Many of the typical Modern American recipes for cookies are very much like the old
formulas. The vast step forward in American culinary art is not so much a definite change
in the kinds of foods prepared as in the methods of prepara tion.
The American woman has discarded slow, meticulous methods brought from the Old World.
She has discovered easy, quick methods to take their place.
The author had an excellent opportunity to compare present day American woman's methods
of cooking with those that are still used by her neighbors in Europe.
The opportunity came through observing a cooking class for housewives, in one of the
world famous Homemaking Schools in Sweden. Twelve young women were making cookies. One of
those young women was busy with a task that seemed endless. She was cutting blanched
almonds with a paring knife. She was shaving the almonds as fine as the American woman
could do it in her cheap little nut grinder. She was spending several hours doing a job
that the American woman would finish in fifteen minutes.
The American woman is not satisfied to accept a quick, easy way unless it is just as
efficacious as the old method. She grinds the nuts with a cheap little nut grinder and to
keep them from being oily she has discovered that they must be thoroughly chilled before
and after grinding. Her ingenuity has been the means of evolving Modern American recipes
that are typically her own. They employ Modern American methods which meet the needs of the
woman who wants independence and knows it can never be achieved without leisure to follow
her own personal inclinations.
1. Queens Gingerbread Mix
2 lbs. honey
13/4 lbs. brown sugar
1/2 cup water
11/2lbs. almonds blanched and sliced thin
6 cups flour sifted
1/2 lb. candied orange peel sliced thin
Sift together
6 cups flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. mace
Heat the honey, sugar and water together slowly until it boils. Add the almonds and
remove from the fire. Add the flour and spices, then the flour and orange peel. Put the
dough in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours. Form into little balls with the hands
and bake at 400° F. until light brown.
While the cakes are still hot brush them lightly with a syrup made of 1 cup of sugar
and 1/3 cup of water. Cook the syrup to the soft ball stage.
Sift together
4 cups flour 1/2 tsp. salt
tsp. soda
tbsp. Jamaica ginger
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup light molasses
2 eggs unbeaten
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Add
the molasses and flour alter nately. Knead into a smooth dough. Shape into two rolls and
place in the refrigerator over night. Slice thin and bake at 400° F. until light brown.
This dough will keep in the refrigerator for a week or more.
Sift together
7 cups flour 1 cup butter
1 tsp. soda 4 eggs well beaten
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cream of tartar
Mix with
4 cups brown sugar
Blend the butter into the flour until the mixture is mealy. Add the eggs and knead
into a smooth dough. Shape the dough into two rolls and place in the refrigerator over
night. Bake as directed for Overnight Gingerbread.
This dough will keep a week in the refrigerator if it is put away in a closely
covered container.
Butterscotch seems a favorite name to apply to cookies made with brown sugar. This
cake is especially good in spite of its stock name.
Sift together
51/2 cups flour 21/2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. soda 2 cups molasses
3/4 cup butter
1 cocoanut grated
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the molasses, flour and cocoanut
alternately. Knead into a stiff dough, adding more flour if needed. Let stand over night
in the refrigerator. Shape into little balls and bake at 400° F. for ten to fifteen
minutes. Let the cookies cool before remov ing them from the pans.
Here is an ice box cookie that is certainly the old dressed up all new. Just butter,
eggs, sugar and flour. No flavor ing. The typical old recipe. Yet it is modern, a
splendid example of our American cookery.
4 cups flour sifted 2 cups butter softened
1 cup sugar slightly
2 eggs beaten slightly
Break the butter in large pieces. Add the sugar and the eggs and blend with a pastry
blender until creamy. Add the flour gradually, blending it in with the pastry blender.
Mold the dough into seven little rolls and put in the ice box until firm. Shape into
long cookies with a cookie press and bake at 400° F. until light brown.
Liberties were taken with Scotch Short Bread in formu lating this recipe.
