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Dianne Halliday

SNICKERDOODLES & FUDGE COOKIES
Picture
Snickerdoodles
INGREDIENTS
  • 300g white sugar
  • 225g butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 2.75 cups flour
  • 2tsp cream of tartar
  • 1tsp baking soda
  • Cinnamon sugar or 100s & 1000s or whatever you want to try!
METHOD
  1. Blend sugar and butter.
  2. Mix in eggs. Add dry ingredients, using hands if necessary to get a smooth dough. Chill dough, which should be stiff.  
  3. When ready to bake, roll dough into small balls, then dip in topping of choice. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake 8-10 minutes in 200c conventional oven. (180c in fan oven)
  4. Cool on baking racks. 
Makes about 8 dozen. Each cookie should be about 1.5-2cm in diameter.
FUDGE COOKIES (64 pieces)
Picture
Fudge Cookies
INGREDIENTS
  • 2 oz shaved baking chocolate
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 24 Kraft marshmallows quartered (in NZ used 30 Pascals regular marshmallows)
  • 3 cups Graham cracker crumbs (in NZ the closest equivalent is Round Wine biscuits)
  • 1 ½ cup walnut pieces
METHOD
  1. Place milk and chocolate in large saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.  
  2. Gradually add sugar and heat to soft ball stage (228° F).* This process will involve the mixture swelling to fill the saucepan before enough liquid is evaporated to let it relax.
  3. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla, then fold in biscuit crumbs and nuts.  Mixture will be very stiff, and may need a final mix by hand (wet your hands to mitigate the stickiness and heat).
  4. Pack into greased 8” x 8” squared pan and refrigerate to aid setting process. Later, when fully set, cut into squares. These are very rich.

    ​*if the mixture is pulled too early, it will not set.  It is edible, but very gooey.
Dianne Halliday
Dianne Halliday
Dianne writes: 
​
​Baking for Christmas always began right after Thanksgiving, and went on throughout December. Advent greens joined in very soon thereafter, so the smell of coming in from the cold outdoors was always redolent of evergreens (firs) and newly baked cookies/bread/apple pie. You name it, my grandmother baked it. The scents of baking permeated the house and made for great difficulties in not snitching from the cooling racks both before and after dinner. And it helped if you were there to add decorations before baking - I always felt part of the process at those times.

Fudge cookies, on the other hand, needed to be chilled in order to set. Never mind, the back enclosed porch became a giant walk-in cooler for such things! (In the summer heat of NZ, they go into the fridge for a while.) My childhood  experience was of a kitchen which mass-produced all kinds of goodies, most of which were given as Christmas gifts to family and friends; only a bit was kept back for home use.

I tried to carry on the tradition for my family, and now my daughter is doing this too for her daughter. It's great to see family traditions passed on, even if the production line is smaller and more health conscious than previously!
Dianne Goodspeed Halliday is a native of suburban Philadelphia, USA, who began piano lessons at age 7, flute at age 9, and the organ at age 14 at the National Music Camp, Interlochen, Michigan.

Her post-secondary musical education took place at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, where she majored in Performance and Literature in both flute and organ, studying with Joseph Mariano (flute) and David Craighead (organ) for an undergraduate degree. Then she took a Master’s degree in Performance and Church Music with Russell Saunders as her applied teacher. At her various church positions, she was also involved with the Choristers’ Training Scheme of the Royal School of Church Music. 

Dianne has been active in the organ and church music scene in Wellington since her arrival in 1983. From 1984-96 she was Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, establishing junior and adult choirs and bringing to fruition the expansion of the 1905 Hobday instrument to facilitate its use in contemporary Catholic liturgical practice. During this period she also succeeded in the Fellowship examinations for the American Guild of Organists. Since 1997 Dianne has been committed to work at St Peter’s Church, Willis Street, Wellington. 

In 2014 Dianne began DMA studies at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University, studying with Douglas Mews through 2018. In addition to the Wellington Organists’ Association, of which she is currently president, she has been active in the Royal School of Church Music, of which she was awarded an Associateship in 2023.
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She formally retired from St Peter’s in 2020 and is now active as a substitute organist and recitalist both in Wellington and other North Island centres. 
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