One more reason to make a muffin

A friend from my writing group brought homemade chocolate chip cookies to our meeting last night, saying they were a coping mechanism for managing the stress of egg prices, airplane crashes, and global unrest. In truth, we all looked a bit puffier than we did a few months ago. Food is so often a source of solace.

I'm not much of a baker, but there's something deeply satisfying about mixing up a dough or a batter, popping it in the oven, smelling the smells, and then biting into the warm rewards of those efforts. Our home is currently low-carb for health reasons, so defaulting to an afternoon of baking is more challenging now. 

As an alternative, I went on a hunt for vintage political cookbooks, but the results were disappointing. I did however stumble down a rabbit hole which I'll now invite you to enter: an explanation for why baking is such a comfort.

There are a ton of these little guys wafting around the internet. Most follow this model; a vintage kitchen with a female in period garb looking varyingly happy or deranged. Here are a few more examples.

But a few took a different spin, featuring gadgets, hedgehogs, sloths, and an unsurprising clutter of cats.

I didn't find the cookbooks I was looking for today, but I did discover these treasures, proving the paraphrased wisdom of the prophet McJagger:

One can't always get what one wants (like eating the rich), but one often finds that one does receive what one needs.

Ta-ta for now, I'm off to buy some flour.

Kitchen Snark Coloring Book

Do you love cookbooks? Need a distraction from the cares of the world? The Kitchen Snark Coloring Book is here to help! You'll find 50 pages filled with humor, wisdom, memories, and a touch of snark, all waiting for your creative flair. Color the stress away with this timeless book of vintage fun.

Details at KitchenSnarkFun

 

Love Day Goes Red

 Happy Valentine's from our corner of the world to your.

Cookbook of the Week: Mastering the Art of Outdoor Cooking on Your Gas Grill, circa 197?

 

The cookbook of the week is Mastering the Art of Outdoor Cooking on Your Gas Grill, just in time for a few more summer barbecues before the leaves start to change color.

While there's no copyright date in the book, we think it hales from sometime in the 1970s. Maxi skirts appeared in Paris in the 1960s, but didn't go mainstream until the next decade, and the cover model is sporting a particularly spectacular one:

Tune in to the Cookbook Love page on Facebook for pictures, commentary, and recipes from this book all week long!

Cookbook of the Week: Baker's Cut-Up Cake Party Book, circa 1973

The cookbook of the week is Baker's Cut-Up Cake Party Book, a little paperback cram-packed with ideas for celebrations and fancy, funny cakes around which to build parties.

Here's the front cover:

Tune in to the Cookbook Love page on Facebook for pictures, commentary, and recipes from this book all week long!

Cookbook of the Week: Magical Amazing JELL-O Desserts (1977)

The Cookbook of the Week is Magical Amazing JELLO-O Desserts, circa 1977!

Here's the title page:

Here's a video preview:

Want to see more? Check in with the Cookbook Love page on Facebook to see photos and recipes all week. Enjoy!

Cookbook of the week for April 2, 2021: Quick and Easy Meals for Two (1952)

The cookbook of the week for April 2, 2021 was this little cutie, Quick and Easy Meals for Two, published in 1952! Here's our kickoff video for it:

The title page offers a preview of the adorable illustrations. Animals are always happy to be consumed in old cookbooks.

Each section opens with an illustration like this one, in which the woman apparently has an actual menu board in her home and yet tries to convince us menu planning is easy.

The whole book is structured around the idea of menus, which is actually kind of handy. And several sections are organized by season, featuring what's fresh during that time of year. Here we are, thinking about summer, for example:

The idea of crunchy devilled eggs confused me slightly. Here's the recipe, which was significantly less bad than it could have been.

So, what are we having for dinner?

Let's start with salad. This one seems like a LOT of work.

Maybe just an easy tossed salad instead. With a special home-enhanced dressing.

Or if you prefer, we can go straight to dessert. For once you can eat with your fingers. Sort of.

I'm always leery of recipes including baby food, but what do I know?

