Kaye's Candy Cane Christmas Cookies

Both of Jim and Kaye's daughters, Kelly and Lori, as well as I and Kaye remember these delicious peppermint cookies - Kaye with horror due to their difficulty and the rest of us with drooling nostalgia. Tip: Do this in a cool kitchen and chill the dough before forming the canes. Wouldn't hurt to run cold water over your hands, either.

Mix thoroughly:

1 C Soft Butter

1 C Sifted Confectioners Sugar

1 Egg

1 ½ tsp Almond Extract

In a separate bowl, sift together:

2 ½ C Sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 ½ tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients above. Mix well.

Divide dough in half. To one half, add ½ tsp red food color and mix until evenly distributed. Chill dough.

For each candy cane, scoop 1 teaspoonful of the plain dough and 1 teaspoonful of pink dough (tip: a small melon baller will give you about the right amount). Roll each dough portion between your hands to make a 4 inch rope. Twist the ropes around each other like a Barber Pole and shape into a cane shape. Arrange cookies on an ungreased baking sheet), about 1 inch apart.

Bake about 9 minutes at 375º. Don't let cookies brown.

While the cookies are baking, crush enough Peppermint candy to make ½ C and mix with ½ C granulated sugar. Set aside.

Remove baked cookies from cookie sheet while still warm and sprinkle with peppermint candy/sugar mixture.

You can save a step or two by substituting 1 ½ tsp Peppermint flavoring for the almond flavoring above and leaving off the sprinkles.

Mable's Coffee Spice Cake

During the Depression, cake mixes were out of the question, especially with a family of six to feed. Mable did what she was good at - she threw together some flour and some sugar and a little of this and a little of that... voila! Cake!

Preheat oven to 350º.

1 ½ C Sugar

½ C Shortening

2 Eggs

2 C Flour

1 ½ tsp Cinnamon

3 tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Salt

¾ C Milk

¼ C Strong Coffee

Cream sugar and shortening; add eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add to egg mixture with milk and coffee. Mix well.

Pour into a prepared 9"X13" baking dish and bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out clean.

Frosting:

1 lb Powdered Sugar

¼ C Shortening

1 tsp Cinnamon

Enough coffee for spreading consistency.

Mix all together, adjusting for consistency, and frost cake.

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It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing warnings about toxic substances

and just gave me the names of one or two things still safe to eat." ~Robert Fuoss

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