Chocolate Sandwiches

I need to start this entry with a confession.  I ate four of these cookies for breakfast yesterday morning.  Yes, FOUR.  I'm not prone to that type of sugar crazed bingeing, but this cookie is just that good.  It had been so long since I'd had them that I didn't remember how fantastic they are - the results really blew me away.  Gram didn't make these very often, maybe because they have a couple of steps and take a bit longer to make than a standard cookie does, or maybe because she had the same binging problem I did and just didn't want the temptation!

TO WHOOPIE OR NOT TO WHOOPIE?
I knew that I needed to get these cookies out of my house so I took a couple of plates to friends.  One commented that they looked like cute little mini Whoopie Pies.    Although I grew up in the Western U.S., I knew that Whoopie Pies are an East Coast tradition - Maine and Pennsylvania fight over where the Whoopie orginates from (see info on the origin controversy here) - it got me wondering about how close to a Whoopie Pie was this?

As it turns out, very close - there are small differences in the cookie recipe - Gram's calls for both baking powder and soda, white sugar rather than brown, and 1/2 C of cocoa rather than 1/4 as the majority of traditional Whoopie Pie recipes do.  It seems that the filling has a singular ingredient that makes them special - marshmallow fluff.   Gram's filling recipe calls for a bit more powdered sugar and some milk which I didn't see in any Whoopie Pie recipes I found.  There is more Whoopie Pie history here - it's pretty interesting.

I never heard of Whoopie Pies until I moved to the East Coast a decade ago, so I'll stick to calling Gram's version Chocolate Sandwiches, or better yet, what my Brother and I used to call them - "Homemade Oreos".  That isn't technically the most accurate description since the chocolate part of the cookie is really like cake rather than a crisp biscuit, but hey, we were five.

With Halloween coming up I thought these would be cute with a little orange food coloring added to the filling.  Along that vein, you could add green for St. Patrick's Day, maybe even adding some mint extract.  Enjoy the possibilities!

CHOCOLATE SANDWICHES
1/2 C shortening (I used margarine)
1 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 C whole milk
2 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C cocoa

FILLING
1/2 C shortening (I used butter)
2 C powdered sugar
1 C marshmallow whip (sometimes called "fluff" or "creme")
1 tsp vanilla
1 T whole milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Using the whisk attachment for either a stand or handheld mixer (this is a batter rather than a dough), cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, then add egg and mix until fully incorporated.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Add flour mixture in two parts to butter mixture, alternating with milk until batter is thoroughly mixed.  Add vanilla.   Using 1" scoop, drop batter 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet, keeping keep batter drops as round and similar in size as possible.   Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, let cool on sheet before moving to cooling rack.

To make filling, cream shortening and powdered sugar with stand or handheld mixer on low speed.  Add marshmallow whip, milk and vanilla, beating until fully combined.  Spread generous amount of filling on cookie bottom and put together to make sandwiches.   Makes about 2 1/2 dozen sandwich cookies.

Molasses Cookies

When I started school, my regular participation in our family coffee breaks ended.  Thankfully Gram and I started our own after school snack time.  My favorite memory of Molasses Cookies is introducing them to the girl who would become my long-time best friend on our first day of Kindergarten.   When school ended that first day, my future BF was waiting for her Mom to come pick her up.  At five years old I knew that some of my Gram's cookies and a glass of milk was far preferable to waiting around the school yard for your ride, so I gathered her up and we walked the three blocks to Gram's.  Molasses Cookies were in the cookie jar that day.  Thankfully it was small town so it didn't take long for my new best friend's mom to find her!

Most people would probably call these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, our family has always called them Molasses Cookies.   The recipe came from the Home Ec. class that either my Uncle or my Dad would have taken in the 1950's.  

Having made this cookie before, I knew there were a few experiments I wanted to make.  Gram's version was soft and cakey but my preparation using the recipe as written has always resulted in a dense chewy cookie - delicious but not the cookie I was hoping for.

