Description
This recipe was handwritten by my great aunt, Hazel (HILL) BECK, and was one of many in this recipe box her daughter gave to me. Now, I'm not sure if "Aunt Jane" was a friend's Aunt Jane, or a company called Aunt Jane, or if it was Hazel's great aunt, Jane Lois (HILL)(STORY) ROBB, who died in 1917. The mascot for Spry Shortening was a character called "Aunt Jenny" (portrayed by Edith Spencer.) It could be that my Aunt Hazel wrote Aunt Jane instead of Aunt Jenny. Who knows? What I DO know is MY great aunt wrote this recipe, probably made it, and it's at least 60 years old. I transcribed it as written. Comments I added are in brackets.
Ingredients
1 cup Spry [a shortening manufactured by Lever Brothers beginning in 1936.]
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon soda
2 cup sugar
1 egg Well beaten
5 cups sifted flour
1 cup milk
4 teaspoons of Baking P. [powder]
Directions
Combine Spry, salt, Vanilla & soda. Add sugar gradually & cream well. Add betten [beaten] egg and mix thoroughly. Sift flour with baking powder, Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk, mixing well. Drop from tip of teaspoon on Baking sheets greased with Spry. let stand a few mi [minutes] - then flatten cookies by stamping with a glass covered with a damp cloth. Bak [bake] 12 to 15 mi [minutes] (375F)
Comments
My conclusion is that the recipe must have been broadly available through some source many years ago and is not only from a source in your family. Time marches wonderfully on and on...and isn't technology amazing that we can share these things!
Pam M. [last name withheld] (I'm 69)
Goodyear, AZ
What a precious find! I believe our mother also wrote her recipes on index cards this way and kept them in a small box with a hinged lid. Do you think Uncle Lee has them?
Gloria and Nancy