Buy Sugar by the Barrel

Do you want to save money? A hundred-year-old old home economics textbook says that it cheaper to buy sugar by the barrel:

When much preserving, canning, and jelly-making is to be done, a considerable saving is accomplished when sugar is bought by the barrel at its lowest price. An inspection of the fluctuation in food prices published in the daily paper will tell the woman who knows when she can buy most profitably. Sugar is a staple which it pays to buy in larger quantities than some other foods.

How to Cook and Why by Elizabeth Condit and Jessie A. Long (1914)

Traditional Spice Cookies

Tailgating. . . fall campfires on chilly evenings . .  . kids’ (and adults’) Halloween parties. .  . They all call for hearty cookies.  And (of course), I found a hundred-year-old recipe that fits the bill.  Spice Cookies are a molasses cookie spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. These cookies are slightly crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside.

Here’s the original recipe:

Source: Larkin Housewives’ Cook Book (1917)

This recipe was on  a page in the old cookbook that was covered with (nearly 100-year-old?) food stains. Was this recipe a particular favorite of the original owner of the cookbook?

Here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Spice Cookies

  • Servings: approximately 50 cookies
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1 cup molasses

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening or lard

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups flour

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375° F.  Put molasses in a dutch oven or a large saucepan; bring to a boil using medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, butter, and shortening or lard. Add ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda, stir to combine. Then add flour and eggs, and stir until well-mixed. Refrigerate dough 1/2 hour or until chilled. On well-floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch circles. (I used an upside-down water glass as the cookie cutter.) Place on greased baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Do not over cook if a moist cookie is desired.

Hundred-Year-Old Peanut Butter Bread Recipe

Want a cross between peanut butter cookies and homemade bread? If so, a hundred-year-old recipe for Peanut Butter Bread may be just the recipe for you.

Here is the original recipe:

Source: Ladies Home Journal (January, 1917)
Source: Ladies Home Journal (January, 1917)

And, here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Peanut Butter Bread

  • Servings: 1 loaf
  • Difficulty: easy
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2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup milk

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

In a mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add peanut butter, milk, and eggs.; beat until well mixed.  Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean. May be served warm or cold.

The hundred-year-old recipe called for 2 “rounded” teaspoons baking powder. I used 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder – and that worked well.

I used less salt than called in the original recipe. One teaspoon of salt seemed like a lot for a loaf of bread, so I reduced it to 1/2 teaspoon.

The old recipe says that this bread is best when it is a day old.  In my opinion, the bread was good the day after I made it – though it also was good shortly after I took it out of the oven.

Apple Flamingo Recipe

Fall is here – and apples abound; so I dug through my hundred-year-old cookbooks looking for the perfect apple recipe. I found a recipe for Apple Flamingo, and think that I found a winner.

Apple Flamingo is basically a baked apple with the skin removed following baking.  Red apples are used in this recipe, so the cooked apples take on a bit of the color from the apple skins,  and have a lovely reddish hue. The apples are served with a citrus syrup that contains bits of lemon and orange zest, and are topped with whipped cream.

Apple Flamingo is delightful and seems almost decadent. This apple and citrus dessert is a welcome change from the usual cinnamon apple desserts.

Here is the original recipe.

Source: Lowney’s Cook Book (1912)

And. here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Apple Flamingo

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Print

8 apples (use a red variety that maintains shape – Rome, Braeburn, Winesap, etc.)

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons orange juice

grated rind of 1/2 lemon

grated rind of 1/2 orange

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F. Core apples, and put in a baking dish. Place in oven and bake until tender (about 45 – 55 minutes). Remove from oven and let cool slightly, then gently remove skin using care to leave the reddish color on the apple flesh and maintain apple shape. (I started removing the skin at the bottom of the apple where the skin was moister and easier to loosen and worked up to the top.)

In the meantime, make the sauce by putting the sugar and water in a saucepan; stir to combine. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer until the liquid thickens into a syrup (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice, orange juice, grated lemon rind, and grated orange rind.

Also, in the meantime, make the whipped cream. Place the whipping cream in a bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Add confectioners sugar, and continue beating until thoroughly mixed.

To serve, spoon sauce over the baked apples. Top with the whipped cream. Serve warm.

Note: This recipe makes a lot of the citrus sauce. I had some left-over when I made this recipe, so I baked several additional apples the following day.

I put a little confectioners sugar in the whipped cream. The original recipe didn’t call for adding any sugar to the whipped cream, but I thought that the whipped cream was tastier when sweetened a bit.

Season with Intelligence

Source: How to Cook and Why by Elizabeth Condit and Jessie A. Long (1914)

I take pride in being able to successfully interpret most hundred-year-old recipes, but I recently came across a 1914 recipe for Cream of Carrot Soup that flummoxed me. The soup is supposed to be “seasoned with intelligence.” What the heck does that mean?

This recipe appeared in a home economics textbook. According to the book’s introduction, the book was written “in the hope of doing service to all such homemakers, to the teachers of classes of older girls – whether in high school, Y.W.C.A., settlement, or elsewhere – and to the girls themselves.”  Apparently, a hundred years ago even relatively inexperienced cooks knew how to season with intelligence.