In an effort to get closer to Gram's Molasses Cookie, I did a bit of research on how to achieve a more cakey style of cookie.  I'd assumed that Gram just added flour, maybe an egg.  It's my belief she added flour to almost all of her cookies.  I found a lot of information out there, apparently there a number of ways to achieve this.  I found a great link to an episode of Food Network's Good Eats where Alton Brown demonstrates the science behind crispy, chewy, and cakey cookies.  Alton is always entertaining and informative, check it out here.

I decided I would experiment in two ways - the type of cookie sheet I used and by adding flour.  Using a dark sheet required some modifications to the preparation - I lowered the oven temperature from 400 degrees to 350, and reduced the cooking time from 14 minutes to 9.  I found that the darker cookie sheet did result in less "spread" of the cookie, but the cookie was not noticablely cakier, just denser.  Another problem with using the dark sheet was that the bottoms got too brown for my liking even when placing the sheet on the upper oven rack when baking.

On to my second modification - adding flour.  I started adding by 1/4 cup at a time and started to see the cookie I was shooting for.  Ultimately I ended up adding an additional full cup of flour to achieve the consistency I remembered Gram's being.  Thankfully all iterations tasted just fine!

MOLASSES COOKIES
1 C shortening
2 C sugar
3 eggs
3/4 C molasses
3 - 4 C flour
2 tsp soda
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
4 C oatmeal
2 C raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream sugar and shortening with handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.  Whisk together dry ingredients including oatmeal in large bowl.  Slowly add flour mixture to shortening mixture until well mixed.  Stir in raisins.  Using 1" scoop, place dough on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

Using the dark sheet with and without parchment

The end result after adding 3/4 Cup flour - almost there!

From L to R - (1) Recipe as Written (2) Using Dark Sheet
(3) With Additional 1/2 C Flour (4) With Additional 1 C Flour 

Bottoms of Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

This week's selection is a request from my husband.  Truthfully, Peanut Butter was his second choice - his first was Chocolate Chip.  That request forced me into an admission I was hoping I wouldn't have to make quite so soon.  My deep dark cookie secret is that my Gram's Chocolate Chip Cookies were pretty mediocre.  My Mom's were far superior - softer, chewier, and with more chocolate chips.  There, I've written it out loud, the only criticism of my dear sweet Gram I've ever made.

My Mom also made these Peanut Butter Cookies, so I'm not sure which of them originated the recipe, but both made them quite well.  So many Peanut Butter cookies - especially those commercially prepared - are so soft and chewy I often think they are undercooked.  They frequently leave a grease spot on your napkin big enough to require industrial grade oil spill clean up material.  Yuck!   I really like this version - they are soft in the middle, a little more crispy - delicate even - towards the outside edges.  They are fun to make too - I remember I loved getting to make the fork indentations when I was a kid.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
1 C shortening
1 C sugar + some for rolling
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 C peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream shortening and sugars until light and fluffy, add egg until combined, then add peanut butter and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated.  Sift in dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.   Make cookies using 1 inch scoop, then make dough into balls with hands. Roll dough balls in sugar and place on parchment lined baking sheet.  With fork, press dough to flatten cookie, then again to create a cross-hatch pattern.  Bake cookies 12 - 14 minutes until golden brown.  Transfer to wire racks to cool.

 

Coconut Oat Crispies

With this recipe I came up against something I expected would happen eventually, aside from all this baking being counterproductive to my post baby weight loss efforts!   One of the purposes of my baking efforts is to replicate my Gram's goodies.  I expected that the effect of elevation on baking would prevent my results from being exact recreations since my current location is just above sea level at 717 feet, whereas my hometown is at 4100 feet.   I assume that Gram's recipes had already been adapted for high elevation baking.  (Good info on high elevation baking can be found here.)  Also, I've come to suspect that Gram often added flour, and perhaps even occasionally an egg to certain recipes to make them have a "cakier" consistency that she preferred.

