Mint Sandwich Brownies

Two layers of frosting make these brownies extra special.

Cream together:
 2 cups sugar                     
1 cup shortening

Add:  4 beaten eggs

Blend together the following dry ingredients and add to the sugar/egg mixture:
2 cups flour
4 Tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon salt

Add:  2 teaspoons vanilla
          8 Tablespoons milk
          1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Grease and flour a 12 x 18 baking pan.  Spread batter in pan and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.  Test with a toothpick for doneness.

Mint Frosting:

Heat 1 stick of butter until slightly melted.  Beat in 3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar, adding a little milk as needed.  Add 3 drops green food coloring and peppermint extract to taste.

Spread on brownies and let the frosting set for several hours.  Top with your favorite chocolate frosting over the mint layer.

This recipe was given to Mom from Marilyn Nixon.

Disappearing Brownies

I made these along with the Blonde Brownies for scout camp and they did indeed disappear.

1/2 cup butterscotch bits (more commonly known as butterscotch chips nowadays)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Melt butterscotch bits and butter in heavy saucepan over medium heat and cool to lukewarm.  Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir into butterscotch mixture and then add egg and vanilla.  Mix well.  Fold in marshmallows, chocolate pieces and nuts just until blended.  Pour into well-greased 8-inch square pan.  Bake at 350 degrees 20 to 25 minutes.  Center will be soft but will become firm upon cooling.  Cut into squares.  Makes sixteen 2-inch cookies.

Blonde Brownies

Apparently real Blonde Brownies are not made by baking chocolate chip cookie dough in a pan, something I've done in the past when crunched for time.  In this recipe the dough is made using cake flour and the chocolate chips are sprinkled on the top just before baking.  I made a big pan of these yesterday for my husband to take up to scout camp last night with instructions to take pictures of the boys eating them.  They were wolfed down so fast he didn't even get the chance to snap one photo.  I don't know if that speaks to the quality of the brownies or to the quality of the food at scout camp!
This recipe came from the LA Times under the heading "Cooky Jar Favorite."

1 cup sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt.  Add nuts and mix well.  Melt butter in saucepan, remove from heat and mix in sugar.  Cool slightly and blend in egg and vanilla.  Add flour mixture a small amount at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Turn into greased 9-inch square pan.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over top and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.  (Do not overbake.)  Cool in pan and cut into 1 1/2 inch x 2 1/4 bars.  Makes 2 dozen bars.

Ruth's Brownies

The second recipe in our series looks to be well used, so I believe this is the brownie recipe we grew up on.  It's quite good and proves why brownies should be a bar cookie, not a gooey blob of fudge.

1/2 cup shortening
2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Melt shortening and chocolate together over very low heat, stirring constantly; cool.  Beat eggs until light, then stir in sugar.  Add chocolate mixture and vanilla.  Add sifted dry ingredients, mixing well.  Add nuts.  Bake in greased 8x8 pan at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.  Cool.

Leola's Brownies

With over 16 different recipes in her collection, it's clear Mom had a love for brownies.  I'm not sure which was her favorite, but a few are a bit tattered and stained (always a good indication of a winner).  So today I'm starting a blog "series" in which I will make and publish one brownie recipe a week.  I may gain ten pounds in the process, but I'm willing to make that sacrifice in the name of culinary curiosity. Which is better, cake-like or fudge-like brownies?  Could zucchini or low-fat brownies actually taste good?   How about rocky-road brownies?  Or two-tone brownies?  Stay tuned.

Here is brownie recipe #1, courtesy of Leola Ord.  It's a yummy cake-like brownie with a marshmallow topping followed by a rich chocolate icing.  Be warned:  you have to wait 8 hours after frosting the brownies to let the marshmallow set.  This could be a problem if you're having a major chocolate craving and can't wait to dig in!

   1 cup margarine
   1/3 cup cocoa
   2 cups sugar
   4 eggs
   1 1/2 cups flour
   2 teaspoons baking powder
   1 teaspoon vanilla
   1 cup chopped nuts
    mini-marshmallows (about 2 cups)

Beat together margarine, cocoa and sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well.  Add flour, baking powder, vanilla and nuts.

Spread into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.  (Note:  I needed to bake mine for an extra five minutes or so.)  When done pile marshmallows over the top.  Put back in oven just until melted, about three minutes.  Cool 1 hour.

Icing

1/2 cup margarine
1/3 cup cocoa
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
evaporated milk, enough to make a proper consistency

Beat all ingredients until smooth.  Frost over  marshmallows.  Let set 8 hours before serving.

Chocolate Crackles

This recipe came from Ruth's daughter-in-law, Julie Bryan, a fellow chocoholic and cookie lover.  These are great for dipping in milk.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2 Tablespoons water
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat all of the above until melted.  Add 2 eggs one at a time, beating well after each.

