Flowered Suits and Chocolate Sticks

I spent the morning at the beach near Mary's house with some girls from work (Hi Katy & Rachel!). I have a hard time going to any other beach. We are spoiled in the fact that we have this semi-private beach where we can sit and relax with our family and friends and use any of the bathrooms around us!

My cousin taking a snooze on the beach

When my mother, aunts, and uncle were growing up, my grandmother would bring all 6 of them down to the beach, lather them with baby oil and send them off to play for hours while she sat and drank with the other neighborhood mothers. The present day beach situation is very similar, except now there is the presence of SPF 30 or 50. Mary however, from what I remember, was never one to sit on the beach. During the hot summer months she would make daily visits to the beach in her flowered skirted bathing suits. She would wade into about her thighs and splash water on herself saying, "Oooo. Oooo. Its cold". Once acclimated to the temperature, she would make her way up to her neck and tread water for a few minutes before wading back out to dry off and head home.

Even though it is quite hot out and would have rather stayed at the beach, I came home to start doing some work for school (the party is over next Tuesday) and to bake up another one of Mary's recipes. Matt has been a little perturbed because I keep baking and giving it away, so he requested that I make something that he can eat more than one of before they disappear.

I didn't want to stay in the hot kitchen too long, so I pulled out Mary's recipe for Chocolate Sticks, which is quite similar to the chocolate chip cookie recipe:


Chocolate Sticks
(written on a recipe card with an antique stove embellishment in the corner)

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 package chocolate bits
1/4 cup shortening
1tsp vanilla
Heat oven to 350. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together. Cream shortening, brown sugar, and egg. Add dry ingredients, chocolate bits, and vanilla to the creamed mixture. Spread dough evenly in a greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 30 minutes. When cool, cut into sticks.

  As usual, Mary used to cut these into tiny bars in order to stretch the recipe out. When cut into average size bars, should make @ 12. :)

And the winner is....Chewy Chocolate Pan Cookies

Well last night I drank my fair share of festive drinks which could go with coconut cream pie (minus the pie). A very lovely evening.

Tonight is the annual beach supper. Every year, for as long as I can remember, the unique little community where Mary lived and much of my family still resides, holds a celebration to vote for a new community club president. Their duties entail organizing events throughout the year and the annual 4th of July celebration (monumental). Juniper point, is one of my favorite places on earth.

 picture circa early 1900s

Mary often made spaghetti pie for the beach supper, but this year's theme calls for appetizers and desserts, so I am going to whip up a batch of her Chewy Chocolate Pan Cookies.

What has been so great about this adventure are the stories that have emerged when the topic of Mary's recipes are brought up. My aunt Suzanne told me that this recipe for pan cookies was a favorite of my cousin Nick (who's birthday is today! Happy birthday Ditty) and his roommate Jake when they were in college. Mary used to bake up a batch of these and mail them to their college, packed in a tin container full of rice krispies to keep them moist. The problem was that Mary liked to eek out as many servings as possible from a recipe, often making a 4 dozen serving into a 6 or 7 dozen serving. By the time they got to Nick and Jake, the small bars would not have survived the mail and disintegrated into crumbs....which the boys still managed to consume.

 A grown up Nick at Matt and I's wedding this past July

Mary's cookies made him invincible!

Mary always thought of you while you were away at college. By the time I was at UMass Amherst she became accustomed to sending money; $3 to "not spend all at once". This usually got me a couple of drinks out of the vending machine or a load of laundry. Not like my mother's days in which Mary's money bought her a box of cheeze-its and a 6 pack of cheap beer.

Chewy chocolate pan cookies
(recipes ripped out of paper, taped onto white recipe card)

1 1/4 cups of butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
10oz bag of peanut butter chips

Heat oven to 350. Grease a jelly roll pan. In large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; gradually blend into creamed mixture. Stir in chips. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes or until set. Cool completely, cut into bars.
Make @ 4 dozen bars.... not 6 or 7 dozen!

"Ten Hut" for Coconut Cream Pie

I spent the morning watching my cousin, with his high school marching band, perform a mock half time show. I don't know if you were in the band, but watching today's performance brought back memories, mostly painful, of the countless hours of marching drills, parades, and half time shows in 1970s polyester uniforms designed for 6' men with no thighs. Yes, I was a band geek. Its a tradition in our family to play an instrument, so not participating would have led to years of disapproval and comments. As an adult I appreciate the ability to play an instrument, but back in the day being in the band did not put you on the top of the popular charts.

Like the family that came to watch Will today, Mary made every band performance, graduation, play, and awards assembly. Lack of support has never been an issue in our family. Support and terms of endearment, however, tend to take the form of complete humiliation, such as someone loudly yelling out "Its your family! Over here! Its your family!" Mary always composed herself, but it didn't carryover to the younger generations.



You know what else happened today? THE SUN CAME OUT! With the sun making a reappearance and the temperatures climbing out of the 60s, turning on the oven is something that I am trying to avoid, so now is the perfect time to test out some of Mary's no bake recipes. I pulled out the recipe for Coconut Cream Pie, which my mother says is a perfect one to eat while drinking a Pina Colada. Naturally (remember this is a blog about cookies AND cocktails).

