Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Squares

Butterscotch Squares

A hundred years ago (and throughout much of the 20th century) promotional cookbooks distributed by food companies were very popular. Pre-internet and social media, companies frequently used them to publicize their products.

In 1926, the Corn Products Refining Company published a cookbook by Ida Bailey Allen called The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods. The cookbook contained recipes that used Karo Corn Syrup, Mazola Corn Oil, Argo Cornstarch and other products made by the company. At the time, Mrs. Allen was a popular cookbook author. She later became a radio cooking celebrity, as well as an editor of Good Housekeeping magazine.

woman putting food on outdoor table — Source: The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1926)

I wanted to make some bar cookies for a pot luck picnic, so decided to try a recipe in the book for Butterscotch Squares.

I have mixed opinions about this recipe. If I set aside my preconceived notions about what these squares would be like (dense bars with a rich butterscotch flavor), and just enjoyed the squares I ended up with, I’d say that the Butterscotch Squares were tasty.

However, I couldn’t detect any hint of butterscotch when I nibbled on the squares, so I feel like I need to lower my rating of them. Also, the base of the Butterscotch Squares had a cake-like texture, rather than the typical more substantive, dense, moist texture of bar cookies. This base was topped with a thin layer of corn syrup and chopped nuts. (I used pecans.) The only sweetener that the recipe called for was the corn syrup in the topping, which resulted in the squares not being very sweet.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Butterscotch Squares — Source: The Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods (1926)

The recipe says that the dough should be put in a “medium-sized dripping pan.” I’m not sure what that is or how large it is, so I used a 9″ X 13″ rectangular baking pan. I didn’t measure the thickness of the dough, and it may have been slightly thicker than 1/2 inch. If I had used a pan which was a little larger, the texture may have been a little less cake-like.

The recipe calls for 4 teaspoons baking powder. This seems like a lot of baking powder, so I used 2 teaspoons baking powder.

I used olive oil instead of the Mazola Corn Oil, but any vegetable oil would work in this recipe.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Butterscotch Squares

Servings: approximately 60 bars
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
Print

2 cups bread flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup olive oil or other vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups milk

1 cup dark or light corn syrup (Karo, etc.) (I used dark corn syrup.)

1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans.)

Step 1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

Step 2. Sift together flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder.

Step 3. Add olive/vegetable oil and milk; stir until combined.

Step 4. Grease a rectangular 9″ X 13″ baking pan, and put the mixture in the pan. (A pan that is a little larger could be substituted for the baking pan, if a less fluffy bar is desired.)

Step 5. Place in oven and bake.

Step 6. In the meantime, put the corn syrup in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil using medium heat. Reduce heat and cook until the syrup reaches the thread stage (230 – 235° F).

Step 7. When the bars are lightly browned, remove from oven and spread hot syrup on top, then sprinkle with the chopped nuts Press lightly to help ensure that the nuts stick to the top of the bars. (Depending upon the size of the pan, there may be a little more syrup than needed. It should be thinly spread and not gloppy.)

Step 8. Return to pan to oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool, then cut into squares approximately 1 1/4″ X 1 1/4.”

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

1926 Ovaltine Advertisement

Ovaltine powdered drink mix has been around for more than a hundred years. I remember stirring the malt-flavored powder into milk when I was a child. I preferred the chocolate milk powders, but my mother insisted that Ovaltine was better for me because it had lots of vitamins.

Apparently Ovaltine has always be considered a health drink. A 1926 advertisement emphasized how it could improve sleep quality:

Taken at night, a cupful of Ovaltine brings sound, restful sleep, quickly and naturally.

The word-heavy advertisement was aimed at women and contained testimonials. It included persuasive text and highlighted how Ovaltine would improve the lives of women who used it:

When you go to bed do your nerves stay up? Leaving you dragged out on the morrow –your morning logy, your energies drained by afternoon?

Modern science has found a natural way (a way without drugs) to overcome this; a way to restful sleep that quickly restores your tired mind and body.

Morning finds you a new woman. You are fresh, clear-eyed, buoyant. Youthful in looks and spirit. And, you have the energy to carry you right through the day and the evening’s social activities.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (July, 1926)

Old-Fashioned Peach Roll

Peach Rolls in baking dish

I’m enjoying ever last minute of these final days of summer. Canoeing, swimming in the lake, state fair . . . and summer produce . . . tomatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, peaches. A few days ago, I bought some lovely peaches, so decided to try a hundred-year-old recipe for Peach Roll.

