Dough
4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups water
pinch of salt
yellow food coloring
shortening
Add a few drops of yellow food coloring in water and dump into the flour and salt mixture all at once. Knead. Divide into fourths.
Roll out onto a floured board into a rectangle. Keeping it as much as a rectangle as possible. Spread with shortening. Fold down 1/3 and spread this side with shortening. Fold up the bottom 1/3 spread this with shortening. Fold over the other 1/3 side and spread with shortening. Then spread the front and back with crisco and put in wax paper. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Repeat the rolling and folding. Refrigerate for at least 2 more hours. Repeat the rolling and folding and refrigerate overnight.
Roll out onto a floured board into a rectangle. Cut into 1/2"-3/4" strips. Wrap around foil wrapped clothes pins overlapping as you twirl around the clothespin. Or, wrap each strip around a cone-shaped cookie form (available here). Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 375° for about 15-20 min or until very lightly browned. Removed from clothespins or molds immediately after removing from the oven.
FILLING (usually double this)
1 cup water
5 tablespoons flour
cook until thickened (about 5 min)
Beat:
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 jar marshmallow fluff or cream
Add the thickened flour and water to the cream mixture and beat until smooth and fluffy
Fill the cooled ladylocks with a pastry filler or cake decorator
Roll in powdered sugar before serving.
Note: These are also commonly known as clothespin cookies.
A cookie baker Nov 29, 2005
Would make this again.
Great recipe. This is the old-fashioned one that gives the flakiness that the newer recipes that substitute sour cream for the layering/refrigerating process do not retain. They are faster, but not nearly as good.Thanks for sharing!!!
judy stamer in Middleburg Fl. Nov 15, 2005
Would make this again.
I grew up eating these at weddings in Pittsburg Pa. They were always a staple at a wedding. I love the idea of the yellow food coloring it gives the cookies a great amber look. To make it go faster I used dowel rods the thickness of a dime,about 10 inches long. This way you can place about four on a stick, don't forget to foil the dowels and grease them.
Jamie Coleman in Lemont Furnace, Pa. Dec 16, 2002
Would make this again.
I have been looking everywhere for a recipe that was different from all the others and I have finally found it. I love the filling. Everywhere I look I am unable to find one that has a good filling and this is the one that beats them all. Thanks Alot! Jamie
Robert Schmidt in Wagram, NC Nov 17, 2002
Would make this again.
When I was a kid, my grandmother made these every Christmas. But, when she died I never got the recipe from her. Now I'm a chef, and I looked all over the Internet for hours. Thanks...I love them!
