Another old recipe, this one’s from a 1937 Ohio cookbook available online. They went over very well at the board meeting I brought them to, people took thirds at a program that night, and they made a good lunch the day I made them at work! The original recipe said to roll them out and use cookie cutters, but I found the dough too soft for that, even after a day in the fridge, but as cookies shaped by hand they are perfect – thick, puffy, with a bit of crunch to the bottom. The orange flavor is light, but noticeable and enjoyable!
Out of 2 batches of dough I got 56 cookies!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup shortening (I used Crisco)
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted before measuring
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- zest of one orange
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar, and eggs until smooth.
Sifted plain flour to the side…
In a medium bowl, sift together the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt.
Beat the flour mixture into the egg mixture.
Add the zest and juice.
The flour may not all incorporate until you’ve added the juice. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 425. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Grab approximately walnut sized portions of dough, shape into balls, and then gently press between your hands to flatten and place on the lined sheets.
It just wasn’t a good cookie cutter dough!
The cookies only spread slightly, so you don’t need to leave a ton of space between them on the pans. Bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown at the edges, rotating halfway through.
Transfer baked cookies to wire racks to cool.
Orange Cookies
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted before measuring
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- zest of one orange
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, sugar, and eggs until smooth. In a medium bowl, sift together the sifted flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat the flour mixture into the egg mixture, then add the zest and juice. The flour may not all incorporate until you’ve added the juice. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, or overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 425. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Grab approximately walnut sized portions of dough, shape into balls, and then gently press between your hands to flatten and place on the lined sheets. Bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown at the edges, rotating halfway through. Transfer baked cookies to wire racks to cool.
Ingredients:
Add the chicken breasts, cover, and cook on low 8-9 hours, until you get home from work.
Stir together the cornstarch and water, then open the crock pot, remove the chicken, and stir the cornstarch slurry into the sauce. Add the vegetables and return the cover, turning the heat to high.
Cook 30-45 minutes, depending on if you added frozen vegetables, until the veggies are hot and sauce has thickened some. Meanwhile, shred the chicken and cook the noodles according to package directions.
Drain, and add the shredded chicken and cooked noodles to the heated vegetable mixture. Stir together, and serve.
Ingredients:
Add the egg, milk, and vanilla, beating until smooth again.
Add the flour mixture gradually, beating until just combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips and chunks.
Transfer into the greased pan and smooth the top to spread evenly.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden around the edges, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few crumbs attached.
Ingredients:
Combine the butterscotch chips and shortening in a large saucepan over low heat. Stir occasionally, and with increasing frequency as they start to melt, until the mixture is smooth.
While you wait, line a sheet pan with parchment or a silpat. Turn off the heat and add the Goldfish and pretzels, stirring until completely coated.
Scoop the mixture onto the lined pan in heaping tablespoons – I actually used a medium (1.5 tablespoon) cookie dough scoop, heaping spoonfuls of that, and got 15 drops.
You can do smaller if you want to share with more people, but I don’t think I’d go bigger just because it gets less convenient to eat at that point. As you’re scooping onto the pan, you may feel like there’s no chance of the drops holding together, but once they firm up they have good structural integrity!
Roast for 15 minutes, stir, and roast another 10 minutes.
Towards the end of the roasting time, bring the broth to a simmer in a large pot on the stove. Transfer the roasted vegetables to the broth and simmer 15 minutes. At the end of the 15 minutes, use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.
Meanwhile, combine the ground turkey, onion, and celery with a bit of olive oil in a even large pot, if available. Heat over medium high heat, stirring occasionally to break up the meat, and cook for 20 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes, then add the pot of blended vegetables and broth.
Add the paprika, rosemary, oregano, cumin, torn kale, and beans, and stir together, bringing back to a simmer.
Cook the pasta slightly underdone, either in a new pot or in the one you just poured the veggie/broth mixture out of, then reserve 2 cups of the pasta water before straining. Add the pasta and the water to the soup mixture and stir to combine. Return to a simmer, then serve.
This soup is quite thick – I definitely wouldn’t leave out the pasta water or you’ll need a fork and knife for the leftovers! It would go well with a nice crusty bread, and maybe some grated parmesan on top!
Ingredients:
Stir in both flours and the salt, stirring until it comes together to a rough dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface to knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. If your dough is super sticky, you can add additional all-purpose flour as needed. My dough picked up the bit of flour from the counter, but otherwise didn’t need any extra.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl, rolling to cover all sides of the ball in a light layer of grease.
Cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
Roll out the first piece of dough into as thin a circle as you can. (oh, right, my other weakness, rolling into circles!)
Flip and cook 1-2 minutes, until puffy with a few golden spots.
Flip back to the first side and cook an additional minute. While the pitas cook, roll out the next pieces of dough. Place the cooked pitas to the side on a plate, separating with paper towel.
I always only needed 30/60/60 seconds for mine, and actually used a repeated 30 second timer 
Ingredients:
While you wait, process the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, ricotta, garlic, salt, pepper, and coriander in a food processor until smooth.
Once the beet has cooled, wrap it in paper towel and rub firmly to remove all the skin. Trim off the scraggly root end, and any remaining base of the greens. Cut beet into 8 large pieces.
Add the sliced beet to the mixture in the food processor, processing until smooth again.
Taste, and add any additional salt if desired.
Serve with bread/toasted baguette/crackers, and garnish with mint leaves, poppy seeds, or olive oil if desired. Can be stored in the fridge up to 4 days.
Scoop 1 cup of the mixture into each of 11 half-pint jars, using a canning funnel if you have one to reduce (but, let’s be real, not eliminate) mess.
Cover, attach a label with the ‘baking’ instructions, and gift!
I’ve taken my own name off the tag I created, but if you want something more festive, definitely play around with 
Super simple gifts that will have people remembering you fondly over chocolate later!
Next, make the crumb topping by combining all the topping ingredients in a small bowl, using a fork or two knives to mix, then set aside.
To make the dough, first combine 1 cup flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.
Heat the water, milk, and butter in a small pot until very warm (120-130 degrees – you don’t want it so hot it would burn you, as that would also burn the yeast!).
Drizzle the hot milk mixture into the flour mixture while stirring, and continue to beat until well mixed.
Add the eggs and an additional cup of flour and beat two minutes until smooth again.
Add enough of the additional flour to make a soft dough – for me that was an additional 2 1/4 cups.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. During that time, grease or line two baking sheets.
Spread half the apple pie filling in a 3″ wide strip down each piece of dough, then sprinkle with the crumb topping.
Down the clear sides, make cuts about 3″ deep (from the edge to about where the filling is) 1″ apart down the length of the sides. Cut off triangles at the corner, to create a rectangle on opposite ends, that folds in over the first inch or two of the filling.
Starting at one end, fold in the strips from the side at an angle, alternating sides and overlapping in the center. Repeat with the second loaf, then cover and let rise somewhere warm until doubled, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the egg glaze by stirring together the egg white and water, and brush over the raised braids.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool on wire racks.
Whisk together the icing ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring until smooth, then drizzle half over each of the braids.
sparecake 