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).

Snickerdoodles

This fall, I did something new -- I taught a graduate class in nonprofit communications at a university in Manhattan. Much of the curriculum was devoted to developing effective writing skills, using social media and the like. But part of the class was about honing one's personal and professional "brand" -- a 21st-century buzzword that simply means reputation. For the final class, I wanted to demonstrate a memorable way to reinforce personal branding. So I baked some Snickerdoodles from a vintage recipe (and told them about my blog, of course).  Let's just say the cookies were very, very well received.

Snickerdoodles (the best-named cookie ever) are rather old-fashioned, simple and delicious. What makes them special is the final roll in a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Although not traditional Christmas cookies, I doubt anyone would be disappointed if they appeared in a box of holiday baked goods.

In addition to being a classic, or perhaps because of it, they are very easy to make.  This recipe, as are many vintage recipes, is mostly a list of ingredients with the instruction: "Mix as usual."  My method is listed at the end of this post.

Start by creaming the butter with sugar, adding the eggs...

and adding the dry ingredients until a dough forms.

I ran out of time, so I stored the dough in plastic bags in the refrigerator overnight. Chilled dough is also easier to work with.

After removing the dough from the refrigerator, roll the dough into small balls.

Then roll each ball around in a small bowl filled with cinnamon and sugar.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I pressed each cookie a bit.

The students, below, with the cookies. (Though it was the last class, they still had to submit their final exam!)

Below is the recipe card and below that is the method I used.

Snickerdoodles

1 c. butter (at room temperature)
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. baking soda
2 t. cream of tartar
2 3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 T each of sugar and cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, combining well.
Mix the baking soda, cream of tartar, flour and salt in a separate bowl, blending well.
Add dry ingredients to the large mixing bowl and combine. (Do not overmix; this will result in a tough cookie.)

Refrigerate dough until firm enough to handle.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Roll dough into teaspoon size balls and then roll each in the sugar and cinnamon.
Bake at 350 F for 8 to 10 minutes. Check underside of cookies -- if they're golden brown, they're done.

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.

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."

Coconut Washboards

One reason I began A Cake Bakes was to discover delicious and unusual recipes from the past that for reasons unknown didn't make it to the 21st century. Coconut Washboards are that -- and true rock stars among cookies. These are very yummy and so easy to make. They are shaped like old-fashioned washboards and a fork is used to add the grooves, completing the look,  A little internet research into these gems revealed that they were meant to suggest that hard work (i.e., scrubbing clothes by hand) makes for a sweet reward. 

I baked these for our friend Alec, who joined us to watch the second presidential debate. I figured that we could all use a little old-fashioned sweetness to counter the bitterness (and craziness) that's overtaken our nation.

Start by beating the butter and brown sugar, then adding the egg, vanilla and almond extract.

Combine well and add the coconut and flour, mixing it all together.

Divide the dough in half, and roll out one portion into a rectangle between parchment or wax paper.  (The recipe suggest patting it down, but I found rolling it was easier. Though I still couldn't achieve a rectangle.)

With a sharp knife, cut into "washboards."

With a fork dipped in flour, create the washboard grooves.  I needed to coat the fork continuously so it didn't stick. A bit of flour on the cookies didn't make a difference after baking.

These took me longer than the ten minutes suggested in the recipe. But at the end, the tops were a light golden brown, with the bottoms a slightly darker shade.

Production notes: I followed this recipe almost exactly, but have written out the method I used below. Not sure of the size of a bag of Baker's Cookie Coconut when this recipe was written (in the 1940s), so I used the 7 ounce bad of sweetened coconut available today. I also could not achieve a 10 x 13 inch rectangle. You can just gather the scraps and roll out again. If you want the washboard grooves to be more prominent, you will need to process the shredded coconut so that the dough is really smooth.

Coconut Washboards

3/4 c. unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks) softened
1 c. packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond extract
2 1/4 c, all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. each cinnamon and nutmeg
1/8 t. salt
7 oz bag of sweetened coconut

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter, and cream in sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extract.
Add flour mixture and blend until well combined.
Add coconut and stir.
Divide mixture in half. Pat (or roll) each half into a 10 x 9 rectangle between two sheets of parchment or wax paper.
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Chill for one hour.
Cut into 1 x 3 inch rectangles.
Place on an ungreased (or parchment lined) cookie sheet
Press ridges into each with a floured fork.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 14 minutes.
Cool on a rack.