This actually sounds straight-up delicious.

The book offers helpful tips for those who are just starting out in the kitchen.

Like this tip for feeding men wieners.

Can't speak for good old boys, but I'd eat this!

Is this one man-friendly? Cabbagey chili with plops of mashed potatoes?

There's a section for what I call "desperation dinners."

Luckily, I rarely get THIS desperate:

Happy hubby seems to like what he sees in this opener to the appetizer section:

Here's one reason why:

Wondering if these dishes end up being a mood killer though:

If all else fails, put on a pretty apron, and let your pressure cooker sing you a happy tune.

Quick and Easy Meals for Two is a lovely, fun little book, and a great addition to any cookbook collection. 

 

National Cheese Pizza Day! (Plus Hotdogs)

Today is National Cheese Pizza Day! Yippee!

In honor of this day of all days, I offer you the following recipe for Polka Dot Pizzas.

OK, so it's technically NOT cheese pizza. But it is pizza, sort of. And it does have cheese on it, as you can see by the picture.

It comes from Betty Crocker's 1975 Cookbook for Boys & Girls. You can see these very chillins below, enjoying the fruits of their labors.

 

I like this early example of multiculturalism. And that the guy on the left wears an apron adorned with strange farm animals. And that the blond girl in the middle sports a half eaten banana.

Here is the recipe, so that you can make it at home!

Be sure to notice the use of "baking mix", aka, Bisquick.

In case this part is confusing, they've included a close up of Frankfurter positioning:

Now bake it, let it cool a tiny bit, and voila! Biscuit dough, cheddar, hot dog pizza, ready to eat!

Please to enjoy.

Kitchen Snark Coloring book

Do you love cookbooks? Need a distraction from the cares of the world? The Kitchen Snark Coloring Book is here to help! You'll find 50 pages filled with humor, wisdom, memories, and a touch of snark, all waiting for your creative flair. Color the stress away with this timeless book of vintage fun.

Amazon LINK -  https://amzn.to/37JNptD

to create something fun connected to one of my other loves: vintage cookbooks!

Molasses Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

The weather's turned crisp and the leaves are growing crunchy, and while I'm no fan of the pumpkin spice craze, when I discovered frozen pumpkin in the freezer, I knew it was time for a batch of cookies. 

I found a recipe online, and then tweaked it by substituting molasses for some of the sugar, replacing a quarter of the flour with whole wheat, and pumping up the spice level. 

My beloved likes her cookies in the style of crisp English biscuits, but once in a while I indulge my predilection for the soft, cakey variety, and that's what you'll get with this recipe. The molasses provides an earthy fullness, the whole wheat offers a bit of texture, the chocolate introduces a melting quality, and you're left with a slight afternote of heat from the cayenne. A thoroughly satisfying, thoroughly fall treat.

Let me know if you like them!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup pumpkin puree

½ cup molasses

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup oil (canola or vegetable)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon all spice

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup whole wheat flour

1½ cups all purpose flour

½ to 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients except the flour and chocolate chips. When well mixed, add both types of flour and continue blending. When the flour has been incorporated, stir in the chocolate chips. 

Plop by tablespoon or a smallish cookie scoop onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees until tester comes out clean; around 10 to 12 minutes, depending on cookie size.

Share Your Kitchen Memories

During this time of pandemic many of us are drawn to the comfort of the kitchen, with all it's scents and memories. As worry and fear threaten to consume us, it's more important than ever to remember happy times with loved ones, gathered around stoves and tables, sharing food, laughter, and love.

Cookbook Love has decided to celebrate the importance of kitchens and family by creating a book full of your memories. Send us a recipe with a picture and a short explanation of how the food fits into your story. We'll collect them and turn them into a book, dedicated to all of you, and to those you love.

We hope the process of sifting through your memories and recipes will be comforting as we all wait out the end of this season of isolation.

Click here to make a submission.

Pancake Races

Flipping flap jacks has never been so much fun!

Pancake races are a Shrove Tuesday tradition.