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 preparation.

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.

Modern American Cookie Recipes

1. Queens Gingerbread Mix
2. Overnight Gingerbread
3. Butterscotch Cakes
4. Butterscotch Cookies
5. Butter Cookies
6. American Short Bread
7. Brown Sugar Short Bread
8. Hard Gingerbread
9. Orange Wafers
10. Peanut Wafers
11. Walnut Wafers
12. Oatmeal Wafers
13. Almond Wafers
14. Coconut Wafers
15. Plain Jumbles
16. Fried Jumbles
17. Cinnamon Fruit Cookies
18. Quick Filled Cookies
19. Filled Cookies
20. Christmas Fruit Cookies
21. Fruit Drop Cookies
22. Raisin Cookies
23. Hard Fruit and Nut Cakes
24. Date Drops
25. Nut Cookies
26. Chocolate Pecan Cookies
27. Plain Meringues
28. Nut Meringues
29. Date and Nut Meringues
30. Cinnamon Nut Meringues
31. Almond Macaroons
32. Peanut Macaroons
33. Pecan Macaroons
34. Coconut Macaroons
35. Coconut Meringues
36. Coconut Balls
37. Lady Fingers
38. Banana Drop Cookies

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.

2. Overnight Gingerbread

Sift together

4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
1 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.

3. Butterscotch Cakes

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.

4. Butterscotch Cookies

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 coconut grated

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the molasses, flour and coconut 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 removing them from the pans.

5.Butter Cookies

Here is an ice box cookie that is certainly the old dressed up all new. Just butter, eggs, sugar and flour. No flavoring. 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.

6. American Short Bread

Liberties were taken with Scotch Short Bread in formulating 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.

8. Hard Gingerbread

Sift together:

8 cups flour
1 cup lard
1 tsp. ginger
1 cup sugar
1 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.

9. Orange Wafers

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 possible. 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.

10. Peanut Wafers

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.

11. Walnut Wafers

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.

12. Oatmeal Wafers

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.

13. Almond Wafers

1/2 cup almonds blanched and ground
1 tbsp. milk

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.

14. Coconut Wafers

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 coconut grated
5 egg yolks well beaten
5 egg whites beaten stiff

Cream the butter and sugar together. Work in the ingredients 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.

15. Plain Jumbles

Jumbles are very old. These jumbles, also known as jumbals, were made into a stiff dough and formed into little rings with the hands.

3 cups flour sifted
1/2 cup butter creamed
1cup sugar
4 eggs well beaten
1 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 cinnamon and bake at 400° F. until light brown.

16. Fried Jumbles

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.

18. Quick Filled Cookies

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 chopped
3 tbsp. heavy cream
1 cup powdered sugar sifted
1/4 cup nuts ground
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.

19. Filled Cookies

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 chopped
1/2 cup water
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 coconut

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.

21. Fruit Drop Cookies

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 coconut 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 and ground
1 cup sugar

Bake the cakes at 400° F. for about fifteen minutes.

22. Raisin Cookies

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.

These cookies will keep for several months.

24. Date Drops

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 buttered pan nine by thirteen inches and bake at 350° F. for
thirty minutes. Cut into narrow strips while warm and roll in powdered sugar.

25. Nut Cookies

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.

27. Plain Meringues

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 success 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 meringues while hot. Recipe makes six meringues to serve as a base for ice cream, etc.

28. Nut Meringues

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 and chopped
1 cup sugar

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.

31. Almond Macaroons

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.

32. Peanut Macaroons

1/2 lb. roasted peanuts un-blanched, ground through a food chopper
1/2 tbsp. flour sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
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.

33. Pecan Macaroons

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.

34. Cocoanut Macaroons

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.

35. Coconut Meringues

4 egg whites beaten dry
1 cup coconut 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.

36. Cocoanut Balls

These are very much like the old-fashioned cocoanut biscuits which Virginia housewives take such pride in making. 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 Afternoon Tea.

1 lb. cocoanut
2 cups sugar
1 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.

37. Lady Fingers

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:

1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup cake flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar sifted with flour 3 times
1/2 tsp. salt
2 egg yolks beaten ten minutes
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 fingers by using a pastry bag and tube. Bake at 325° F. for eighteen to twenty minutes.

38. Banana Drop Cookies

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 ripe (2 to 3 bananas)
1/4 teaspoon ginger

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 11/4 inches apart, onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350° F. to 375° F. for 12 to 15 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen.

Related Posts

No related posts found

Related Posts

No related posts found