Cold, rainy weather seems to bring on the memories of the past for me. I guess the fact that I spend more time in the house has me looking inward! Anyway, the best way to warm up a house and bring some by gone days back to life is to bake something with nostalgic fragrance. And, since rain is in the forecast, perhaps I'll have a reason to warm up the house this way!
I was looking for a particular recipe, and was thrilled and surprised to fine another one I had forgotten about but dearly loved as a child. They were relatively simple, plain cookies but they always disappear first from the Christmas cookie platter.
Jubilee Jumbles (from Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook, 1961)
1/2 cup soft shortening
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix shortening, sugar, and eggs thoroughly. Stir in sour cream and vanilla. Blend flour, soda, and salt: stir in. Mix in the chopped nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoonful of dough about 2" apart onto a greased baking sheet. Vegetable oil spray works great. Bake about 10 minutes our until cookie is firm to the touch and lightly golden. Spread cooked cookies with Browned Butter Glaze. Makes about 4 dozen 2 1/2" cookies.
Browned Butter Glaze
Melt /12 cup butter until golden brown. Blend in 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Stir in 2-4 tablespoons hot water until icing spreads smoothly. Before the icing hardens, you can to the cookies with tiny, chocolate chips, more chopped nuts, a whole almond, sugar sprinkles, etc.
You can substitute the nuts in the cookie recipe for chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, raisins, chopped dates, coconut, or add cinnamon, ginger, and cloves to the original recipe for a spicer cookie.