The Peach Roll was a delightful comfort food. Chopped peaches were rolled into a biscuit dough. The dough was then sliced and placed in a flat baking dish. A sugar syrup was poured over the slices, and the dish was baked until it was lightly browned and the syrup was hot and bubbly.

Peach Roll is similar in taste to Peach Cobbler, but the presentation is different. I like to serve Peach Cobbler with a little milk, so poured a little milk over the Peach Roll slices when I served them, but it is lovely either with or without the milk.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Peach Roll — Source: Pennsylvania State Grange Cook Book (1926)

When I made this recipe, I peeled and coarsely chopped four peaches, which made about 3 cups of chopped peaches. This amount worked well when I made the roll.

The recipe called for cutting the roll into 3/4 slices. This seemed very thin to me. Each of my slices were about 1 1/4 inches thick which worked well with the pan that I used.

I substituted butter for the lard.

Peach Roll in dish

Here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Peach Roll

Servings: 8 - 10
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
Print

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons lard or butter, softened

3/4 cup milk

3 cups coarsely chopped peaches (about 4 peeled peaches)

Sugar Sauce

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

Step 1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

Step 2. Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl; stir to combine.

Step 3. Cut in the lard or butter; then add the milk and stir with a fork until a dough forms.

Step 4. Put the dough on a prepared surface and roll into a rectangle about 8″ by 12″ and 1/4 inch thick.

Step 5. Put the chopped peaches on the rolled out dough, and spread to evenly distribute.

Step. 6. Gently roll the dough into a log (like a jellyroll).

Step 7. Cut the roll into slices about 1 1/4 inch thick.

Step 8. In the meantime, put the sugar and water in a saucepan. Using medium heat bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Step 9. Put the cut slices of the roll into a baking dish approximately 7″ by 12″ by 2.” Pour the sugar syrup over the slices.

Step 10. Place in the oven and bake until the syrup is bubbly and the top is lightly browned.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Hasty Meals for Hungry Motorists: 1926 Tips for Making Meals While on a Road Trip

Drawing of people being served food — Source: Ladies Home Journal (July, 1926)

I love road trips. They enable spontaneity and flexibility, and are a wonderful opportunity to explore lots of fascinating places that are off the beaten path. Last week my husband and I got home from a 3,500 mile road trip that went from home to Kansas City to Chicago to the Indiana Dunes National Park to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to central Pennsylvania to Delaware to Ocean City, New Jersey, and then back home. Our son and two grandsons joined us for part of the trip. It was the stuff that memories are made of.

After I got home, I flipped through my hundred-year-old issues of Ladies Home Journal trying to come up an idea for this post, and was floored when I saw an article about how to eat when taking a “long cross-country motor trip.” My first thought was, “Wow, I had no clue that cars were dependable enough, and roads good enough, in 1926 for people to take long road trips.”

Many of the magazine’s readers were actually probably “arm-chair tourists” who enjoyed thinking about making a cross-country trip, but never would actually do it. Today, we dream of going on a safari in Africa and love to read stories about people who actually take a safari; back then people dreamed of making cross-country motor trips.

According to the old Ladies Home Journal magazine:

Hasty Meals for Hungary Motorists

Three adequate, well-balanced meals daily are essential to the complete enjoyment of long, cross-country motor trips. Yet a great many motorists struggle along on a wretched diet of cheese, crackers, pickles, fruit and candy, rather than attempt to wrestle with the coffeepot and frying pan. While camp and wayside cookery is necessarily limited to dishes that are simple and easy to prepare, by a little effort and forethought substantial daily menus are not difficult to manage.

Supplies, including fresh meat, eggs, vegetables and milk may generally be purchased as needed along the way; so it is unnecessary, except when touring through unsettled districts to stock up heavily with these commodities. However, it is always advisable to anticipate your needs and purchase accordingly, and to start out with the “grub box” well filled with such necessary staples as coffee, sugar, powdered and evaporated milk, salt, pepper, bread, butter, jam, onions, potatoes and bacon, always sliced. And I always tuck in a small bottle each of chili and curry powder to give a pleasing variety to the humble meat stew, baked beans and such.

