Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Dessert recipe: patriotic firecracker cakes

Vintage Recipe Thursday is meant to preserve your own original vintage family recipes, or out-of-print, copyright-free recipes from old cookbooks, magazines, newspapers or postcards. You're invited! Get the details by clicking to the Vintage Recipe Thursday Homepage. I post recipes from the Household Searchlight Recipe Book, first published in 1931. My 16th printing is from 1943. What will you post?

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If you haven't already done so, be sure to enter my latest giveaway. It should be of great interest to all of you who appreciate vintage cookbooks, as it is the 50th anniversary edition of a cookbook which sold more than 3 million copies in the 1960s. It's full of humor, and of course, all vintage goodness.

The 4th of July is on Sunday, so I'm sharing with you a recipe with a patriotic theme: Firecracker Cakes. I wish you all a wonderful rest of the week and fabulous 4th of July.  (Don't forget to link up for the Find a Friend Friday linky love.)

God Bless America!




Firecracker Cakes
Trim crusts from a fresh Pullman loaf of bread. Cut in thin lengthwise slices. Cut each slice in halves. Spread with sweetened condensed milk which has been tinted with red food coloring. Roll like a jelly roll. Fasten with a toothpick. Roll in shredded coconut. Insert a few shreds of coconut in one end for a fuse.
  • This Linky is for participants of Vintage Recipe Thursday.
  • Please leave a link to your vintage recipe, not your homepage.
  • Please include a hyperlink back to this post or blog.
  • Enjoy making new blog friends by visiting each other.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Find a Friend Friday Linky Love

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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Vintage dessert recipes: Lemon milk sherbet; Lemon cream sherbet

Vintage Recipe Thursday is meant to preserve your own original vintage family recipes, or out-of-print, copyright-free recipes from old cookbooks, magazines, newspapers or postcards. You're invited! Get the details by clicking to the Vintage Recipe Thursday Homepage. I post recipes from the Household Searchlight Recipe Book, first published in 1931. My 16th printing is from 1943. What will you post?

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Are you looking for something new and really refreshing to make for the children in your lives during the summer?  Children love to help you make any kind of frozen dessert, whether it is sherbet, ice cream, frappes -- it is always PARFAIT! (Silly pun ;-) intended!)

Try out these two lemon sherbert recipes with them.  One is made with milk, the other with cream.

No ice cream maker necessary! (click on link).

And don't miss my latest giveaway: the 50th anniversary edition of The I Hate to Cook Book.


Have fun,

Lemon Milk Sherbet
3 1/2 lemons
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon gelatin
4 cups milk
2 egg whites
few grains salt

Soften gelatin in 1/2 cup cold milk.  Dissolve over hot water.  Dissolve sugar and salt in 1 cup milk which has been heated.  Add remainder of milk and the gelatin.  Gradually add lemon juice, stirring constantly.  Partially freeze.  Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.  Continue freezing until firm.  12 servings.

Lemon Cream Sherbet
2 cups thin cream
6 cups milk
2 lemons
2 eggs, slightly beaten*
2 cups sugar
3 oranges
1/4 teaspoon salt

Extract juice from fruit.  Strain.  Combine cream, milk, eggs, sugar and salt.  Partially freeze.  Add fruit juices.  Continue freezing until firm.  20 servings.
*Note:  Back then, nobody worried about salmonella, and they still lived.  If you are concerned, before the first freezing, just heat the mixture as you would if you were making a custard.  This would be the same process as for ice cream.

  • This Linky is for participants of Vintage Recipe Thursday.
  • Please leave a link to your vintage recipe, not your homepage.
  • Please include a hyperlink back to this post or blog.
  • Enjoy making new blog friends by visiting each other.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Giveaway: The I Hate to Cook Book

GIVEAWAY!

Would you like to win?
It's the 50th Anniversary Edition of "The I Hate to Cook Book" by Peg Bracken, which sold more than 3 million copies when it was first published in the 1960s.


This giveaway is sponsored by the publisher, Hachette Book Group.
There will be 3 winners.
Enter through July 23, 2010, at midnight.
U.S. and Canada addresses only.
To enter, simply follow Joy of Desserts via Blogger/Google Friend Connect, and leave a comment telling me why you would like to win this particular cookbook.

