Recipe Card: Forgotten Cookies

If there's a cookie that reminds me of childhood it's, by far, the Forgotten Cookie. We always had the recipe taped up in my mother's cupboard right next to the stove. Our family friend Patsy would make them whenever she visited us. Upon finding the recipe, copied one day in haste, I see that it also says it's Aunt Filly's recipe, although I don't recall her making them. I'll have to inquire further!

The recipe (a copy, not the coveted original)

These are simple, sugar-filled cookies which give the feeling of eating a cloud filled with chocolate chips. Simply heavenly. Simple to cook and a great recipe for children to create (with the help of an adult, of course). These Forgotten Cookies are meringue cookies, called "forgotten" because the last step requires putting the cookies in the oven and turning the oven off leaving them overnight to "forget" and be found, happily, in the morning hours.

Ingredients:

2 Egg Whites

2/3 Cup Sugar

6 Ounce Pack of Chocolate Chips

1 Tsp Vanilla

Supplies:

Cookie Sheet lined with aluminum foil

Whisk or hand blender

Mixing Bowl

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium size mixing bowl mix 2 egg whites (forever) until they're stiff and stand in peaks:

Perfect peaks


Mix in sugar, chocolate chips, and vanilla. I was lucky enough to have my friend's homemade vanilla! Delicious!

Dollop the mixture onto the aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. Your cookies will fluff up while cooking to about 1.5 times the size of the dollop you put down.

Place your cookie sheet into the oven and *get ready for this* TURN THE OVEN OFF! Do not open the oven. Leave the cookies in the oven overnight (5-6 hours). They cook in a nice low decreasing heat. In the morning, you'll have some delightful goodies to test!

These make a great bake-ahead treat for parties in the holiday season when you just don't have all of the time in the world. And if you leave some in the oven for Santa I'm sure he'll be happy, too.

Recipe Tutorial: Super Simple Pimiento Cheese

Let's chat a second about cheese. It is a delicious creation which, I can only assume, was sent down straight from the heavens. Add in some pimientos and now we're talking about a delight sent down from a heaven full of rock stars. You know, the ones that you wish you could party with. Well, that's how I felt the first time I had pimiento cheese.

I was living in the sunny south in Charleston, South Carolina. I remember going to a little cafe in some small town in the "upstate" and seeing grilled pimento cheese sandwich on the menu. Well, now they had my attention. I ordered it wondering what it would be like and when it arrived I realized that I had made one of the best discoveries of my lifetime. Classically served between two slices of white bread, grilled to perfection, and a sweet tea on the side: Rock Star Heaven.

So I began asking local friends for recipes and did some of my own tweaking and came up with this super simple recipe that anyone can make. Have at it! Try it on a sandwich, with crackers, pretzels, or on top of a burger. And I'll tell ya, this recipe is highly adored by my favorite blogger at 145 Crazy Road!

Ingredients:

2 cups of shredded Sharp Cheddar

4oz jar of Sliced Pimientos

1/4 cup Mayonnaise

Salt & Pepper to taste

Tools:

Small Food Processor

Spatula

Let's talk EASY recipe: Put all of the ingredients into the food process (include the liquid from the pimiento jar) and whip it up until the ingredients are all blended together well. Place in the refrigerator overnight and it will thicken up when it sets.

And there you are! An easy and delicious item that can be used for lunch sandwiches, potluck dip, burger toppings, and so much more. Some other variations include adding garlic, pickles, and other ingredients. I find that this recipe is super simple and always a huge hit! Enjoy!

About the author: Joy Ribisi traded in her sunny summer-all-the-time-beach-cruiser-flip-flopping-Southern-living ways for the quiet farm life of New-England-log-splitting-snow-shoveling-earth-digging-lake-swimming life in Central Maine, some things never change. Like enjoying comfort foods.