Music Welcome to Snewscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep. Find us on Snewscast.com and follow us on Instagram at Snewscast to find behind the scenes content. If you'd like to get an email once a week with upcoming sleep stories and other news, subscribe to the snoozeletter at snoozecast.com. And if you enjoy our show, please write a review on the Apple Podcasts app. Also, share us with a friend. These castes intended to be listened to one episode at a time, rather than through continuous play. The episodes get softer as they get to the end and we don't want you to be woken back up. Most podcast players default to playing continuously, but there's usually an option to use a sleep timer. You can also simply listen directly through our website, snoozecast.com, where it'll only play one episode at a time. This episode is brought to you by our Patreon supporters and by vanilla extract. Tonight, we'll read this section on baking cookies from Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Volume 4, written by the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences.

This is the same set of cookbooks, snooze cast, bread time, episode draws from.

The Woman's Institute was founded by Mary Brooks Pickin in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Born in Kansas in 1886,

Pickin wrote the first dictionary to be published by a woman in the English language, beyond the over 100 other books she wrote. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body into the softness of your bed. Now, take a few deep breaths. Cookies are of two general classes, those which are made thick and are expected to be soft when they are served, and those which are thin and are intended to be crisp and brittle when eaten. Thin crisp cookies are usually known as wafers or snaps. Soft cookies are made from a dough that contains a little more liquid than that used for brittle cookies. The dough of which both varieties are made should be thick enough to remove from the mixing bowl in a lump and roll out on a board. After being rolled until it is the desired thickness, it is cut into pieces of any desired size and shape and baked in the oven on large flat pans. The ingredients used in the making of cookies are similar to those used for drop cakes, with the exception of the amount of flour. In fact, any cookie mixture that is made a little more moist by omitting some of the flour may be used for drop cakes. More flour is needed in cooking mixtures because they must be of a certain thickness in order to be rolled out successfully. The amount of flour needed varies with the kind that is used. More of some varieties of this ingredient being required than of others. It is usually advisable to add the last cup of flour with caution. If the mixture seems to be getting stiff before all the flour is added, what is not needed should be omitted. But if it does not become stiff enough to handle, more should be added. Considerable variety exists in the shortening that may be used in cookie mixtures. If desired, butter may be used, but for most cookies, it is not at all necessary that the shortening consists entirely of butter, and for some, no butter at all is required. Other fats and oils such as lard, crisco, lard compound, buttering, and any other tasteless shortening may be substituted for all or part of the butter. Any of the following cookie recipes that contain butter do so because that particular cookie or cake is better when made with butter, but if desired some other fat may be used for a part or all of it. In case merely shortening is mentioned, any fat or mixture of fats preferred may be used.

The combining of the ingredients in cookie mixtures need give the home cook very little concern, for it is accomplished in much the same way as for cup and drop cakes. And all of them have been combined, a dough that is stiff enough to handle, and still not so stiff that it is tough should be formed. The chief precaution to be taken in the making of all kinds of cookies is to avoid getting too much flour into the mixture. To produce the best results, the mixture should be so soft that it is difficult to handle. A good plan is to allow it to become very cold.

For then it will be much stiffer, and may be handled more easily. Therefore, after the dough has been mixed, it is well to set it in a refrigerator or some other cool place and let it stand for several hours before attempting to roll it. In fact, a cookie mixture may be made in the evening and allowed to stand until the next morning before being rolled out and baked. As can readily be understood, such procedure is possible with a stiff mixture like that for cookies, while it would not be practical with a thin mixture such as cake batter. Because the gas that is formed by the leavening agent would escape from a mixture that is not thick and the cake after being baked would have no lightness. With the dough ready to be rolled, divide it into amounts of a size that can be handled conveniently at one time. Take one of these from the bowl and place it on a well-flowered board. Work it with the fingers into a flat round piece, using a little flower on the fingers during this process. Dust the top lightly with flour and by means of a rolling pin, roll the dough into a flat piece that is as nearly round as possible. Continue rolling with a short, light stroke until the dough is as thin as desired. Remember that light, careful handling, is always necessary when any kind of doe mixture is rolled on the board, and that as little handling as possible is advisable. Skill in this respect will come with practice, so the home cook need not be discouraged if she has difficulty at first. For cookies a quarter inch is the usual thickness of the dough after it is rolled. But for snaps or wafers, the dough should be rolled as thin as possible. If the dough is as moist as it should be, it may be necessary from time to time to dust the top with flour as the rolling continues. However, no more flour should be used than is needed to keep the rolling pin from sticking. Otherwise, the dough will become too thick and the cookies will be tough and dry.

When the dough has been rolled until it is of the right thickness, cut it in the manner

that uses cookie cutters of any desired size and shape. There are heart, round, diamond, and star shapes that are most commonly used. They are merely strips of tin bent into a particular shape and attached to a handle for convenience in using. In cutting the dough, try to cut it to the best possible advantage, leaving as little space between the cookies as possible.