Here's what the publisher has written about this cookbook:

"Written in a time when women were expected to have full, delicious meals on the table for their families every night, Peg Bracken offered women who didn't revel in this obligation an alternative: quick, simple meals that took minimal effort but would still satisfy.

"50 years later, times have certainly changed - but the appeal of 'The I Hate to Cook Book' hasn't.

"This book is for everyone, men and women alike, who wants to get from cooking hour to cocktail hour in as little time as possible."

Category: COOKING
Format: HARDCOVER BOOK
Publish Date: 7/26/2010
Price: $22.99/$27.99
ISBN: 9780446545921
Pages: 224
Size: 5-1/2" x 8-1/4"

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Raspberry watermelon slush recipe


Here's a fast, easy and refreshing summer dessert recipe for two.  It simply doesn't get much easier than that.  Add more of the lemon-lime or lemonade, and it transforms into a delicious drink.

And don't miss my latest giveaway: the 50th anniversary edition of The I Hate to Cook Book. 




Raspberry Watermelon Slush
1 cup frozen raspberries
1 cup watermelon, cubed, frozen
1 cup carbonated lemon-lime beverage
2 teaspoons sugar

Whirl all ingredients in your blender until slushy.
Serves 2

Hover over photos for credits.
 

Monday, June 21, 2010

Why I never use corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup

When I posted my vintage recipe for rolled molasses cookies on Thursday, I made another mention that I do not ever use corn syrup.

One of my readers, Leiah, wanted to know why, especially since women in her family have been using corn syrup for three generations.  I left a reply in the comments section, but I think it is an important topic worthy of its own post.

This information is just the tip of the iceberg, and I am not including any graphic photos of lab subjects, but you can google it if you want to learn and see even more.

Here is what I wrote in my reply comment:

"Regarding your comment about confusion over corn syrup use because 3 generations of women in your family have used corn syrup, well, first of all the corn syrup found in the first half of the 20th century was refined differently than corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup today. Additionally, the corn of yesteryear was not genetically modified as it is today - up to 95% according to statistics.

"Then there are all the scientific studies of the ill effects of corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup from world-renowned, prestigious universities like Princeton, Duke, John Hopkins, University of California Davis and San Francisco, just to name a very few.

"The media worldwide picked up on a Washington Post January 2009 article that one-third of high fructose corn syrup samples tested contained mercury, which is a poison, a neurotoxin. A Food and Drug Administration researcher blew the whistle in 2005 in a peer-reviewed article in the Environmental Health Journal about findings of mercury in nearly half of high-fructose corn syrup samples collected in 2005 (see link below).

"While the U.S. government heavily subsidizes various branches of the corn industry, there's also video of Joe Biden warning that corn syrup is deadly, and the New York City government and NYC Department of Health subsidizing a heavy campaign against sodas that are predominantly sweetened by corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup. The United States Public Health Service supported the Princeton study.

"For just a few glimpses at the dangers of corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup, including liver scarring, cancer, heart disease, mercury poisoning and obesity, take a look at these links:

"http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/news/fructose_containing_beverages_linked_to_liver_scarring
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cdp/cdp_pan.shtml
http://epsl.asu.edu/ceru/Articles/CERU-0406-224-OWI.pdf
http://links.mkt2233.com/servlet/MailView?ms=MjkwNzE0MAS2&r=MTk1NDY1Mjc2ODQS1&j=ODUyMTU4MjQS1&mt=1&rt=0
http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/tabId/119/itemId/4409/GM-corn-causes-organ-damage.aspx
(the actual scientific article published in the International Journal of Biological Studies is at this link: http://www.biolsci.org/v05p0706.htm)
http://www.ehjournal.net/content/8/1/2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/26/AR2009012601831.html"

Friday, June 18, 2010

Find a Friend Friday Linky Love

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Molasses cookie recipe

Vintage Recipe Thursday is meant to preserve your own original vintage family recipes, or out-of-print, copyright-free recipes from old cookbooks, magazines, newspapers or postcards. You're invited! Get the details by clicking to the Vintage Recipe Thursday Homepage. I post recipes from the Household Searchlight Recipe Book, first published in 1931. My 16th printing is from 1943. What will you post?

