2-3-4 Frosting and Cinnamon Butter Icing

Ho! Ho!  Ho! 

Here is my grandma, Hattie Hess's frosting recipe she gave my mother.  The card is dog-eared and yellowed.  This looks so easy and easily remembered.  In the "olden" days when all women knew something about cooking, recipes were a kind of shortcut.  Notice the amount of powdered sugar isn't mentioned, instead the recipe says, "to right consistency."  Add vanilla.  No amount.  I would estimate between 1/2 and 1 teaspoon, depending on how "vanilla-y" you like your frosting.  My ex-school teacher mom had trouble spelling "consistency."  It is a hard one.  

The  Cinnamon butter icing is from her girlhood friend, Lucille Moss in Pomona California.  Lucille is in some of the 1920's photos in earlier cookie posts.   She was formerly Lucille Woodsum.  Best friends forever.  I am so touched by these old friends lifetime affection for each other.

2-3-4 Frosting:
2 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons cream
4 Tablespoons sugar


Place ingredients in a double boiler and heat until near boiling over hot water.  Remove from heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar to desired consistency.  

How easy is that?

Lucille's cinnamon Butter Icing 


4 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups powdered sguar
hot water
nuts (if desired)


Heat  butter in top of double boiler over hot water.  Add cinnamon and sugar; add hot water slowly until right consistency.  Spread and sprinkle with chopped nuts.  This would be yummy on banana, cranberry or blueberry breads.    

The

Steak and leek pie with salad of white asparagus and artichoke hearts

Nothing to do with cookies, but we had a delicious meat pie  that made 8 servings for $8 worth of steak and a couple dollars worth of leeks.  Store bought crust.  I added some mushrooms.  I had no lettuce in the house and it's been so cold I didn't want to bundle up to go to the store, but our basement "pantry" had several cans of white asparagus and a jar of artichoke hearts.  I drizzled a little sweet Italian dressing over the veggies.  Very yummy.  A well-stocked pantry can dig you out of all sorts of culinary troubles.  

The tablecloth is a relic of the 70's and is so soft (but not faded) that it no longer needs ironing.  I don't know what I'll do if it wears out. 

  Time for shopping, cards and decorating. Hie yourself to the mall or the kitchen or all over the house.

Grapeshot