For this recipe I'm going to take you way back. Like further back than just my Grandmother's cooking. All the way back to my Great-Grandmother's cooking. This recipe is so old that they even call the refrigerator the "icebox."
Fun fact: the icebox was invented in 1802 by a cabinet maker who was looking for a way to better transport his butter. Selling cold butter sticks versus melted tubs like his fellow vendors was a big boon in his business!
Now back to the cookies! This cookie is a brown sugar cookie with nuts in it. If you have a nut allergy you could take the nuts away and be good as gold. I think you could also get adventurous and add some chocolate chips too.
Because of the way you make these cookies they end up very uniform in shape and look totally different than other cookies we make now.
The first step is cream together 1/2 cup of butter (unsalted) and 1 cup of brown sugar. Make sure your butter has been out of the icebox and is softened. I generally stick with the rule of 30 minutes on the counter to soften it. Though an hour is great as well.
When the brown sugar and butter are creamed (they should look combined and smooth at the bottom of the mixer/bowl) then add in 1 egg and mix it well. To that combination add 1/2 tsp. of vanilla.
In a separate bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Make sure and use a sifter because you will want there to be as few clumps as possible. The dry ingredients are 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. baking soda.
Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. At this point you can optionally add the nuts (1/2 cup of pecans or whatever you prefer, make sure that the pecans are chopped pretty small though). The mixture will be fairly crumbly and not feel like any kind of dough you're used to. Which is why the next step is important. The next step is what makes the cookies.
Here is where it gets fun! Take the mixture out and using a rolling pin roll it out fairly thickly on a large surface. This doesn't need to be perfect, but I find it's much easier to roll it together if you've spread it out first. Once you have it rolled out you'll want to roll it up into rolls (so like roll the flat sheet up into rolls like you would if you were making a Swiss roll), but you'll want there to not be any air pockets in it. The width of the roll will be more or less the size of the cookie so you don't want to be too stingy with your roll thickness.
Once you're done rolling you can cover it in Saran Wrap or cling wrap, or nothing at all, and put it in the fridge for a few hours to chill.
(obviously you can see by this picture that my rolls were not perfect by any means and at some point I gave up a bit on the cutting at a specific thickness!)
After the cookies have chilled you'll want to slice them from the roll about 1/4 inch thick and put them on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes at 400 degrees. Then voila! You can have some old school cookies of your own!
GRANNIE SIMMONS’ ICE BOX COOKIES
SERVES: 24 COOKIES | PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES + 2 HOURS (CHILL) | COOK TIME: 8 MINUTES
INGREDIENTS
½ cup butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 egg ½ tsp. vanilla ½ tsp. baking powder 2 cups flour ½ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. baking soda ½ cup pecans (chopped)
INSTRUCTIONS
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add 1 egg and beat well. Add vanilla.
Sift together dry ingredients and add to the wet ingredients.
Optionally, add nuts.
Shape into rolls and chill. Slice ¼ inch thick.
Bake in 400-degree oven about 8 minutes.
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