Fri, Dec 11, 1925 – 5 · Tulare Advance-Register (Tulare, California) · Newspapers.com
Whether you’re filling your Christmas cookie jar or hosting for Hanukkah, give your holidays a vintage flair with these mouthwatering cookie recipes from our newspaper archives.
Beneath the original newspaper recipes, we’ve written them out in a way that’s a bit easier to follow. Click on any of the images to see the clipping on Newspapers.com.
[Note: In old recipes, a “moderate oven” means 350–375 degrees Fahrenheit.]
Sugar Plum Crispies – from 1949
1949: Sugar Plum Crispies recipes Thu, Dec 1, 1949 – 34 · The Knoxville News-Sentinel (Knoxville, Tennessee) · Newspapers.com
Ingredients:
- ½ cup shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ cup water
- ¾ cup flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- ½ cup chopped raisins
- ½ cup chopped nuts
Directions:
- Combine shortening, sugar, salt, spices, vanilla, and water and beat thoroughly.
- Sift flour and soda together. Add to first mixture with oats, raisins, and nuts, and mix thoroughly.
- Drop from tablespoon on greased baking sheets. Stamp dough thin with a glass covered with a damp cloth.
- Bake in moderate oven 350 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from pan at once. Makes 2 ½ dozen.
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies – from 1936
1936: Chocolate Peppermint Cookies recipe Fri, Dec 18, 1936 – Page 32 · The Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) · Newspapers.com
Ingredients:
Cookies:
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 2 squares chocolate, melted
- 1 ½ cups flour
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
Frosting:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- ½ tsp peppermint flavoring, or ½ cup crushed peppermint stick candy
Directions:
- Cream butter with brown sugar. Add sour cream and egg. Beat well. Add melted chocolate.
- Sift flour with soda and baking powder, then add to first mixture.
- Bake on greased baking sheet for 12 minutes at 325 degrees F.
- When frosting will hold its shape, spread on warm cookies.
Hanukkah Dreidel Cookies – from 1958
1958: Hanukkah Dreidel Cookies recipe Thu, Dec 4, 1958 – Page 24 · The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) · Newspapers.com
Ingredients:
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp grated orange rind
- 2 Tbsp orange juice
- 1 cup ground Brazil nuts
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp almond extract
Directions:
- Cream shortening; gradually add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, orange rind and juice, and nuts.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in almond flavoring. Chill several hours.
- Roll out 1/8-inch thick on lightly floured board. Cut into dreidel shape using a paper pattern or cut into desired shapes with 2-inch cookie cutter.
- Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Snowball Cookies – from 1940
1940: Snowball Cookies recipe Thu, Jun 27, 1940 – Page 23 · The St. Louis Star and Times (St. Louis, Missouri) · Newspapers.com
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup butter
- ¼ cup evaporated milk or cream
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- 6 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Directions:
- Cream butter until very light and fluffy. Beat in the milk or cream a little at a time until it is all taken up by the butter. Add vanilla.
- Sift flour, then measure. Resift with confectioners’ sugar and add a little at a time to the butter. Add pecans.
- Roll very small bits of dough, about 1 teaspoonful for each cookie, between palms of hands to form small balls.
- Place on floured baking sheet and bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees F) until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
- Roll cookies in confectioners’ sugar while they are still warm. Yield: 6 dozen small cookies.
Gingerbread Men – from 1920
1920: Gingerbread Men recipe Sun, Dec 5, 1920 – 15 · The Enid Daily Eagle (Enid, Oklahoma) · Newspapers.com
Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 tsp salt
- ¾ tsp ginger
- 2/3 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup shortening, melted
Directions:
- Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger together.
- Mix molasses, sugar, egg, and melted shortening together. Add the dry ingredients to make soft dough.
- Shape in form of little men, animals, or plain cookies on greased pan. Bake in moderate oven 10 to 12 minutes.
Note: The men can be made by forcing the dough through a pastry bag or cornucopia made with plain letter paper. Use tops of cloves, currants, or rice for making the faces and buttons. For colored coats, use colored icing.
Christmas Wreaths – from 1948
1948: Christmas Wreaths recipe Fri, Dec 17, 1948 – Page 12 · The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, Ohio) · Newspapers.com
Ingredients:
- ½ cup butter and shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp grated lemon rind
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cups flour
- Pistachio nuts, crushed
- Red and green maraschino cherries
Directions:
- Cream butter/shortening; add sugar and cream well.
- Add egg yolks beaten until thick; then add lemon juice and rind. Add one egg white beaten until stiff and dry.
- Fold in enough flour to make a stiff dough.
- Roll thin and cut with doughnut cutter. Beat other egg white slightly and brush over tops.
- Place on greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with crushed nuts. Place red and green maraschino cherries to represent holly wreaths.
- Bake at 325 degrees F until delicately browned.
Fruit Cake Cookies – from 1938
1938: Fruit Cake Cookies recipe Sat, Nov 26, 1938 – 14 · The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) · Newspapers.com
Ingredients:
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups pastry flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cloves
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 cup each raisins, walnuts, and candied cherries
- ½ cup candied pineapple
- ¼ cup citron
Directions:
- Cream together sugar and shortening; beat eggs in, one at a time.
- Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with milk.
- Chop fruit, nuts, and citron and mix well in mixture.
- Drop by teaspoon on greased tin and bake in moderate oven.
Note: Pineapple and citron may be omitted if desired. These cookies will keep for months.
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