1994 - Brownies Cockaigne

Lisa in her festive finery, 1994.

We started with Pumpkin Cookies today (Dec. 4) and yielded 13 dozen beauties. These soft "cake-ies" definitely need cooling racks, so we improvised with a spare oven rack. We used two cans of Betty Crocker cream cheese frosting to top them once they cooled but we forgot to add nutmeg this year. Lisa suggested we sprinkle it over the tops and they looked pretty. 

Even though we loved Barb's Brownies, we decided to try the Brownies Cockaigne recipe in "Joy of Cooking" this year because we wanted a sturdier product that would hold frosting and pecans. They were fabulous! 

"Cockaigne," explains editor Marion Rombauer Becker in the "Joy" foreword, signified a "mythical land of peace and plenty" in medieval times. So she designated some recipes as favorites with this label (which was also the name of her country home in Anderson Township, near Cincinnati, Ohio). 

Brownies Cockaigne

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt in a double boiler (or microwave-safe bowl):

1/2 c butter

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

Set aside to cool (otherwise the brownies will be heavy and dry).

Beat until light in color and foamy in texture:

4 eggs, at room temperature

1/4 tsp salt

Add gradually and continue beating until well creamed:

2 c sugar

1 tsp vanilla

With a few swift strokes, combine the cooled chocolate mixture and the eggs and sugar.

Even if you normally use a mixer, do this manually. 

Before the mixture becomes uniformly colored, fold in, again by hand:

1 c sifted all-purpose flour

And before the flour is uniformly colored, stir in gently:

1 c chopped pecan meats

Bake in a greased 9 x 13-inch pan about 25 minutes. 

Cut when cool, as interiors are still moist when fresh from the oven.

One can of Betty Crocker chocolate frosting was plenty to cover a 9-by-13-inch aluminum pan (the disposable kind).

1993 - Note to Selves

We made all these cookies (and the Chex Party Mix) in three sessions. We used aluminum cookie sheets, which we cooled on the porch to keep the process rolling. 

We made 62 dozen total (that’s 744 cookies!) and two pans of Peanut Butter Fingers and two pans of Barb's Brownies. We gave Mom a half-dozen of each variety for her cookie tray, except for the Whoopie Pies, which we hoard until Christmas.

After we take out Mom’s share, we divide and freeze until Christmas is near. It’s so funny how the tables have turned. Here we are freezing all of our cookies as the kids look sadly on, and we used to moan about Mom freezing all the cookies she made for Christmas. In fact, we developed a taste for frozen Chocolate Chip Cookies by raiding the freezer all December long. Then we’d wear our most innocent expressions as Mom frowned into her freezer and swore she made more than what was there.

I took a sampling of assorted goodies in to work and, later that week, I got a recipe from my gal pal Carla for the scrummy Peanut Butter Bursts that she brought in to the newsroom to share. 

We didn’t get a chance to use the cookie gun Lisa bought. She found a recipe for Cocoa Cookies and there’s a Lemon Spritz variety that we will definitely try next year. 

All the cookies were baked in Lisa’s electric oven at about 10 degrees lower than specified because it runs hot. We kept a sink-ful of soapy suds going to ease the workload. We took turns stirring but I do all the rolling and cutting of the Sugar Cookies. 

Next year: MAKE MORE!

Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters.