'Grand old lady' was a great cookie baker

 

Mary Catherine Gordon of Jefferson, Md., sent in her recipe for Old Dutch Cookies. The recipe was passed to her by her aunt, Eva Bussard.

"She always had them in her house when I visited her," Gordon recalls.

Bussard got the recipe from a "grand old lady" who lived beside their church in Middletown, Md. She was a great cookie baker, would make up the dough and would bake a few at a time whenever she wanted cookies, Gordon writes.

 

Old Dutch Cookies

• 3/4 pound brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup margarine or lard
• 1 bottle mild molasses (1 pint)
• 5 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon soda dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 pound raisins
• 1 pound currants
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds

Cream shortenings and brown sugar. Add molasses, then salt, flour, and spices alternately with soda. Add fruit and nuts. Chill dough. I take a teaspoon of dough and pat into a round flat cookie. I make up all the cookies and place on waxed paper before I start to bake. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes, until set. Do not overbake.

Makes 9 dozen.