And while paper napkins do not actually come under the heading of necessities, if you will add a generous bundle to your outfit you will never once begrudge the tiny space they take. They are invaluable for wiping out soiled dishes and greasy pots and pans, to say nothing of rending first aid to sticky fingers.

Your cooking outfit need not be elaborate or expensive. I know three seasoned motorists who have twice crossed the continent, and toured far into Canada and Mexico, with no other cooking equipment than a battered old frying pan, coffeepot, saucepan and a folding camp grid stove!

Ladies Home Journal (July, 1926)

Some things haven’t changed across the years. Just like a hundred years ago, on my recent road trip, we snacked in the car on cheese, crackers, apples and other fruit, and candy. That’s four of the five foods (the fifth item was pickles) mentioned in the old article as being a “wretched diet” for travelers. (Kids really like candy!)

The article emphasized the important role that potatoes could play when preparing meals on a cross-country motor trip:

To boil potatoes in their jackets seems to the most convenient as well as the favorite camp method of cooking this useful vegetable. Save all left-over potatoes. They are easy to carry in the grub box and will furnish you the nucleus of many a hasty meal. They are delicious fried, creamed, hashed browned, in a salad, or in corned beef hash.

Ladies Home Journal (July, 1926)

Hmm . . . I can’t imagine saving cold cooked potatoes in a grub box which I assume wasn’t a cooler that kept food cold, but apparently it was considered safe back then.

The old article included several recipes. Here are two of them:

Beans a la California and Rhode Island Potatoes

New Potatoes in Cream

New Potatoes in Cream in dish

I bought some new potatoes at the farmers’ market a few days ago, and they are the best. The small, round potatoes were freshly harvested, and the skins scraped off easily. (They are different from the small potatoes typically sold in supermarkets, which are not freshly harvested and do not have skins that can be easily scraped off.) I love the delicate, moist firmness of new potatoes, so I was thrilled to find a hundred-year-old recipe for a classic recipe for creamed new potatoes.

The New Potatoes in Cream were wonderful. The potatoes were coated with a lovely cream sauce and flecked with bits of colorful red potato skin and parsley. I thoroughly enjoyed the new potatoes. I definitely will make this recipe again. New potatoes are such a fleeting summer food. In just a few weeks, I will only be able to buy mature potatoes, and I will need to wait until next year to again get new potatoes

Here is the original recipe for New Potatoes in Cream.

I used red potatoes when making this recipe. The bits of red skin clinging to the potatoes look nice when the potatoes are creamed.

If you don’t know how to scrape potatoes, you might find a post I previously did on how to scrape new potatoes with a knife helpful.

Scraping potatoes with knife

Here is the recipe for Cream Sauce that was in the same cookbook as the potato recipe:

The Cream Sauce recipe is really just a recipe for a basic thin white sauce.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

New Potatoes in Cream

Servings: 3-4
Time: 40 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
Print

about 1 1/2 pounds small, round new potatoes

water and salt

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash red or black pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Step 1. Scrape the new potatoes with a knife, then put them in a saucepan and cover with water and add a little salt; boil until the potatoes are tender (about 20-25 minutes), then drain potatoes.

Step 2. In the meantime, melt the butter in another saucepan using medium heat, then stir in the flour. Slowly add the milk, while stirring constantly. Continue stirring and cook until the mixture thickens. Stir in the salt, pepper, and parsley.

Step 3. Add the boiled potatoes to the cream sauce and gently roll the potatoes to coat them with the sauce. Place the potatoes and sauce in the serving dish.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

1926 and 2026 Tips for Keeping Parsley Fresh

Parsley in jar

Fresh parsley is almost a staple at my house. I generally have a bundle of parsley in a supermarket plastic produce bag in my refrigerator. For the first few days it looks great, and then it gradually begins to wilt, and looks sadder and sadder. Often, when making a dish that calls for parsley, I select the best stems of parsley, and then eventually end up discarding much of the bunch. So, I was pleased to discover a tip for keeping parsley fresh in a hundred-year-old magazine.

Tips for keeping parsley fresh — Source: Good Housekeeping (November, 1926)

The century-old tip calls for washing the parsley in cold water, then letting it stand in the water for an hour or so if it is slightly wilted. The water is then shaken off, and the parsley is stored in a glass jar with a lid in the icebox (or, in today’s terminology, the refrigerator).

