Cookies

2/3 cup shortening
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained well
1/2 cup chopped nuts (your choice – I used pecans)
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Cream together the shortening and sugar. Add slightly beaten egg and vanilla. In separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Add pineapple, nuts, coconut. Mix well.

Drop by teaspoon on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Recipe from Pudge at the American Legion

make using the smallest scoop 07/25/21

Ingredients
2/3 cup shortening. melted
2 cups brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
2 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips (small package)

Directions
Melt 2/3 cup shortening, add to 2 cups brown sugar in mixing bowl, mix together and let cool.
Add 3 eggs and beat well.
Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt)
Mix well.

Add 1 cup chopped walnuts and a small package (1 cup) of chocolate chips.
Optional add shredded coconut 1/2 to 1 cup coconut
Mix well.

Spread in a greased and floured 9 x 13 inch pan.

Bake 350 degree for 25 to 30 minutes

NOTE: When I first moved to Penn Yan I ate lunch almost daily at the Peppermint Parlor Coffee Shop inside S&S Hospital to help support community projects. The Manager of the Parlor reached out to me and asked me to bake cookies for them to sell in the tiny luncheonette that was open to the public.  This is one of the recipes (Congo Squares) that I would bake for them to sell in the coffee shop. They were cut into large squares and were a perfect addition to visitors who just wanted a cookie and cup of coffee while visiting the hospital.  Sales were quite good and I did this for  almost a year of baking and selling cookies so they could earn money for the hospital.  I priced them as reimbursement only for ingredients and no expense for my time as a donation to help support the community. The hospital building has since been renovated and the Peppermint Parlor is no longer in existence. There is still a coffee shop to get a cup of coffee but only offers pre-packaged items and what can be warmed up in microwave. It no longer is a place to go for lunch.

This recipe is still a favorite for many of the locals. They had never had a bar cookie like this recipe and liked they it was a little different than just a chocolate chip cookie. I think the large bar cookie size square and the price helped this get recipe get a local reputation.

3 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling – mincemeat or the home made filling below

1/2 cup chopped raisins
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Set Aside.

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy, about three minutes,
Beat the egg lightly and combine with the milk and vanilla. Add to the butter mixture alternating with the flour mixture and ending with the flour. Beat well after each addition. This will be a fairly sticky dough. Form into a ball, wrap in cling wrap, and put in the freezer for about an hour.
Meanwhile make the filling. Combine all off the ingredients except for the vanilla and heat until thickened. Off the heat, stir in the  vanilla and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Divide the dough in half and return the first half to the refrigerator while you work with the other half.
Place dough on a well floured surface and dust with flour. Turn the dough over and make sure there is flour underneath. Roll out thin and cut into 3-inch circles with a floured cutter. As you place a circle on an ungreased cookie sheet, put a generous tablespoon of filling in the center and cover with anther circle of dough, pressing edges together slightly with a fork tine to seal the edges. Continue until all the dough and filling are used. Combine the scraps of dough and rout out to make the last cookies.

Bake about 15 minutes, or until the dough begins to brown slightly.

Makes approximately 18 large cookies.
Note : This recipe is a real favorite so I often extend the number of cookies by just using a single circle with less filling, folding over to seal the same way to make half circle.  Still make some with the double and more filling amount. This way I get twice the amount of cookies but it has less filling in each cookies. The thickness of the rolled out dough will determine how many cookies is possible in a single batch.

Recipe: now a family tradition.
Source book: page 130 of Lee Baily’s COUNTY DESSERTS  with full page picture on page 129 Book was a Christmas present from Mike to Serena 1990. Cookies are the closestto what Grandma McP made using homemade mincemeat.