Day 18 of Kitchen Witchery- Great-Grandma's Cookies

1 1/2 sticks of butter
2 cups self-rising flour
1 egg
1 1/4 cups sugar
pinch of baking soda
2 tablespoons vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 325. Mix ingredients well. Pinch off balls of dough about the size of a walnut. Pat out balls. Cook for a few minutes on ungreased cookie sheet.

This makes A LOT of cookies, about 3 dozen if memory serves correctly. There is no exact time on how long to bake and I suspect that is my mother's doing because she wants to be the best cook and she is not above misdirection so that your dish is less than ideal. I would keep a close eye on them, checking often, maybe every five minutes. The only thing that really needs to cook is the egg and eggs need neither high heat nor long times to cook. These cookies spread out more than they rise. I would say the cookies are done when the smell of warm sugar and butter fills the air.

My great-grandmother would make these cookies and put them in a cloth flour sack. She tied the sack closed with string and hung it on a nail in her kitchen. No, the cookies did not go stale; the children ate them before that could happen. I usually make these when I have a large gathering of people. There are never any leftover cookies to take home.