Soft Gingersnap Cookies

Every once in awhile I will dig into my recipe collection of years past. I wanted to make some gingerbread cookies for last year's Christmas Eve party. I have a stack of loose recipes that I have gathered since 1975 and as I was going through them I found a Pioneer recipe of Soft Gingersnap Cookies. It looked simple enough so I decided to make them. It looked as if the recipe came out of an old Extension or Relief Society book. The recipe is actually typed up. From a typewriter!

Just thinking about gingerbread cookies made me think back to Grandma Bentley's cookie drawer. If my memory serves me right, her's were a little snappy, but oh so good. The smell of freshly baked cookies or bread often filled the air when walking into grandma's house. Such a delightful memory!

I made the gingersnap cookies and they turned out to be a big hit! Everyone loved them. Chad especially loved them and said they were his favorite cookie. So when I found out he got the job at Antelope Island I knew right away I was going to make some cookies for him to snack on while out on the range. 

Soft Gingersnap Cookies

Cream together:

3/4 c. margarine (softened)

2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 c. light molasses

Add:

3 3/4 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

3 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Roll tsp. size ball of dough in sugar and slightly flatten on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 9 to 12 minutes. Should crack on top of cookies when done.

Six Word Fridays: Merry

From My House... to Your House

merry

Six Word Fridays: reason

There's a Reason to the Season

Welcome Family. Welcome Friends. Welcome Winter!

Make treats. Give treats. Eat treats.

Grandchildren counting the days to Christmas.

Remembering the birth of our Savior....

The real reason for the season.

reason

The First Gift of Christmas

So touching and beautiful! This short and inspiring video will bring the true spirit of Christmas into your homes and lives. Click HERE to view.

Christmas Devotional

The Christmas Devotional will be broadcast tonight, December 7, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. (MST). With today's technology there are a number of ways to view the event. 

To access tonight's anticipated event, go to lds.org. --- then click on First Presidency's Christmas Devotional to link-up to various media sites for easy viewing. 

I look forward to the timely messages and beautiful music by the Tabernacle Choir every year. So inspiring! And, it helps me get into the true spirit and meaning of Christmas. Hope it does the same for you, my friends!

Merry Christmas!

Mother's Caramel Turtles

My mother made the best caramel turtles I have ever tasted! When December rolled around, I made a trip to mother's house for the annual making of the caramel turtles. It was an all day event. Don't let the simple sounding recipe fool you! 

The best part of making turtles is when the caramel finally reaches the soft ball stage. It is perfectly cooked to a gooey soft and slightly chewy stage. I drop some caramel in a cold cup of water, swirl it around in my fingers and form it into a ball. I set it on my tongue... it sits only for a moment and then melts away, giving my taste buds the sensation of pure, caramely deliciousness! It can take a couple of hours to get it to the stage of perfection. I never use a candy thermometer. It gets in my way. One bite, that's all it takes, and you are hooked for life. You can't live without them ever again. Mom's caramel turtles are to die for!
  
I started making turtles with mom when I was a young mother. In the mid 80's. My husband and I and our small family moved from Utah to Colorado and was too far away to enjoy the luxury of having turtles just down the street. I decided then and there I was going to learn how to make turtles. And I have every year, ever since. Most of the time I made the trek to mom's house. It was a treat to spend the day chatting and making merry in the kitchen with mother. It's now only a sweet and treasured memory. Mother passed away in October of 2011. My siblings were spoiled. Mother made them turtles every year, so they never learned for themselves. Last Christmas, I had a lot of requests from family members for the turtles recipe. I gladly shared with them. I made the above recipe card with some pictures of mom and home and sent it out in a Christmas card to about 40 caramel turtle craving families.

I think I have perfected the art of caramel turtle making. My daughters and granddaughters have become interested in making them with me. It's become a tradition... passed from my mother, to my daughters, and granddaughters. It makes my heart happy!

Enjoy!

writing prompt #5: Share a favorite holiday inspired recipe!