Searching for a cookie recipe
Thu, 10/01/2009 - 01:33
My father in law is 75 years old, he remembers a cookie his mother used to make him. They were called Barney Googles. It was some type of cake-like cookie baked in a 9x13 pan, they were cut into pieces, frosted on 3 sides, then rolled into chopped peanuts.
If anybody has a recipe like that would you mind sharing it with me? Thanks in adavance.
__________________
I was insane with horrible periods of sanity....Edgar Allen Poe
A Barney Google Cake is a yummy coconut jam square cut from a cake that is baked in three layers in a 13x9 pan. I think maybe your father-in-law's mum maybe did a variation on this recipe where she frosted the sides and added peanuts. I have checked several sources and all the Barney Google cakes I can find seem to based on this recipe (with slight changes). I would ask him if it had jam and coconut in it. Hope this helps.
Barney Google Cake
First Layer:
1 1/2 cups once sifted all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Second Layer:
3/4 cup apricot jam
Topping:
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation Instructions:
Mix the first layer ingredients in a bowl and press into bottom of 9 x 13 baking pan, then cover with apricot jam (to make this easier, heat jam in microwave for 30 seconds on high). Beat melted butter with sugar, add egg and coconut, stir in vanilla, spread over jam, bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) My blog
Wow, thank you so much. He only said that it was a cake type cookie frosted then rolled in nuts. I'll ask him about the rest. We're going on a bus tour with him and his wife the middle of this month, each couple is to bring snacks for 48 people on the trip........ I planned on surprising him with this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing! I am so excited to get started making it.
I was insane with horrible periods of sanity....Edgar Allen Poe
Thanks for the great recipe, this was not the recipe he was looking for but was very touched I thought to bring them on the trip. Thanks again.
I was insane with horrible periods of sanity....Edgar Allen Poe
I thought maybe my 76 year-old mother-in-law"s recipe for "Peanut Bars" might be what you were looking for. The recipe came from her mother-in-law, and my father-in-law remembers them from at least 1940. This isn't "Daring" baking, but everyone in my family just loves these things. She told me that the original recipe for the cake/bar part was from scratch, but that when cake mixes were invented Grandma Mert liked to use those instead. She makes them every year at Christmas and for my father-in-laws birthday. Maybe your father-in-law will enjoy these too? The recipe is (verbetim):
Peanut Bars
Cake: 1 box White Cake Mix
1/4 cup flour
Frosting: Margarine (no amounts given)
Powdered Sugar
Water
Peanuts:- 2 cans, SPANISH PEANUTS (apparently, this is a must!)
Add the 1/4 cup of flour to box of cake mix and mix per box instructions. Bake in a pan large enough to yield a cake that is about 1" or so high after baking. Add 4 additional minutes to the baking time.
When the cake is cooled completely, cut into 1 1/4" x 3" bars. Let sit on counter uncovered for at least a day or two, to partially dry out to allow for handling.
Mix a thin white icing to a consistancy that can be spread onto cake without damage. (Apparently, it is very thin, but spreadable with a knife)
Spread frosting onto cake sides without damage.
Fine grind peanuts and place in pan large enought to allow bars to be frosted while lyeing (sic) in peanuts.(My mother-in-law frosts the bars on four sides, rolls them in the ground peanuts, then does each end and dips them in the nuts).
When cake is ready for icing to be added....GO.
Develop your own technique for icing and coating bars in peanuts.
We have been making them for years. We call them Mocho Cakes. Some people call them Peanut Squares and they have also been called Blarney Stones. Whatever you call them, everyone LOVES them.
Bake a Hot Milk Cake, do NOT use a cake mix.
Cool well.
Cut in squares.
Frost with Buttercream Frosting.
Roll in chopped Peanuts.
Here is one recipe I found online.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
•2 eggs
•1 cup sugar
•1/2 cup milk
•1-1/2 teaspoons butter
•1-1/2 cups flour
•2 teaspoons baking powder
•1/4 teaspoon salt
•1 teaspoon vanilla
•Buttercream Frosting
•Chopped peanuts
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In large mixer bowl, beat eggs slightly. Gradually add sugar, beating well until mixture is fluffy.
Place milk in small saucepan and heat over low heat until hot. Add to egg mixture along with butter.
Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Blend in vanilla. Spread batter in a greased 13x9" pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes until cake springs back when lightly touched in center.
Make Buttercream Frosting but add more milk to make a slightly thinner frosting. Cut cake into 2" squares and frost on all sides with frosting, then roll in chopped nuts to coat.
Barney Googles
I saw your post and had to call my mother right away. She and I were just talking about Barney Googles a short time ago. Mom says the ones she had were like your father - in- law with the peanuts and frosting.
Yes it was a regular white cake that was a rectangular size that was frosted on all sides and then rolled in the chopped peanuts.
It's nice to know someone else enjoyed them that way
.