FRENCH LACE COOKIES

These are the LAST COOKIES IN THE BOOK!!!!!!!! It has been fun but I am looking forward to a break from baking and with UH on vacation, my largest group of tasters are on hiatus...it was nice that this exercise perfectly dovetailed the UH schedule. The best from 1960-1970, they are good but not my favorite. They are similar in look to the Butterscotch lace cookies but the taste is different as they are made with finely chopped walnuts and corn syrup. Instead of using a mixer the dough is actually cooked in a pot. The hardest thing is to get them off of the tray after they sit for few minutes to harden. The directions say to lightly grease the pan but it might be better to grease it well. I couldn't figure out why some came off easily and some were a problem. Oh well....I am done! Anyway, it has been an interesting challenge with some old favorites ( snickerdoodles) revived in my memory and other new ones ( chocolate crinkles) that I will add to my favorite list. At some point I will get around to scanning the recipes of the ones that were good and post them. Otherwise, if you want a specific recipe just let me know and I will email it to you! The most important lesson learned: NEVER make cookies using cereal!!!! Thanks for being good readers and tasters!!!! Aloha!

BONBONS

These were the "rage" from 1955-1960 when women supposedly went crazy for cookies that looked like candies. I really dreaded making these for some reason but they weren't as bad as I had anticipated. There were several steps but nothing that was too difficult. The dough is wrapped around some "surprise" in the center, I used pecans or chocolate, but you could also use cherries or some other candied fruit. After the cookies are baked, they are iced with a colored icing and then dipped in a topping, I used coconut but you can use colored sugar or chocolate. The biggest mistake I made was to tint the frosting with yellow ( the only color of dye I had left!!!) but it ended up looking like the cookies were iced with mustard!!! Oh well, they were very tasty but a bit sweet.

SALTED PEANUT CRISPS

I liked these!!!! The dough was a basic brown sugar cookies with salted peanuts added....even better than cookies made with peanut butter in the ingredients. I will see what other people have to say about the cookies. Only two more recipes to go!!!!!!

HOLIDAY FRUIT DROPS

These cookies are supposed to be the favorites from 1945-50 and they were pretty good, especially if you like brown sugar nutbread! The one change I made from the basic recipe was to omit the dates as I really, really hate dates. I added extra cherries and pecans to compensate and it was fine. I think these would be good included in a plate of holiday cookies!

CARAMEL REFRIGERATOR COOKIES

I am getting close to the end of the book and was excited about these as I love caramel...almost as much as molasses! This recipe was Betty's best from 1940-1945, which was the time of World War II. Because of rationing, bakers switched to brown sugar and limited butter for cookies and by refrigerating and slicing the cookie, they made the dough go farther. All the previous are wonderful things but the cookies did not have enough butter or sugar to taste like caramel. They were crispy but the taste left something to be desired..maybe should be retitled "brown sugar refrigerator cookies".

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Betty's best from 1935-1940.......the years when the original CC cookie was introduced to the world! It was created at the Toll House Inn in New England and swept the country. This recipe is very similar to the one on the chocolate chip bag but with a bit less sugar and I like it not quite so sweet. There are only a few recipes left and this has timed out well as UH is no longer in session and so the largest group of tasters are gone!!

MOLASSES CRINKLES

The best of 1930 to 1935! Anything with molasses is great in my book and these cookies are good but more crisp than the chewy kind that I like. I played with the amount of time I left them in the oven and they tasted burned before they got really crisp. Oh well, I still haven't found the perfect recipe yet!

BROWNIES

Betty says that brownies were created when a chocolate cake fell. They were all the rage during the Roaring Twenties so this is the favorite recipe from 1920-1930 and its a good one! These brownies are moist, tasty and easy to make....almost as good as the Ghiradellli box mix.
Enjoy!

GINGER CREAM COOKIES

Betty's best from 1900-1910! A nice spice cookie, very cake-like, but the dab of lemon icing on the top makes it a good cookie. I don't think its a great cookie but would be a good addition to a plate of holiday cookies. I just sampled a cookie ( I am writing this the morning after) and the icing is still firm and didn't melt away. It was not too humid last night which may account for it. These are very good with my coffee and would be even better with tea. I will know put it into the very good category after the morning tasting! Enjoy!

OATMEAL DROP COOKIES

This was the best cookie from 1900-1910, according to Betty! What sets this cookie apart from other recipes is the addition of molasses....I love anything with molasses. They were delicious right out of the oven but will have to see what they taste like today after a very, very wet night. Hope this rain let up soon!

