Craig Daily Press

Diane Prather

Diane Prather's columns appear in the Craig Daily Press each Wednesday and Friday. You can contact her at 824-8809 or e-mail .

I haven’t baked cookies for so long that my husband, Lyle, said he thought it must be illegal.

In truth, I tend to get preoccupied with other things when baking cookies and usually let them burn.

So I put it off.

Anyway, I have seen some recipes for rhubarb cookies and wanted to bake some. This past Sunday, I set aside some time and made Anna Aughenbaugh’s recipe, and the cookies are really good.

Grease a cookie sheet and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. (The oven temperature may seem hot, but it worked just fine.)

The ingredients for the cookies are: 1/2 cup shortening, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 cup milk, 1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans), 1/2 cup coconut, 1 cup raisins and 1 cup finely chopped rhubarb.

Mix the shortening, sugar and egg, then stir in the remaining ingredients. The dough will be stiff.

Drop by the teaspoonful onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. (Mine were ready after about 10 to 12 minutes so check while baking. I took mine out of the oven when they were light brown and looked firm.)

The recipe makes about four dozen cookies. They’re very moist.

Lyle and I don’t particularly care for the raisins, and I didn’t have any coconut on hand, so I left these two things out of the batter, but it didn’t matter. The cookies are delicious without them.

Thanks again, Anna.

Debbie Zuber, of Craig, sent me a recipe for “Beet Preserves.” She got the recipe from an old cookbook, “The Settlement Cookbook.”

Debbie has not tried this recipe yet but would like to know what the preserves are like before she makes a batch.

I’m probably not going to have the time to make the preserves for a while, so if you make them, call and let me know how the recipe turned out.

The ingredients are: 4 pounds beets, 3 pounds sugar, 2 ounces green or dried ginger root, 3 lemons (rind and juice) and 1/4 blanched almonds.

Wash and peel young beets, grind or slice very thin. Cover with water and cook until tender. Add sugar, ginger root (blanched and sliced fine), the lemon juice and grated rind.

Cook gently until thick and clear, about one hour. When nearly done, add ground almonds.

Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

Thanks, Debbie.

It’s interesting just how many different beet jelly/preserves recipes there are. Next week, this column will feature a beet jelly recipe that has Kool-Aid in its ingredients.

It’s so nice to have the recipes from readers to share with everyone.

Please send your recipes to me at P.O. Box 415, Craig, CO 81626, or call me at 824-8809.

I’m thinking that it won’t be long until we’ll be looking for zucchini recipes.