Cheese Straws

My wonderful sister got me this cookbook for Christmas to add to my collection!

Home Helps was edited by Mrs. Sarah Tyson Rorer and was published in 1898 making it the oldest book I have. It is one of the many books printed to promote vegetable shortening, Cottolene in this case, as a healthier alternative to lard. It is full of recipes (of course), household hints, and interesting sayings and quotes about women at the top of each page. For example: "All that a woman has to do in this world, is contained within the duties of a daughter, a sister, a wife, and a mother." -Steele
Delightfully old fashioned! I am so glad the world has moved on!

 Most of the recipes I try are not this old. Old recipes tend to leave out such information as oven temperature and baking time. I need a little more info than "mix and bake until done." But I had to try something from this book! Cheese straws seem easy enough.

The quote from the top of the page: "There is nothing on Earth to be compared with a virtuous and lovely woman." -Arabian

I had to guess at the amount of cayenne. 'The point of a very small penknife blade" is not very exact! I also realized after taking the picture that I picked up chili powder instead of cayenne. I fixed it later. I didn't have Parmesan so that is a wonderful bit of extra sharp cheddar instead.

I don't have much counter space so there was no way I as putting this directly on my counter. Besides, it looks really pretty in my vintage glass bowl!

 Just throwing everything in together!

I had to dump it out onto my pie mat to knead it better but it was way too dry. So I had to add almost double the amount of cream.

 Finally it became something I could work with.

 It was still too crumbly to roll out so I ended up just making little logs. Worked great!

After 20 minutes in an oven at 350: Ta Da! It said they had to be served with celery. Don't know why.

This was a simple and easy recipe to make however it had an odd flavor. (I think it was the large amount of nutmeg.) They were not disgusting but not something I want to snack on all night either. I put a warning sign on them when I gave them out for people to test. I was pleasantly surprised on how simple they were to make! I may have to try another one...

My Rating: It was a nice step into really old recipes but I will not be making again.

Friends & Family Rating: "Interesting taste. I actually like it." "Not bad but not delicious either."

Drop Pineapple Cookies

Gotta stick with the fruit! But this time I grabbed a can. It was much easier. Yeah! Wisconsin Power and Light Company published this Cookies (all kinds) pamphlet in 1963. Pineapple seemed like a really weird choice for cookies but why not. This one promises to be dainty...okay. And they are drop cookies. Extra easy to make.

Everything looks normal except for the pineapple.

One small can of crushed pineapple was enough for the pineapple and the pineapple juice. I used walnuts for the nuts but pecans would also work.

Started off very very liquidy.

Still soft! And I actually chilled the mixture over night. No real reason...It was not because I fell asleep on the couch.

 Lovely little cookies and still quite soft. I am a little concerned about how well they will bake up.

 No need to worry. They baked great!

 You can still see little chunks of pineapple.

Yep, they are dainty! And soft and moist and yummy. They have a light fruity flavor and no overwhelming pineapple taste which is great since some people don't like pineapple. Weirdos. They did not last longer than a couple of days due to how moist they are. They started to stick together after 2 days. Once you make them, you have to eat them!

My Rating: Delicious! I wished they kept better though.

Friends and Family Rating: "What is the fruit I taste?" "Yum! Please refill the bag."

Peach Upside-Down Cake

Summer is peach season and I love peaches! I also have had way too many mushy, bland peaches hiding as good peaches so I have been very hesitant to buy any. I decided to take a chance when I found this recipe. It is from the 1953 edition of The Modern Family Cook Book. I did not use it as an excuse to buy a new oven safe skillet, kind of. But I did have to get a new shiny pan!

Why should pineapples have all the fun?! I had never heard of another fruit used in an upside-down cake but looks easy and delicious. I decided not to make the Hard Sauce.

I had to go out and get the peaches (oh darn!) and cake flour. I was a 1/2 cup short of cake flour...so annoying. But the smell of fresh, ripe peaches is everywhere! I love peaches.

 I chose wonderfully ripe peaches and they were a pain in the butt to peel. Next time, go for slightly under-ripe and firm peaches. They smelled amazing sitting in the caramel sauce.

The batter was more liquid than a normal cake batter. I didn't know how it would fill the side of the pan.

Actually filled in nicely! And smells so good.

Hmm....okay, it's not the prettiest of desserts but how can you go wrong with caramel and peaches?!

Some of the caramel is soft, some is hard.

The cake is nice and fluffy! I thought the caramel would mix with the cake batter more. There was practically no mixing of the two.

Very delicious. The caramel and peaches pair perfectly with the almond flavored cake. The most difficult/annoying part was peeling the peaches and I would recommend firm peaches over ripe ones. This cake is light enough and has just enough fruit that you can pretend it's healthy enough for breakfast. It pairs perfectly with hot coffee.

My Rating: Delicious! Will definitely make again!

Friends and Family Rating: "Looks interesting. Tastes great!" "I need a cup of coffee with this."

Moldy Mice (Sand Tarts)

Sometimes it's all in the name! I was randomly flipping through the Charleston Receipts, the 1963 edition, and found this gem. To be honest I never looked really looked closely at this cookbook because it did not interested me. It's not that old and I am not into collected recipes.

Apparently these are also called "Sand Tarts" but what is the fun in that?!

 Easy looking recipe with easy ingedrients! It does not look like there is enough sugar though...

 Mix it seperately...

And then together!

 The dough was very dry and made it difficult to roll into small bars. This was definately not going to make 3 dozen cookies!

 Smells so delicious! Every kitchen should smell like pecans cookies!

 Everything is better rolled in powdered sugar!

 Ta Da!

They taste pretty similar to Russian Tea Cakes but a little dryer. All in all not bad but nothing special, except for the name. I still don't know how I was suppose to get 36 cookies out of this and I had to lower the baking time a couple of minutes.

My Rating: Good but not enough to make again.

Friends and Family Rating: "Yum!" "These taste like something you have made before."