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Quick & EasyBy Beverly Barbour
Healthy Halloween treatsSpook out the trick or treaters with healthy cookies made from cereals. Perhaps we like sugar because we come to the planet equipped with a sweet tooth so we are predisposed to like pastries of any kind. All that I know for sure is that anyone who takes cookies out of the oven finds that they magically disappear. It is darned hard to find a stale cookie in anybody's house. Cookies are a much healthier gift to a sweet tooth than candy can ever be. If you include healthy things like cereals or raisins or nuts, you know that you are doing a good deed when you distribute them on Halloween. Cereals salve your conscience while adding B-vitamins and often iron. While candy comes pre-wrapped, you can make cookies easy to hand out by wrapping one or two in a colorful paper napkin and tying each little package with orange or black ribbon or with a piece of twine. A good job for your own little helpers. There are more cookie recipes calling for oatmeal than for any other cereal. We could easily do a month's worth of columns on oatmeal cookies/bars without duplicating a recipe but instead will give you a small assortment of cereals. Some people regard oats and corn as only fit for animals--but then we are all members of the animal kingdom, are we not? Crisp Coconut Oatmeal Cookies Doris Fleckenstien of Jennings, Kan., wrote in 1983 that her daughter received a blue ribbon at the State Fair for these cookies. My notes say that they don't spread much and are crisp, nutritious and delicious. Doris also noted that you can substitute honey for the brown sugar. Makes about 3 dozen. 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease baking sheets. Stir first 5 ingredients together well in a large bowl. Mix in shortening, egg and vanilla. Stir in oatmeal, coconut and chips. Flour hands lightly and roll into small balls. Place balls on baking sheets spacing them several inches apart so that they have ample room to spread out and become crisp. Bake until lightly brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Crunchy Jumble Cookies Catherine Burton contributed this recipe which was very popular at the Oakridge Country Club, Hopkins, Minn. The cookies are quite different that the Rice Krispie Bars that we used to press into a pan when we were children. ¬ Makes about 31/2 dozen cookies. 1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
Preheat oven to 35o F. Lightly grease baking sheets. Cream butter and sugar together; beat in egg and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt into butter mixture; combine well. Stir in Rice Krispies, chocolate chips and raisins. Drop by teaspoonfuls on baking sheet, allowing room for spreading. Bake about 12 minutes. Cornflake Butterscotch Bars These could, of course, be made with any cereal that is extruded in the shape of flakes. The recipe probably originated in the test kitchens of one of the manufacturers of breakfast foods. Like most recipes, as they pass on from one kitchen to another, each cook changes things a bit. That is what makes these interesting. Makes 12 or more bars. 2 eggs, beaten
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf cake pan, bottom and sides. Combine eggs and brown sugar in top of a double boiler and cook over simmering water for 15 minutes, stirring almost constantly. Remove top pan and stir in orange rind. When the syrup is cooled, add the remaining ingredients. Pour into pan and bake 20 minutes. Cut into bars. A 100-(very interesting)-year old recipe for oatmeal cookies Howard Whalety of Era, Texas, shared this a long time ago. It was in my files without a date on it (my fault); it is very interesting. Howard said, "This recipe comes from a cookbook that is more than a hundred years old. I added the coconut and the cocoa to the recipe and it makes a good flavored dessert." The recipe calls for a lot of salt, probably more than you would want to use today when many people are cutting back on salt--1/2 teaspoon is ample. It is very interesting in that it calls for both butter and a small amount of lard. Lard would make it richer but if you don't have any (it is often hard to find) substitute shortening or butter. No baking temperature was given but 350 F works for most cookies. Here is the recipe just as it appeared in print however the parenthetical additions are added to make it a little easier for anyone who tries it out: Two and one-half cups oatmeal or rolled oats; 2 cups of flower (flour); 1 cup of sugar (granulated); 1 cup butter (2 sticks); 1 tablespoon lard; 1 teaspoon baking soda or baking powder; one teaspoon cinnamon; 1 cup seedless raisins; 2 eggs. Pinch off a piece about as big as a walnut, put it in place and bake. You can add 1 cup of shredded coconut. Make a chocolate-flavored cookie by adding 2 tablespoons of cocoa. (Howard's additions). Hard to keep the gobblin's from gobbling when you're baking cookies for Halloween. RECIPES FROM: Dorothy Hofbauer
Doris Fleckenstien
Howard Whaley
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