Schwan's

Happy Easter ALL

My niece Katie and I left Saturday afternoon to go to my brother's house in Missouri.

On my last trip, my sister-in-law said she could kick herself for not keeping one of these babies around. 
Does anyone remember these?

Back in the day, Schwan's used to use these 2-1/2 gallon tins to sell their ice cream.

In fact, they only distributed their ice cream out in the country.

On the farm, my mom would get one of these tins every two weeks.

(Yes, we ate that much!)

We didn't even have to be home.

The ice cream man would stop, automatically put one of these in our chest freezers in the basement, and catch up with us later for the money.

Those were the days when nothing was locked, not even our house.

Can you believe it?

Mom used to use these cans to fill up her famous peanut brittle at Christmas time, which WAS THE BEST!

I wonder if all the people that were fortunate to receive her care packages knew she kept all of her peanut brittle in these great tin cans.

I found a couple good looking ones with lids still at the farm so I thought I would surprise my sister-in-law.

Of course, you can't go empty handed so I started making ginger snaps, an old family favorite.

Mom had a couple of recipes with different variations but I made the one most of my relatives like best.

You can see I am using my Kitchen Aid mixer here, but I think I prefer my old Mixmaster mixer better.

Yes, I said that!

Does that make me a bad person?

I almost hesitate to say that out load.  No one speaks bad about the Kitchen Aid OR that they prefer something else over the Kitchen Aid.  No one wants to admit they spent too much money on the Kitchen Aid but I for one think they are overrated.    Just saying ...........

I lined the can with wax paper and after two batches of cookies, still did not fill the can up.

BUT my sister-in-law was thrilled to get it, and she couldn't wait for the cookies to be gone so she could properly display it on one of her top cupboards.  (Guess two batches were enough.)

Here is the recipe.  Since my husband only got 1 cookie before he left, I think I better make a batch for tonight.

3/4 c. shortening (I use Crisco)
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light molasses
1 egg
2 c. flour
1/4 teas. salt
2 teas. soda
1 teas. cinnamon
1 teas. cloves
1 teas. ginger

Cream shortening & sugar; add molasses and egg; beat well.  Add dry ingredients, mix well.  Roll in small balls, dip into sugar.  Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.  My oven heats hot so I don't keep them in any longer than 10 minutes.  We like them softer and just barely baked.

Have a great week!

Linking up with Show Off Your Cottage Monday