Cookie Baking 101: Grandma's Oven

My grandma was a wonderful baker, and she always had homemade cookies on hand when we would visit her. After spending three days in the backseat of a car to get there, I was ready for a reward. Everyone sat around her kitchen table and talked and laughed. The grown-ups drank coffee; my cousins and I had milk (PDQ was optional). Young and old enjoyed Grandma's homemade sweets.

After my grandpa died, Grandma would fly east to stay with us for a few weeks in the winter. Grandma had a sweet tooth, but she was mildly diabetic and was supposed to watch her sugar intake. Our house was built in the early fifties and had metal kitchen cabinets (cool retro look that some would spend a hat and an ass for nowadays). My mom intentionally kept the cookies in a cabinet that made a piercing screech when opened. Grandma was frustrated because she could never sneak cookies.

I know now why my grandmother liked to bake. It's good for the soul. If you're feeling blue, bake a batch of cookies. I loved concocting potions with my chemistry set when I was a boy, and baking is even better because the results won't kill you. Baking really is chemistry in the kitchen, though, so if you have a would-be mad scientist in your house try steering them toward baking and cooking. You'll benefit from the outcome without worrying about your home blowing up. You mix some dry stuff with some wet stuff, and - voila! - behold, a pound cake or blueberry bread. As long as you follow directions and don't mistake salt for sugar, the finished product can't be terribly bad.


The nice thing about baking is that it gets easier the more you do it.

Here are a couple of my favorites from Grandma's oven...

Ginger Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 scant teaspoon salt

Chill dough before baking.


Huh??? That's the complete recipe??? Where are the directions?

Well, folks, this is what my mom and I called an "Iowa recipe." My mom was from Iowa, and there are a lot of really good cooks there. Actually, this recipe is fairly detailed compared to some. Once you get the hang of baking, you can figure out what to do as long as the ingredients are listed. But here's what you do:

Cream the butter, shortening, and sugar together. The butter needs to be softened (not melted) first, which means get it out of the refrigerator ahead of time. While you're at it, get the egg out, too. Eggs should be room temperature when you bake. You can cream this stuff by hand, but if you have a mixer by all means use it. Why add to your carpal tunnel syndrome? Add the egg and blend well. Ditto with the molasses.
Sift all the dry ingredients together. Mix into butter/sugar mixture. Chill the dough in the refrigerator at least an hour; this makes it easier to handle when you form the cookies.

Preheat your oven to 350. Grease your cookie sheets lightly and pour a little sugar in a shallow bowl. Get that cookie dough out of the fridge and roll into balls about the size of a basketball...no, wait! Make that the size of a walnut. Roll each cookie ball in the sugar and place on cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes with the oven rack positioned in the middle for even heat distribution. Remove cookies from oven and let cool on cookie sheet a few minutes, then remove cookies from baking sheet to a wire rack with a spatula.

Some like to flatten the cookie before baking. I find that by leaving them in balls they will turn into almost perfectly shaped cookies. The granulated sugar coating adds crunch and sparkle. I like these cookies on the chewy side, so your baking time may vary depending on your taste (and your oven). Also, if it turns out that you like these as much as I do, you should make a double batch of dough next time, because the recipe as given doesn't yield many cookies.

Ella's Sugar Cookies
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream sugar, butter, and shortening. Add egg. Sift dry ingredients together. Add to sugar/butter mixture. Form into small balls. Place on cookie sheet and flatten with bottom of a glass. Bake at 350 10 minutes.

These are just a couple of Grandma's recipes. The internet has a bunch of great sites featuring recipes shared by real people just like you and me. Food made right in your own kitchen is so much better than stuff with lots of chemicals added, and it doesn't take much effort to impress people when you rattle your own pots and pans.