For me, these cookies turned out moister and chewier than those I remember from childhood.  They are however, absolutely delicious, and because they have oatmeal, I like to consider them a health food!  They are great with coffee or milk.  I used margarine rather than shortening.

COCONUT OAT CRISPIES
1 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
1 C shortening  (see notes on Ginger Snap entry for more info about shortening)
2 C coconut
1 C oatmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 C flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and set aside.  Cream sugars and shortening until light and fluffy with hand or stand mixer with paddle attachment.  Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated.   Slowly add dry ingredients until just combined.  Using 1 inch scoop, form cookies and place on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 - 14 minutes until light brown around edges.  Transfer to rack to cool.  Makes about 6 1/2 dozen.

Ginger Snaps

Scandinavians love their spiced sweets in a variety of forms.  Gram's recipe box has cards for three different types of ginger cookies along with a number of spiced breads and cakes.  Thankfully these are flavors I love, so I'm looking forward to trying them all!  First up is the classic Ginger Snap Cookie.   I would have a really hard time picking a favorite cookie from when I was a kid but these Ginger Snaps would definitely be in contention.   I think they were my Gram's favorite too, but she would have never made such an admission.

These are crispy snaps not soft chewy ones (I do have a recipe for those that will be posted at a later time) and are the quintessential dunking cookie.  I didn't develop a taste for coffee until college, but Gram used to pour just a tiny bit for me to dunk these in.  I would submerge them for just the right amount of time to be sure that the cookie didn't get so saturated that it broke off and fell of into my cup, then I would suck out the ginger sweetened coffee before biting into the coffee soaked cookie.  Mmm, delicious!

I experimented a bit with the rolling sugars - I rolled half in regular granulated sugar, and the other half in courser demerara sugar.  In a very unscientific poll the verdict was split.  I preferred the delicacy of the regular sugar probably due to my taste memories of these cookies, but my husband and a few friends liked the texture the demerara sugar added to the cookie.  You can't miss either way!  Next time I make these I may further experiment using flavored sugar, perhaps orange, cinnamon, or ginger.   I made these prior to deciding to do the blog, so sorry, no pics for this one.

CRISPY GINGER SNAPS

4 C flour

2 T ginger

4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 C shortening (see notes below)

2 C sugar

2 eggs

1/2 C molasses

Sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk dry ingredients in large bowl and set aside.  Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy with hand or stand mixer.  Add eggs one at a time to shortening mixture until combined, then add molasses.  Slowly incorporate dry ingredients until just combined.  Separate dough into 2 - 3 equal parts and wrap in plastic.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.  

Working with refrigerated dough one portion at a time (leave remaining parts in fridge until ready to use), use 1" scoop to form cookie, then shape with hands, and roll in sugar. Bake 14 - 16 minutes, transfer to wire rack to cool.  Makes about 8 1/2 dozen cookies.

THE SHORT STORY ON FATS

Many of Gram's recipes call for shortening, which strictly speaking is vegetable shortening, brand-named CRISCO.  I don't remember Gram using Crisco for baking, however I'm sure she must have at times.  Typically, I believe she substituted margarine for shortening.  I did a bit of research on this - if interested Google "substitutions for shortening in recipes" and you'll get a dearth of information - and learned that when substituting margarine or butter for shortening you should add 1 tablespoon per cup to accommodate for the water content in margarine and butter.   So in this recipe, use 1 1/2 C + 1 1/2 Tablespoons (4 1/2 tsp) butter or margarine.

I used margarine in keeping with my recollections of what Gram did, but when I have the time, I plan to make batches with each shortening, margarine, and butter and do a bit of a side by side taste test.  I will post my findings.

Mrs. Paulson's Banana Bread

My first recipe selection was made due to the fact that I had some very ripe bananas needing to be used up.  Alice would appreciate the practicality of my choice!

