I don't have a name on this recipe and don't remember where I got it 50 years ago. I don't think there are many "original" recipes that someone thought up themselves out there, so in my mind the person who gave me the recipe is where it came from. I have several old christmas cookie recipes I got when my children were little kids and I belonged to The Federated Women's Club "Vallerian Study Club". We each decorated a shoe box for Christmas and gave them to an elderly person in Valley Falls. In order to have several kinds of goodies in your box, we made several kinds of cookies and shared recipes with each other.  So most of these won't have a name on them other than mine.

Coconut Sandies Balls                                     Jeanette Brose

• 1 cup butter
• 1/4 cup sifted Confectioners (powdered) sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tab. water
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Thoroughly cream butter, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in water. Add flour and mix well. Stir in pecans. Shape into 1" balls. Bake 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet in slow oven 300 degrees about 20 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Cool thoroughly before removing from pan. Dip cookies in frosting and roll in coconut. Makes 4 dozen.

Frosting: Add enough half and half or light cream to 2 cups powdered sugar for spreading. Add dash of salt and 1 tsp. vanilla.

To tint coconut: Shake 1 1/2 cups coconut in covered jar with a few drops food coloring. Note: this was on the original recipe, so I decided to put it on, but who ever saw a colored snow ball? Duh!

Peppermint Sticks                                        Liz May (from Lisa Brose)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 12 oz. package of chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is best)
• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1 egg, separated
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3/4 cup of finely crushed peppermint stick candies

In large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, butter, egg yolk, and vanilla. Blend well. It will look like shortbread dough. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread/press in an ungreased 15x10 inch jelly roll pan/cookie sheet with sides. Beat egg white until frothy, then brush over top of bars. Spread candy over bars. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool slightly, then cut into bars. Makes 3 dozen.

***An extra note from Lisa - For our school Christmas party I made the Peppermint Sticks and actually REALLY paid attention to what I was doing.

This is what I found out. First of all, my 10x15 jelly roll pan is actually a 12x17.5" pan with 1" sides I bought at the restaurant supply store in Chambersburg. When I made the dough, I doubled the recipe ingredients, except for the chocolate chips and it fit perfectly. This is a shortbread dough - flour, butter, and sugar - so it will be very crumbly and needs to be stirred up from the bottom of the bowl to catch all the flour and sugar. I cut in the butter if it is not super soft so it mixes better. You do press the dough into the pan which connects all the crumbles into the bar. You need to smash the cheap peppermint sticks from Wal-Mart, which are 88 cents for a box of 12 candy canes. It doesn't have to be smashed to powder, which will create a hard candy crust on top, but they need to be from dust to a half an inch long or so. This is Audrey and Austin's favorite job! We double bag all 12 in a Ziploc freezer bag inside another freezer bag, put that on top of a newspaper, and hammer away. They have a crumbly consistency when warm, but set up to traditional shortbread cookie consistency. They were a big hit at the party, cut small 1"x1" and stacked on Grandma Brose's little footed candy plate. 

This is not Christmas themed, but it is good and great for busy Moms. Much better flavor and texture than the traditional Rice Krispies Bars.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars                        Cammy (from Lisa)

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 6 cups crisp rice cereal
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolatte chips, melted

In a large saucepan, or Dutch oven, combine sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter. Cook over medium-low heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; add cereal and stir until coated. Spread into a greased 13x9 pan and press lightly. Spread melted chocolate over bars. Chill. Makes 2 dozen bars. These taste great with or without the chocolate chips.

***Easter Idea

If you substitute half of a package of butterscotch morsels for the chocolate chips, or do half butterscotch and half chocolate, make double scoops into the shape of a nest, and then add malted milk ball eggs or jelly bean eggs, you can make cute and yummy treats at Easter.

Lisa

I'm sure you will all want to try this wonderful Mincemeat Pie Recipe (a dear friend Freda gave me) with REAL meat in it like my Aunt Lydia Hosler (my Grandma Hamon's sister) who lived across the road from us growing up made. She used the fruit from her orchard (which everyone had), their own beef, and made it from scratch. There was none to buy. They would hang the beef out on the back porch and Mom would go out and cut off what she would need to cook each day all winter long. No deep freezes then. It was better than digging a hole and burying it in the ground. When we were growing up, once it got cold it was cold all throughout the winter. Mom would drape an old sheet around the butchered beef hanging from the porch ceiling. By the way, we did that butchering outselves also. How can Nonesuch Mincemeat call it that with no meat in it?

Mincemeat Pie (the real thing)                      Freda's Mom's recipe

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 tsp. salt
• enough water to cover meat. Cook without a lid until the water is boiled away and you just have cooked meat left.
• add: 2 cups applesauce
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 jar of Borden's Nonesuch Mincemeat

Pour into (2) 10" pie pans (not 9" unless they have very high sides). Cover with crust, using my 4 crust recipe I gave you with the peach pie recipe, and bake till brown - 375 degrees approximately 50 minutes (depending on your oven temperature).

Christmas Bread Ring

• 1 box Hot Roll mix
• 1 cup cut up gumdrops
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup raisins, if desired (I don't use them)
• Confectioners (powdered) sugar frosting

Make dough according to package directions given. Stir in gumdrops and nuts. When dough has doubled in size, divide in half. Roll each half on a floured (whatever you are using) into a rope about 24" long. Twist together like a braid and form a ring on a greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until almost doubled in size. Bake in moderate, hot oven 375 degrees till done, about 20 to 25 minutes. Note: You can skip the braid and just bake in a 3"x5"x9" loaf pan like a loaf of bread. Slice and serve with butter.

Frosting

• 1 cup Confectioner (powdered) sugar
• 1 Tab. butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tab. Half and Half (or milk or cream) - Use one more Tab. if too thick to spread on bread or ring.