7 oz light brown sugar
9 tbsp cocoa powder
10 oz butter or margarine, softened
1 pinch cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb plain flour (approximately)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F. Mix all of the ingredients together,
except for the flour. Add the flour slowly to the rest of the
mixture until it reaches the right consistency to roll out. The dough
should be quite soft. (You may find it easier to knead it with your
hands.) Roll out on a floured surface to a thickness of about 1/4
inch and cut into decorative shapes with small cookie cutters, a
sharp knife or the rim of a glass. Place on a greased baking sheet
and bake in the oven for about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven while
they are still soft and cool on a rack, then pack into crocks or jars.
The authors note that the Pennsylvania Dutch settlers made these at
Thanksgiving and stored them in a stoneware crock until Christmas. The
cookies can be made at any time, but allowed to age for 4-6 weeks.
They can be used as a substitute for graham crackers for a pie crust.
from Edible Gifts by Claire Clifton and Martina Nicolls typed by
Tiffany Hall-Graham From: Tiffany Hall-Graham Date: 05 Mar 95
Servings: 1 batch
Advent Cookies Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Cookie
The History of Recipes
Written cooking instructions as an idea can be traced way back into the distant past, certainly as far back into recorded history as the Egyptians, and potentially, even further back. Interesting though that maybe, in the main part, these early recipes were just very basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe found, according to Professor Solomon Katz, is a collection of tablets in the Sumerian language which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made people feel wonderful and blissful. As we move into The time of the roman empire around 25BC a man called Apicius assembled a collection of scripts detailing recipes prepared by his fellow Romans. In his scrolls, Apicius describes how the roman meals were separated into starters, main course and desserts, a very modern way of dining. This early Roman chef tells us how the ancient chefs used a good variety of herbs, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens for example thyme, mint and asafoetida. In the 15th century, the Crusaders brought back a variety of foods, spices and herbs from the East, including spices like basil and rosemary. These new spices and herbs was responsible for an increase in books on cookery, most of which are kept safe in private cookery archives. Over the next few hundred years, the powerful families of the West competed to serve the best banquets, and as a result the best chefs and their collection of recipes were highly sought after. Even so, it was during the nineteenth century that cookery and recipe books reached a high level of popularity. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to collecting, verifying, and recording recipes of the day. When we get to the 1900s, recipe books are highly popular due to increased literacy, people having increased leisure time and being a little richer. |
We hope you enjoy this Advent Cookies recipe.
