The Sugar Cookie Recipe

Jeanie is a former neighbor of mine from Klamath. My family moved into the house next to the Arnold’s in January 1965 and remained there until September 1967.

She is a retired Professor from the University of Southern Nevada, living in rural Northern California. She also writes a cooking and gardening blog at gardenforestfield.com

What she shares is proof to me about what I’ve said all along: We all carry with us a piece of history,  if only we choose to have an open mind and to seek it out.

As far as I can recall they came from my Grandma on my Dad’s side. They were in a cookbook put together by the ‘Women of the Fort Dodge (Iowa) Lutheran Church’ which was published sometime between the end of the Great Depression and World War II.

The recipe refers to oleo which is short for oleomargarine, which was widely used during the 1940s. It involved mixing a yellow coloring into the margarine to make it look butter-like and more palatable.

She writes: “Coral Young Hawley, you are not the only messy cook around here! I thought you and Tom Darby would get a kick out of this old recipe. It is Tommy’s mother’s sugar cookie recipe.”

“My mom loved those cookies, and one day, she sent me over to Tommy’s house to copy down Marge’s recipe. I must have been about 8 or so, judging by my printing.”

“I have been using this recipe for almost 50 years! It is the best sugar cookie recipe ever, and the kids and I are making them next week for Christmas cookies, as we do every year.”

“It’s a testament to old paper that this recipe is still readable! I now have it in a page protector in my tenure binder cookbook.”

“Oh, and by the way, this recipe’s age (beyond my 50 years of using it) is testified to by the use of “oleo” as the fat. For those who don’t know, this refers to oleomargarine.”

“It became popular or widely used during the food rationing of WWII. A friend of mine remembers mixing the yellow coloring into the margarine to make it look like butter.”

“I grew up using margarine for everything, but of course I don’t use it any more. However, for this recipe, I usually use half shortening and half butter.”

“Also, using half powdered sugar and half flour to roll out the cookies is key. They stay sweet and crisp when baked.”

Thank you, Jeanie for bringing this home.