Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Cookbooks and Cookies

When she read our blog yesterday about taking Cowboy Cookies to the Bayfield Bunch, Al and Kelly, fellow blogger Margie asked for the recipe. (Sorry,Mike, this one’s about food again!)

Well that recipe happens to be printed in a cookbook that we compiled twenty years ago. We had been reminiscing about good times with family and friends and began to realize that those good times so often revolved around food: meals or snacking or preparing holiday dinners. Wouldn’t it be great, we thought, to gather everyone's favorite recipes together in one place. And wouldn't it be neat to share those recipes with everyone. And wouldn’t it even be better if those recipes came with a little story or background.

Thus was born “The LeRoy and Gansneder Family and Friends Cookbook.”

Over a period of a few months we were able to collect 277 recipes (actually more, but some were duplicates) from 32 different people, couples, or family units, and retype them, using our Tandy 1000 SX personal computer. Many of them came with stories or at least a little history: In sending a recipe for Sweet & Gooey Rolls, our sister-in-law Karma wrote, “When I was in high school, my mother, Jeanne Louise Gropp, developed this recipe to satisfy her ever-sweet tooth.”

Pictures were added. The very primitive software we used had some very primitive images we could insert, but the best pictures were those that we clipped out of a book of food and cooking art work. That’s where the name “clip-art” came from: art you can clip out and use,

Everyone who contributed something got a copy of the cookbook in a half-inch binder. Suzy has assiduously added to her copy ever since, and now it bulges in its 3-inch binder.

So, are you ready for the recipe?

COWBOY COOKIES

2 Cups sifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 Cup shortening

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

1 pkg (6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 Cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 tsp vanilla

Mix together and set aside flour, soda, salt and baking powder. Blend together shortening and sugars. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture and mix well. Add oats, vanilla and chocolate chips. Dough will be crumbly. Drop by teaspoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet, bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Thanks for the recipe (and the back link). The recipe seems easy enough to follow, even for me. The cookies in your photos look fantastic and I can almost taste them now. Great idea...a family cookbook.

I know you have a regular oven now but I was wondering if you had to make any adjustments when you made these cookies in your Convection over in Rosie?

BTW, I ate my first red onion, peanut butter sandwich the other day. Amazingly good considering... but it will not be my first choice in the future. I'll stick with my cold navy bean/onion combo with milk. However, thanks for the adventure in eating ... it was fun! Phil refused to join me but watched with interest and a bit of scepticism as I munched it down and proclaimed, "it's good!"

About Us

We are old married folks, since 1960. After raising two daughters and helping with their kids, we hit the road in 2002, and haven't stopped since. We are full-time RVers, but we winter in Benson, AZ, at the SKP Saguaro Co-op Park.

About Our Travel Style

We recently traded in our motorhome for a 28-foot travel trailer, and traded in our 2004 Suzuki for a 2007 Toyota Tundra pickup. As of this writing (November 6, 2014), we haven't gone anywhere with this combination, for a variety of reasons.

In the meantime, we are living in a park trailer, technically an RV, but firmly attached to the ground in the SKP Saguaro Co-op RV Resort.

Keep an eye over here -- we hope to make some changes soon!

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