8 cups flour sifted 13/4 cups sugar
2 cups butter creamed 6 eggs unbeaten
1 tbsp. caraway seed
Add the sugar, eggs and caraway seed to the butter and mix well. Blend in the flour
and knead into a smooth dough. Roll one-fourth inch thick, cut into small squares, mark
the cakes with a cross, using the back of a knife, and bake at 400° F. for about fifteen
minutes.
7. Brown Sugar Short Bread
Here is a typical modern American Scotch Short Bread recipe. It was formulated and
used frequently by a Scotch-American housewife.
2 cups flour sifted 1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter 1 egg unbeaten
Cream the butter and sugar until light. Add the egg and mix well. Blend in the flour
and knead the dough until smooth. Roll medium thin and cut into squares. Bake at 400° F.
until light brown.
Sift together
8 cups flour 1 cup lard
1 tsp. ginger 1 cup sugar
I tsp. salt 1 cup molasses
Dissolve in
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. soda
Cream the sugar and lard together. Add the molasses and mix well. Add the flour and
water alternately and mix
into a soft dough. Roll thin and cut into squares with a knife. Bake at 400° F. until
light brown.
To the European woman a wafer is a delicate, paper-thin cake cooked in a wafer iron.
The American housewife calls any very thin small cake a wafer. This is a delicate and
delicious tea cake, an excellent example of wafers.
3 cups flour sifted 4 egg yolks slightly beaten
1 cup sugar 2 tsp. orange juice
1 cup butter 1 tsp. orange extract
Cream the butter and sugar together. Gradually add the orange juice and the orange
extract. Begin blending in the flour and egg yolks working the dough as little as pos
sible. Roll very thin and cut into small round cakes. Bake at 400° F. until light brown.
Vanilla Wafers Sift together
3 cups flour 1/2 cup lard
2 tsp. baking powder 11/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. salt 2 tbsp. milk
2 eggs unbeaten 1 tsp. vanilla
Cream the sugar and lard together. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the
flour and milk alternately. Knead to a smooth dough, roll very thin, cut into small
round cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown.
Sift together
1 cup flour 1 egg unbeaten
1/2 tsp. soda 1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. butter softened
Mix With 2 tbsp. milk
1 cup roasted peanuts
chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
Mix the sugar, butter, milk and egg together and blend thoroughly. Add the flour and
nuts and stir up quickly. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown.
Reduce the temperature and finish baking.
These wafers spread to a thin cake and are crisp when baked properly.
Sift together
3 heaping tbsp. flour 1 cup brown sugar
1/8 tsp. salt 2 eggs beaten ten minutes
Mix with
1 cup walnuts chopped
Add the sugar to the eggs and beat three minutes. Fold in the flour. Drop into small
cakes and bake at 400° F. for about five minutes. These are a very thin crisp wafer.
1 tsp. vanilla
21/2 cups rolled oats 1 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder 1 tbsp. butter melted
1/2 tsp. salt 2 eggs beaten ten minutes
Gradually add the sugar to the eggs. Add the butter and vanilla and stir in the
oatmeal. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. eight to ten minutes.
1/2 cup almonds blanched 1 tbsp. milk
and ground 4 egg whites beaten stiff
1/2 lb. powdered sugar sifted
Gradually add the milk to the almonds, blending the mixture into a paste. Add the
sugar gradually. After all the sugar is added thin with milk until it will run off the
spoon. Fold in the egg whites. Bake in a wafer iron and roll while hot.
4 cups flour sifted 2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
Dissolve in 1 cup sour milk
1 tbsp. hot water 2 tsp. rose water
1/2 tsp. soda 1 small cocoanut grated
5 egg yolks well beaten
5 egg whites beaten stiff
Cream the butter and sugar together. Work in the in gredients in the following order:
the egg yolks, then the flour and milk alternately, the soda, rose water, cocoanut and
the egg whites. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. until light brown. Remove from
the baking sheets at once. If allowed to cool they break.
