Mud Hens...

[norgeway]

You may be scratching your head..they are bar cookies, and one of my oldest recipes...also the absolutely most aggravating things to make on earth,,,but good..oh my! This recipe was one my Grandmother got shortly after she was married in 1926, from one of her best friends, My mother and Aunt remembered her making toms of these at Christmas, She had a more even temper than i!!!LOL..And until 1954 she baked them in a big old Majestic wood stove!, I force myself to make them because as good as they are they are a real pain to make...
Mud Hens
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups sifted flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs..save the whites of 2 of them
Mix the above well and spread onto a greased cookie sheet buildind up an edge all the way around, you want the dough about 1/4 to 1/3 inch thick...now comes the hateful part
Mix the 2 egg whites with 2 cups of brown sugar, Chop finely 2 cups pecans, spread them evenly over the dough, pressing them in lightly, then spread the brown sugar egg white mixture over the whole thing, if you can do this without cussing enough to send 50 people to hell, you are better than I!!! the egg brown sugar mixture is thick and sticky and very hard to work with, bake 325 for 25 minutes, cut into squares while warm and enjoy, you will have earned it!

 

[norgeway]

Speaking of a Majestic.

This is almost exactly like what she used until 1954 when they got a Hotpoint!

http://harrisburg.craigslist.org/atq/4245986223.html

 

[whirlcool]

Maybe a silicone spatula would make it easier to spread?

 

[norgeway]

Maybe!

A cement trowel!! No really, the problem is the topping mixture pulls the nuts loose like fly paper, it can be done but its a pain.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Have you tried it without the nuts or just putting the nuts in the egg white mixture and trowling it on? What would happen if you put the egg mixture on first and then sprinkled the nuts on top of it?

 

[norgeway]

I have tried mixing the

Nuts in with the egg white brown sugar mixture, it makes a glue like mixture that messes up your bottom layer which is a very soft dough, I dont know if sprinkling the nuts on top would work, because that is what makes them so good, it is sort of like a soft sugar cookie with a thin layer of pecan pie filling topped with a crunchy brown sugar crust.

 

[bajaespuma]

Mud Hens!

I'm going to try these. Any excuse to bake with pecans. This looks like one of the more original cookie recipes I've seen in a long time. I love the name, too.

 

[gansky1]

This does sound really good!

 

I googled "Mud Hens" last night and saw that some add chocolate chips and marshmallows to the center before the brown sugar and egg whites go on top.  

Do you beat the egg whites before mixing with the brown sugar, Hans?  Another recipe I saw said to beat them, then fold in the brown sugar and spread over the lower cookie layer. 

 

[tomturbomatic]

This might work, although it would be its own mess: place the egg and brown sugar in a pastry bag and pipe it over the cookie dough.

I wonder what would happen if you sprinkled the brown sugar over the dough and nuts and then placed dollops of egg whites beaten to just before the soft peak stage over that and lightly spread them out. It might be more merengue than pecan pie.

Of course, there's nothing that says you can't add a spoonful of water to the egg whites to make them easier to spread.

 

[jeffg]

Try adding a few T of light corn syrup.

 

[tomturbomatic]

The only thing about corn syrup is that is inhibits crystallization so the brown sugar layer might stay really gooey if you use the corn syrup, but maybe not. Sugar cookery is part science, part wizardry, part alchemy and more than a little luck and expertise.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Mmm.  Those do look really, really good!  I think we're going to have to give those a whirl one of these days!  Thanks for posting, as always!

 

[toploader55]

Hey Hans...

Are the Mud Hens suppose to look like this ???

Well even if they're not... DAMN !!! they are delish.

Thanks for thr recipe

 

[norgeway]

Thats!

EXACTLY what they are supposed to look like.

 

[toploader55]

Well then...

I gotta tell ya...

I made the dough, and chilled it in the fridge for 20 minutes after pressing it out on the Cookie Sheet.
'
Then I pressed in the Pecans. (I think next time, I'm going to roast them for a richer flavor.)

Chilled it again in the fridge whilst I made the topping.

I mixed the Egg whites and Brown sugar in the KitchenAid mixer with the flat beater for about 3 minutes.

Honestly, it was a breeze spreading it out over the top. It poured out of the bowl like ribbons. But I did use Dark Brown Sugar.

What do you think Hans ????

 

[toploader55]

Oh Yah, and by the way...

They were so good I couldn't keep them in my house so,

I packaged them up into packs of four and six... went to the local watering hole and distributed amongst who I felt were redeamable.

Barnstable and YarmouthPort will never be the same. A home Run and the Yankees here (the dear Blue Bloods) couldn't ask me more than enough times for the recipe.

NOT !!!!!!!

 

[norgeway]

However you made them!...IT WORKED,

Im going to try chilling the dough, they look great, I bet my Grandmother made a zillion of those things, I will post a few more of her recipes, she had some good ones.