...Mrs. Brown's Refrigerator Cookies...

...Most of y'all probably know that when I was in college I cooked for an elderly couple in Asheville's Historic Montford Avenue District...three times a week...

...they were so proud of their old Victorian home...and proudly displayed the plaque they'd gotten from the President...

...It helped them of course...but it really helped me to gain a lot of confidence in the kitchen...

...I just cooked simple meals from a menu card painstakingly written by Mrs. Brown (she had arthritis)...and the kitchen in their big old house was white and airy and old fashioned...with a big free standing sink...I went every Tuesday and Thursday and cooked a big supper and then put all the leftovers into the fridge for them to have the next day...Mr. Brown did all the shopping and everything was all laid out on the table for me when I got there...

...and on Saturdays...I cooked a huge meal that had to serve as their Sunday dinner...and have leftovers for Monday...

...and also on Saturdays I made some desserts for them to have during the week...

...Mrs. Brown would come and sit at the table in the kitchen and we'd have nice long chats...about how she used to live on the wrong side of the tracks and Mr. Brown was such a gentleman and would come over and get her and take her to the pictures...I love to hear old people talk about their own young love...I'm going to do that one day...when I'm old...

...and she would share her recipes with me too...one thing she loved was turnips...and her recipe for turnips is almost exactly like Julia's...and the one I'm sharing with you today...for refrigerator cookies...I'd make these and roll them up in waxed paper...and they could just slice and bake however many they wanted and have fresh baked cookies through the week...

...I use coconut oil for the shortening in the recipe...It's denser than shortening so only 3/4 cup...it's underneath...not sure you can see it in this photo...

...then flax seed goo for the eggs...about 1/3 cup...

...and you mix it all up with your hands...it says so in the recipe...

...it's a little bit messy...

...shape the dough into 2 logs...

...wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate overnight...or longer...

...then when you're ready to bake some...just unroll...

...and slice off as many cookies as you want...

...you can put a lot on a sheet...as they don't spread very much...

...bake about 10 minutes...just until the bottoms are golden brown...

...don't overbake...they're very tender and crisp...almost like shortbread...

...the original recipe...

Mrs. Brown's Vegan Refrigerator Cookies

3/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
equivalent to 2 eggs - I used flax seed goo
2 3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 to 3 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Lemon extract

Mix with hands and press into a log 2 1/2" in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate overnight.

400° F oven. Bake 6-8 minutes.

Other additions:
Walnuts
date/nut
orange/almond
chocolate 1/2 and 1/2...these are neat and fun to make...you take half the dough and add chocolate...and leave the other half plain...(i.e., no cinnamon and lemon)...then you make the log half white and half chocolate...

What's your favorite old recipe?

~Have a lovely day!