A Crowd-pleaser for New Year's

You're busier'n a one-armed-paper-hanger, putting the last touches on the decorations for your New Year's bash, and who calls to say she and all her little curtain-climbers are showing up on your doorstep in two hours? Aunt Mary with her bazillion kids.
A quick glance at your refreshment buffet convinces you it will handle your invited guests with a little left over. But a whole tribe of extras? Not a chance! What are you gonna do now?

While the following recipe may not be from pioneer days, I've used it every Christmas/New Year's for over 40 years. A universal crowd-pleaser, it never fails to be the first treat to disappear. And, fortunately, it doesn't take all that long to make.

WALNUT BARS                                                                                          350F. Oven

Crust -
Cream together (use a fork and cream until about the consistency of coarse meal):

1/2     C. Butter (I always use baking margarine with perfect results)
1 1/2  C. Flour

Line bottom and 1/2" up the sides of a 9"X13" cake pan. Bake 15 min. DO NOT BROWN.

While crust is baking, prepare filling:

Combine:
1 1/2   C Brown Sugar, packed (I prefer C & H DARK BROWN - it has a fantastic flavor)
2         T. Flour
1/2       t.  Baking Powder
1          t.  Salt (optional - I never use salt in my baking)

Add:
2              Beaten eggs
1/2      C. Coconut
1/2      C. Chopped walnuts
1          t.  Vanilla (I have to admit, folks, I always figure if a little bit of vanilla is good, a little bit more is better so I just pour in a half-ways generous glug)

When crust is baked, remove from oven. Pour filling in and spread evenly. Return to oven and bake additional 30 minutes.

While filling is baking, prepare icing:
1 1/2      C. Powdered sugar, (sifted if you're a purist who doesn't want lumps)
2            T.  Orange Juice
2            T.  Lemon Juice
2            T.  Melted butter

Now, again, I don't exactly follow the recipe to the letter. I don't buy butter because I can't digest it so I use baking margarine and that works just fine. Also, I prefer my icing to be a little tangier and have a little more body so I use fresh-squeezed orange and lemon juices and add a little of the pulp for extra zing. I also use more like 2 1/2 C. Powdered Sugar and I rarely bother to sift it. A mixer generally does an adequate job and if it doesn't and I have time, I mash any residual lumps with a fork.

Once filling is baked, remove from oven and cut into bars (I get 24 to a 9X13 pan) then spread on the icing, letting it drizzle down into the cracks.

These bars keep very well in an air-tight container. They don't have to be refrigerated although they can be both refrigerated and frozen. But you'll have to hide them. If the family knows where you've stored 'em, they won't last till the party.

HAPPY EATING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

gingerbread cookies - and a big oops from my childhood

When I was a kid growing up in Nephi's home, Mathilde made a gingerbread cookie that I loved. I believe her version was passed on to her in the late 1920s by a friend from Iowa but I found this earlier version that was widely used in southern Illinois before 1850.

Anyway, I liked the cookie so well I chose it as my first cooking experience. And what an experience it was! Mathilde's friend used coffee instead of water to give it a little extra zing. Mathilde didn't drink coffee; she drank postum. So she wrote out the recipe with 1/2 C postum as one of the ingredients.

Nobody thought to tell me that was supposed to be postum that was made up as a drink rather than 1/2 C of straight postum granules.

Sometimes lessons come learned the hard way.

Anyway, I'm sharing the version of gingerbread cookies that calls for hot water, nothing added. These make very fine gingerbread men or stars or angels or whatever other shapes you want to use. We used a simple powdered sugar frosting but I always thought they were just as good plain.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine:
     1    C. granulated sugar
     1    C. molasses (then rinse molasses from cup with the hot water)
   3/4   C. oil
   1/2   C. hot water

Add and mix:
     2         eggs

Sift together then combine with liquid ingredients:
     1     tsp  soda
     1     tsp  cinnamon
     1 heaping tsp  ginger
    1/2   tsp salt (optional)
     7     C   flour

Use more flour if needed to make a soft-but-not-sticky dough. Refrigerate through. Roll out on an oiled surface and cut with cookie cutters.
Bake approximately 10 minutes or until slightly browned on bottom

This will make nearly 350 small thin gingerbread men but I like fat gingerbread cookies so I roll the dough out fairly thick.

I never measure the ingredients for my powdered sugar icing. This is one of those recipies where you get to experiment.

SIMPLE POWDERED SUGAR ICING
1  dollup of margarine or butter - your choice (and a dollup may be around a heaping desert spoon size - I've made this so many times I just scoop some up and toss it in.)
1 good glug of vanilla ( I like a real vanilla flavor to go with this cookie - but, then, I like a strong vanilla flavor in about anything.)
Maybe a tablespoon of milk.

Mix above ingredients together then add powdered sugar until it's the consistency you like to use.
If you're a purist, you can sift the sugar first. I generally don't take the time.

This icing recipe can be used in many ways. I've used it to frost cakes when I was in too much of a hurry to do a lot of decorating. Substitute the vanilla with orange flavoring and it goes really well with sugar cookies. Use lemon juice instead of vanilla and only use enough powdered sugar to make a thin icing and it's perfect for bear claws - a popular recipe using one of Mathilda's bread recipies as a basis. I'll share that recipe another time.

A great pioneer soup for a cold night

One of the earliest settlers in the Jackson Hole valley, and a member of the Cunningham Cabin posse, was Steven Leek. While I never knew him, I worked for his daughter, Mrs. Leonora Quinn, in her later years. She was a lovely old lady and I enjoyed sitting and talking with her after I’d cleaned her house and carefully dusted the beautifully carved furniture she and her late husband had carted over the AlCan highway. 

Mrs Quinn was a woman who knew how to cook and she didn’t mind sharing if it meant I’d stay a little longer and keep her company. I was only too happy to oblige. One of the recipes she shared with me was a superb soup that my children – now long since grown – love to this day. It’s great for cold winter evenings. I’d like to share this old recipe with you, updated for today’s cooks.

Mrs.   Quinn’s Soup 

In a large heavy saucepan:

Melt:               ½ C.                 butter (or margarine)

Whip in:          2  C.                 flour to make a smooth paste

Stir in:             ½  Gal.                        hot water

Heat 

Meantime in another pan:

Saute:              2 C.                 ground beef (1 ½ lb.) Drain off grease. Add to soup.

Add:                1 C. each

                                                Chopped onion

                                                Chopped carrots

                                                Chopped celery

Parboil all

Add                 2 C.                 Frozen mixed veggies

                        1 lg.can           Tomatoes

                        1 Tbsp             Accent (optional - I never use it)

                        2 Tbsp             Beef bouillon or beef-flavored soup base

                        2 Tbsp             Worchestershire sauce

                        1 Tbsp.            Black pepper

Reduce to simmer and cook until vegetables are done. Serve. 

This soup may be either frozen or canned with great results.