I was curious how modern experts recommend storing parsley, so did an online search. Some of methods are similar to the hundred-year-old recommendation, but not exactly the same. For example, Martha Stewart recommends three different ways to store parsley:

Wash and dry the parsley, then put an inch or so of water in a glass jar. Place the parsley stems in the water (like a flower bouquet). The parsley in the jar can be covered loosely with a plastic bag. Store in refrigerator and change the water every few days.
Wrap washed parsley in damp paper towels and put into a resealable plastic bag or other container. Store in refrigerator.
Chop parsley and freeze in ice cube trays. The parsley in the trays should be covered with olive oil or water before freezing.

Old-Fashioned Novel Tomato Salad (Cherry Tomato Salad)

Cherry tomatoes are colorful, vibrant, and zesty. So, when I saw a hundred-year-old recipe for a cherry tomato salad, I decided to give it a try.

Novel Tomato Salad (Cherry Tomato Salad) made an attractive presentation, and was tasty. Yellow and red cherry tomatoes are arranged on a bed of lettuce and then topped with a vinaigrette-style dressing.

The recipe called for peeling the cherry tomatoes. A hundred-years-ago tomatoes were often peeled, but, since they are almost never peeled today, I considered skipping that step. However, in the end, I decided to follow the old recipe’s instructions, and peeled the tomatoes. The peeling was a little tedious– but after peeling the first 2 or 3 tomatoes, I got the hang of it, and the rest went quickly.

The salad made a nice presentation and was tasty. The peeling of the tomatoes affected both the look of the salad and the texture. The peeled cherry tomatoes were soft and juicy without the usual firmness of the skins. The tomatoes looked lovely arranged in the bowl, but had a soft, textured look rather then their usual shiny waxy skin. Also, the peeled cherry tomatoes soaked up more of the dressing which added additional flavor.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Novel Tomato Salad (Cherry Tomato Salad) — Source: The New Winston Cook Book of Guaranteed Recipes (1926)

When I arranged the cherry tomatoes, in order to make a circle of red cherry tomatoes around the yellow ones, I needed more red tomatoes than yellow ones. When I updated the recipe, I increased the amount of red tomatoes to 1 1/2 cups, but this is a very flexible recipe, and the the number of cherry tomatoes needed of each color will vary greatly based on the size of the bowl and size of the tomatoes.

I’ve made several recipes this year which called for French Dressing. As I’ve previously indicated, a hundred years ago, French Dressing was a vinaigrette dressing, and quite different from the commercial, orange-colored French dressing that is common today. Here is the French Dressing recipe in the cookbook which contained the Novel Tomato Salad (Cherry Tomato Salad) recipe:

Recipe for French Dressing — Source: The New Winston Cook Book of Guaranteed Recipes (1926)

I halved the recipe when I made it. I’ve previously posted this same French Dressing recipe as part of the recipes for Green Bean Salad (with Nasturtiums) and Cottage Cheese and Tomato Salad.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Novel Tomato Salad (Cherry Tomato Salad)

Servings: 4 - 5
Time: 30 minutes active prep time
Difficulty: moderate
Print

water

1 1/2 cups red cherry tomatoes

1 cup yellow cherry tomatoes

French Dressing

heart leaves of iceberg lettuce (or use the leaves of another type of lettuce)

1 clove garlic

parsley, for garnish

Step 1. Put water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Put a few tomatoes at a time into the boiling water, scald for 15-30 seconds. Remove from water and peel the loosened skins from the tomatoes.

Step 2. Put the peeled tomatoes in the French dressing (see recipe below). Put tomatoes in refrigerator to chill and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Step 3. Peel garlic and cut in half, then rub serving bowl with the garlic.

Step 4. Line bowl with lettuce, then put the peeled yellow tomatoes in the center and the red tomatoes around the yellow ones. If desired, sprinkle with additional French dressing.

Step 5. Garnish with springs of parsley.

French Dressing (Vinaigrette Dressing)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon paprika

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon vinegar

Step 1. Put the salt and paprika in a small bowl.

Step 2. Gradually add the olive oil while stirring constantly.

Step 3. Then slowly add the vinegar, a small amount at a time, while continuing to stir.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com