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This week's recipe is for Molasses Cookies.  These are rolled cookies.  They include corn syrup which is not a common ingredient for the Household Searchlight Recipe Book, and one which I do not use at all.  I would recommend that when you make this recipe you substitute with a mild honey or with your own simple syrup.  It's very easy.  It's usually one part sugar and one part water.  Click the link for simple syrup directions.


This historical photo is of a molasses tank at Lucinda in 1928.  Location: Ingham, Queensland, Australia; Creator: Unknown; Rights information: No known copyright restriction; Source: Item is held by Hinchinbrook Shire Library; ID: Album 3 / Photo 84


Molasses Cookies
1 cup molasses
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 pound chopped nuts
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 pound chopped citron
1 1/2 teaspoons cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup corn syrup (see note above)
flour

Beat eggs until light.  Add molasses, sugar, syrup, water, and vinegar.  Sift 2 cups flour.  To 1 cup add spices, salt and baking soda.  Combine with first mixture.  Add citron and nuts which have been dredged with 1 cup sifted flour to make a soft dough.  Mix thoroughly.  Turn onto lightly floured board.  Roll in thin sheet.  Cut with floured cutter.  Place on slightly oiled baking sheet.  Bake in moderate oven (400 F.)  about 10 minutes.  50 servings.  Mrs. Hilda Keller, Albuquerque, N.M.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Fast, easy dessert: Cream pie tartelette recipe

Here's a super easy dessert recipe which even a child could make, but you could also make it fancy and elegant for a dinner party by using homemade ingredients, a bit of alcohol, real fruit, meringue mushrooms or edible flowers, either fresh or sugar ones.  It's up to you whether you want to make it fun and whimsical for a child, or gourmet and elegant for a special event.

This is the 5-minute, serves 1 or 2 version.  It also requires no refrigeration before it is assembled, so you could make it at the park, on a camping trip or even when the electricity goes out, since each ingredient stores in the pantry.

Get a mini or individual size graham cracker crust like this.  This is a picture of the national brand, but there are others too.
Spread the crust with a layer of chocolate hazelnut. Nutella is the original brand from Italy which was invented during World War II so that children could have a healthy snack. You can find out more in one of my previous Nutella posts.
Empty one small pudding cup into the crust.  Choose your favorite brand and flavor.  Vanilla works best for this recipe.  Banana, orange and raspberry flavors also work well with chocolate.
Make it pretty and fun by adding a few sugar sprinkles.
Voila!  It's that easy and fast.
This recipe is happily shared with Cooking for Two Tuesday hosted by Grandmother Wren.
 

Monday, June 14, 2010

Dessert menu is no Plain Jane

This post is happily shared with:
Ruby Tuesday, REDnesday and Wordless Wednesday.

A few of the details to notice in this uncommon menu:
Beautiful artwork, striking black and red contrast, poetically titled.

Hover over picture for credit

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Friday, June 11, 2010

New Award and Find a Friend Friday


I have a new award from Almost Unschoolers.
Thank you for thinking my blog deserves an award!

The conditions for accepting the award?
  1. Thank the person/people who gave it to you. Yes, of course, thank you, thank you, thank you!
  2. Tell 7 things about yourself.
  3. Pass the award on to 15 bloggers, whom you have recently discovered, and think are fantastic.
I share a lot about myself on my about/welcome page, so if you are interested in little old moi and haven't read it yet, I encourage you to find out about me by clicking the link.  You can also click to see a sample of my artwork.

Now I bestow this award to 15 recently discovered bloggers who are fantastic.  I know some people hate receiving awards, so if that's the case for you please just ignore this award.

  1. Carol at Old Glory Cottage;
  2. CC at Lace 'n' Ribbon Roses;
  3. D at The Sunny Side of the Sun Porch;
  4. Debbie at Debbie Dabble;
  5. Diann at The Thrifty Groove;
  6. Jan at Dandelion and Daisy;
  7. Michelle at All Home Cooking. All Year Long;
  8. Midwest Mama at Homeschooling Hearts and Minds;
  9. Miss Foodie2Shoes at Persnickety Cookery;
  10. Sandy at 521 Lake Street;
  11. Sarah at Hyacinths for the Soul;
  12. Sue at It's a Very Cherry World;
  13. Suzanne at Colorado Lady;
  14. Sweet Bee at Sweet Bee Cottage;
  15. Tennis Girl at Decorating Tennis Girl.