Jumbles are very old. Jumbals we find them in some of the oldest cook books. These
jumbals were made into a stiff dough and formed into little rings with the hands.
3 cups flour sifted 1/2 cup butter creamed
cup sugar 4 eggs well beaten
tbsp. cream
Mix the butter, sugar and eggs together and beat until light. Add the flour and cream
alternately and knead into a smooth dough. Form into little rings with the hands, brush
with egg white, sprinkle with coarse sugar and cinna mon and bake at 400° F. until light
brown.
Sift together
6 cups flour 1 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup butter 1/2 nutmeg grated 1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt 2 eggs unbeaten
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Add
the flour and milk alternately and knead into a smooth dough. Form into little rings
with the hands and cook in boiling fat until light brown.
17. Cinnamon Fruit Cookies
Fruit cookies are surprisingly alike be they English, French, Dutch or America. They
are always a favorite and the American housewife prides herself on the fruit and nut
mixtures she uses in small cake making.
Sift together
4 cups flour 1 cup butter softened 1 tsp. soda 2 cups sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. nutmeg 2 eggs unbeaten
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
Mix with
1 cup raisins chopped
Mix the butter, sugar and eggs together and beat until light. Add the flour and milk
alternately and knead into a soft dough. Roll to one-fourth inch thickness, cut into
small cakes and bake at 400° F. for about fifteen minutes.
These cookies keep well and are a favorite Christmas cake.
Sift together
3 cups flour 1 cup butter
11/2 tsp. baking powder 1 cup sugar
2 eggs unbeaten
1 tbsp. cream
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Add
the flour and cream and knead into a smooth dough. Roll thin, cut into small round cakes
and bake at 400° F. until light brown. Fill the cakes with:
1 tbsp. butter creamed 1/2 cup candied orange peel
3 tbsp. heavy cream chopped
1 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup nuts ground
sifted
1 tsp. vanilla
Gradually add the cream and vanilla to the butter. Add the sugar until the filling is
of the consistency to spread. Add the orange peel and nuts. Spread the cakes and stick
two together.
Sift together
31/2 cups flour 1 cup sugar
3 tsp. baking powder 1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs unbeaten
1 tsp. vanilla
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the
flour and milk alternately and knead into a smooth dough. Roll thin and cut into large
round cakes. Fill with the following:
1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup candied orange peel
1/2 cup water chopped
1 tbsp. flour 1/2 cup raisins chopped
1/2 cup butter
Mix the flour, sugar and water together. Add the butter and raisins and cook until
thick. Remove from the heat and add the orange peel. Place a small spoon of the filling
in the center of each cake. Place another cake on top and press the edges together. Bake
at 400° F. for about fifteen minutes.
20. Christmas Fruit Cookies
Sift together
3 cups flour 1 cup butter creamed
1 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg 3 eggs unbeaten 1 tsp. soda
Mix with
1 cup raisins chopped
1/2 cup currants
1 cup dates chopped
1/4 cup cocoanut
Mix the butter, sugar and eggs together and beat until light. Add the flour and stir
into a stiff dough. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. for about fifteen minutes.
This recipe is patterned after the oldest fruit biscuits of England. The prunes and
baking powder are the modern innovation.
Sift together
4 cups flour 11/2 cups butter softened
1 tsp. baking powder 1 cup brown sugar
mix with 2 eggs unbeaten
1 cup seeded raisins
1 cup walnuts chopped
1/2 lb. citron chopped
1 cup prunes chopped
1 cocoanut grated
Dissolve in
1 tbsp. water
1 tsp. soda
Mix the butter, sugar and eggs together and beat until light. Add the flour and water
and mix into a smooth dough. Roll one-eighth inch thick and cut into two-inch squares
with a sharp knife. Brush the cakes with egg white and sprinkle them with:
Mix together
1/3 lb. almonds blanched 1 cup sugar
and ground
Bake the cakes at 400° F. for about fifteen minutes.