I've been making this recipe for years, so I have had my own written version for a while.  When I looked at the original from Gram's box, I noticed something that I did not remember - the recipe came from Mrs. Paulson.  Mrs. Paulson was Gram's Mother In-Law, my Great Grandmother.

This is a simple basic recipe for banana bread, it has a nice moist and dense consistency and good banana flavor.   It takes no time at all to whip up, and could easily be made in pinch as long as you have ripe bananas on hand.

The recipe makes 2 loaves.  I used two different style pans, and found that the pan choice made a big difference in the outcome.  I used one of my fancy heavy non stick loaf pans, and an old smaller, lighter, thinner pan, that actually had been Gram's.   It is about 7.5x4x2, made of aluminum, and is similar to the pan found at this link.  I preferred the results from her pan - the loaf baked more evenly and was consequently moist throughout where as the larger pan required a longer cooking time, and the bread was more "well done" on the bottom - darker in color and dryer.  A bonus is that the smaller pan has rounded corners and it is much easier to clean.

Many recipes for banana bread call for cinnamon, this does not but 1/2 to 1 tsp could be added for a little extra goodness.  Gram would never, ever have put chocolate chips in her banana bread but I think that chocolate and bananas were made for one another, so you could replace the nuts with 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips for a sweeter and delicious bread.

MRS. PAULSON'S BANANA BREAD
1 C sugar
1/2 C butter
2 eggs
3 T sour milk (Who keeps sour milk on hand anymore?  This can be made by adding a couple drops of lemon juice or vinegar to the milk and let it set for a few minutes.)
3 mashed very ripe bananas
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 C flour
1 C nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour two loaf pans.

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy with handheld or stand mixer.  Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated, then add milk and bananas to mixture.  Combine remaining dry ingredients in a large bowl and combine well, then add slowly to banana mixture and beat on low until just combined.  Divide batter into prepared pans.

Bake 45 - 1 hour until tester comes out clean.

Coffee Breaks at Gram's

This blog is inspired by my Grandmother Alice Peterson's recipe box.  I was fortunate to inherit that recipe box, and several years ago while perusing it, I thought of the idea of making something from it each week.  Reliving childhood memories in the form of warm cookies and the smell of spices flooding my kitchen was tempting but my life didn't really allow for much baking time so the idea was tabled.  

I've recently become a stay at home mom looking for a project (or perhaps a distraction!).   I never intended to formalize my little baking expeditions but I was convinced by some friends there may be a broader interest, so I've started taking photos and making notes on my efforts.

A bit of background for some explanation of how I got here.  I grew up living next door to Grandma and Grandpa Pete (as we called them when needing to differentiate between sets of grandparents) which meant that not only did my older brother or I ever have a babysitter, we always had an alternative if we didn't like what our mom was fixing for dinner!  Gram took her role as housewife and grandmother very seriously.  She was a Norwegian married to a Swede, so twice daily coffee breaks complete with a freshly baked sweet was genetically mandated.

Grandma was a good cook and a very good baker.  She was not a gourmet, nor did any of her recipes call for fancy or expensive ingredients, complicated techniques or equipment.  There were no gadgets in her kitchen, except perhaps the ricer, used to make lefse, a wonderful Norwegian soft flatbread made with potatoes. All of her dishes and recipes were very simple but delicious.  I don't know that any of her recipes were her own creations, some may have been, but most came from friends and family, community cookbooks, the back of packages, or even the local newspaper. 

The plan is that more or less each week I will dip into Gram's recipe box and make something to go along with my morning and afternoon coffee breaks (no matter how hard I've tried, these breaks are habits I just have not been able to shake).  I will post the recipes, notes, some photos and perhaps a bit of commentary.  I may experiment with some, where as others will be best left to a purist approach.  I'm so looking forward to my time in the kitchen with Gram looking over my shoulder!  I welcome any thoughts, comments, ideas, and suggestions.