2012 - Decisions, Decisions

As usual, I don't have a plan. You'd think with this journal I would have everything mapped out and that I would know what I want to bake each Christmas season but life rarely works out that way. 

So, I wasn't quite sure what to make. Ever since I started transcribing Our Cookie Journal, I have had a hankering for Whoopie Pies. I haven't made them in years and a chocolate sandwich filled with cream sounds pretty good right now. Those call for buttermilk, though, and I really don't feel like walking to town for that. 

Then I decided to make some scrumptious Dunkable Brownies — one of my perennial favorites. Another inventory check found my cupboard lacking again! I need walnuts. I have some, but they expired in May. Of 2011!! 

I knew that if I made Hedgehog Cookies I would be sure to have all the ingredients because they are Charlie's yearlong favorite. What's more, since I was flush with chocolate chips and pecans, I decided to make Nestle's Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies too. I like Charlie's cookies, but I insist on my favorites at Christmas. 

I wound up with 6 1/2 dozen for me and 6 3/4 dozen for him. That should hold us for a while!

2005 - Where Did December Go?

Ah, here it is Jan. 1, so I had better add a postscript to 2005's Christmas baking. Christmas always comes faster than you expect and I was too busy baking and wrapping and shopping to make any more diary entries.

My brother, Michael, went out to Mom's house and made Whoopie Pies, Buckeyes and Nestle's Chocolate Chip Cookies. He's becoming quite the baker!

Lisa made Poor Man's Cake, Snickerdoodles, Magic Cookie Bars and Pillsbury Sugar Cookies (ready-to-bake rolls). Poor Man's Cake has been in our family's recipe box for years.  It's a chocolate quick-bread, studded with raisins, that is traditionally made in a tube (or Bundt) pan. My great-grandmother used to make it, back in the 1940s, when sugar, butter and eggs were rationed. It was a "poor man's" fruit cake that was served at Christmas time. She once accidentally made it with cayenne pepper and the family teased her for years! The recipe itself dates back to the late 1800s.

I've written the recipe down, even though I don't usually make it because Lisa and Aunt Catherine do. The recipe is strange because it's the one Great-Grandma Berghaus used (so I copied it just as she had it). So it doesn't read like a contemporary recipe at all. Still, the results are satisfying.

Mom made loads of cookies and Pumpkin Bread. She and I both love the new Coconut Cream-Filled Macaroons we found in Martha Stewart's Cookies magazine. 

I don't think I'm going to make the Snickerdoodle Pinwheels again. I love making them and they look great — but they're just not cinnamon-y enough for me. I say that about all the Snicks I make. One day, I'll find one that's perfect.

I can't believe I didn't make Sugar Cookies this year. I'll have to get going just as early next year so I can be sure to make them. They need to be made first thing, though, because they take so much time and effort. But they are certainly worth it; and kids love them!

Poor Man's Cake

4 c water

1/2 c oil

1 box raisins (12 oz)

Cook until the raisins are soft.

Sift together:

4 c flour

2 c sugar

3 1/2 tsp spices (ginger, cinnamon, all-spice and cloves)

4 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 c cocoa

Mix the raisins and the water/oil mixture into the dry ingredients.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. 

Obviously, some steps aren't described as well as they could be. For instance, boil the raisins, oil and water for about 3 minutes and let cool completely before adding to the dry ingredients. The measurements for the spices aren't  precise. I should think 1 tsp each of the first three; and 1/2 tsp of the cloves. You should grease and flour (or spray) the cake pan generously. Watch the cake when it's in the oven; it could be done in as little as 30 to 50 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

2004 - The Sweet Smell of Nostalgia

I was going to make another batch of Christmas cupcakes for Charlie's little classmates, but the lady who runs the Montessori school said I shouldn't because they would have enough to carry home from their Christmas party. I do that every time: I ask! If I don't ask, they can't say "no," right? Next time, I'll just show up with my Tupperware carrier tray of baked goods and who's going to resist? But for now, we'll just make another batch for ourselves!

Meanwhile, I made a batch of Nestle's Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. In fact, I'm eating one (or three) right now! Charlie was gobbling them up too, which is funny because he prefers Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies. He must not be able to taste the pecans. They are irresistibly good, though. I got 6 1/2 dozen — I hope that will be enough.