Sift together
2 cups flour 2 tbsp. butter melted
2 tsp. baking powder 1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg 2 eggs beaten ten minutes
Mix with 1 tsp- vanilla
1 cup raisins
Gradually add the sugar to the eggs. Add the butter and vanilla and beat until light.
Fold in the flour. Drop into small cakes and bake at 400° F. for twelve to fifteen
minutes.
23. Hard Fruit and Nut Cakes
Sift together
3 cups flour 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup butter softened
3 eggs slightly beaten
Dissolve in 1 lb walnuts chopped
1 tbsp. hot water 3/4 lb. raisins chopped 1 tsp. soda
Mix the sugar, butter and eggs together and mix well. Add the fruit and nuts. Stir in
the flour and soda and mix just enough to blend in thoroughly. Drop into small cakes and
bake at 400° F. for about fifteen minutes.
This cookie is a favorite with thrifty housewives because of its keeping qualities.
They will keep for several months.
Sift together
11/2 cups flour 1/2 cup butter softened
1 tsp. baking powder 1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon 2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. cloves 1 cup pecans chopped 1/4 tsp. salt
Dissolve in
4 tbsp. water
1 tsp. soda
Mix with
1 lb. dates chopped
Mix the sugar, butter and eggs together and beat until light. Add the dates and the
nuts. Fold in the flour. Drop into small cakes and bake at 425° F. for eight to ten
minutes.
These cakes keep well. Dates hold moisture in cookies and prevent them from drying
out.
Date Strips Sift together
1 cup flour 3 egg whites beaten stiff
1 tsp. baking powder 1 cup sugar
Mix with
1 cup chopped dates 1 cup chopped nuts
Fold the sugar into the egg whites. Add the flour, all at once and blend quickly but
lightly. Turn into a well but tered pan nine by thirteen inches and bake at 350° F. for
thirty minutes. Cut into narrow strips while warm and roll in powdered sugar.
Sift together
3 cups flour 2 cups brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt 1 cup butter
3 eggs unbeaten
Mix with
1 cup walnuts chopped
Dissolve in
2 tbsp. hot water 1 tsp. soda
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until
light. Add the flour and soda alternately. Drop into small cookies and bake at 425° F.
for ten to fifteen minutes.
Walnut Cookies Sift together
6 cups flour 1 cup molasses
1 tsp. salt 1 cup sugar
1 tsp. Jamaica ginger 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. soda 1/4 lb. walnuts chopped
coarse sugar
Mix the molasses, sugar and milk together and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add
the liquid gradually to the flour and knead into a smooth dough. Roll very thin, cut
into two-inch squares, brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar and nuts. Bake at 400° F.
until light brown.
26. Chocolate Pecan Cookies
Sift together
4 cups flour 1 lb. light brown sugar
1 tsp. soda 1 cup butter softened
2 squares chocolate grated
1 cup milk
2 eggs slightly beaten 1/2 lb. pecans chopped
Cook the milk and chocolate together until thick and smooth. Allow to cool and add
the nuts. Blend the butter, sugar and eggs together until light. Add the chocolate and
fold in the flour, mixing as little as possible. Drop into small cakes and bake at 425°
F. until light brown.
Meringues are easily made. American housewives like their meringues "chewy." If they
are made the easy way, with little beating, and baked at 250° F. to 275° F. for about
thirty minutes they will be "chewy." The real suc cess of good meringues depends upon
two things: fresh eggs and sufficient beating of the egg whites before any sugar is
added.
2 egg whites beaten dry 1 cup sugar sifted
1/4 tsp. pure vanilla
Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites, beating all the time. Add the vanilla with
the last sugar. Drop into small cakes and bake at 250° F. for thirty minutes.
Grease the baking pans with butter. Remove the mer ingues while hot. Recipe makes six
meringues to serve as a base for ice cream, etc.
2 egg whites beaten stiff 1/8 tsp. salt 1/2 cup sugar sifted 1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup nuts chopped fine
Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites, beating all the time. Add the vanilla,
salt and chopped nuts. Drop into small cakes and bake at 275° F. for twenty minutes.
