Coffee Break With Alice: Grandma Iverson Cookies

My post this week takes a cross-family turn. I mentioned in a previous post that recipe trading was a regular occurrence at gatherings which often included members from both sides of my family. My featured recipe today is in Gram's recipe box but comes from my great-grandmother Jesse Corbin Iverson. She is my mom's maternal grandmother.

Jesse Corbin, 1909

I remember Grandma Iverson well. I was six when she passed away at age 96. By that time her mobility was pretty limited, she was all but deaf, and spent her days napping and reading in her favorite chair. I recently learned more about her life as a young woman on the Montana prairie, and I wish I would have had the opportunity to talk to her about it first hand.

Photography and scrapbooking are my other hobbies, and I had the great fortune of discovering a treasure trove of family history a couple of years ago when I went through Grandma Iverson's photo albums. What I learned might just be my next online project - her photography documenting life on the Western Plains is nothing short of fantastic. Through Grandma's photos I felt I got the chance to meet her has a young woman and gained insight on her life and family I hadn't previously had. What a gift she left us!

Corbin's New House on the Homestead
Circa 1912

My great-grandma had moved to Montana from Illinois with her family in 1909 at age 27. The Corbin family homesteaded in a place that can only kindly be described as God's Country, southeast of the cowboy and sheep town of Roundup. Even now it is mostly sage brush, rock and dry rolling hills as far as you can see. It was a pretty hardscrabble life for a family of 8 kids - some of whom were already grown - and their parents. They lived off the land and worked it as a family. As the siblings grew older and married, some stayed for a while but all eventually left except for Grandma and her younger brother Louis. Her parents went back to Illinois. Grandma had married in 1914 and stayed on the homestead where she raised three children (two others died by age 3) until her 80's when she moved into town with her daughter, my grandmother Ellen. My aunt and uncle still live, farm and ranch on the "home place".

Grandma was not known for her cooking skills. As a matter of fact, I've heard it said that everyone calls this recipe "Grandma Iverson Cookies" because that was all she knew how to make. I guess if you can only do one thing, it should be good, and thankfully this is!

I likely never ate any of these cookies that were made by Grandma herself - she was probably done baking by the time I came on the scene, but many members of my family make them, each with slightly different results - all delicious! One aunt has the reputation for recreating them most accurately. There are a few theories as to why the results vary - the most plausible is that only making them by hand results in the Grandma I cookie most akin to the original. This makes sense of course because Grandma certainly didn't have a Kitchen Aid on her counter! The last time I creamed butter and sugar by hand was high school Home Ec. No thank you . . . My Grandma I cookie turns out moist, soft and chewy and pretty darn delicious if you ask me.

GRANDMA I COOKIES
1 -2 C raisins ( I use 2)
1 C boiling water
1 tsp baking soda
2 C sugar
1 C shortening (I use butter)
3 eggs
1 tsp banilla
4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 C walnuts (optional).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a smal saucepan combine water and raisins and bring to a boil over med-high heat on stovetop. Cook for five minutes. Set aside and let cool. Add baking soda, let stand.

If you're game - cream butter and sugar by hand in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon. Otherwise, with a handheld or stand mixer, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. (about 3-5 minutes with stand mixer). Add eggs one at a time until combined, add vanilla and raisins with liquid. Mix well.

Sift together flour and remaining dry ingredients. Add to shortening mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Stir in nuts if using.

Using 1 1/2 inch scoop drop dough on parchment or Silpat lined cookie sheets two inches apart. Bake until thoroughly golden brown about 12 - 16 minutes, rotating baking sheets half way through. The cookies will start to brown quickly but don't be tempted to take them out too soon. Makes 5 dozen.