Nannie Embrey's Pizzelles

Christmas wasn't Christmas without Nannie's pizzelles when we got together with the extended family.  When we were married almost 40 years ago, Nannie, my mother-in-law, gifted me with a new pizzelle iron and gave me her recipe which I've been making every year.  These pizzelles are super thin and fragile and I find that storing them stacked in a tin that is a little wider than they are is the best way to store them.

We were faced with a dilemma a few years ago when Gloria joined our family.  Gloria, a 30 year old Amazon parrot, caused me to have to rethink much of what I do in the kitchen because the fumes from non stick cookware can kill a parrot in short order.  The pizzelle iron had a nonstick coating.  What to do!  I thought that if it wasn't TOO cold, I could make them out on the deck but I really didn't want to be standing in 40 degree weather trying to do that.  A little research led me to the original Cucina Pro pizzelle iron which is made out of aluminum.  Problem solved.  Now pizzelle making may resume on schedule with the nonstick appliance being passed to my son. You will need to follow the instructions on your own pizzelle maker.  I find that  usually have to throw away the first two as they are the test ones!  I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Nannie Embrey’s Pizzelles

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

3 eggs, beaten

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup butter, melted

¾ - 1 cup flour

1 tsp. Baking powder

2 tsp. Anise extract

1 tsp. Vanilla 

Add and beat ingredients together in order listed--using the smaller 

amount of flour for thinner pizzelle.  Batter should be thick but flow 

from a spoon. Place about one tablespoon of batter in the center of 

both section of preheated pizzelle iron.  Close lid. Allow to cook 

until steaming stops -- about 30 - 60 seconds. Remove with fork.  

Allow to cool on wire rack or towels.  While hot, they may be rolled 

into a cylinder or shaped into cones.  Dust with confectioners’ sugar.  

Store in airtight container.  

Makes 2 dozen

Lemon variation:  Omit vanilla and anise extract.  

Add 1 teaspoon lemon extract and 1 tablespoon 

grated lemon peel to batter.

Note:   It will take a couple of tries to get the cooking time right.  My most recent batch took 40 seconds each time.  Also-- a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop makes easy work of scooping the batter onto the pizzelle baker.  With my Cuchina machine, you place the batter just a little toward the back of center.  Experiment to find what works with you. I place paper towels on a cooling rack and place the hot pizzelles there before stacking them in a tin.  Having your confectioners' sugar in a shaker or sifter gives a nice even coat.

Kong's Big Toll House Cookie

There are cake people and there are cookie people.  My son was definitely a cookie person and he always requested this big cookie in lieu of a birthday cake.  We experimented with different additions with our absolute favorite being the addition of Butterfinger BB's instead of chocolate chips.  I'm not sure that Butterfinger BB's are still available but I've seen bags of little mini Butterfinger candies that may be similar.  The BB's were ball shaped Butterfingers about the size of Milk Duds or Malted Mill balls.  The sky is the limit with the mini candy bars that are available these days.  If you can't find them, then chop full size candy bars into half inch chunks.

I had looked for this recipe a couple of years ago and couldn't find it.  I was heartsick, thinking that I had lost that little clipping for eternity.  Lo and behold, as often happens in an old cluttered house, it turned up when I was looking for something else!   Enjoy!

Kong’s Big Toll House Cookie

Printable Recipe

Clipped from a women’s magazine sometime in the 1980’s

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. Baking soda

1 tsp. Salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 -- 12 oz. package (2 cups) Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate morels

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In small bowl, combine flour baking soda and salt.  
Set aside. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract
until creamy.  Beat in eggs. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in Nestle Toll House
semi-sweet chocolate morsels and nuts.  Spread in greased 14 or 15 inch round
pizza pan. Bake 20 - 25 minutes. Cool, Cut into wedges.
Makes one 14 - 15 inch round cookie.

Option:  Spread batter in greased 15 ½ X 10 ½  jelly-roll pan. Bake 20 - 25 minutes.  
Cut in 2 inch squares. Makes 35 cookies.

Other additions:  Instead of chocolate chips, we liked Butterfinger BB’s or broken
Butterfinger pieces.  Toffee pieces is another option. Any of the mini candy bars
makes a great addition when broken in small pieces.  

Family Traditions--Christmas!

