Vintage Eats Recipe:  1979 Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

If that is not everyone’s favorite food, I don’t know what is.

Everyone loves cookies and chocolate chips thrown in a batch puts them just at the top of the food chain!

Recipes for chocolate chip cookies appear in just about every vintage church/community group cookbook.

I chose the cookbook compiled by Women’s Guild of Cross United Church of Christ, Berne, IN (1979). I mainly chose this recipe for its unusual name: Congo Squares. There is no explanation for the name, but it is basically the same as every basic, but delicious, chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever used.

The black spiral-bound 192-page cookbook is conveniently divided into the traditional food groups, including cookies, meat, appetizers and index. The back also has dozens of pages set aside for cooking tips.

The ingredients to make these cookies are minimal and steps to make them so simple that you can have a couple dozen ready to munch within an hour. Treat yourself with a batch today!

My Notes:  

1. I halved the recipe, due to time restraints. I used two whole eggs.
2. The recipe says to bake them for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. I thought this might be too long so, based on previous experience with cookie-baking, I left them in for 12 minutes and that was just right.
3.  Past experiences of melting butter has resulted in thin cookies. I didn’t want that so I allowed the butter to soften for 20 minutes on the counter for perfect cookies.
4. I was out of brown sugar so made these with white sugar—great results!
5. The baker who submitted the recipe must have made bar cookies, spreading the dough in a 9”x13” pan because she mentions “cutting the squares while still warm.” I just dropped them, using my small ice cream scoop. Admittedly, using a large pan for one cooking time of 15 minutes would have been quicker than my three cookie sheets, but I prefer them. Choose your own method.

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Now that it is time for Farmer Markets, I thought I’d share what items I purchase each week, just to show the diversity in our region. Feel free to share what you purchase in your Farmer Markets:

Zucchini

Potatoes

Green peppers

Whole wheat bread

I’m planning several recipes from these vegetables and have already toasted slices of the bread. Yummy!

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1979 Congo Squares

Melt: 2/3 cup margarine or butter.

Add:

2 large cups brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together:

2 ¾ cups flour

2-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Add 1(12 ounce) package chocolate chips and mix together.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 25 minutes at 350 degrees (I only baked for 12-15 mins.)

Yield: 2 dozen (half recipe)