Maureen Wiertella is well known for her abilities as a cook. She even won a Betty Crocker homemaker of the year award as a young bride. She and husband, Don, lived in Houghton when they were first married. That’s where she found a whole box of books from the 1940s which she turned into these three recipes.
Oatmeal skillet bread
¾ cup flour
1 T baking powder
½ t salt
2 T milk
½ cup regular oatmeal
2 T shortening like lard or something else
½ cup water
Sift into a bowl the flour, baking powder, salt and add the oats that have been rubbed into fine crumbs. Add the rest and mix well. Spread into a greased skillet. Cover for 10 minutes and then turn over bread for another 8 minutes. Goes well with honey for your honey.
English muffin loaf
3 cups of flour
2 packets of yeast or 5 t of a jar yeast (put in warm water and if it bubbles its still good. If not throw it away).
1 T. sugar
½ t salt
¼ t baking powder
Mix together in a bowl. Heat 2 cups of milk and ½ cup of water. Heat to between 120 and 130 degrees. Add that to the dry mixture and beat it well. Stir in enough flour to make a very stiff batter but still want batter to be spoonable (she used an extra 2 cups of flour). Grease 8 ½ x 4 ½ loaf pans and sprinkle with cornmeal on bottom and sides real well and spoon in batter with cornmeal on the top. Cover and let rise for an hour. Bake at 400 for 25 min. Remove from pan immediately and cool to keep it crisp on a cookie sheet or rack because corn meal flies out everywhere.
Oatmeal Cookie recipe
Cream:
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
Add:
3 T Milk
2 eggs
1 ½ t vanilla
Sift together:
1 ½ cup flour
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
Mix with creamed ingredients. Add 2 cups oatmeal and 2/3 cup coconut.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 min.