Should They Stay or Should They Go? by Karla Stover

 

Parlor Girls

Wynter's Way

A Line to Murder

Murder, When One Isn't Enough

   It's that time again; time to think about Christmas cookies. For a while the women at the office where I worked swapped cookies which may be how I ended up with some of these recipes, but then most of the women began buying  boxes at the grocery story hoping to exchange some of them for what those of us who baked, baked. So not fair. Glad I retired.

    I don't make near as many cookies as I used to, no matter what time of the year, but when the various clubs in my garden club district meet, my club usually has a bake sale, everything a dollar or fifty cents so out comes my collection of recipes.

    Here's one called Wheat Sticks that I got from Mary, ( last name long forgotten ) a former co-worker. I don't think I ever made them. Mary claimed to have issues with white sugar so the Wheat Sticks have brown sugar plus nuts, cocoanut, and both whole wheat and white flour. I don't generally have wheat flour around and don't know why I hold on to the recipe.

    Vera's Biscotti is a recipe my mom got from an Italian co-worker. Anise makes it a good cookie but biscotti it is not! You roll the dough into a ball to bake and then while still warm, glaze the balls - - very messy to eat. 

    Snow Flakes is a recipe a British friend gave me. It has grated orange peel and cream cheese instead of butter. The dough is supposed to go through a cookie press so you can make cute shapes but I can never get the dough to stick to a cookie sheet. I usually roll a ball and press it with a fork-- not particularly attractive. They taste good, through.

    Dad brought home the recipe for Danish Pastry. It's pretty easy to make,  press a crust onto a cookie sheet and cover it with a layer of eggs and things, bake and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cut into squares. The eggs create a puffy top. Almond extract gives it a yummy flavor.

    As I go through my collection I find two more of Mary's recipes, one for Half-way Cookies and one for Indians. Both have white sugar. Did she make these before her white-sugar-issue or did she get over it?  I also have instructions for making Brownies ala Lucy Johnson the president's daughter which I cut out of the paper: Mom's oatmeal cookies and favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe; Bacon Grease cookies from the war and my grandmother's Vinegar cookies (love 'em). Molasses cookies with raisins and Madeline's (not worth the effort.) So many recipes I will probably never make

    And in the end I ran out of the time it takes to bake cookies so I made mini loaves of orange bread and then forgot to take them to the sale. (Heavy sigh) But it didn't matter. Most all the other members really came through and we made over $200.

    Holidays are never easy. And should some of these recipes stay or should they go?