an old-timey slice-and-bake cookie recipe from my grandmother's good friend and neighbor, bernice love of holdenville oklahoma. slice-and-bake is an idea whose time is back again at our house. the mr. (the cookie-baking half of the team) likes to be able to whip up one pan of cookies of an evening, instead of the half-day 12-dozen marathons I usually send him on. anyhow. these are butterscotchy and good. light or dark brown sugar will make a difference, choose your favorite. use your favorite kind of nuts - toast them if they're not pecans. and chop them small - if you don't, it's hard to slice them as thin as you might like.
ice box cookies
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup finely chopped nuts
cream together the butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla.
combine and stir in the flour, cream of tartar and soda.
stir in the nuts.
form into a big fat roll using wax paper. twist the ends. put the roll into a plastic bag and freeze it til you're ready to make cookies.
when ready to bake, preheat oven to 400. slice thin for crisp and thicker for chewy. these do spread a little in baking. bake til they're the way you like them, somewhere between 6 and 10 minutes.
you can also press the slices into a pan to make a pie crust - I remember my mom making a pie shell this way and then filling it with ice cream.
