Snowball Cookies. Oldfashioned, and Delicious!

Snowball Cookies, just like your grandmother use to make, and they are surprisingly easy and quick to make, and sure to bring big smiles to many faces!

Ingredients:
1 cup Butter,softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups finely chopped pecans
Powdered sugar for rolling.

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar in medium bowl until creamy. Add vanilla; beat until well mixed.
Add flour and pecans; beat at low speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until well mixed.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 16-18 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; roll in powdered sugar while still warm and again when cool.

Be sure to let me know if you tried these, and how they turned out for you.

War Time Victory Cakes

ONE-EGG VICTORY CAKE
From the Royal Baking Powder cookbook:

During WWII, America resorted to rationing certain goods. Everything from tires to shoes to nylons were rationed, along with many edibles such as sugar, coffee, and cheese. Fuel shortages made it tough to send fresh food across the country, and many processed foods had to be shipped to our soldiers and allies. Could you imagine though, telling your kid that you can’t make their favorite birthday cake because you already used up that month’s ration of butter!

One example of just deeply the war affected those at home in the U.S. can be found in cookbooks like these, which are featured in the National World War II Museum 'Arsenal of Democracy' exhibition. Written with wartime rationing and scarcity in mind, they advised the American homemaker on ideas about how to feed their families properly without using up too many of their supplies.

Here is a Recipe for one of those War Time Victory Cakes from the Royal Baking Powder Cookbook.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 cup milk
2 cups cake flower
2 1/2 teaspoons Royal Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions: Cream shortening well; add sugar slowly, beating in well. Add beaten egg and vanilla; beat until well blended. Blend syrup and milk. Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with liquid to first mixture. Bake in greased square pan (8 x 8 x 2 inches) in moderate oven at 350°F. about 1 hour or in 2 greased eight-inch layer cake pans at the same temperature about 30 minutes. Makes 1 eight-inch or 1 two-layer cake.
Note: Honey may be substituted for light corn syrup.

Recipe for the long lost Davey Crockett Bars

Davy Crockett Bars

Known as a school cafeteria favorite of days gone by. These bars are dense, use more eggs than most recipes, and have chocolate chips, and oatmeal.

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 cup flour sifted with 1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cup oats
1 cup oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1 cup nuts

Directions:
Mix together ingredients, the dough will be very stiff. It has to be pushed or patted into an ungreased pan.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes in 350 a degree oven. Do not over bake or it will be hard and dry. TRemove from oven when it is still puffed in the middle. Cut into bars or squares while warm, and watch for the look of delight from your unsuspecting guest!

Anytime I have made these, everyone who has tried them has absolutely loved them. I don't remember this treat being made at any school I went to, so those children who did have them were a very lucky bunch.

History of Popcorn Balls, Recipes and Memories

History of Popcorn Balls

Popcorn balls (popped kernels stuck together with a sugary "glue") were hugely popular around the turn of the 20th century, but their popularity has since waned. Popcorn balls are still served in some places as a traditional Halloween treat.

Popcorn balls were a fixture at many Halloween parties during the 1950s, a time when Treat or Treaters regularly enjoyed homemade treats rather than packaged store-bought candies. Chances are that many of you would receive at least one on your "Trick or Treating" rounds in your neighborhood, as well as fresh baked cookies.

One legend from Nebraska say's that the popcorn ball is actually a product of the Nebraska weather. It supposedly invented itself during the "Year of the Striped Weather" which came between the years of the "Big Rain" and the "Great Heat" where the weather was both hot and rainy. There was a mile strip of scorching sunshine and then a mile strip of rain. On one farm, there were both kinds of weather. One day in August, it rained so hard on the farm that sorghum syrup leaked right from the grasses and drained into the nearby cornfield (the cornfield was in a valley). The syrup flowed down the hill into the popped corn and rolled it into great balls with some of them hundreds of feet high and looked like big tennis balls at a distance. You never see any of them now because the grasshoppers ate them all up in one day on July 21, 1874.

Popcorn balls dated back to the mid-19th century. New York cookbook author E.F. Haskell included the recipe in her Housekeeper’s Encyclopedia first published in 1861. The following is one of those old, and vintage recipes.

Popcorn balls:
12 oz molasses
1 stick butter
1 cup popcorn, un-popped
Vegetable oil
Pour the popcorn kernels into a large, deep pan. Cover lightly with vegetable oil. Cover and cook on high heat until popped. His should yield 4 quarts of popped popcorn. (Try to remove un-popped kernels as best you can.)
In a small saucepan, bring the molasses and butter to a boil (about 249 degree; check with a candy thermometer).
In a large bowl, pour the syrup over the popcorn and mix together so the popcorn is sufficiently coated. With your hands, form tennis ball-sized sphere.
Let set, and wrap individually with plastic wrap. Yields 16 balls.

Alternate Recipe:
Popcorn Balls
3 quarts plain popped corn (about 1/3 cup kernels)
1/4 cup butter 10 oz. bag marshmallows
food coloring (optional)
Put popped corn in a large bowl. Set aside.
Melt the butter and marshmallows in a stove top pot, stirring constantly. When they are melted, take off the heat and allow the mixture to cool until it can be touched. If you like, stir in a few drops of food coloring.
Using a wooden spoon, gently stir the melted mixture into the popcorn. Next, butter your hands and work quickly to form popcorn balls. Place balls on waxed paper to cool.
After the balls are cool, you may use warm corn syrup to stick gum drops or other candy decorations to the popcorn balls. The popcorn balls may be stored in sandwich bags. This makes enough for about 15 two-inch balls.

These popcorn balls are great anytime, but as you know, they are especially fun to enjoy at Halloween or Christmas time. It is up to you to keep the tradition going! Let your children, or grandchildren help you make some popcorn balls and give them the one of memories you loved so much. They are so easy to make and so very delicious!

Sometimes the oldest recipes give the best memories!