CINNAMON JUMBLES

Cinnamon Jumbles are the best cookie, according to Betty, from 1890-1900. Supposedly, every city had their own variation of the recipe but this one is the basic. If you like cinnamon sugar you will like these. The cookie is very light, almost like a lady finger, and the cinnamon sugar on top really makes the cookie great. We shall see how they hold up overnight but they were very, very good last night!

HERMITS

I have reached the the final chapter of the book which honors the favorite cookie from each decade starting from the 1880's. Hermit cookies were supposed to be commonly tucked into lunch pails and sea chests as kids and men left for work or school ( or the sea since she specifically mentioned sea chests!). The contain nutmeg and cinnamon so have a holiday taste to them. They were easy to make and easy to eat. Yummy with a cup of tea!

COCONUT APRICOT TARTLETS

Interesting but I think they would be better as a breakfast item. The tart base is made from cream cheese, butter and flour and then topped with apricot jam and coconut. The whole thing is baked for about 9 minutes. The dough for the tart was refrigerated for about 6 hours before trying to roll it but it still was very difficult to work with. I had to use a lot of flour to get them off the counter and still they had questionable shapes, as you can tell from the picture. The recipe did not make very many so I don't know if UH will get any or if Alex will have eaten them all!

CHEESE SWIRL BROWNIES

Betty says that this recipe was created by a student from Ohio State that was interning in her kitchen. Alex does not know her...so he says!! The chocolate mixture is split into two parts with the cheese mixture in the middle. After the layering, you are supposed to draw a knife through all three layers to " marble" them. Well, the top layer was very hard to put on top of the cheese part so it was already very mixed and didn't require much extra mixing. However, it did not look swirled or marbled. My other complaint is that brownies should really have a lot of chocolate in them and these were lacking to my taste. The cheese filling was made with cottage cheese and was interesting but not great. It was moist but I would rather have a traditional brownie.

ORANGE OATMEAL COOKIES

I was looking for a recipe that would give lots of cookies so there would be enough for the tasters, UH and lots for Trish so she can start her carbo-loading for the Boston Marathon. She will be leaving Thursday night to run in the marathon on Monday. So......................GO TRISH!!!!! Anyway, about the cookies, they are crisp and tasty with a touch of nutmeg and orange. The only trick is to get them off the tray after sitting for just a few seconds to firm up and not to make them too big. The directions called for baking them 12-15 minutes but I found that about 9 1/2 was perfect, maybe because I made them smaller that called for. Whatever, they are good! Enjoy!

123 PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

This is another "cheater" recipe that uses yellow cake mix as its base and then adds peanut butter, water and eggs. They were actually pretty good but will have to see how they do tomorrow after a humid night. Yesterday's cookies were good out of the oven but were disappointing today. These cookies were better if baked longer--even when they appeared to be too brown. I am hoping they will stay crispy for tomorrow!

CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE COOKIES

This is a "cheater" recipe that uses chocolate cake mix as a base with cream cheese, butter, egg, vanilla and coconut added to it. It was quick, easy and delicious. The dough was easy to work with after being refrigerated for about 1/2 hour and then dropped by hand onto cookie sheets. It was too sticky to use a teaspoon to drop them. The initial ones I baked about eight minutes and were good but I like them baked a bit longer. They are also very, very good with ice cream! Enjoy!

MINT MELTAWAYS

These cookies would be great for St. Patrick's Day. They are delicately minty and more of a shortbread than a cake cookie. They don't spread at all while cooking so I put many per cookie sheet and used all the dough on just two trays. A wonderful tea cookie!

CHOCOLATE COCONUT MERINGUE BITES

I haven't done something with chocolate lately so I decided to do this recipe, also because I love coconut. The bars are basically a chocolate chip cookie base with nuts and coconut added and a brown sugar meringue baked on top. Tasty but I feel that the cookie part was a bit dry. The recipe made enough for UH people so hope everyone enjoys them. Have a great weekend!

ALMOND MERINGUE SHORTBREAD

This shortbread has an interesting mix of flavors. The base is a standard shortbread which is baked and then topped with jam ( I used marionberry jam) after cooling it for a bit. While it was cooling, you make a cinnamon meringue which is placed on top of the jam and then returned to the oven to brown. Oh, the meringue is also covered with chopped almonds. I almost forgot that step and had to pull it out of the oven to add the nuts. When it was all done, it looked very pretty and was tasty but almost too many flavors for me with the nuts, cinnamon and fruit jam. I will be interested to get some feedback on this one!