We’re in Kansas where Clementine Paddleford is gathering stories and recipes for her classic America cookbook, How America Eats (1960). Here’s how the story begins:

Anyone growing up in Abilene, Kansas, has what the Midwest calls a “goodly heri­tage.” There the prairie is always within sight and sound, a landscape lovely in its wide monotony. It’s a place where neighbor is a common word, where caste or race doesn’t count.

It’s a place where lunch is the fillingest meal, supper almost as ample, this supple­mented by the bedtime snack. It’s a place where the best recipes are hand-downs from mothers to daughters, from neighbor to neighbor along with those country counting­out rhymes which children teach to children.

These are the things Mrs. Robert Gemmill told me about her home town the day I went there, one purpose in mind, to borrow her recipes for the Christmas cookies. …

—Clementine Paddleford, How America Cooks (1960)

Read the rest of the Clementine and Nina May (Mrs. Gemmill) story.

Recipes below the fold.

MRS. LEONARD’S SWEDISH CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Yield: 50 small cookies

½ C (1 stick) butter
¼ C sugar
1 egg, separated, white beaten slightly
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp grated orange rind
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1 C sifted cake flour
1 C finely chopped walnuts
25 candied cherries, halved, “use both red and green cherries for holiday effect”

Preheat oven to 325˚. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add egg yolk, and beat well. Add vanilla, orange rind, lemon juice, and salt, and blend thoroughly. Add cake flour gradually, mixing in well, and chill dough for about 2 hours. Shape chilled dough into small balls, dip into egg white, roll in chopped nuts, place a cherry half on top of each cookie, arrange 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets, and bake about 20 minutes.

Recipes for MRS. THORNTON SCOTT’S COCOONS, MRS. ENGLE’S CHRISTMAS COOKIES, and HOLIDAY “BILLY GOATS” below.

MRS. THORNTON SCOTT’S COCOONS

Yield: 3 dozen 1½-inch cookies

½ C (1 stick) butter
2/3 C confectioners’ sugar, maybe more
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C sifted flour
1 C finely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350˚. Cream together butter and ½ C of the confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla, and blend flour in gradually. Add chopped nuts. Pinch off small quantities of dough, shape into 1-inch cocoons with palms of hands, place 1 inch apart on greased cookie sheets, and bake 12 minutes or just long enough for cookies to “dry out.” While still warm roll in remaining confectioners’ sugar.

MRS. ENGLE’S CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Yield: 5 to 6 dozen cookies

¾ C (1½ sticks) butter
1 C sugar
1 egg, separated, white beaten until stiff but not dry
3-oz can candied cherries, chopped
1 red candied pineapple ring, diced
1 green candied pineapple ring, diced
1 C walnuts, chopped
1 C sifted flour
½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350˚. Cream together butter and sugar thoroughly, add egg yolk and mix thoroughly. Blend in chopped candied cherries, chopped red and green candied pineapple, and walnuts, add flour and salt gradually, and work in well. Fold stiffly beaten egg white into cookie dough, drop from teaspoon 2 inches apart on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet, and bake 15 minutes. Cool before removing cookies from foil.

HOLIDAY “BILLY-GOATS”

Yield: 7 to 8 dozen cookies

1 C (2 sticks) butter
1½ C sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2½ C sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
2 Tbsp sour milk or buttermilk
1 lb walnuts, chopped
1 lb pitted dates, chopped

Preheat oven to 325˚. Cream together butter and sugar thoroughly, add egg yolks and vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves, add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with sour milk, and blend well “by hand.” Add walnut and dates and blend thoroughly. Drop by teaspoonfuls 1 inch apart on greased baking sheets and bake 20 minutes.