As the kitchen filled with the aroma of chocolate chip cookies, my head filled with memories. Naturally, I thought of Lisa because we've cranked out so many ensemble. I miss having her help and her company. The work is definitely lighter and the cookies twice as tasty, I'm sure!

And I thought of Dad and how he could scarf down a half dozen easily with one cup of coffee. Of course, we had to make his Chocolate Chip Cookies without nuts. I almost want to make Whoopie Pies because of him. I could almost hear him say from the living room, "Bring me a coupla Whoops, Knutie!" 

Grandma Baker in her groovy kitchen of the
1950s. My memories are from the '60s.

And the first bite of one of those moreish sandwich cookies takes me right back to Grandma Baker's kitchen at the old farm house. I'm sure all the grandkids loved that kitchen as much as I did! There was a revolving Lazy Susan in a corner cabinet and a drawer that was actually a flour bin. There was a big chest freezer in the garage, right off the kitchen, where all the cookies were stashed. I made many a trip out there for another bag of cookies to fill a tray. Grandma served those cookies when we arrived, with sandwiches for lunch, after supper, during a card game — all the time!

No doubt she has played a huge role in our love for cookies! And Mom, too, of course. One of my earliest memories is of her casually drawing a smiley-faced cookie on a yellow canister with a green marker pen. Bing Crosby was singing "White Christmas" on the radio as she filled that canister with Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Back to the present: Mom sent us a Christmas care package, including presents and grocery goodies about 10 days ago and it's still not here on Dec. 10. She paid extra to send it express mail too. Lisa is sending me more Wheat Chex so I can make another batch of Chex Party Mix.

Lisa got her care package of cookies from me today! I was on the phone with her when she opened them. What fun! And Danielle told me that she liked the "Hedgehogs" when I talked to her later on the phone. I gave Charlie's teachers a loaf of Pumpkin Bread each, so I'll have to whip up another batch. I have to get busy and bake more cookies too!

1998 - Judy, Judy, Judy!

Thursday was our last day of baking. We made 12 dozen Dunkable Brownies (don't mix double batches by hand, fools!). 

We also made 8 dozen Lime Meltaways, a recipe in Martha Stewart's Holiday magazine. We messed up one batch by somehow adding powdered sugar instead of corn starch! 

A week later, I drove Dad up to Bettsville, Ohio, to visit his relatives. We stayed at his sister, Judy's, house for a few days. He enjoyed it very much because he was surrounded with family and he enjoyed some of his favorite foods that he associated with home, including Sugar Pie and Rivels (a noodle and potato soup). Aunt Judy also had the traditional Baker favorites on her cookie platter: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Buckeyes, Whoopie Pies and more. He was extra tired, though, from all the medication he was on for his multiple myeloma.

One afternoon while he was napping, I brought out the Cookie Diary and a few of my cousins asked to read it. We flipped through the pages around the dining room table and had a few laughs. Aunt Judy copied her Buckeyes recipe into the diary for me and my cousin, Jill, added her recipe for No Bake Cookies. My sister and I had always called that School Fudge, and I didn't know what happened to my recipe so I was tickled to get Jill's version. And even though it wasn't a cookie recipe, I copied Aunt Judy's Sauerkraut Balls into the diary (there's that German heritage again!). I have yet to try them but they sounded yummy at the time.

Aunt Judy, Dad, Grandma Baker and Uncle Bobby, 1998.

It was a nice visit - Dad's last, as it turned out. And little did we know it would be his last Christmas as well.

Jill's No-Bake Cookies

2 c sugar
1 stick oleo (margarine)
4 T cocoa
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c peanut butter
2 1/2 c oatmeal

Boil sugar, oleo, cocoa and milk for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla, peanut butter and oats. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.

Aunt Judy's Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (Buckeyes)

1 stick margarine (1/2 c)
2 c peanut butter
3 c powdered sugar
1 12-oz package chocolate chips

Mix first three ingredients together and roll into small balls. Place in refrigerator to chill.

Melt chocolate in double boiler (or microwave for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes). Drop each peanut butter ball in chocolate to coat. Place on waxed paper to dry. Let cool and enjoy!

