1911 Bovina UP Church Cookbook - Snickerdoodles

My latest attempt using a recipe from the 1911 UP Church Cookbook had a very familiar name to me - Snickerdoodles. Snickerdoodles were one of the first cookies I tried when I got into baking and became a staple in my recipe repertoire. So I was intrigued to find this almost 100 year old version. It's not the Snickerdoodles I remember, though it's close. One puzzling aspect of the recipe was that it is in the Bread and Rolls section of the book, not the Cookies section. Here's the recipe:

Cream together 2 cups sugar, 4 tablespoons butter, 2 eggs, add 1 cup raisins, cut small; 1 cup milk, salt, 2/3 teaspoon soda, 1 1/3 teaspoon cream tartar, 1 qt flour. Drop small spoonfuls on buttered tins, sprinkle thick with mixed sugar and cinnamon; bake. -L.E. Dennis.

The recipe I used over the years did not include the milk or raisins and the cookies could be rolled into balls and put on the baking sheet. These were too sticky to be rolled. And they don't look like the ones I was used to either.

I baked them at 350 for about 8-9 minutes. They turned out ok, though I prefer my regular recipe. I shared them with a group at the church that went Christmas Caroling.

The recipe submitter was Miss Louisa E. Dennis. She was born in 1845 and was baptized into the UP Church as an adult in 1864. In the 1910 census, she was living with her sister Hellen and working as a milliner. By the 1920 census, she was living on her own, her sister having died in 1913. And she was not listed as having any occupation. What happened to her after that I do not know. Nor do I know much more about her background, such as who her parents were. But we have her recipe....