To Die For is a collection of 40 recipes gathered by archivist Rosie Grant, from etchings on gravestones spread across the US. Check out three such formulas, left behind by the dead for the living.
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ODESSA MILLER-DAWSON’S RECIPE FOR SPRITZ COOKIES
Odessa Miller-Dawson died in 2009, aged 87, happy that her cookies might bring joy to strangers. Here is the recipe preserved on her grave.
1 cup of butter or margarine
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 ¼ cups of flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
(The rest of the recipe sits online.)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, cream the butter or margarine thoroughly. Gradually beat in the sugar, vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until thoroughly combined. The resulting dough should be soft. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Working in batches, squeeze the dough through a cookie press onto an ungreased baking sheet. Leave about two inches between each cookie. If desired, decorate the cookies with bits of dried fruits, nuts or chocolate chips. Bake for 8–10 minutes, until a light golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a rack.
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MAXINE MENSTER’S CHRISTMAS COOKIES
In the Cascade cemetery in Iowa, homemaker Maxine Menster’s famous Christmas cookies are immortalised. Wrapping these up and hanging them on the tree late on Christmas Eve, so the family could wake to the sight and aroma of freshly baked treats, was Menster’s personal twist on the festivities. When she died in 1996, aged 68, her family decided to share her formula with the world, simply titled Mom’s Christmas Cookies:
Cream: 1 cup sugar
½ cup oleo
Add: 2 beaten eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Add: 3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Add alternately with 1 cup cream. Chill and roll out with flour. Bake 350 degrees in oven, and frost.
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ANNABELLE’S SNICKERDOODLES RECIPE
Annabelle Gunderson and her husband Adolph Gunderson ran a local car dealership, and served as volunteers in wildfire season, fighting back the flames that loomed over their small town of Willits in Northern California. Amid the chaos, Gunderson somehow always found the time to make sandwiches and snickerdoodles for the firefighters, to help keep them going.
When she died in 2007, aged 87, her recipe for snickerdoodles went on her headstone. It comes with her famous tip: “Secret is: Keep dough fluffy!”
1 c (cup) shortening
1 c margarine
1 c sugar
4 eggs
Sift together and stir in
5 ½ cup flour
4 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp soda
⅓ tsp salt
Roll (softly) into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in a mixture of 6 tsp sugar and 6 tsp cinnamon. Place 2 apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 min or 4000 degrees for 6-8 mins until lightly brown, but still soft.