Coconut Cream Pie
(ripped out of the newspaper and taped onto an Italian designed recipe card)

3oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/3 cups coconut
1 container (8oz) cool whip
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
1-8inch graham cracker crust, prepared

Combine cream cheese, sugar, milk and coconut in electric blender. Cover and blend at medium speed for 30 seconds. Fold the mixture into the whipped topping and add extract. (If you are me, this is when you realize that you spaced out and forgot the whipped topping, refrigerate everything, and head back out in dreaded Salem traffic for a tub of cool whip) Spoon into crust. Freeze until firm, about 4 hours. Sprinkle with additional coconut, toasted, if desired. Lest stand at room temperature 5 minutes before cutting, if necessary, for creamier texture. Store any leftover pie in the freezer.

 (pre freeze)

Tonight, Matt and I are going out to dinner with my cousin and her husband, so the cocktail portion of this post will be the fabulous Chinese drinks that we will consume. Isn't that really the reason that you go to a Chinese/Japanese/Hibachi Restaurant?

Happy weekend!

Caution: Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies may cause big butt

Now I remember why my ass is so big. I had forgotten how awesome these cookies were and apparently I ate my fair share to have the recipe named after me.

I braved the third day of monsoons (ok...the rain storm) to stock up on all the essentials I would need for this challenge. Finding a home for everything posed to be an obstacle. My kitchen or cupboards (see below) will never compare to those filled with Mary's baking supplies.

 (tight squeeze)

So back to the recipe. Its a super simple one to follow and makes delicious cake like cookies. Mary made this recipe quite often and would send all of the great nieces and nephews home with zip lock baggies full of cookies. This is actually one of the first recipes that I made with her:

(Rachel's) Chocolate Chip Cookies:
(written on fruit filled recipe card)


1 cup of margarine, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips


Heat oven to 375.
Cream the margarine, brown, vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy. Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined. Stir in 2 cups of chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoonful on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. The recipe says that it makes 6doz 2 1/2 inc cookies, but I only got about 36.

I swear I only ate one of these cookies

Enjoy!!

Well looky here....

Look what was dropped off today:

Another draw full of Aunt Mary's recipes! While I was explaining the premise of my challenge/blog to my mother the other day, she informed me that she had a draw of Mary's recipes, too. The two draws combined have the cream of the crop, the best of the best....actually, many of the recipe cards say on the top "This is the best recipe for ______ (insert name of bar/bread/cookie/cake/pie here)."

The new challenge looks like this...

After sifting through the additional draw and reading hundreds of recipes, I am going to do my best to bake/cook a majority of them. Once again, the ones I will omit ( a majority of the jellied salads and main meal dishes) are ones that she did not use much. The remainder still has me baking/cooking over a hundred recipes. 

While reading through the recipes, I came across this card in the cookie section:

Rachel's (me) Chocolate Chip Cookies. I never knew Mary had this card. I am taking this find as a sign (and that apparently I ate enough cookies to have my own recipe) and will be whipping this recipe up tomorrow. Tonight, I will be doing this...

its my culinary training! 

Deep Dish Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie (and Sweet Tea Vodka)

VACATION! Yahoo. 2 weeks of freedom and plenty of time to bake. Today is a dreary and damp day on the North Shore. Matt (the husband) is home from work and has taken over the TV:

BORING! The perfect way to escape: Baking. I wanted to find a recipe that used seasonal ingredients, so I pulled out Mary's recipe for Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie. Mary loved rhubarb and would often cook it down and eat it like applesauce. I still remember the small white bowls that she ate it out of while sitting at her breakfast table (a small white card table) that overlooked Juniper Beach.

Here is the original recipe, but I took some liberties to change it which I will explain later:

Deep Dish Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie (written on a yellowed recipe card)

3 cups diced rhubarb
1 1/2 cups strawberries - hulled, washed, and halved
2 cups sugar
1/4tsp of flour
1/8tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp butter or margarine
flaky, pastry  (I used Betty Crockers Double Crust Pastry recipe)

Pastry:
2 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
7 to 8 tablespoons cold water
Pastry instructions:
Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut in shortening, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost leaves side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half and shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. Wrap flattened rounds of pastry in plastic wrap and refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.
Roll one round on lightly floured surface, using floured rolling pin, into circle 2 inches larger than upside-down 10-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.


Pie Filling Instructions:
Mix rhubarb and strawberries and arrange in a deep pie plate or 10X6" baking dish. Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg and sprinkle over fruit. Sprinkle with lemon juice and butter. Roll out pastry to fit the dish, place on fruit, fold edges under and crimp. Prick the top for steam to escape. Bake at 425 for 40 minutes or until done.

