Dispensing Happiness
Great, great cookies
.For my very first Sugar High Friday (!), I give you a multi-generational recipe:
Molasses Cookies.
I realize molasses cookies aren't an earth-shattering entry. But these cookies have meaning. To us, at least.
See, the recipe for these cookies comes from Alex's great-great-grandmother! The recipe, according to Matt's grandmother's notes, most likely date to (at least) World War I; a time when sugar was rationed. Molasses was commonly used as a sweetener in baking.
Such lovely cookies!
There's just a hint of spice; ginger, cinnamon and clove. You really pick up the molasses, which is (of course) the point. A bit cake-y, very light. (yes, I tried one)
After all, a recipe doesn't work through five generations if it's bad, does it?
posted by Stephanie @ 1:18 PM
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7 Thoughts for food:
I might mention that the recipe is open to a certain amount of interpretation. For example, my usually very precise grandmother indicated that the quantity of ginger, clove, and cinnamon was "a bit."
Stephanie - the cookies look delicious! It's fun to make old family recipes isn't it? I have some that some day I'm going to get around to trying - problem is they're so cryptic. They're more like a rough sketches of recipes.
Thanks, Cathy!
Oh, they are really good cookies. I've actually eaten a few!
I suppose we're all supposed to know those fundamental cooking and baking things...like 1 lb. flour/butter/sugar/eggs=cake! Back then, I think they really were guidelines with assumptions!
Stephanie - these cookies look great! And you can never go wrong with a recipe that has been passed down through four generations...I have a few of those myself!
Thanks for joining us on SHF this month - great to have you and hope to see you next month!
Thank you, Jennifer! I'm thrilled to get a compliment from the creater of SHF herself.
And now that I know about the event, and more importantly...how to find out when the next one is...you can expect to hear from each month!
> I think they really were guidelines with assumptions!
[puts on historian hat, which is never too far away]
You're entirely correct. Before the combination of standardized measurements and tools for accurate measurement of both time and temperature (which happened in the late 19th century), recipes consisted of a discussion of ingredients and techniques, much as many bloggers post, but they were written for people who already knew more or less what they were doing. I was hoping to find a translation of Apicus's De Re Coquinaria, the earliest known cookbook, which is a perfect example, but alas it's only available on-line in Latin.
Thanks, honey!
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