Odds & Ends
Recipes from her kitchen, documents, and keepsakes that don’t fit neatly elsewhere — but are worth keeping all the same.
Gran Schoen’s Home Made Ice Cream
Gran always added a box of instant vanilla pudding mix —
For a 6-quart freezer
Ingredients
- 1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk
- 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
- 7 eggs
- 6 tablespoons vanilla
- 3 cups sugar
- 2¾ quarts whole milk
- 6 Junket tablets, melted in a little warm water
- 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
Method
Mix all ingredients well. Add to the freezer, then stir in the whole milk once it is in the freezer.
Jelly Cookies
Passed down from Grandma Schoen to Tara in 1978
Ingredients
- 1½ cups butter
- 1½ cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. almond extract
- 4 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
Method
Combine all ingredients and mix on medium speed until well blended. The dough will be stiff — use a deep bowl to keep it from flying. Drop onto an ungreased baking sheet, push a hole in the center, and fill with jelly of your choice. For a Christmas look, roll in colored sugars instead. Bake at 350° for 10–15 minutes. Don’t let them get too brown.
A cookie press or cookie shooter also works beautifully with this dough.
From My Kitchen
Two recipe cards written in Elizabeth’s own hand — an orange Jello salad and a pumpkin pie.
A few things kept from the beginning —
Tauf-Schein
This ornate baptism certificate records Elizabeth’s baptism in the German Lutheran tradition at Mt. Olive, Illinois. The Tauf-Schein features elaborate engraved borders, angelic figures, and Gothic script.
- Sponsors (Taufpaten)
- Frau Anna Stamer
- Frau Anna Schmeltekop
Kept alongside it — a hymn she held onto.
I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry
I was there to hear your borning cry,
I’ll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
To see your life unfold.
When you heard the wonder of the Word
I was there to cheer you on;
You were raised to praise the living Lord,
To whom you now belong.
In the middle ages of your life,
Not too old, no longer young,
I’ll be there to guide you through the night,
Complete what I’ve begun.
When the evening gently closes in
And you shut your weary eyes,
I’ll be there as I have always been
With just one more surprise.
— John Ylvisaker