The Twelve (Food) Days of Christmas: Day Two

Day Two: Recipe Search
Well, the recipes from cousin Louise are missing. I know they are not totally missing; I think I know where they are but I don't have the energy to dig to the back of my overflowing closet right now to get to them (I'm in the midst of a big cleaning binge right now; don't ask.)

Fortunately most of the Christmas cookie favorites are easy: chocolate chip cookies, some kind of fudge, "peanut butter blossoms" (you know, the cookies with the Hershey's kisses on top? I've also heard them referred to as "titty cookies." If that helps you visualize them.) and the ever-so-1950s "Chinese Chews." These are definitely a grown-up cookie, but not in the same way as the aforementioned peanut butter treats. The main ingredient besides butter is dates. When I was a kid I didn't like these cookies, but the first Christmas without Louise I was determined to replicate her tradition to the letter so I made them anyway. And wouldn't you know ... I loved them! I suppose the dates appeal to the more sophisticated palate that comes with age and experience.

And in 2008, that "sophisticated palate" most certainly wouldn't go around calling these cookies "Chinese Chews." For Pete's sake, dates come from the Middle East. (or California.) But back in the '50s I suppose the name evoked some exotic Oriental kitchen filled with bar cookies sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. A friend asked for the recipe a year or two ago and when I wrote it out I christened them "Chewy Date Bars."

So today, after I couldn't find the recipes (and my mom couldn't find a copy either, probably because she didn't like Chinese Chews when she was a kid and so has no interest in making them herself) I decided to try the Internet. First I looked for "chewy date bars." There's no way anybody out there is calling them "Chinese Chews" in this day and age, I thought. But no luck. So I finally searched, all stealthy-like ("I hope my ISP doesn't think I'm some kind of racist") for "Chinese Chews."

Results 1 - 10 of about 7,240 for "chinese chews".

Lo and behold! There are other people out there looking for these things! Lots of them! And one fellow food blogger even posted a story about her own "hunt" for them, which seems to authenticate my own idea that they are from the Fifties.

And here is a recipe which most closely approximates Louise's, as I remember. It's so simple. The most exotic thing in them are a box of pressed dates. I get mine at Wal-Mart.


EDIT, DEC. 20, 2014: I found Louise's handwritten recipe!
Unfortunately I can't easily add the image right now from my iPad because Google wants to make it difficult for me to do so. (This is why I don't update this blog anymore! Related: Why can't this be more like Wordpress?!)