This recipe makes twenty small meringues.
29. Date and Nut Meringues
3 egg whites beaten stiff 1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar sifted 1/4 tsp. almond extract
3/4 cup unblanched almonds
chopped
3/4 cup dates chopped
Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites, beating all the time. Add the almond
extract, salt, nuts and dates and fold in lightly. Drop into small cakes and bake at
275° F. for about twenty minutes.
30. Cinnamon Nut Meringues
4 egg whites beaten stiff 1/2 lb. almonds blanched 1 cup sugar and chopped
l1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites. Add the cinnamon and fold in the nuts.
Drop into small cakes and bake at 275° F. for about thirty minutes.
1 lb. powdered sugar sifted 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 4 egg whites unbeaten 1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 lb. almonds blanched and shredded
Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites and beat for thirty minutes. Add the
almonds and flavoring. Bake as directed for Cinnamon Nut Meringues.
1/2 lb. roasted peanuts un- 1/2 tbsp. flour sifted
blanched, ground 1/8 tsp. salt
through the food chop- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
per 1 egg beaten ten minutes
1/2 lb. powdered sugar sifted
Add the sugar to the egg and beat three minutes. Fold in the nuts, salt, flour and
vanilla. Drop into small cakes and bake at 300° F. for twenty minutes.
1 cup brown sugar 1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup pecans chopped 1 egg white beaten stiff
1/4 tsp. lemon extract
Gradually add the sugar to the egg white. Add the salt and fold in the nuts lightly.
Drop into small cakes and bake at 275° F. for about thirty minutes.
1 egg white beaten stiff 11/2 cups cocoanut
1/3 cup sweetened condensed 1/2 tsp. vanilla milk
Mix the cocoanut and condensed milk together. Add the vanilla and fold in the egg
white. Drop into small cakes and bake at 300° F. until light brown.
4 egg whites beaten dry 1 cup cocoanut or more
1/2 lb. powdered sugar sifted 1/4 tsp. lemon extract
Gradually add the sugar to the egg whites. Add the flavoring and stir in cocoanut
until the mixture is stiff. Drop into small cakes and bake at 300° F. for about fifteen
minutes.
These are very much like the old-fashioned cocoanut biscuits which Virginia
housewives take such pride in mak ing. They are more like a candy than a cake, but to
the person who thinks there is nothing more delectable than the taste of cocoanut they
are a welcomed cake for After noon Tea.
lb. cocoanut 2 cups sugar
egg whites unbeaten
Mix the ingredients together and cook rapidly, stirring constantly, for twelve
minutes. Turn the mixture out on a marble slab or a metal topped table and allow to
cool. Form into little balls and bake at 350° F. until light brown.
Little Sponge Cakes are not as popular with the modern housewife as they should be.
For some unknown reason she has the notion they are hard to make. There is nothing
mysterious about sponge cake making. Try this recipe and prove it.
Sift together three times 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup cake flour 1/2 cup powdered sugar sifted
1/2 tsp. salt 2 egg yolks beaten ten min-
utes 2 egg whites beaten stiff
Add the sugar to the egg yolks. Fold in the flour and then the egg whites and the
vanilla. Shape into lady fin gers by using a pastry bag and tube. Bake at 325° F. for
eighteen to twenty minutes.
Sift together 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
11/2 cups flour 3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar 13/4 cups rolled quick oats
1/2 teaspoon soda 1/2 cup nut meats, chopped
1 teaspoon salt 1 egg, well beaten
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 cup mashed bananas, fully
1/4 teaspoon ginger ripe (2 to 3 bananas)
Blend the shortening into the sifted flour mixture. Add the rolled oats and nuts. Add
the egg and banana and stir up quickly. Drop by teaspoonfuls, about I14 inches apart,
onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350° F. to 375° F. for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes about 3
dozen.