Grandma Woodall’s Marmalade Crisps
It was a good weekend, if busy. It may sound like the picture of domesticity, in fact, when I recap: coffee to go and some good, artsy garage sale-ing Saturday morning, at which W (finally!) became the proud owner of a Slap-Chop – a real one, not the 1950s version my Grandma had that he took one look at and declared “not the real thing”. (He has been asking for one since Christmas. When he got the Graty that came with it, he turned to me and said, “hey Mom! You can put your cheese in it, you can keep it in the fridge and fuggedaboutit!” in full-on New York slang.)
This morning the boys decided they wanted to have a lemonade stand. We pulled out the old mixer with juicer attachment my sister acquired at some antiques/curios shop ages ago, which is pulled out a few times per summer for this purpose and no other. I realize it sounds a bit Martha to set up a four and seven year old with an antique juicer and bowl of lemons for their stand (you’ll be relieved to hear we didn’t serve it in our vintage jadeite glassware), but it beats Kool-Aid or even frozen lemonade concentrate hands-down. The boys love the process of taking an order, then juicing a lemon half directly into a glass over ice, and adding sweetened water. It’s the Real Thing. They know how to turn a lemon, sugar and water into lemonade.
If you don’t have a vintage juicer, here’s how to make it from scratch from fresh lemons. (Tip: if you zap your lemons in the microwave for 20 seconds, they’ll release far more juice.)
Freshly Squeezed Lemonade: To make a lemon simple syrup, simply heat equal amounts of lemon juice and sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves. (6 large lemons will give you about a cup of juice.) Cool completely and keep in the fridge. To make lemonade by the glass, pour a couple tablespoons into a glass with ice, then add water (tap or sparkling) to taste. To make a pitcher, mix 1 part syrup to 5-6 parts water.
We mixed up a batch of my Grandma Woodall’s Marmalade Cookies to put out in a bowl, and as they baked the boys painted their signs. When I asked how much they planned to sell their lemonade for – curious what price tag they might put on their wares – they said they wanted it to be free. When I asked why, they said they already had enough money. So they painted “free lemonade” signs.
(They still got $3 in tips. Ben said he wanted to give it to someone who didn’t have any money, so we’ll pass it on to the food bank.)
And of course we nibbled on cookies all afternoon. I hadn’t made this particular recipe in ages – but it seemed fitting to pull out one of my Grandma’s recipes on a day when it seemed all of the birds in the neighbourhood came out to sing. (She loved birds, and could identify them all.) I love the scraps of paper that have her hand-written recipes on them (often with phone numbers and other notes to herself).
Grandma Woodall’s Marmalade Crisps
AuthorJulie
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until well combined — it will have the consistency of wet sand. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir by hand until almost combined; add the raisins and marmalade, and stir just until blended.
Drop fairly large spoonfuls of dough a good 2 inches apart (they spread larger and flatter than normal drop cookies do) on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 15–20 minutes, until deep golden all over. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until well combined — it will have the consistency of wet sand. Beat in the egg and vanilla until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir by hand until almost combined; add the raisins and marmalade, and stir just until blended.
Drop fairly large spoonfuls of dough a good 2 inches apart (they spread larger and flatter than normal drop cookies do) on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 15–20 minutes, until deep golden all over. Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
Thanks Julie! Wasn’t it an amazing weekend? I’ll try both cookies and lemonade with my girls. Love the painted sign.
How did I miss this?? Mike told me the boys had set up a stand and when I went outside to investigate they were gone! Boo. Hopefully I’ll catch it next time…
Yeah, they lost interest after about an hour… I’m sure there will be more!
Sounds like a perfect day! Which reminds me to make up some lemonade pronto. And cookies….those ones look great.
I have a nice collection of handwritten recipes like that from my Grandma too. I’m going to frame a few to hang in my kitchen.
I definitely do have a vintage juicer, although it’s a very different kind than yours :). I love all of this. The galettes, the lemonade stand (and that it’s for the food bank!), the handwritten recipe. It’s a truly lovely day.
Sounds like a perfect summer-weather weekend to me!
I haven’t lived in Calagary since the 80’s so Roma’s in Bridgeland is new to me. They used to have the best Chinese/Schezuan place on the planet!!! Having a glass of your boys lemonade would have been the icing on the cake.
Sounds like a great weekend and how sweet of the boys to offer free lemonade and give their tips to charity. My hubby would love these cookies, oatmeal raisin being his favorite and he likes marmalade too. May have to make these this week in lieu of the breakfast bean cookies I’d planned to make to take on our RV trip this coming weekend.
I have some of my grandma’s old cook books. I love finding her little handwritten notes in them.
“hand pies” is going to be my slogan for the summer. for serious.
Real deal lemonade & for charity – sweet! Sounds like a wonderful weekend 🙂
I love those marmalde cookies. I found a new favourite in One Smart Cookies last week. Crispy Chocolage Walnut Cookies. Wow! So good. Seriously, I have yet to make a recipe from that book that I didn’t love.
I wish I lived in Calgary!!!
I love this post. The hand written recipe notes from my grandma are among my most treasured things. I have her canned tomato recipe(complete with spatters of tomatoes) framed in my kitchen and I’m convinced it gives my kitchen good karma. I wonder if our grandkids will remember us with the same fondness.
What is is about boys and the Slap Chop? Both of mine (7 and 3) beg me to buy it every time we pass it in the store. Now I’ll keep my eyes open at garage sales for one.
Awesome! I literally cannot drive by a lemonade stand of any variety without stopping. Erch!
I love a) that you have the original copy of the recipe and b) that you scanned it in. I’ve never have a marmalade cookie before & I might be making these tonight!
the boys would have gotten some $ from me & the good lemonade would have been a relief–I stopped at one the other day & was happy to pay up but the lemonade was disappointingly sweet & clearly pre-made.
I would be proud to know two small boys who are selfless enough to share their bounty at times.
awww…..what a sweet post..lemondade stand, grandma’s recipes…does it get any better!? 🙂
Sounds like it was a great weekend! I live up here in Edmonton and enjoy watching your show, keep up the good work 🙂
Made these cookies last week & they were a big hit – with family, friends and co-workers. It’s a great way to finish up that last blob of marmalade, and makes an ordinary raisin oatmeal cookie, brilliant. Thanks for another great recipe!
I made these cookies, and they taste good, but they are rounded and have not spread flat. There is a cup of flour, a cup of sugar and a cup and a quarter of rolled oats in the recipe, but only a quarter cup of butter, 1 egg and a tsp vanilla for moisture. I noticed grandma’s recipe had a one third up of butter. Is the recipe correct?