Are you a friendly blogger?  Link yourself below, and ...

Find A Friend Friday
You can link all through the weekend.
Tell a Friend.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Vintage cookbook and blackberry jam recipe

Vintage Recipe Thursday is meant to preserve your own original vintage family recipes, or out-of-print, copyright-free recipes from old cookbooks, magazines, newspapers or postcards. You're invited! Get the details by clicking to the Vintage Recipe Thursday Homepage. I post recipes from the Household Searchlight Recipe Book, first published in 1931. My 16th printing is from 1943. What will you post?

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When CC of Lace 'n' Ribbon Roses showed us her own vintage Pure Food Cook Book last week, I thought it added so much value to the post that I decided to wait no longer to show you my Searchlight Recipe Book.  If you are interested, you can also click on the link to see a picture of one of the Household Magazine covers.  The magazine editors created this cookbook.

I found it at my local Friends of the Library bookstore.  As you can see the book is very distressed, but that's just proof that it was heavily used, and a good indication that it has good recipes.  All the ones I have made have actually been quite good.

The cover is real leather and still smells good.  The colors on the cover are bright red and turquoise.  The photographs on the end papers are still bright.  There are no colors or illustrations on any of the inside pages.  It is all text on all 320 pages.  It has an excellent stitched binding which is not showing any sign of pages loosening.

The end papers are torn.  There are many splatters throughout and a few minor tears on inside pages.  There are a couple yellowing pieces of tape, too.  The edges on the indexed pages are showing heavy wear.

The previous owner left an improvised bookmark.  It is a "Win-A-Fortune" Game Card, a "free-no purchase necessary" lottery card with a store coupon at the bottom.  It is dated 02/01/90.  It was folded in thirds and left between the last page of pastries and the first page of poultry, and I have left it in its place.

Of course my cookbook is much older than that.  It has a 1931 copyright, and my 16th printing is from 1943.  The recipes inside are from both the editors of the Household Magazine, and from their readers.  Some of the recipes were prize winners when they were first published in the magazine.

The picture of the inside pages includes today's recipe at the bottom left, Blackberry Jam Pie.  I'm also typing it out as usual so that it's readable.




I picked this recipe because we bought a large package of blackberries to eat, but the grower had sadly mixed very sweet and delicious blackberries with some bland ones, and some tart ones.  It rather felt like Harry Potter's Berty Botts Beans where you never know when you might get a horrid flavor.  That just won't do for me, so I made some jam.  This pie would be a great use of it as it contains one cup of blackberry jam.

Enjoy!

Blackberry Jam Pie
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 cup blackberry jam
1 tablespoon corn starch
Few grains salt

Beat egg yolks until thick.  Add cream, butter, and jam.  Combine 1/2 cup sugar, salt, corn starch.  Add to first mixture.  Mix thoroughly.  Pour into pastry-lined pie pan.  Bake in hot oven (425 F.) about 25 minutes.  Cover with meringue made of egg whites and 3 tablespoons sugar.  Brown in slow oven (325 F.) 20 minutes.  Maggie Clemmons, Huntsville, Mo. 
  • This Linky is for participants of Vintage Recipe Thursday.
  • Please leave a link to your vintage recipe, not your homepage.
  •  Please include a hyperlink back to this post or blog.
  • Enjoy making new blog friends by visiting each other.
 

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Red Diners

Time to celebrate the cheery color red again.  My theme this week is diners.  Many were known for their homemade desserts, too, and a good time was always had by all, right?  There was music, friends, a warm place to chat, good food, friendly service, and a cheerful atmosphere.  Plus the color red is known to make people hungry.  Enjoy the pictures!

This post is shared with:
Ruby Tuesday
Rednesday
Wordless Wednesday
Thursday 13
Vintage Thingy Thursday

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