Sift together 3 cups flour, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt.   Combine with chocolate mixture and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes.  Roll into small balls and coat in sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste-Off

The chocolate chip cookie had a dominant presence in our family cookie jar, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Mom had twelve different recipes for said cookies in her collection.  Here's the evidence:

Which is the best recipe?  This is a debatable point, depending on your taste preferences.  Soft or crunchy?  Nuts or no nuts?   Oatmeal or none?  Butter or Crisco?  The opinions can run very strong.  We here at Ruth's Recipe Box test kitchens decided to bake five different versions and test them out.  Many of the recipes were quite similar, so the those selected were chosen because of an unusual ingredient or two.
Our unbiased test panel consisted of young twenty-somethings, mostly students at Princeton University and surrounding institutions of higher learning, who were more than willing to test each cookie (with a little milk in between to cleanse the palate) and rate them in order of their favorite.

Here are the contenders:

Best Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup shortening                                    1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup butter                                            2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar                        1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate pieces
1/2 cup granulated sugar                           1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat shortening and butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, and salt; beat until combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.
Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.  With a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour.  Stir in chocolate pieces and nuts.
Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Makes about 60 cookies.


Ilene Bryan's Chocolate Chip Cookies


2/3 cup Crisco                                   1/2 tsp. lemon extract
2/3 cup butter                                     3 cups flour
1/2 cup peanut butter                          1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup white sugar                               1 tsp. salt
1 cup brown sugar                              12 oz. chocolate chips (one bag)
2 eggs                                                 1 cups nuts
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix Crisco, butter and peanut butter until blended.  Add sugars and mix well.  Add eggs, vanilla and lemon extract and beat until smooth.  Add remaining dry ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes.


Soft and Moist Chocolate Chip Cookies


Cream:  1 cup margarine, 3 eggs, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar
Add:      6 oz. (large) package instant vanilla pudding mix
              1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
              3 1/2 cups flour
              chocolate chips (as many as desired)
Bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 10 minutes
Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies
Variation #1  use chocolate pudding mix instead of vanilla
Variation #2  use a combination of white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts in place of the chocolate chips.


Mrs. Fields's Cookie Recipe


Cream together:  2 cups butter, 2 cups white sugar, 2 cups brown sugar (light or dark)
Add:  4 eggs and 2 tsp. vanilla
In a blender or food processor make a powder of:  4 cups flour, 5 cups oatmeal (measure, then blend)
Add to flour/oatmeal powder:  1 tsp. salt, 2 tsp. baking powder,  2 tsp. baking soda
Mix the dry ingredients with the creamed mixture and add:  24 oz. bag of chocolate chips, 3 cups nuts (optional) and 8 oz. Hershey bar, grated.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets.  Make golf ball size cookies, place 2 inches apart, and bake at 375 degrees for 6 minutes.
To make flatter cookies, flatten with a spatula after 5 minutes in the oven, then bake an additional 3 to 5 minutes depending on your oven.
Makes 100 to 115 cookies


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies


1 stick margarine                                    2 tablespoons vanilla (less if using Mexican vanilla)
1 stick butter                                           2 tsp. baking soda                                
1 cup butter flavored Crisco                   2 tsp. salt
2 cups brown sugar                                2 cups oatmeal
1 1/2 cups white sugar                           4 3/4 cups flour (5 cups at altitude)
4 eggs                                                     2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together margarine, butter and Crisco.  Add sugars and beat until creamy.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Beat in oatmeal, soda and salt.  Add small amounts of flour at a time until well mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop into cookie sheets and bake until slightly golden brown.

The competition was tough and the opinions varied.......

... some tasters had a difficult time deciding, so they
just kept eating and eating!

The votes were tallied and the cookies were ranked:

First Place:  Oatmeal Chocolate Chip
Second Place:  A tie between Best Basic and Mrs. Fields
Third Place:  Ilene Bryan's
Fourth Place:  Soft and Moist


It should be noted that all of the cookies received at least two first place votes.  They were all good, especially right out of the oven.   We might have to do this again with the other seven recipes, but for now I'm giving my ovens time to recover!  And then there are over 20 brownie recipes to test out.

Chocolate Drop Cookies

I have a theory that a recipe stained and tattered from use must be good.  Such is the case with these yummy cookies!

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 c. shortening, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Sift four, salt and baking powder together.  Melt chocolate and add to melted shortening.  Add sugar, egg, milk and then sifted dry ingredients.  Let stand 10 minutes.  Drop from teaspoon onto greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Frost if desired.  Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Molasses Crinkles

I figured a cold January day was a good time for a molasses recipe.  This recipe was written in Mom's handwriting, but she didn't include any instructions...not even the baking temperature!  I followed my cookie making instincts and they turned out really good.

2/3 c. shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cup flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

Cream together shortening, sugar, egg & molasses.   Stir in all of the dry ingredients.  Shape into balls and then roll them in sugar.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 to 12 mintues, or until they "crinkle".