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.

Saturday Morning Pancakes!

Pancakes, or Hotcakes, whatever you want to call them... are a tradition at our house on Saturday mornings. Not just any pancake. But mom's pancakes! For as long as I can remember, mom made pancakes for breakfast every Saturday morning. I do too!

Mom made pancakes from Bisquick. After she whipped her batter of Bisquick, eggs, and milk, she poured in the bacon grease. I know... it might sound a little weird and fattening, but I'm convinced that it was the key to really good tasting pancakes. You know the kind that keeps you coming back for more. Mom's pancakes were small and the perfect thickness. Light, fluffy, and very delicious. I wish to think mine are just about as good, after years and years of making them. 

To complement our pancakes, we had eggs cooked to our liking. Fried eggs... over easy, over hard. And scrambled. And that's how I like mine.

Toppings included powdered sugar, homemade jams, and maple syrup. 

Our pancake breakfast also included bacon or sausage and Orange Juice or Tang.

What's Tang? An orange powder that you mixed into a glass of cold water to give you an orange taste. That is what we mostly drank growing up in the 60's and 70's. 

My favorite thing to spread on hot pancakes is butter. Hot buttery pancakes with powdered sugar sprinkled on top tastes so good to me. And I love blueberries! I often add them to my batter like I did today. Maple syrup is a staple in my pantry and I've got have at least one pancake with syrup on it.

Saturday mornings and pancakes conjure up some of my favorite memories. Visits to mom and dad's house for a weekend trip. Sitting at the breakfast table, located in the large bay window overlooking the valley, eating pancakes and visiting with my two favorite people. On a clear morning you could see the county's landmark, Pinacle Peak (a hill, or mound, with a rock stack spiraling hundreds of feet into the air). 

I loved the comforts of home. Of mom and dad and our visits down memory lane. The smell of bacon wafting delightfully through the house and hot buttery pancakes stacked on my plate.

My parents are gone, but I am thankful for the memories of Saturday mornings and hot pancakes for breakfast. The tradition continues and when the kids come to visit they know they will get hot pancakes for breakfast on Saturday morning, too. And hopefully some good old-fashioned memories to go with them. 

There is nothing better than hot pancakes on a Saturday morning!

Writing prompt #3: Saturday morning at your house

Hosted by

Mama Kat's Pretty Much Famous Writer's Workshop

Six Word Fridays: Trip

I took a lovely trip today

Not just anywhere, but a trip...

Down Memory Lane! I walked this

dirt country road nearly every day.

Over the one-lane bridge, and

along the bank of the river

Where the kids played and fished

the lazy summer days away.

As the road stretched out before

me... my mind took me on the 

most pleasant trip. Horses grazing in

green pastures, cool morning air, puddles 

of water from the night's storm

All leading me... Down Memory Lane!

There's something wonderful about taking

a stroll down dirt country roads.

Soothing sounds of running water and

the rhythmic beat of every step 

starts my day refreshed and new!

And all the memories that flood 

my mind of childhood days and 

young motherhood days, and grandmother days

of today... makes my trip Down 

Memory Lane a lovely one, indeed!

This just came across my facebook page today. Perfect timing! I just had to post it. 

trip