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Long-Keeping Nut Cookies
Combine in order: 1/4 cup margarine, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 well beaten eggs, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 saltspoon mace, 3/4 cup walnuts, hickory nuts or pecans, chopped coarsely. Drop by half teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheets. Bake in moderate oven 15 min. Decorate tops with half pieces of nuts before baking.
A soft, cakey drop cookie leavened with baking powder rather than a stiff rolled dough. Note that the last sentence reverses the order: press the nut halves on while the mounds are still wet, before they go into the oven.
- Saltspoon of maceA saltspoon is a quarter of a level teaspoon. Ground mace loses its perfume quickly, so use a jar opened within the year or grate a blade fresh.
- Moderate ovenNo temperature is given; 'moderate' is conventionally taken as 350-375F. The sheets should sit on a middle rack.
- Baking timeFifteen minutes suits a full teaspoon mound; at the half-teaspoon size specified these are small and will be done in 10 to 12 minutes, when the edges just colour. Check the first tray and adjust.
- Batter consistencyWith a third of a cup of milk and two eggs to a single cup of flour, this is a slack batter closer to a drop cake than a cookie dough. It spreads, so leave a good inch and a half between mounds.
- MargarinePeriod margarine was firmer and blander than most tub spreads. Use a stick margarine or butter at 80 percent fat; low-fat spreads carry too much water and the cookies will go flat and tough.
- Greased sheetsParchment is easier and gives a more even bottom on a batter this wet.
- NutsHickory nuts are rarely sold; pecans are the closest substitute in both flavour and oil content. Chop coarsely as directed so the pieces stay distinct, and reserve whole halves for the tops.
- Yield and keepingNo yield is stated; at the half-teaspoon size specified this will make several dozen small cookies. Store them airtight.