First - You Make a Roux...

This cookbook was published by the Les Vingt Quatre Club in support of the Lafayette Museum. The club was so named because their members were never to exceed 24 - and that's about how many recipes are in this slim edition. (And, I'm not sure why yet, but the cookbook goes for upwards of $40 in some locations online.) 

This one is the 20th edition printing in 1979. (There have been quite a few obviously.)

No name written in the book or any other personalization, excepting two hand-written recipes in the candy section. Spiced pecans was the first one...

Spiced Pecans

1 c. sugar

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cook to soft-ball stage and add 1/2 tsp vanilla. Stir in gently 1 1/2 cups of pecan halves. Separate on wax paper immediately.

Pecan brittle was the second recipe. (She was obviously a pecan lover!)

Pecan Brittle

3 cups sugar

1 tsp butter

1 cup pecans

Use heavy black skillet. Melt sugar over medium heat until light brown in color, stirring constantly. When liquid, add nuts and butter. Pour immediately. Spread thin. Break when cool.

Have you been searching for an ice cream recipe for your Kelvinator?

Recipe for "Ice cream in Kelvinator," courtesy of Forgotten Bookmarks

Norman Rockwell’s Oatmeal Cookies

Shortly before Norman Rockwell passed away in the late 1970s, he sent the editors of the Saturday Evening Post a letter containing his all-time-favorite recipe—oatmeal cookies.

Vintage Recipe Cards Lead to Heartwarming Food-Blogging Story

Here's a sweet story to help offset all of the disaster/junk food/alleged racism news of this morning: Last summer, a Cincinnati writer named Bryn Mooth purchased a bunch of recipe cards from the thirties at an antiques shop. After she got the cards home and began examining them, she found that many of them were inscribed with the name "Clara Shenefelt."

Read more from Grub Street here.

Thomas Jefferson’s Recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream

Manuscript from the Library of Congress. Transcript available at Biblioklept.

Spaghetti Casserole for 30

2 pkgs spaghetti
1 qt milk
1 1/2 - 2 lb sliced American cheese
2 large green peppers
1/2 stalk celery, minced
1 4 oz. bottle pimento olives
1 #2 can mushrooms
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 lb butter or margarine
Salt & pepper to taste

Boil spaghetti and blanche. Saute pepper, onion and celery in butter. Combine soup, milk, and part of cheese and cook in double boiler to make sauce. Mix with vegetables and pour over spaghetti. Mix well. Add olives and mushrooms. Place in casseroles. Cover with thin slices of cheese. Bake 30 min. in a slow oven.

New Recipe Box: Gladys McDowell's Date Nut Jumbles

I bought an entire recipe box recently. I have been diving in and trying to find something personal about the previous owner. (So far, all I've found is a game score sheet for four.) But I'm starting off with these Date Nut Jumbles by Gladys McDowell because my grandmother made these every Christmas. I never got the recipe and I've always wondered how to make it. And as soon as I read the card, I knew this was it!



1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
7 tbsp water
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3 1/2 cups flour
1 lb. dates
1 cup pecans
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter, sugar, and eggs. Mix dry ingredients and add alternately with water. Add extract. Lightly flour chopped dates and nuts and add last. Mix well and drop from teaspoon on cookie sheet (greased). Bake at 325 degrees until firm and brown.

Turn your handwritten recipes into a tea towel

When Emma Jeffery’s grandmother passed away she found three scraps of old notepaper containing handwritten recipes. They were the only examples of her grandmother’s writing that survived - and she came up with the neat idea of printing them on tea towels.

And, luckily for us, she decided to share how she did it here.

Magic Fudge

3 cups (36 oz. pkg) semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
Pinch salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts

Mix. Pour in pan.

Here is another recipe for Magic Fudge I found, in case you need a little more direction than this one provides. (It didn't call for the melting the chocolate even. I added that. So I'm afraid it may have left out a few more steps too!)

Date & Nut Candy

3 cups brown sugar
1 cup dates, chopped
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup chopped nuts

Mix sugar, dates and milk. Cook over low heat. Stir occasionally until soft ball stage.

Remove from heat and add vanilla and nuts. Beat until stiff. Pour and roll in damp cloth.

(I didn't quite understand the last bit of directions, so I found a bit more explanation here. Luckily, everyone's grandmother used to make this!) ;)

Charlotte's Grandmother's Rolls

1 scant cup Crisco
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water
2 eggs, beaten
2 pkg yeast
6-7 cups all-purpose flour

Pour hot water over Crisco, sugar and salt. Blend and add cold water. Cool.

Add eggs and yeast (that has been softened in 1/4 cup lukewarm water and 1 tsp sugar).

Gradually add flour (sifted before measuring). The dough should be workable. Put into covered container for several hours in refrigerator. Spread on well-floured board. Shape into rolls. Cover with melted butter. Allow to rise about 2 hours in greased pans.