1995 - It's All a Blur

From the date on this photo, we evidently 

finished baking before Dec 13: 

Behold our cookie tray from 1995.

Sigh. We were so busy this year. I tried to get Lisa to make the entries this time but she insisted that I'm the writer. Shows what she knows — I failed to make any entries in our beloved Cookie Journal! In fact, it's Dec. 1, 1996, as I write! I promise not be such a slug this year.

Anyway, I am not known for my year-to-year recall and so will have to rely on my memory-queen sister tomorrow (as we begin this year's 1996 baking) for any momentous details — aside from the naturally outstanding flavor and huge, record-breaking quantities.

Here are some notes I found that I had jotted down on one of Lisa's notepads, beefed up with anything she recalled:

We went back to Nestle's Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies instead of the Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies. Such traditionalists! We screwed up the first batch by accidentally doubling (or, in our case, quadrupling) the flour. Yikes! Yield: 20 dozen + 3 + those we ate. We made two double batches eventually.

As usual, we flubbed up in the inventory department and didn't have enough peanut butter to make Peanut Butter Cookies. We sent Lisa's eldest, Michelle, to Melton's Food Mart for another jar and had to settle for Peter Pan brand. Choosy mothers (and aunts) choose Jif. We also adjust though. We doubled the recipe and wound up with 12 3/4 dozen.

We couldn't find the Whoopie Pie recipe but evidently we did because we both remember indulging. They take a bit of time but they're so worth it. (I don't see them in any of the pictures though.)

We also made Sugar Cookies, Brownies Cockaigne and Pumpkin Cookies.

The week before Christmas, we had a sisterly sleepover
(complete with matching Christmas gowns!).

1994 - It's a Wrap

In future baking sessions, I need to take my own plastic measuring spoons with me. Lisa has those vile metal ones and I can't take the metal-on-metal scraping noise! Also, take a rubber spatula for scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl.

We made our usual two pans each of Grandma Baker's Peanut Butter Fingers on Dec 7. We doused them with 12 ounces of chocolate chips again (double what the recipe calls for). 

We made two double batches of Whoopie Pies, making six dozen (73 cookies). We had to go to the store AGAIN for buttermilk, eggs and waxed paper. We used the oven rack again for cooling the cookies before filling them with fluffy vanilla goodness. Despite our generous hands in frosting the sandwiches, we had an abundance left over. We could have easily tripled the recipe instead of quadrupling it! 

We decorated the Sugar Cookies today with Betty Crocker frosting. For decorations, we used stars, candy-coated chocolate pieces, red sugar, green sugar and multi-colored nonpareils. We need to gather our cutters early next year, for the best choice and variety. And we should use as many colors of frosting as possible — making for a more festive array on the cookie trays. Not that they stick around for very long.

Next year, bake more!

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.

1993 - Whoopie!

I really should make a copy of this recipe,
which I copied from Grandma Baker years ago.

We made about 4 dozen Whoopie Pies too because it just wouldn't feel like Christmas at our house without these yumsters. Grandma Baker always had an endless supply of them in her big chest freezer out in the garage when we were growing up. Four dozen seems like a paltry amount for us (especially since Dad can eat about four at a time) but it actually takes two cookies to make one sandwich.

We were a bit concerned about using raw eggs with all the warnings about salmonella now, so we used powdered egg whites for the filling (even though we've been eating raw cookie dough all week!). You couldn't tell the difference at all and they were deemed delish.

Matching up the pairs to make sandwiches can be tricky if one person makes all hers big and I make all mine small. Lisa! 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Blend:

1 c vegetable shortening

2 c granulated sugar

Beat in:

2 eggs

Add:

1 c buttermilk

2 Tbsp vanilla

Sift together, then add:

4 1/2 c sifted all-purpose flour

1 c cocoa

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

Add:

1 c hot tap water

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for eight minutes.

For the filling, beat together:

2 egg whites (or 4 tsp powdered egg whites and 1/4 c water)

Add:

2 Tbsp vanilla

Add:

4 Tbsp flour

Add and beat until creamy:

2 c powdered sugar

Again, add and beat until smooth:

2 c powdered sugar

Pair cookies of similar sizes and fill to make sandwiches.

Yield: about 2 dozen