Wednesday, July 23, 2008

A Legacy of Food

It occurred to me today that if I really want this blog to be a historical record for my kids, I should work a little harder at teaching them where they come from. A big part of my memories of growing up involve food. Nothing makes me happier than making a recipe for my kids that my mom made for us, and that her mom made for her and her siblings, and so on. Even though we tease Dad and his family about the Welsh Cookies (which are like hard, dry little pancakes with raisins, and can barely be called a cookie with a straight face), I know his side of the family is the same. BJ's family doesn't seem quite as "into" food as my family, but maybe I just haven't been around long enough for them to entrust me with their treasured family recipes. Hard to say.

Anyway I thought I'd start a new series, in which I share recipes that have been passed down to me through the generations. Maybe it will inspire my mom, grandma, and aunts to dig out their oldest recipe books and send me the rest of their old recipes. One of these days, I want to put together a book with photos of the grandma that the recipe came from, a little biography or story, and a recipe on each page. If I didn't have all these babies, I could probably do that in time for my sister's wedding and present her with a copy to make her cry, but no one should hold her breath... My act is just not that together.

Without further ado, here is my Great-Grandma Shank's recipe for peanut butter cookies.

1 C shortening
1 C white sugar
1 C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 C peanut butter
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
2-1/2 C flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder

Mix all, make balls, press with fork, bake at 350 for 14 minutes.

By the way, now that you're in possession of this recipe, we're officially family.

I got the idea from 101 Cookbooks tonight, by the way, and their article on peanut butter cookies. If you make them be sure to write and tell me what you think (prbabies@gmail.com).

4 comments:

Rob Monroe said...

The food in my extended family was always boring, but we like to try new things in our household. I've put up a site to keep track of the ones that I like that we have found through magazines so that I can access them wherever we are. :o)

Anonymous said...

Yummy! We have made them several times. Sometimes we put Hershey kisses on them after they come out of the oven.

Aunt Kathryn and Kelly

Anonymous said...

There is a really great website called tastebook.com. You can put in all the family recipes with pictures and notes. That would be fun and different and off the registry.....
If you want me to be nice, I can start you with fifty of my own recipes that I put on there. You could just add the others.......

Love,
Mimi

Denna said...

I LOVE these cookies! They are just the right combination of crisp and soft. They kind of poof on your tongue. I should try making them with flourless flour to see how they turn out. I think it might work given the small amount of flour in them. They are my absolutely all time favorite cookie. I make them the size of half dollars does anyone know what that is anymore? haha) and that way they go further and last longer, and are a few less calories because you eat five little ones instead of five BIG ones! They are the best! Just don't do like I did, and write it into your recipe book with the ingredients already doubled. I always forget that I did that, and double it again. Even I don't need that many cookies at one time!