You may expedite the work by preparing raisins and almonds the day before.

The Professor’s wife always served these almond cakes with coffee when she gave a “kaffee klatch” to her country friends.

“JULY ANN’S” GINGER SNAPS

Two cups of molasses (New Orleans), 1 cup of light brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful of soda, 2 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 1 tablespoonful of ginger and about 5-1/2 cups of flour.

Place molasses and sugar in a sauce-pan on the range, cook together until sugar is dissolved, no longer.

Mix the soda and vinegar and when foamy add to the sugar and molasses with a portion of the required amount of flour; then add the egg and the flour remaining.  Turn dough out on a well-floured bake-beard, roll out into a thin sheet and cut out small cakes with a tin cutter.  Bake in a moderately hot oven.

No shortening of any kind was used in these cakes.  One hundred cakes were baked from the above ingredients.

COCOANUT COOKIES

Three cups of sugar, 1 cup of butter, 2 eggs, 1 cup of sweet milk, 1 cup of grated cocoanut, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder.  Mix all together, sift flour with baking powder, add flour to form a dough just stiff enough to roll out, no more.  Cut with a small tin cake cutter into round cakes and bake.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES

Two cups of white sugar, 1 cup of grated, unsweetened chocolate, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of butter, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder.  Flavor with vanilla.  Mix together sugar, butter and eggs, add melted chocolate and flour to stiffen, just enough flour being used to allow of their being cut with a cake cutter.  The baking powder should have been sifted with a small amount of flour before adding.

SMALL “BELSNICKEL” CHRISTMAS CAKES

2 cups “A” sugar.  Pinch of salt. 1 cup melted butter. 1 teaspoonful baking soda. 4 eggs.  About 3 cups of flour.

Mix in just enough flour so the cake dough may be rolled out quite thin on a floured board, using as little flour as possible.  Cut out small cakes and bake lightly in a moderately hot oven.

The butter, when melted, should fill one cup; pour it over the two cups of sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamy; add the eggs, beating one at a time into the mixture.  Sift the teaspoonful of baking soda several times through the flour before adding to the cake mixture.  Stand this dough in a cold place one hour at least before cutting out cakes.  No flavoring is used.  Sift granulated sugar thickly over cakes before placing them in oven to bake.

From these ingredients were made over one hundred cakes.  One-half this recipe might be used for a small family.  The cakes keep well in a dry, cool place.

This old recipe of Aunt Sarah’s mother derived its name “Belsnickel” from the fact that the Belsnickels, who invariably visited the houses of “Bucks County” farmers on Christmas Eve, were always treated to some of these delicious little Christmas cakes.