Chocolate Cookies

Attributed to Neva Radowski. I grew up in Alpena, MI, a city with many people of Polish descent. Names that end in “ski” were pretty common there, so I’m assuming this is from a friend of Mom’s from our Alpena days.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 squares melted chocolate [presumably baking chocolate]
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1.75 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup nuts
[Enough of your favorite frosting to frost the cookies]

To do:
Place butter, sugar, and eggs in bowl and beat until creamy Add melted chocolate. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk. [Flour, then milk, then baking powder, I guess?] Add vanilla and nuts. Chill for a few minutes while you preheat the oven to 400F. Drop from spoon on cookie sheet and bake 12–12 minutes. When cool frost with your favorite frosting. [This seems like gilding the lily, but ok.]

Peanut Butter Balls

I just skipped past a few cards with no directions at all (and they were different enough that I wasn’t sure about my “mix it all, bake at 350F for 12 minutes and hope” methodology) or that seemed to be clipped from a potentially copywritten source.

This recipe was attributed to Thelma Small. I believe she was Mom’s aunt. Mom’s mom and dad each had ~11 siblings, so there were a whole lot of aunts and uncles in the mix.

This recipe supposedly makes 100 balls.

Ingredients:
6 cups Rice Krispies
3 cups powdered sugar
2 lb jar of smooth peanut butter (not Jiff [I’m not sure why not Jiff, but that’s what the card says])
1.25 pounds chocolate, melted in a double boiler [chocolate chips would probably melt the quickest—it just says “candy (chocolate)” so I’d go with semi-sweet]

To do:
[The recipe doesn’t specify, but I’m assuming you’ll mix together the Rice Krispies, sugar, and peanut butter. Then roll into ~100 balls.] Dip each ball in chocolate. Use a fork for remaining [undipped areas, presumably]. Place on wax paper.

M & M Party Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2.5–2.75 cups sifted flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1.5 cups M&M candies

To do:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Blend shortening and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs. Sift dry ingredients togther; add to the wet ingredients. Mix well. Stir in 1/2 cup of the M&Ms. Drop by the teaspoon full onto ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate the tops of the cookies with the remaining M&Ms. Bake for 10–12 minutes until golden brown.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m skipping right past a recipe card for Mrs. Baumler anise cookies. Half of the directions are cut off, and the ingredient list doesn’t include anything that would provide an anise flavor. Mrs. Baumler, if you’re reading this and would like to share your full recipe, please comment on this post.

Anyway, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies seem like something for people who love oatmeal cookie texture but don’t like raisins. Poor souls. This one is attributed to Janet Boyd.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 TBS hot water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups oatmeal
1 pkg chocolate chips
nutmeats (no quantity listed—add as your fondness for nuts demands)

To do:
Preheat oven to 350F. There are no other directions on the card, except to bake for 12 minutes. Why do the eggs need to be unbeaten? Won’t they need to be mixed in with everything else at some point? Or are there going to be a couple of cookies topped with baked eggs? That seems unlikely. Anyway, were I to try this I would mix all the wet ingredients and the sugar together. Then I’d mix all the dry ingredients except for the chocolate and nuts together. I’d then mix the wet and dry things together, mix in the chips and nuts, and drop by the spoonful on a greased cookie sheet.

Date Squares

This was on a scrap of paper carefully folded and placed in a plastic sleeve. It doesn’t look half bad.

Ingredients:
Filling:
8 oz dates, cut into small pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup boiling water

Crumb mixture:
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp soda
1.5 cup sifted flour
1.5 cup oatmeal.

To do:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Cook filling ingredients in a saucepan until they’re thick. Mix crumb mixture and put half in the bottom of a 9 inch pan. Spread the date mixture on top of the crumb mixture. Top with remaining crumb mixture. Bake for an unlisted time. [I’d start with 12-15 minutes and increase until it looks done.] Cool and cut into squares.

Pineapple Cookies

Attributed to Rachel Cassidy.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 pt. canned crushed pinapple
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup nutmeats
4 cups flour

To do:
Preheat oven to 350
Mix all ingredients. Spoon onto baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Harriet Selmer Cookies/Cereal Cookies

This is attributed to Aunt Jane who may, given the title, have gotten it from Harriet Selmer.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 cup w. syrup [I don’t know what this is. Light corn syrup, maybe?]
1 cup peanut butter
6 cups cereal
1 cup melted chocolate chips

To do:
Mix syrup and sugar in sauce pan, and heat until the sugar melts. Don’t boil. Add peanut butter and mix. Pour over cereal and press into pan. Top with chocolate.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Attributed to Mrs. Don Julien. I do not remember this person or eating these cookies.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 cup mashed banana
1.5 cups oatmeal
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup nuts

To do:
Preheat oven to 400F
Cream together sugar and shortening. Add the egg, banana, and oatmeal. Sift in the flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir in nuts. [Presumably one drops spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.] Bake 12-15 minutes.

Butter Scotch Brownies

Attributed to Bess Mitchell.

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 well beaten egg
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp soda [presumably baking soda]
1 cup chopped nuts

To do:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Add sugar and vanilla to egg. Mix well. Sift together flour, salt, and soda. Stir into sugar mixture. Stir in nuts. Spread batter in greased 8 x 8 x 2 pan. Bake for 20 minutes. While warm cut into squares. Cool before removing from pan.

Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins

To do:
Preheat oven to 350F
Cream together shortening and both sugars. [Aside from a baking time there aren’t any further directions. I’m assuming one would beat the egg, add the water, and add both to the sugar/shortening mixture. Then one would mix the remaining dry ingredients together. And then one would mix the wet with the dry and plop onto a greased cookie sheet in large spoonfuls.] Bake for 12-15 minutes.