The first cookie that I remember ever making was snickerdoodles. My dad used to make these all the time (he is the baker in the family) and I remember helping him make them.The recipe is from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, which is what I grew up using.I have quite a few Betty Crocker Cookbook, it’s interesting how they change over time.
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2-3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, shortening, sugar and eggs.Stir in flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls.
Roll balls in cinnamon sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.Immediately remove from cookies sheets to cool. Makes about 5 dozen.
Recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook (1969 edition)
When I was younger, my grandma gave the family a subscription to Gourmet magazine one year for Christmas. I don’t really remember that the recipes in the magazine were very approachable, but I do recall making a muffin that was similar to carrot cake that had a ton of ingredients. I made them and I remember that they were very filling and were very moist.
I’ve been trying to think of things to make so my husband has something to take for breakfast, and I thought these would be perfect since they were moist and would last for a couple of days. I’d long lost the original recipe I had made, but found this recipe on allrecipes.com.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 cups sugar 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 eggs 3/4 cup applesauce 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups grated carrots 1 medium tart apple, peeled and grated 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained 1/2 cup flaked coconut 1/2 cup raisins
DIRECTIONS: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Mix the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Stir in carrots, apple, pineapple, coconut, raisins. (You can also add nuts, but I didn’t add them.) Be careful and don’t over mix. Fill greased muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Makes about 24 muffins. Adapted from allrecipes.com
My husband’s family is British, so we have quite a few British cookbooks in our collection.I’ve enjoyed some traditional treats when we’ve visited the family, so I thought I would try and make some of the recipes from the cookbooks.The measurements from this particular cookbook are given by weight, so I’m very thankful that I have a digital scale!
This is a traditional Bakewell Tart, which is typically made with raspberry jam and almonds.I used cherry preserves and hazelnuts, since I had those in the house. I love hazelnuts, so I figured that would be a good change.I did find that the hazelnuts cooked just a bit quicker and the tart browned more than it would have with almonds.Still very good!
Flan Pastry (Below)
Raspberry Jam (I used Cherry)
4 oz. ground almonds (I used hazelnuts)
4 oz. sugar
2 oz. butter , softened
3 eggs, beaten
½ teaspoon hazelnut extract
Roll out pastry to fit a 9-inch tart pan.Place in tart pan, trim edges to fit. Spread the jam over the base.(It took about 4 tablespoons of jam to cover.) Chill while making the filling.
Beat the ground hazelnuts, sugar, butter, eggs and extract together.Pour the filling over the jam and spread evenly.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until filling is set. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Flan pastry:
6 oz. flour
4.5 oz. butter, chilled and diced
1-1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten
Add the flour and butter to a bowl.Rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.Stir in the sugar.Add the egg and egg yolk until the ingredients begin to stick together in large lumps. Collect the mixture together and knead lightly for a few seconds. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Adapted from The Good Housekeeping New Step-by-Step Cookbook (British Edition!)
I didn't want to waste the extra pastry, so I made cinnamon sugar pastry cutouts. We gave out butterfly cookie cutters as our wedding favors.
I've been baking for years and I thought it was about time to share my love of baking with others! I started baking while in college and I used to take treats in to work. Because of my school schedule, I'd usually bring things on Friday. Soon, my coworkers knew that Friday=Cookies, so in honor of that I've named my blog Cookies on Friday. I bake a lot of cookies, but other things as well.
