Taste of the Town: Swift’ning-style cookies, nearly the way Grandma made ’em

Reader Pat Swanson was looking for a recipe from a Swift’ning (a shortening that was made by Swift and Co.) booklet from the ’40s-’50s. I found it online at rocknrecipes-rockn
quilts.blogspot.com, where the blogger reports finding it in her grandmother’s Swift’ning book from 1950. Here’s the version I adapted:

FROSTED CHOCOLATE DROP COOKIES

9 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

4 tablespoons double-acting baking powder

2 cups shortening

½ cup sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

3 tablespoons milk

½ teaspoon vanilla

Frosting (recipe follows)

For Make-Your-Own Mix, combine flour, salt and baking powder and stir well. Add shortening; use fingers or pastry blender to distribute until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. (Store extra in an airtight container in a dry, cool place.)

For cookies, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend 1½ cups Make-Your-Own-Mix and sugar. Add egg and beat well. Stir in chocolate, milk and vanilla. Drop from a teaspoon on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes. Cool and spread with frosting.

For frosting, beat ¼ cup shortening or butter until light. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt, ½ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 tablespoon milk and 1¾ to 2 cups powdered sugar and beat until smooth and cream.

Makes 18 to 20 cookies.

Found items

For Jim Gwinnup, who’s looking for Maypo cereal, Naomi Plisky recommended www.vermontcountry
store.com (800-547-7849). ...

We don’t have a source for Kenneth A. Weissman, who’s looking for Barritt’s Bermuda Stone Ginger Beer, but Ava Sterling reported finding Reed’s ginger beer at Glazier’s Food Marketplace at 8525 W. Warm Springs Road and at local Albertsons and Smith’s stores. ...

And Joan McMaken, who was looking for a source for Bluebird Flour for making Indian fry bread, reported that her daughter spotted it at Smith’s at 7685 S. Rainbow Blvd. “Also, it comes in a very pretty cotton flour sack that has many uses,” she added. ...

Reader requests

Sterling: cottage cheese and canned tomato products (such as tomato sauce) with as little sodium as possible;

Murray Leitner: a bakery that makes chocolate-chip danish, and a Mexican restaurant that serves a good steak picado;

Grace Catalano: Perdue chicken;

And Judy Cvetkovic: Republic of Tea pomegranate green tea, in a 50-tea-bag container.

Readers?

Submit information to Heidi Knapp Rinella, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070. You also can send faxes to 383-4676 or email her at hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Include your first and last names and, if emailing, put “Taste of the Town” in the subject line. Because of the volume of mail received, we can’t respond to each request. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.