Papa’s Favorite Cookies (Sour Cream Cookies)
One of the items of Aunt Marian’s that I found when cleaning out my parent’s attic was a very worn hand-written cookbook. Many of the recipes indicate who gave Aunt Marian the recipe—or who in the family particularly liked the recipe.
I’ll never know for sure when Aunt Marian compiled the recipes, but I’m guessing that she did it when she joined the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) in 1944 shortly after her father’s death. She probably wanted to consolidate family favorites into a compact book that would preserve family cooking memories as she moved onward to the next stage of her life.
Here’s her recipe for Papa’s Favorite Cookies. They’re an old-fashioned sour cream cookie. Somehow the cookie name seems like a lovely tribute by Aunt Marian to her father.
The handwritten recipe is a bit sparse on details. Here’s how I made the cookies:
Papa’s Favorite Cookies (Sour Cream Cookies)
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream
3 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour (approximate)Preheat oven to 375.° Stir together butter and sugar. Add baking soda, salt, vanilla, sour cream, and eggs; stir. Add enough flour to make a soft dough (I used approximately 3 1/2 cups); stir until well-mixed.
Roll out dough, cut into circles or other desired shape, and put onto greased baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until set and lightly browned.
Yield: Approximately 7 dozen cookies
The sumptuous cookies had a wonderful, old-fashioned texture and taste. They were softer than many modern cookies, and. had a very delicate, sweet-sour undertone. This recipe is a keeper.
My Aunt the WAC 
My mom collected recipes. I have shoe boxes full of cards and clippings. Then there are the books – about six feet of them on a shelf in a closet. She did more collecting than cooking, but I still need to go through all of it. I’d like to cull out the ones I love or are family-related so I can memorialize them in some way, but haven’t gotten there yet.
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Maybe you could compile the favorites into one cookbook. My adult children used to frequently send me emails asking for various recipes that they remembered from their childhood. I finally made a family cookbook where I compiled all the family favorites. The kids love the cookbook–and I think that I use it more than anyone else because now all my recipes are easy to find in one book.
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That’s what I plan on doing, but the number of recipe cards is daunting. The few times I stuck my toe in the water I couldn’t understand her filing system and she didn’t mark the recipes she used in the books. Other cooks take note – someday folks might be interested in using all those recipes you’re collecting.
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I just pinned this to my recipe board on pinterest! Sounds delicious!
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It’s nice to hear that you thought the recipe looked good enough to pin it.
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First…my friend’s mother used to make soft cookies that were more cake-like. I have been looking for that recipe. Hopefully, that is the one (we are from your part of the country). I can’t wait to try it!
Second…I just finished scanning my husband’s grandmother’s recipes. I scanned all the ones that she marked or cut out. I put them on a jump drive for each of her grandchildren. It was a great Christmas present.
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I’ll keep my fingers crossed that this recipe makes cookies that are similar to the ones you remember. I hadn’t thought of the cookies as cake-like, but they definitely are a raised soft cookie and I think they they might be considered cake-like.
What a wonderful idea to put the old recipes on a jump drive! I really like this idea. It is a perfect way to preserve and share the recipes. .
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I love that you not only have these, but also follow through and make them yourself.
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I really enjoy trying (and sometimes adapting) old recipes. Sometimes that turn out well; other times not quite so well. This one worked perfectly–and is a keeper.
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They are probably very delicious.
Have you ever tried out the recipe shortcode in WordPress. It is handy and allows one to print out the recipe.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/recipes/
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Wow, this looks awesome. I learned something new today. I never realized that WordPress had a way to embed recipes. The next time I do a recipe I am definitely going to try this
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I didn’t know either. And I write recipes for my blog. I was off for a while with a bum leg but just found the time to get back into the swing of things and I have discovered all kinds of wordpress changes in the last 5 month while I was gone.
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It’s good to know that you are back. I’ll have to stop over to your blog.
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I like soft cookies, I am definitely going to try your recipe 🙂
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If you like soft cookies, I think that you will enjoy these.
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I love these cookies!! Sometimes I will put a thin layer of icing with sprinkles , or cut out in different shapes . These are also good dipped in chocolate . ….
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mmm. . . your suggestions sound delicious; and the cookies would look really pretty with icing and sprinkles or chocolate.
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Great recipe! I’ll have to try making these. 🙂
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I think that you’ll like them.
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I’ve never heard of a sour cream cookie, but this is the second recipe I’ve come across this year. The other was very similar. I don’t need a batch of cookies just now, but I might give these a try around Valentine’s day, with a heart cutter.
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I know what you mean. After all the December baking, January is a time for New Year’s resolutions and a hiatus from baking. 🙂
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Yum! These cookies sound scrumptious! Thanks for sharing your Aunt’s recipe! 🙂
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You’re welcome. They are good.
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I love the new blog, Sheryl. And these cookies look delicious. I wish I hadn’t started this stupid diet . . . .
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After all the excesses of December, it seems like everyone is dieting now. I probably should have selected a healthy food from the cookbook for my first recipe post. 🙂
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Hubby is a fan of sour cream cookies. I haven’t baked them for a long, long time. I might have to remedy that!
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I really liked the cookies. I don’t think that I ever ate any sour cream cookies prior to making this recipe.
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My sister-in-law introduced us to them several years ago.
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Oh boy what a wonderful treasure trove of memories you have. Those cookies sound and look mighty tasty. Yum! 🙂
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I like how Aunt Marian identified who gave her (or who liked) many of the recipes. It really adds to the richness of the cookbook.
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My grandmother made sour milk cookies when I was kid and they were my absolute favorite. I’ve never been able to recreate them but maybe your recipe will be the one!
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I’ll keep my finger crossed that this recipe makes the cookies you remember. 🙂
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These look awesome and the new blog is too! Off to a great an interesting start!
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Thank you! It’s wonderful to hear that you think it is interesting.
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My aunt has given me several of my great-grandmother’s recipes, written in her handwriting. I don’t think they sound too good, but I’m glad to have them.
I also have one in my Dad’s handwriting from the summer he made Eagle Scouts. He had to cook at a campfire (my grandmother could NOT do it for him) and I have the ingredients and recipe that he wrote out.
My great -grandmother’s is probably from about 1900, my Dad from about 1945.
Nancy
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It’s wonderful that you have some old family recipes. The information about your father’s campfire cooking is really interesting.
I’ve found old recipes to be a very mixed bag. Some I really like–though I often need to adapt them so they work right with modern stoves and ingredients–; while others don’t turn out as well (or don’t even sound intriguing enough to attempt to make).
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The recipes remind me of my mother’s book which visits between my daughter and her cousin.If you find a recipe for Grasshopper pie, let me know! I was introduced to it in 1976 at a restaurant at Brandywine Creek when my husband was in PA on a business trip from Queensland. Memories of then are dimming, but I loved that pie!
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I haven’t thought about sour cream cookies in a long time – I will have to make a batch this weekend! I inherited one of my grandmother’s favourite cookbooks, in which she had handwritten a few special “extra” recipes, and sour cream cookies was one of them. As you say, they have such a wonderful soft texture. Thanks for the reminder of a great recipe!
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I’m glad this post reminded you of your grandmother’s recipe. I hope that they were as good as you remembered them.
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