Bake in hot oven about 15 minutes.

(If the condition of the recipe card is any indication, this one should be good!) ;)

Peanut Brittle

3 cups white sugar
1 cup Karo syrup
1/2 cup water
3 cups raw peanuts
3 tsp butter
3 tsp salt
3 tsp baking soda

Boil sugar, syrup and water until thread spins. Add peanuts and stir constantly until peanuts are brownish gold. Take from heat. Add butter, salt and soda. Spread to cool.

Divinity Fudge

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup Karo syrup
2 egg whites

Cook to crack stage (275 degrees)

Savannah (Re)collected

During a recent Savannah trip, I found this cute recipe organizer in a thrift store. And it had recipe cards included. And  it only cost $1. And now I have a place to keep all of my (re)collected recipes. The best of all possible worlds!

Here's one from the book






Ruthy's Pralines

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tbsp white corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecans

Coat sides of pan with butter.

Combine sugars with butter, corn syrup, salt, and milk and stir until blended.

Cook over medium heat (246 degrees). Remove from heat and let stand. Add vanilla and nuts. Beat buy hand fast. Drop by spoonful. Add milk, if needed.

Sweet & Sour Pickles?

(written on the back of a deposit slip)

Peel 7 qts. cucumbers. Cube and remove seeds. Soak in 2 cups lime and 1 gallon water for 24 hours. Rinse in clear water three times. Soak in ice water for three hours. Put in a solution of 9 c. sugar, 1 qt. white vinegar, 1 tsp pickling salt, 1 tsp celery seed, and 1 tbsp pickling spice. Put in bag above boil for 35 min. Put in jars and seal.

Gram's Recipe Box

Gram's Recipe Box is a blog dedicated to the collected recipes of Katharine S. Brewer, posted by her granddaughter. The blog's first birthday was yesterday, so be sure and stop by and visit to help celebrate!

Pineapple Angel Food Cake

See Stephanie Manley's grandmother's recipe for Pineapple Angel Food Cake here.

Tomato Casserole

Use firm, not-too-ripe tomatoes. Grease olive oil in long dish. Layer: Tomato slices, sliced onion, tomato slices, sliced onion, romano cheese, seasonings desired, bread crumbs, then salt, pepper, and red pepper to taste. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Caramel Pies

This new batch of recipes comes from Madison County Cookery, which seems to have been compiled by the Madison County Chamber of Commerce in the early 80s.

Caramel Pies

3 cans Eagle brand milk (sweetened condensed milk)
1 cup chopped pecans
Cool Whip Topping
2 graham cracker crusts

Put three cans of Eagle brand milk in a deep sauce pan (do not open cans but cook in the cans). Cover with cold water and cook on high heat until it starts to boil, then lower heat to medium. Cover pan with a lid and cook for three hours. Remove from heat and let the milk cool completely.

DO NOT OPEN CANS WHILE HOT.

When cool, open cans and pour into bowl. Add 1 cup chopped pecans. Stir. Pour in to two graham cracker crusts. Place in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. When ready to serve, add Cool Whip. This pie can be frozen. It is very rich but very delicious.

You won't believe this until you try it - comes out like melted caramel kisses.

Recipes and Dreams

Mollie Cox Bryan gets to look through her own family's handwritten recipes. Now I don't feel so bad about the weird collections of recipes someone (hopefully, my grandchildren) will probably still find in my house one day! ;)

George Washington's hand-written beer recipe

George Washington's handwritten recipe for "small beer" was recently published on the New York Public Library's Tumblr.
Here is a transcription:

To Make Small Beer


Take a large siffer [Sifter] full of bran hops to your taste. Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 gallons into a cooler. Put in 3 gallons molasses while the beer is scalding hot or rather draw the molasses into the cooler & strain the beer on it while boiling hot. Let this stand till it is little more than blood warm then put in a quart of yeast. If the weather is very cold cover it over with a blanket & let it work in the cooler 24 hours then put it into the cask. Leave the bung open till it is almost done working. Bottle it that day week it was brewed.

[ via Bon Appetit's blog ]

Handwritten Recipes

Visit Handwritten Recipes for a collection of handwritten recipes found in books! (The site is also looking for folks interested in making the recipes.)

Graham Cracker Crisps

1 1/4 packages at a time
Break in 1 cracker pieces

1/4 cup sugar and 1 stick oleo - Bring to a boil for 2 min. exactly

Spoon over crackers. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 10 min. Cool and put in containers.

Sausage Roll-Ups

Use flaky biscuits. Precook cocktail sausages. Pull biscuit into pieces and roll around sausage. Cut in two (if desired). These freeze great. Defrost slightly and bake.

Hints

Blanch almonds - Drop in boiling water. Let stand 5 min. and skin will peel off.

Limp celery will crisp - Place in cold water and add slice of raw potato. Refrigerate for several hours.

Tenderize a pot roast or stew meat by using hot tea as a cooking liquid.