Mom's Hankie/Recipe Box

Yesterday I was thinking about making an apple crisp. Instead of looking up a recipe online, I decided to see if there was one in Mom's recipe box.

This is the box, which, when I was a kid was her hankie box. It sat on top of her dresser in the bedroom. It was large enough to hold her many, pretty, dainty handkerchiefs as well as Dad's every day red and blue bandannas and his good white men's hankies.

When I first learned to iron clothes, Mom started me out ironing the handkerchiefs. I still remember putting them away after ironing, in this box.

In her later years, Mom used the box for recipes. She loved cooking and baking and she never met a new recipe she didn't want to try. Even though this box is full, it isn't nearly all the recipes she had.
A cousin asked me if I had any of our Grandma Delphia's recipes so I went through all of these and took out the ones I was certain were in Grandma's handwriting and gave to her. Now I kind of wish I had kept some of them. (I also REALLY wish I knew the origins and intended use for this box. The fact that can be locked intrigues me. I don't remember it ever being locked.)

I didn't find a recipe for apple crisp, which is okay, I'm out of the mood to make one now. But, just for fun, I pulled a couple recipes from the two sections with the most cards.
The first, Salads, and the recipe is one from my sister-in-law; not surprising because she was an excellent cook and liked trying new dishes about as much as Mom. This one is labeled "Ruthie's Jello Salad":
1 pkg Orange Jello
1 C hot Water
1 C evaporated Milk
1 303 can fruit Cocktail
1 C Cottage Cheese
1/4 C Mayonnaise
1/2 C Chopped Pecans
Dissolve Jello in hot water, cool slightly. Stir in Milk, cool till partially set. Fold in rest of ingredients.

I have typed this out just as she wrote it and while doing so, noted how she capitalized the main ingredients. I am going to have look to see if that was something she usually did in order to emphasize them.

The recipe on the left is from Cookies. When I first glanced at it, I knew it wasn't Mom's handwriting. Then I took a closer look - it was one I gave her! The note says: "Made at Christmas Time, 1965". Oh my gosh. I don't even like cooking and baking, yet, at that time, as a young wife and mother, I did make an effort to be housewifely. The funny thing is, I remember copying this recipe from a Karo Syrup ad: "Karo Lace Cookies":
1 C. Sifted Flour                                   
1 C. Chopped, flaked Coconut or Nuts
1/2 C. Clear Karo Syrup
1/2 C. Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 C. Margarine
1 tsp. Vanilla
Mix flour and coconut. Combine syrup, brown sugar and margarine in heavy saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; gradually blend in flour mixture, then vanilla. Drop by scant teaspoonfuls, 3 inches apart. Bake at 350° 8-10 min. Cool 3 to 4 min. until foil may be easily peeled off. (Apparently I left out the direction to line the cookie sheet with foil.) Makes about 4 dozen. (Ha!) That's what I wrote, so I must have meant it did not make that many - or maybe it meant it made much more?
Just as I remember copying the recipe off, I also remember how these cookies turned out - the lacy look of them. And the reason I didn't recognize my handwriting at first was because it was so much neater then than it is now.
I think I will keep these two recipes out and make them someday soon. I always get in the mood to cook and bake after we head into fall - when the weather turns cooler. I may even look into that recipe box and see what else sounds good.