OK...2 cups of sugar? REALLY? I don't know about you, but my butt does not need 2 cups of sugar. I cross referenced the recipe with Joy of Cooking and Betty Crocker and decided to reduce the amount to 1 cup. Sorry Mary, but I've got thighs that do not need that much sugar!I also added an addition 3/4 cups of strawberries. The cocktail portion of the post: Since it is vacation, I am consuming some white wine while baking. I promised my co-friender (co-worker and friend combined) Erin that I would have a few for her over the next few months since she is knocked up, so I MUST keep my promise!  I don't want to leave the baby out so I am having one for him, too (Can't wait to meet you Owen). I must share a recipe for a fabulous new drink that is making its mark: Sweet Tea Vodka and Lemonade= HELLO LOVER! I was first introduced to this drink by my co-friender Kat who let us all sample her beverage of choice at our end of the year party. I consumed them again at Matt and I's rehearsal dinner and recently had them while vacationing on Cape Cod. They are so light and refreshing! I use firefly vodka and light lemonade to save some cals. So eat some pie and drink some tea...Life doesn't get much better than that!

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Zucchini Chocolate Cake

This is a recipe that I actually haven't made yet. I am posting it for my dear friend Patti (Hi Patti!) who left work yesterday with a 15 pound zucchini and was in need of a cake recipe. Mary was always one to share her baking secrets, so in keeping with her culinary etiquette, I am passing along her recipe for Zucchini Chocolate Cake:


Zucchini Chocolate Cake (written on a faded recipe card)

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour milk
2 1/2 cups unsifted flour
4 Tbsp of cocoa
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground clove
2 cups of finely diced zucchini (peeled)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 325. 
Cream margarine, oil, sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and sour milk. Beat with mixer until well blended. Mix together all the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Stir in diced zucchini. Spoon batter into greased & floured 9X12X2 pan and sprinkle the top with chocolate chips. Bake for 40-45 minutes.


I would like to add a little note about the power of baked goods. I work at a school where days can be tough, intense, and challenging. This week has been one of those weeks (the last week of summer session)! Today, a mother of a student brought in stacks of beautifully decorated cupcakes, made from scratch, to thank everyone for a job well done. A little sign of sugared appreciation to bring a smile to everyone's face. Even I, the queen of weight watchers, indulged in a tasty solution to a long week! 

(I love you in sign language...the cupcake toppers!)

Banana Cake

With a bunch of going-brown bananas in the house, I had the perfect opportunity to make my FIRST COOKIES & COCKTAILS AUNT MARY RECIPE...Banana Cake.

I made the recipe and it came out great! Very light and moist! Once it was cooled and cut, I went to post the recipe, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Being the married lady that I am, I instantly thought my husband threw it away...so I sifted through the trash. No luck (and gross). I proceeded to rifle through bags, cabinets and drawers with no avail. My first post about baking and I have already lost the recipe! After losing hope that I would find it and racking my brain to remember the measurements, I sat down at the computer....to find the recipe sitting next to the keyboard. I hadn't even had a cocktail!

Banana Cake (written on a blue piece of notebook paper):

1 1/3 cup of flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cups of buttermilk
1 generous cup of mashed bananas
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 9X13 pan. Cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs (one at a time), buttermilk, and dry ingredients and mix until blended. Add bananas and vanilla. Bake for 35 minutes.

The original recipe called to bake it for45 minutes, but when I checked it at 35 it was definitely done. You may find that your cake will be done between 30-35 minutes. Oven technology (and temperatures) have changed since this was first written.

Cheers!

In the beginning...

I am starting this blog as an ode to my dear Great Aunt Mary. A woman, whose 93 years were filled with family, friends and of course cookies and cocktails. My aunt was one of the best cookie and bread makers this side of the North Shore. Most of my adolescence was spent in her kitchen watching and helping her bake up batches of molasses crinkles, shredded wheat bread, and chocolate chip cookies. Upon her passing a few years ago, I was given a draw full of her recipes. Some are hand written (and faded), while others are torn out of the food section of the Boston Globe from 1963-@1993. I recently came upon the drawer and began rifling through the hundreds of recipe cards and newspaper clippings. Reading through the recipes brought back so many wonderful memories of Mary, baking, and the feeling you get when you feed people good food! After arranging each one by course (the teacher in me), I made the decision to bake, cook, and drink my way through all of Mary's recipes. Yes...the ghetto version of Julie & Julia. There will be no beef bourgogne cooked in this kitchen however.

Disclaimers: Now, I will admit that there were a few recipes that I had to place to the side. Tomato Aspics...NO. There is something about gelatin and tomato that makes my stomach curdle. Mary loved jello molds and I will make sure to whip up a few of those recipes, but I had to pass on the aspics. Also, Mary didn't have a kitchen aid mixer. Everything was mixed by hand using a wooden spoon. As much as I love the muscle that you build from creaming butter, I love my kitchen aid mixer more. I believe, that if Mary were still around, she would use a mixer and approve my use as well. Cocktail consumption is a must in my family, but I will try to refrain from drinking while baking. My mother and her brother and sisters always tell stories about the many instances of Mary cooking her famous Sunday night suppers while consuming martinis and the roast turning out a little overdone (and by a little a mean a lot).

So here's to an adventure in baking, cooking, and cocktail-ing that I hope will make Mary proud.