even tho'...

...it's just barely after eight o'clock in the morning, I've had a busy day. Made three pans of cookies, and have a pie ready to go in the oven when that last pan of peanut butter bars is ready to come out. The pie, not yet cooked, is that same Chess Pie recipe I have made a couple of times recently, after a considerable search to find a recipe. Yeah, I know about 'googling', but I found mine by looking through cookbooks accumulated over the years. I think the cookbook where it was discovered came from my mom's house, a big thick paperback version of Fannie Farmer Cooks. I've put many cookbooks in donations/yard-sales/give-away, but still have a dozen, sitting on the shelf, waiting for someone to show some interest - kinda' like the languishing, forgotten, raggedy Velveteen Rabbit... you just gotta' have some love.

I will usually make a note on the 3 x5 index card when I write the recipe down as to source, but I have no idea where this one came from. The Very Best ones are often in someone else's handwriting, so when I go on a search and find that particular one I am thinking of: I see the script of my grandmother, or aunt, or a far-away friend. Can't help but smile, when I think of that person, and circumstances when I had something tasty from her kitchen.

I have shared the recipe for the peanut butter cookies (with fork-prints) and the chess pie previously, so I won't do the tedious part of typing those again. But that last one, for the bar cookies is pretty good, and worth sharing. Possibly came out of a magazine that always has some mouth-wateringly good photo on the front cover, like Southern Living or Good Housekeeping.

Peanut Butter Squares

2 cups sugar (I made a note the last time I made this that I only used 1 1/2 cups gran. sugar)
3 eggs
1/4 cup oleo
Beat these three together till well mixed. I melted butter and stirred vigorously.
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Add to liquid mixture.
2 cups Self-rising flour.
Stir in flour. Batter will be stiff. Spread in 9 x 13 pan, dipping hands in water to smooth into corners. Bake 300 for approx. 45 minutes until set and golden brown. Makes about 40 squares.

I will take these to a meeting tonight, where it's always a surprise to see what sort of treats show up. It has to be a finger food, or something like chips/dips, just snack-y stuff. Thinking I will make a little sign to go on a toothpick to warn people it has peanuts products in it - as there are so many allergies and people who avoid nuts these days.