Pudding Chip Cookies

These cookies are a favorite in the Philip and Gwen Jones family. It's a good thing that Jim, their son, married our daughter, Julie, so we Trauntveins could get the recipe and enjoy the cookies ourselves.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 C. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 C. margarine

1 C. firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 C. granulated sugar

1 pkg. (6 serving size) Jell-O vanilla instant pudding (3/4 Cup)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

3 cups chocolate chips (1 pkg.)

Instructions:

Mix butter, sugars, pudding and vanilla in a bowl.  Add flour and baking powder and then chocolate chips.  Lightly grease cookie sheet.  Bake on cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Coconut Classics

When I first started working as a stringer for the Provo Daily Herald, Marilyn Keyte, was working for the Deseret News as a stringer. She had worked for the Herald until the better-paying position became available. She became my great friend. I learned to love her. First of all, she was a very smart newspaper woman who was willing to help me learn what it meant to be an outstanding stringer. Second, she had a heart of gold. There was nothing which could be taught that was not taught.

Sometimes when we would go out to do stories together, on assignment (for example to the Little Sahara Sand Dunes at Easter time) from two different newspapers, we would take a lunch. One of the things she liked to do was wrap a cheese sandwich in tinfoil and put it on the dash. Usually, by the time lunch hour rolled around, the cheese was melted and the bread was warm.

Marilyn was also a good cook. These cookies are an example of the many good things she baked.

1 pound (2 cups) butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flaked coconut
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Add one-half the coconut (reserve one-half to tint pink and roll dough in before slicing)> Form dough into a long roll. Cill well before slicing and baking. Bake at 350-degrees for 10-minutes or until done. You may roll the cookies in chopped nuts and chocolate sprinkles before baking instead of in coconut.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Nougats

This is another of those school lunch recipes that Grandmother Smith and I enjoyed. It was a good thing that she amassed a goodly number of cookies recipes over the years because that was my favorite after school snack--cookies and milk. This is more of a candy than a cookie but I still liked them with milk. The cookies were stored in our cookie jar and were always there for hungry grandchildren to eat. I must admit that it was easier for grandma to keep her grandchildren happy since she had only four. I have, to date, 33. Keeping a full cookie jar on my counter is not easy.

1 cup peanut butter
I cup white Karo corn syrup
1 1/4 cup dry milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Combine the peanut butter and Karo syrup. Gradually stir in nonfat dry milk powder.  Mix well. Turn onto waxed paper and knead until well-blended. Shape into desired shape. For a firmer candy, chill in the refrigerator for one hour prior to serving.

Grandma Smith's School Lunch Cookies

My grandmother, Vivian Christene Pritchett Smith, taught school for more than 40 years.

Her father, John Thompson Pritchett, was the first, and only, pharmacist in Huntington, Utah. He moved there after Grandmother was married and Grandma and her husband, Grandfather Raymond James Smith, moved there later. Grandpa Smith owned and operated a meat market in the community. He later went to school and learned to be a bookkeeper. He then became ill with cancer and died, still young man, leaving my grandmother, mother and aunt. My grandmother had graduated from BYU with a normal certificate, meaning she was a certificated teacher. She began teaching again in the Emery County School District.

After her girls were married, she took a teacher/principal position in the Carbon County School District because the pay was better. These cookies were a favorite of the Southside (later the Reeves) elementary school children there. Grandma asked for the recipe and was given it. These were a favorite of ours.

1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
 3/4 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour (sometimes a bit more)
Cream the sugar and butter together. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well each time. Next add vanilla and milk. Then add salt. Add flour until dough is stiff enough to roll. Roll on floured board, cut into three-inch circles and bake at 375-degrees for 7 to 10 minutes.

Pie Crust Cookies

One of my favorite cookies was the ones made from leftover uncooked pie crust. There was always a bit of pie crust left after the pies were made for family celebrations. Grandma made them and now I do. I guess it runs in the family. The only difference is that now, at times, I will make the pie crust dough just to make the cookies.

1 recipe for pie crust which has been made and is ready to roll
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
Stir together the cinnamon and sugar and place in a shaker.
Gather together the scraps of pie crust dough which has been left over or use the freshly made pie crust dough. Cut into oddball shapes with a knife or use a round cookie cutter to cut the cookies before baking. Place on and ungreased cookie sheet. (You may apply a small amount of melted butter to the tops of the cookies. I don't.) Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake eight to 10 minutes at 350- to 375-degrees alongside your pie while it is baking or by themselves, depending on the number. Remove from oven when lightly browned and eat while warm.