PRIDE OF IOWA COOKIES

"When I get home, I am going to make an Amish recipe for Pride of Iowa cookies." I never expected to get the reaction I got when I made that statement Thursday afternoon to my quilting canasta friends. Friend Dorothy, who is from Iowa, immediately voiced how much she loved them and that her mother always made them. Friend Janice, who is from northeastern Missouri, said her grandmother always had those cookies when she was a little girl. That led to a discussion about the 30 - minute radio show they remembered back in the 40s and 50s called Kitchen-Klatter. They reminiscenced about the spices the show advertised, the thick cookbook with no index, and a regular on the show called Lucille. I decided to google the show and read to them the information I found online. The show started in 1926 and was the longest running homemaker show in U.S. radio history. Broadcasted from Shenandoah, Iowa, Leanna Field Driftmier eventually broadcasted the show from her wheelchair. Dorothy said that was one reason her mother listened to the show - as she was also in a wheelchair. The show was aired in the midwestern states for five decades. They both felt the recipe was one Leanna had shared on the show. (Regrettably, I could not find any information on the origination of the recipe.)

Later at home, I found no changes in the recipes online and "my recipe" when I researched just the recipe except for one lady who used butter instead of shortening. When I checked Mrs. Jonas Yoder's recipe with the recipe Janice had, she said she had 2 sticks of butter written in parenthesis after the cup of shortening on her recipe card. After eating one of my cookies, Janice said she remembered her grandmother's cookies being more chewy. She didn't know if using butter instead of shortening would create that result or not. 

Mrs. Yoder's recipe was in the Heritage Country Harvest Cookbook from the Amish in Northern Indiana. I followed her recipe but did cut the ingredients in half as I didn't want to make a lot of cookies.

PRIDE OF IOWA COOKIES

1       cup brown sugar
1       cup white sugar
1       cup shortening
2      eggs
2      cups flour
1/2   teaspoon salt
1       teaspoon soda
1       teaspoon baking powder
1       teaspoon vanilla
1       cup coconut
3      cups quick rolled oats
1/2   cup nuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheet.

Blend sugars and shortening together .

Add beaten eggs.

Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and

add to creamed mixture.

Stir in vanilla, coconut, oats, and nuts;

mix well.

Drop by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet. (I used my cookie scoop that holds 1 tablespoon water.)

Flatten cookies with the bottom of a glass (or with your fingers).

Bake until light brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake.

Remove and cool on wire rack.