mixer, cream shortening in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition. Beat in egg thoroughly; blend in molasses. Gradually stir dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Beat thoroughly. Stir in water. Turn into greased and floured 8-inch square baking pan. Bake in a 350-degree oven 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool on rack. Makes one 8-inch square cake. Cut into 16 servings.
CINNAMON EGG BREAD
I first found the recipe that this morphed from in an old, long-since-lost cookbook. Since losing the cookbook, the recipe has changed to this version. I've had numerous friends and relatives rave over this. One lady I knew said that it was one of the few bread recipes that could almost double as dessert.
1 cup milk (or soy milk)
1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine
1/2 tsp. salt
2-3 eggs
1 cup warm (not hot) water
2 Tablespoons honey
2 packages yeast
6 – 7 cups flour
3/4 – 1 cup margarine, melted
2 – 3 cups cinnamon sugar
Heat milk to almost scalding, stirring fairly constantly so that it doesn't burn. Remove from heat and place in a large bowl. Add ½ cup margarine, and stir until melted. Let milk and margarine cool.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, place very warm water, add honey and yeast, then stir to dissolve. Let stand for 5 – 10 minutes.
Add salt to milk, then add yeast and water to milk. Add flour, 2 cups at a time, for a stiff, non-sticky dough. Knead for about 8 – 10 minutes.
Wash and dry bowl, then place dough in bowl. Place cooking oil (I recommend canola or olive oil) in hands, then rub over dough. Place clean towel over the top of bowl and allow dough to rise until almost double, about an hour.
Take 3 loaf pans and spray with cooking spray. Take dough out and divide into thirds.
Melt ¾ – 1 cup margarine. Set aside.
With a floured rolling pin, roll out first third of dough. Pour some of the margarine over the bread and spread 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar over the dough. Roll dough, then place in loaf pan with the bread-seam down. Repeat with other two thirds. Place towel over all three loaves and allow to rise again, approximately one hour.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Then, removing towel, bake loaves for 45 – 50 minutes. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes on cooling rack.
ROCKY ROAD CAKE
I was taking a speech class at a local junior college. One week we had to give a demonstration speech; one lady demonstrated how to make this cake, passing out copies of the recipe along with pieces of cake. It’s absolutely delicious. The icing can be used on almost any kind of cake; it would be really good on carrot cake! This can also be found on in my ebook, Off the Wall Cooking.
Cake
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup mini-marshmallows
6-oz package chocolate chips
4 eggs
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup water
1 package (18.25 oz) Devil’s Food cake mix w/pudding
Grease & flour 2 9” pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix first four ingredients in medium-size bowl.
In large bowl at low speed, mix cake mix, eggs, may & water until blended. Increase speed to medium & beat for 2 minutes. Stir in nut mixture. Pour into greased & floured pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
Cool in pan 15 minutes on cooling rack.
Icing
1 tsp. vanilla
8 oz. cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 box confectioners sugar
Place ingredients in bowl & cream together. When cake is cool, ice. ENJOY!
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