Very often, as, for instance, when diamond-shaped cookies are being cut, the line of one may be the exact line of the one next to it. and thus no dough need be left between the cookies. However, a certain amount of dough necessarily remains after all the cookies that can be made out of the piece of rolled dough have been cut. Put these scraps together and set them aside until all the fresh dough has been rolled. Then put them together carefully. them out again and cut the piece thus formed into cookies just as the others were cut. Some persons are in the habit of working these scraps in with the next piece of dough that is rolled out, but this is not a good practice. For by the time they are rolled on the board a second time, more flour will be worked into them, then into the dough with which they were put, and the texture will not be the same. Have a cookie sheet or other large shallow pan, greased and floured, and as soon as all the cookies are cut from a piece of dough, pick them up up with the aid of a spatula and arrange them on the pan. Do not place them too close together or upon baking they will stick to one another and lose their shape. soon as the pan is filled, set it in the oven, either directly on the bottom or on a low rack. If the temperature of the oven is correct, the cookies should begin to rise within two or three minutes after they are put into the oven. At this point, set them on a higher rack to brown on top. In this browning, They will shrink to some extent so that the finished cookies will not have so smooth and appearance as when they are placed on the top rack. When done, they should be slightly brown. And if it is found that they are too brown on top, it may be known that the oven temperature was a little too high or perhaps that they should have had a little less time on this rack. molasses cookies require special care to prevent them from burning. For any food containing molasses burns readily. A comparatively short time is necessary for the baking of cookies, but they should be left in the oven long enough to be thoroughly baked when removed. With the principles of cookie making well understood, one is fully qualified to try any of the recipes that follow. will will be noted, a number of recipes are here

given and so a pleasing variety may be had. Some of them are suitable for certain occasions and some for others.

For instance, barley molasses cookies are very good with coffee for breakfast. While filled cookies make an excellent cake for picnic lunches. Cream cookies or vanilla wafers could be served at an afternoon tea.

While sand tarts make a very good accompaniment for ice cream or some other dainty dessert. The nature of the cookie will enable the home cook to determine when it should be served. Ginger snaps. One cup molasses. One third cup lard or other shortening, 1½ cup butter, 3½ cup flour, ½ tsp soda, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 tsp salt. the molasses to boiling and pour over the shortening. Sift the dry ingredients together and add these. Cool the mixture until it is stiff and cold. Roll as thin as possible. Cut with a small round cutter. And bake in a quick oven. Being careful not to burn. The nila wafers. Third cup shortening. One cup sugar. One egg. Quarter cup milk. Two teaspoons vanilla. Two cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, half teaspoon salt, cream the shortening, add the sugar and egg and continue beating. Pour in the milk and add the vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into the mixture. Roll out as thin as possible. Cut with a small round cutter.

And bake in a hot oven.

These wafers should be crisp and thin when finished.

Barley molasses cookies One cup molasses Half cup shortening Quarter cup milk Two cups wheat flour One cup cup barley flour, 2 teaspoons ginger, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 half teaspoon salt. Heat the molasses, pour it over the shortening and add the milk. Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the mixture. Cool, roll about 1.25 inch thick. Cut and bake in a quick oven. being careful not to burn. Oatmeal cookies. One egg. Half cup sugar. Quarter cup thin cream. Quarter cup milk. Half cup oatmeal, two cups flour, two teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon salt, four tablespoons melted butter.

Beat the egg and add the sugar, cream and milk. Run the oatmeal through a food chopper and mix with the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir all into the mixture, add the melted butter and mix thoroughly. Roll thin, cut and bake in a quick oven. Island, Dainte's. Two cups flour. Half cup brown sugar. Three quarters cup butter. One egg yolk. Mix and sift the flour and sugar and work in the butter with fingers. Roll out about 1-3 inch thick and cut into any desirable shape with small cutters. Brush with the egg yolk to which has been added one teaspoon full of water. Bake in a slow oven until light brown. filled cookies, one cup shortening, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 3 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, two teaspoons vanilla, cream the shortening and add the sugar gradually, next add the beaten egg and the milk, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together and add to the mixture. Add the vanilla. Roll very thin and cut into small round square or diamond. Spread one cookie with the following filling. Cover with the second. Press the edges together and bake in a quick oven. for cookies. One cup sugar. One tablespoon flour. Quarter cup boiling water. One and a quarter cups chopped raisins. Three quarters cup nut. Mix the sugar and flour and stir them into the boiling water. Add the raisins and let cook until thick enough to spread on the cookies.

Remove from the fire and add the nutmeats. Cool slightly and spread. Figs or dates may be used in place of the raisins. If it is not desired to prepare a filling for the cookies, jam makes a very good substitute. Kisses and macarons The varieties of small cakes, known as kisses and macar, are undoubtedly the daintiest ones that are made. Composed, almost entirely of sugar, egg whites, and flavoring, they are very delicate in texture and are practically confections. Kisses do not contain any flower, but macarons need a small amount of this ingredient, and And some varieties of them contain the yolks, as well as the whites of eggs, chopped or ground nuts, coconut, and various kinds of dried or candied fruits are added to these cakes to give them variety.

The mixtures of which these cakes are made are either dropped by spoonfuls or forced through a pastry bag into little mounds or rosettes on an inverted pan or a cookie sheet and then baked in a very slow oven. And oven of this kind is necessary for the mixtures must be practically dried out in the baking. Murengs, although made of a mixture similar to that used for the kisses, are usually made in rather large round flat shapes, whereas kisses are smaller and are for the most part made in the shape of rosettes. one recipe for kisses. Several recipe. sets.

One recipe for kisses. Several recipes for macarons and directions for the preparation of margarites follow. Marengs are desired. The recipe for kisses may be followed, and the mixture then dropped by spoonfuls instead of being forced through a pastry tube. or morangs. Half cup fine granulated sugar or half cup and two tablespoons powdered sugar. Two egg whites, half teaspoon vanilla, fine granulated or powdered sugar or maybe used for these cakes.

Only fresh eggs should be employed. Separate them and beat the whites with an

and egg whip, beating slowly at first and more rapidly as the eggs grow stiff. When they have become very stiff, add a tablespoonful of the sugar and continue the beating. When this has been and beat the beating.

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