Meet Nanny and Daddoo, my great-grandparents.
Daddoo had a mind like a steel trap, could tell stories like you wouldn’t believe, and was always up for a good laugh.
Nanny had a soft, gentle voice and skin like velvet. She always smelled like dusting powder and hugged like nobody’s business.
(Man, I wish that photo weren’t so damaged.)
I have a cookbook with a few of her recipes in it. It’s one of those small town, fundraising cookbooks. If you know them, you love them.
When I saw her recipe for Brown Sugar Cookies, I asked my dad about them. He has memories of eating them when he was a kid. I just had to try them.
These aren’t your fancy cookies of today. They’re no-nonsense, good ol’ fashioned, plain, delicious cookies that go perfectly with a cup of coffee, tea, or ice-cold milk.
With only six ingredients and one line of instructions, they’re pretty darn easy!
I confess to adding a seventh ingredient after about half the batch was baked: cinnamon. I like cinnamon in just about everything. It really brings these already-delicious cookies even more life.
Give them a try!
Here’s how I did mine:
Nanny’s Brown Sugar Cookies
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups of brown sugar
- 1 cup melted Crisco
- 2 tbsp boiling water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 1/2 cups flour
Melt Crisco in glass bowl in microwave for around a minute, keeping an eye on it so you don’t make a mess. Cream together your sugar and melted Crisco. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Add in flour about a cup at a time.
Roll into 1.5″ balls. Place on parchment and press criss-cross with a fork dipped in sugar or cinnamon sugar.
Bake 10 minutes at 375.
Take a bite, channel your inner Nanny, and say, “Well, I’ll swan!”
Man, what I’d give to hear her say that again. She was magical!
I had a Nanny too! She had beautiful , flawless skin as soft as velvet! She never “took” any sun, she always wore a sun bonnet and long sleeves when she was outside. She never went to bed with out brushing her teeth, cleaning her face with Ponds cold cream and saying her prayers! She was a soft-spoken lovely (inside and out) woman of faith and I miss her still…