Saturday, July 3, 2010

Two Way Cookies and Benjamin Harrison

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These cookies I made as an additional batch this week for the fourth of July party at our house. I probably didn't have to do that as I still have some of many of the previous cookies left over that I am going to offer as well.

Also, in case you didn't notice... I am not doing these in any particular order, not even chronologically, but in order of what I think would be nice to make that week, mixing up the bars/brownies with the cookies and lemony ones with sugar cookies etc.

So this week I was cooking a recipe for the grandson of the guy I did earlier this week, William Henry Harrison. I chose this recipe for the 4th of July weekend because I thought it was nice that I could have some variety even within a single recipe.

These were pretty fun to make! I started with some basic steps, like beating together the butter and sugar, then adding the egg yolks and vanilla, and lastly the flour. Then I split the dough into two parts.

One half of them were rolled into balls, dipped in slightly beaten egg whites, and then dipped in chopped walnuts. Then I made a thumbprint in each, and filled it with jelly. I actually used three types of jelly, one of them being our homemade one... but it was my first three cookies, and I overfilled them, so they looked pathetic... and had to be eaten before the party :-) . The others were filled with apricot jelly and a 4 berry jelly.

The other half of the dough didn't get the dipping in egg whites, they were just rolled into balls, pressed lightly down, and then sprinkled with a few chocolate chips that were also pressed down.

Then they went into the oven. The recipe called for them to bake for 20 minutes, but I checked on them around 17 and some of them were already more brown than I would like... so I took them out.

Blake and I both enjoyed the taste of the "ugly ones" and I hope that our guests will enjoy them as well.

Benjamin Harrison (our 23rd President)
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I found this president to be very interesting! He was around at a big expanding time of technology, and was the first president to have electric lights in his house, and on his Christmas tree... but he was afraid to use them.

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He had two kids, his daughter was born on April 8th like me (above)! (totally random, and not really about him, but interesting to me... I share a birth date with the daughter of a president). They had a pet possum and a pet goat at one time, as well as a pet dog.

He had really strong ideals, and it appears that he tried hard to get them into practice, like putting civil service people in place based on how good they will be for the job, not on how much they did for him. He also tried to help African Americans get more rights, but was frequently shot down, and didn't believe he had the power to stop lynchings, but spoke against them.

During his time in office, 6 states joined the union, and he was the first president to have his voice recorded.

He seemed to make a lot of progress with federal funds... but not everyone agreed with his decisions. From what I read, it looks like he set up a pension for veterans of the Civil War who needed it. He also raised tariffs on some goods while also cutting down tariffs on others. However, all in all, his government spent a billion dollars, which is apparently the first time that had happened. But... to be fair, unlike now, the country had a surplus of funds (from the tariffs), so there was no debt created by this spending.

Quotes:
I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.
Benjamin Harrison

No other people have a government more worthy of their respect and love or a land so magnificent in extent, so pleasant to look upon, and so full of generous suggestion to enterprise and labor.

Benjamin Harrison (nice patriotic sentiment)

When and under what conditions is the black man to have a free ballot? When is he in fact to have those full civil rights which have so long been his in law?
Benjamin Harrison

I do the same thing every day. I eat three meals, sleep six hours
and read dusty old books the rest of the time. My life is about as
devoid of anything funny as the great desert is of grass.

Benjamin Harrison

Have you not learned that not stocks or bonds or stately homes or products of mill or field are our country. It is the splendid thought that is in our minds.
Benjamin Harrison

My favorite:
The indiscriminate denunciation of the rich is mischievous.... No poor man was ever made richer or happier by it. It is quite as illogical to despise a man because he is rich as because he is poor. Not what a man has, but what he is, settles his class. We can not right matters by taking from one what he has honestly acquired to bestow upon another what he has not earned.
Benjamin Harrison

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