This is my inaugural post.  This little project grew out of a conversation I had with my grown kids on Christmas Day.  You see, we have always had certain culinary traditions in our family.  Christmas morning we've always enjoyed Country Puff Pastries and Providence Hot Apples before opening our gifts.  We've done that since 1989.  So this year, as the pastries were cooking, the conversation went something like this:

Me:  If I ever drop dead, you need to know where to find those recipes.  There's a Southern Living Breakfast and Brunch cookbook on the bottom shelf of the kitchen bookcase with a bunch of clippings stuck in the front.  Two of those clippings are our Christmas recipes.

Emily:  Mom, I'll never remember that!

Me:  Well I do intend to type them all up and make a family cookbook, including the two small ones I made of your grandmothers' recipes.

Jeremy:  Put them online.  Make a blog.  Monetize the hell out of it. Call it Mrs. E's Recipes only spell it with a z at the end.

So here we are--without the monetizing.

Welcome to Mrs. E's Recipeez.  You are invited to enjoy our family's traditions.  please note--unlike most food blogs, I may or may not have pictures.  I'm posting recipes that I may not have made in years so they will just be without photos.  If I do make them, I'll update with pictures.  This is our family recipe archive.

I realized how important maintaining family recipes was when cleaning out my mother's house about 14 years ago.  She had a huge pantry full of cookbooks which I had to go through.  I was able to find many of her favorite recipes easily enough because she also had a file and she had submitted many of them to her church cookbook.  There was one, however, that I was desperate to find.  Though out my childhood and as I was growing up, Mom made one particular cookie that I dearly loved.  It was different than any other I'd ever had--almost like a pastry.  It was a yeast dough with butter and sour cream but no sugar.  It was rolled flat then sprinkled with a sugar/vanilla mixture, folded, rolled, sprinkled again--with that process being repeated several times.  The dough was then cut into 1 inch wide strips that were 4 inches long, each piece was twisted and put on the cookie sheet.  When they baked, the cookies fanned out on the ends into the flakiest, yummiest layers.  I can't begin to describe how much I loved these.

I remembered them as being a Pillsbury Bake Off winner from around 1958 - 1960 and they were in one of those little books you see at the grocery store checkout.  I looked through everything.  Books were bagged and donated and I was distraught about not having that recipe.

There were several bags of books on Mom's porch that needed to be put out for donation pick up so I went over there one more time after work on a freezing December afternoon.  I decided to go through those bags one more time.  Lo and behold--there it was!

Pillsbury Bake Off recipes with the price of 25 cents on the lower right hand corner.  This was probably one of the keepsakes from my parent's house that meant the most.

So I've been continuing that tradition.  Starlight Sugar Crisps for Christmas.  That recipe and many more will be posted here for family and friends to enjoy.

So--since I talked about the Starlight Sugar Crisps, That will be the first recipe!

Enjoy!

Starlight Sugar Crisps

Printable Recipe

Absolutely Vicki’s most favorite cookie in the world!

 From Pillsbury Bake-off late 1950’s or early 1960’s--out of print

Soften:

1 packet active dry yeast (or 1 cake compressed yeast) in

1/4 cup lukewarm water.

Sift together:

3 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt into mixing bowl.

Cut in:

1 cup butter until particles are the size of small peas.

Blend in:

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup sour cream (thick or commercial)

1 teaspoon vanilla and the softened yeast.

Mix thoroughly.  Cover;  chill at least 2 hours. (Dough may be stored in refrigerator for up to 4 days and baked as needed.)

Combine:

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

Roll out:

Half  of chilled dough on floured surface sprinkled with about 1/2 cup of the vanilla sugar.  Roll out to a 16 X 8 inch rectangle.  Sprinkle with about 1 Tablespoon of the vanilla sugar.

Fold one end of dough over center.  Fold other end over to make three layers.  Turn 1/4 way around and repeat rolling and folding twice, sprinkling board with additional vanilla sugar as needed.

Roll out to a 16 X 8 inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick.

Cut into 4 X 1 inch strips.  Twist each strip 2 or 3 times.  Place on ungreased baking sheets.  Repeat entire process with remaining dough and vanilla sugar.

Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees) 15 to 20 minutes until light golden  brown .

Note:  The chilled dough is very stiff.  I always divide the dough in half and pat into a fat rectangle, wrap in saran wrap, then refrigerate until ready to use.  It’s a little easier to roll out this way!