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Monday, January 10

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It was a cold day, and when thinking that it would be a good day to cook or bake something, I thought, “This would be a good day to use the shellbark (hickory) nuts that John Rittenhouse gave us the previous week.”

I find cold days are great for cooking or baking.

John thought I might like to make a pie. I do enjoy pies, but I rarely bake them, and I am not a nut pie person. I prefer nuts in cookies.

I knew I could use any nut recipe for the cookies, but first looked in my Das Kochbuch a cookbook which was published by St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, with comments and recipe entries from people I know in our local village of Penryn.

I chose that cookbook first, because of the many hickory and shellbark trees in this area and the many recipes that came from ancestors of this area.

I was pleased to find this recipe and figured the cookies would be good, because it included a cup of butter.

Shellbark Cookies – from Ellen Bradley

1 Cup Butter

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

1 Cup Milk

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

3 Cups Flour

12 Ounces Shellbark (Hickory) Nuts

Mix in order. Drop by teaspoon onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 to 20 minutes. 17 minutes worked for my oven.

This recipe made 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Thanks, John, for the shellbark nuts and the encouragement they gave me to make these delicious cookies.

I think you got your point across that it might be a good idea to harvest some of these nuts instead of giving them all to our squirrels. 🙂