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).

Grandmother's Oatmeal Cookies

Sometimes I bake recipes with intriguing names, other times -- like this -- I select a recipe because of the paper it's written on.  Grandmother's Oatmeal Cookies is handwritten on a sheet of office stationery of one Roger Lindoo, general manager of PCA of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I'm surmising that his wife, or other relative, wrote this recipe. (As I never fail to marvel at the interweb, I learned that Roger, who was born in 1914 died just last year at age 101, was active in the community and a great outdoors man. Based on his time of employment, I'd date this recipe from the 1950s.

Now, about this recipe. Not being an oatmeal cookie fan, I couldn't judge -- however, my work colleagues (and the workmen renovating my house) raved about them. And who could argue that Grandmother's cookies aren't delicious?

They are very easy to mix and bake, and call for cooking the raisins first. A good thing, especially if your DH failed to close the bag of raisins, leaving hard little nuggets in place of plump dried fruit.

The raisins cooking below in water.

The first mixture, of butter, sugar and eggs.

The cooked raisins are added, along with the cooking water.

After the dry ingredients are added, fold in the nuts and oatmeal.

The dough is a bit moist, and I found it easier and faster to use a small ice cream scoop to portion out the cookies.  I baked on parchment sheets, which can be reused, as evidenced below. After the first batch, and because the cookies didn't spread, I pressed down the dough balls before baking as they didn't flatten out as expected.

 The original recipe, below, and below that, I've written out the recipe as I made it.

Grandmother's Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven to 375F

1 c. raisins
7 T. water
1 c sugar
1 c. butter at room temperature
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
2 c. regular oatmeal
1/2 c. chopped nuts

Cook raisins and water in a saucepan for three minutes. Set aside to cool.
Cream sugar and butter.
Add eggs and beat well.
Add raisins and water, and mix.
Sift dry ingredients and add, and combine.
Add oatmeal and nuts.
Mix well.
Drop by tablespoons (or use a small ice cream scoop) onto greased or parchment lined cookie sheet.
Press down with wet hands or the bottom of a glass.
Bake until brown, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Honey Ginger Cookies

I'm back with a little honey for your honey on Valentine's Day. Honey Ginger Cookies, from a vintage recipe, are cake-like cookies, neither chewy nor crispy and are not overly sweet. They taste like honey, so if that's your thing, this is your cookie. I wasn't a huge fan, but my coworkers were -- these disappeared rather quickly. Or maybe my colleagues were simply distraught over the Super Bowl, as I brought them in the day after the game.

They are rather easy to prepare, requiring just a couple of bowls and spoons, and the butter is melted, so they take virtually no planning (i.e,, you needn't wait for the butter to soften, as in many cookie recipes).

Below is the entire mis en place for the cookies. The topping requires many of these ingredients, plus nuts.

To get started, mix the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls and combine. No need to use a mixer; a spoon works fine.

The batter will look like this when properly combined.

I found it difficult to drop these from a teaspoon (as the recipe card instructed), so with gloved hands, I rolled them into small balls and just pressed lightly on them before baking.

The recipe calls for small cookies and I did make one sheet of them. But I was in a rush, so doubled the size. Both were good. Just don't put both sizes on a single sheet, as the larger ones take a few minutes longer in the oven.

For the topping, simply place the butter, sugar, honey, salt and nuts in a saucepan.

Let it come to a boil and spoon over the cooled cookies.

Production notes: I followed this recipe exactly, except I only sifted once. If I were to make it again, I'd add a bit more ginger. These also don't spread much, so you don't have to place them three inches apart. Note the old-fashioned spelling of the word "cooky."