16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, May 21, 1911: Went to Sunday school this afternoon. The whole Stout family was over this evening. Wormed the results of that letter out of Carrie.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
This entry describes one of the really nice characteristics of rural life—neighbors just dropping by to visit. One hundred years ago, on warm spring evenings neighbors probably often gathered to chat about the weather, share the local news, or talk about …. well, just whatever. Long-term friendships were formed over the years—and people would discuss anything and everything.
The adults may have sat around the kitchen table —while the young folks wandered off for their own discussions. Cookies or other refreshments may have been served. A small cookbook published in 1911 to advertise KC Baking Powder contained this recipe for chocolate almond drop cookies:
K C Almond Drop Cookies
2 eggs, beaten light
1 cup sugar
2 ounces chocolate melted
1 ½ cups blanched almonds, chopped
1 teaspoonful vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 level teaspoonful K C Baking Powder
½ teaspoonful each, salt and cinnamon
Sift together, three times, the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. To the eggs add the sugar, chocolate, almonds, extract, and lastly the flour mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls upon a buttered baking pan. Bake in a moderate oven. This recipe makes about three dozen little cakes.
The Cook’s Book (KC Baking Powder,1911)
When I tried this recipe, I heated the oven to 375 degrees and baked the cookies for about 12-14 minutes. I didn’t sift the flour—and I used unsweetened chocolate, sliced almonds, and a different brand of baking powder. I was surprised that the recipe didn’t call for any butter or other shortening.
The cookies are tasty with a slight hint of cinnamon, and the recipe is definitely a keeper.
A Hundred Years Ago 