January 28, 2003 Newsletter

Hello to all from Ken, Cheryl and Gramma Cookie's Kitchen. Well, here on Vancouver Island we have really noticed the days starting to get longer. It's been pretty warm too, as long as you can keep dry in all the rain.

We thought today would be a fitting day to send our second newsletter, as today is the tenth anniversary of Gramma Cookie's passing. And it's been about a month or so since our last newsletter so I guess for now we'll call it a monthly newsletter. Today we include what Cheryl remembers as being Gramma Cookie's favorite recipes. These are ones that never made it onto the website because they just didn't fit with the categories, but they were some of her favorite ones anyway.

There have been a few changes to the website this past month, primarily a page called Turning Your Hobby to Gold. It's about how we were able with very little experience build a website about a simple hobby that attracts 50,000 visitors per month. And we did that with no advertising and simple inexpensive tools that anyone can use. The "Site Build It" suite of tools is perfect for anyone thinking of starting a home business marketing services or products online or just for building a great hobby site.

We have also placed a few pictures of Gramma Cookie on the website in her memory. She was a very shy person and I sometimes teased her too much, so I hope she doesn't mind that I have her pictures where thousands of people can see them.

Here are five of Gramma Cookie's favorite recipes. Please don't ask us where she got them because they're on old faded and yellowed recipe cards. All except for the recipe for Brown-Eyed Susan's. It's on the inside of an old Kraft's Parkay Margarine package. We decided we were only going to include 5 recipes, so my favorite for "Gramma Cookie's World Famous Red Pork Chops" got cut. We'll save it for next time.

-------------------------------

Brown-eyed Susan's

1 cup Parkay Margarine 3 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon almond extract 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the Parkay. Add the sugar, almond extract, flour and salt. Roll level tablespoons of this mixture into balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Bake in a moderately hot oven, 400 deg. F., 10 to 12 min.

Frosting 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar 2 tablespoons cocoa 2 tablespoons hot water 1/2 teaspoon vanilla Almond halves

Combine the sugar and cocoa. Add the water and vanilla. Put 1/2 teaspoon of the frosting on each cookie with an almond half in the center.

-------------------------------

Chocolates (Cheryl says this was her Mom's favorite.)

3 lbs icing sugar 2 tablespoons corn syrup 1/2 pound butter 1 can (300 ml. approx. 1 cup) plus 6 tablespoons condensed milk

Mix ingredients. Divide for various flavors. ( Any extract ie: vanilla, orange etc. Add small amounts until desired taste is achieved). Mum used to roll into small balls, let set and then dip in mixture below.

Melt 12 squares chocolate and 1 bar parawax in double boiler.

--------------------------------

Raspberry Bars

1/2 cup butter 1cup flour 1 egg 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp milk

Combine ingredients. Spread in 8 or 9 inch square glass or pyrex baking ban and spread with jam.

Topping:

1/4 cup white sugar 2 cups coconut 2 tablespoons butter 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine and spread on top of previous mixture and jam. Bake approx. 30 to 40 minutes.

----------------------------------

Never Fail Pastry

6 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 pound lard 1 egg 2 tablespoons vinegar 1 tablespoon salt

In a mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. Beat egg slightly in a measuring cup. Add vinegar and then fill with water to make a full cup. Add to dry mixture and combine. Roll out and use your favorite filling.

Gramma Cookie's Tip: Brush the top crust of pie when partially baked with vinegar. Return to oven and finish baking. When done your crust will be nice and shiny.

-----------------------------------

Try the following at your own risk. This was before Cheryl's time and although she heard a lot about it when she was young, we never got the chance to try it. Cheryl recently found this one in an old book of her mothers.

Potato Champange

Dissolve 2 lbs. Demarara sugar in 4 pints boiling water and allow to cool. Add 1/2 ounce yeast, 3 large sliced potatoes, 1/2 lb. crushed green grapes and 1/2 lb. raisins. Let stand for 3 weeks, stirring daily. Strain and bottle. (No time listed for length of time to age. Our best guess would be 6 weeks. If anybody knows anything different, let us know.)

On the recipe card underneath these instructions is a list of the same ingredients quadrupled, with a note saying "This makes 2 gallons."

------------------------------------

Well, there you go, 5 of Gramma Cookie's favorite recipes. We hope you enjoy them. Cheryl says there's an old recipe for dandelion wine somewhere also, but we've had no luck finding it so far.

If you have a favorite recipe you would like to share with our readers please send it to us by filling out the form on this page. We'd really enjoy hearing from you. We're now reaching people in 93 countries worldwide so if you all send in one your favorites, we'll have a real mix for everyone. Also if you could tell us a little about yourself, like where you're from and what you like about Gramma Cookie's Kitchen or what you would like to see on the website, it would really help us out with providing the content you want.

Thanks for your support and see you next month.

Ken and Cheryl from Gramma Cookie's Kitchen.