Lesann Berry

Jen over at Jen’s Bookshelf, an Aussie writer of extraordinary taste, has awarded moi with the Smart Cookie Award. Woohoo! Since the accolade arrived via the southern hemisphere, I’ve decided it’s more properly a biscuit award and took some liberties with the badge, making an adjustment here and there.

The rules are:

Share something interesting and pass the award along to five others.

Jen proferred up a recipe for Anzac biscuits in her post. Egads! You have no idea how cool that is…growing up I was regaled by stories of Anzac, their deliciousness, their longevity, their overall superlativeness. Now I can make my own.

Jubilation!

Since I thought passing along a recipe seemed like a grand idea, I’m including one here, and then I’m selecting bloggers who I think have awesome secret recipes they might be guilted coerced into sharing…

Up until the turn of the nineteenth century, sugar was a commodity too expensive for most households to afford. Until refined sugar became widely available, molasses was the go-to sweetener for baking and cooking. It adds a stronger and more potent flavor than honey, and isn’t to everyone’s tastes, but you should try them anyways.

Here’s my family recipe for Molasses Cookies Biscuits:

1 1/2 C granulated sugar
1 C shortening
1/2 C molasses (the darker, the better)
2 eggs
3 tsp baking soda
1/2 C water
5 1/2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp salt

1. Blend sugar, shortening, molasses and eggs.
2. Dissolve baking soda in water and add to molasses mixture.
3. Stir in remaining ingredients (all that flour takes a while to work through).
4. Chill until firm.
5. Roll out dough between wax paper sheets and cut into preferred shapes.
(Or roll into balls and press down with your thumb.)

Bake on greased sheet for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool on rack.

Don’t forget to hop over to Jen’s blog and check out the Anzac goodness. Then use the back-button to check out these five awardees:

~ Ali Dent

~ Marion Spicher

~ Steena Holmes

~ Marcia Richards

~ Patricia Sands

I think it would be awesome if future recipients continued the cookie/biscuit recipe sharing and offered up their favoritest. I’m guessing chocolate will be involved in at least one and remember, if you got it off the internet there are NO calories! I’m sure I read that somewhere.

Let the crumbling commence…