Still Snowing and a Childhood Memory!

It is Still February and Still Snowing!

I just posted this photo on Facebook and it is still February and we still have about a month of winter to go!  It has been relentless this season!  We have had much more snow that usual and almost every day we have had snow!  So yesterday I got into my recipes and found a childhood favorite.  Not because my mom and I baked them together but because of a friend's mom.  I remember them as the best sugar cookies ever!  My friend kindly shared the recipe and I'm going to share it with you.  I'm going to call them Carolyn's Sugar Cookies and variations.  I really don't know what recipe she used so I apologize ahead of time.  It is not a diet recipe.  I'm not trying to make it healthier.  This is the cookie I remember from after school at their house.

Carolyn's Sugar Cookies and Hoping for Spring!

Carolyn's Sugar Cookies
Makes Several Dozen
Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes

1/2 cup melted shortening
3/4 cup sugar (I used lavender sugar.)
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 t. cream of tartar

Mix together shortening and sugar.  Add eggs and cream well.  Add vanilla.  Mix in dry ingredients.  Chill. (I chilled my dough for about an hour.) (I rolled out my dough between two sheets of plastic wrap.) Cut into desired shapes.  (I got better at rolling out the dough in the later stages and my cookies at the end were thinner and crispier which The Herbal Husband enjoyed.)  I like mine thicker and softer as I remembered Carolyn made hers.

Here are the variations given:

Chocolate--add 2 squares melted unsweetened chocolate after the eggs.

Butterscotch--substitute 2/3 cup brown sugar for the granulated.

Coconut--add 1 cup moist, shredded coconut.

Filled--put together in pairs before baking with 1 t. jam, jelly or raisin filling; press edges together with fork and bake at 375 F. for 12-15 minutes.

Lemon--add 3/4 t. lemon juice and 2-3 t. lemon rind instead of vanilla.

Nut--add 1 cup finely chopped nuts.

Orange--substitute 1-1/2 t. orange juice and 2 T. grated orange rind for vanilla

Spice--add 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. mace and 1/4 t. nutmeg.

As I have said before cookies are a very dangerous food group for me and The Herbal Husband!  Hope you are enjoying your Sunday!  Weekends are going fast around here.  Talk to you later.