Powdered Sugar "Finger" Cookies

The real name of this recipe is "Mrs. Borwell's Fingers." No offense to Mrs. Borwell, but that just sounded creepy. So I renamed these cookies, which are tasty little morsels that contain chopped walnuts and are rolled in powdered sugar while still warm.

I was inspired by this post at The Golden Needle blog. Golden Needle has been baking her way through the old recipes in her mother's recipe box. Isn't that the neatest idea?

My beautiful grandma Nana, who was an accomplished cook and indefatigable baker even into her 90s, gave me this stack of recipes a few years ago, before she passed away.

They belonged to her own beloved grandma (so that would be my great, great grandma), whose name was Hattie.
They just don't make names like Hattie anymore.
Apparently Nana was the family scribe, helping her mom organize recipes and taking down notes specific to their preparation. Many of the recipes are simply yellowed newspaper clippings, cut out and taped onto 3 x 5 cards with no personal notes added. I'm not as eager to try those as I am to try ones like "Mrs. Borwell's Fingers" -- creepy name aside -- recipes that have notes added in my grandma's own hand.

Though I've had these recipes for a few years now, this is the first one I've tried from this bunch. It was fun trying to decipher instructions like "blend over fire slowly" -- which I translated as "cook over low heat." The biggest puzzle was being told to take the batter and "spread in tins." Er, tins? What kind of tins? I decided an 8 x 8-inch greased baking pan would do nicely.
Which it did.

POWDERED SUGAR "FINGER" COOKIES

1/4 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1 egg

1 c. flour

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

1/4 c. chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1 t. vanilla

powdered sugar

In medium saucepan, melt butter. Add brown sugar and blend over low heat until well-mixed (a couple of minutes). Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes. Add egg and beat well. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt, nuts, and vanilla. Spread batter in greased 8 x 8-inch pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. While hot, cut into strips. Let cool for a couple minutes for easier handling. While still warm, roll in powdered sugar ("if so wish," instructs Nana. I wish).

Thank you for the inspiration to pull out these recipes, Golden Needle. Anyone else want to join in the fun of trying out some old family recipes? We could do an Heirloom in Autumn recipe challenge. Anyone?