Boiled Raisin Cake – a 1940s Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts in 2011 was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  There is also a page where a child scrawled – Mama probably wasn’t too happy with that.  

The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.  

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

This cake was new to me and since no directions were given with the recipe, I checked out the internet and found it appears to have been a favorite cake of a lot of people.  It’s a rather plain cake – I made half of the recipe and added a glaze which many on the internet remembered their grandma adding to the cake.  I would consider this a lunch or supper cake – satisfying but not too rich.

BOILED RAISIN CAKE – A 1940s RECIPE

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup hot water
• ¼ cup shortening
• ¼ cup oleo (margarine)
• ½ cup raisins
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour

GLAZE

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• Approx. 2 Tblsp. Milk

Grease and flour a 9-inch loaf pan
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a large saucepan, place sugar, hot water, shortening, margarine, raisins, cinnamon and salt.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for one minute longer.

Remove from heat and immediately stir in baking soda – it will foam up.  Allow to cool.

When cool, add flour and beat for 2 minutes by hand right in the pan.

Pour into a greased and floured 9-inch loaf pan and bake @ 350 degrees F for approximately 50-55 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Let set in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes.

Loosen sides and remove from pan to continue cooling on rack.

Mix together the powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk to make a thick glaze.  When cake is cool, spoon glaze over top and allow to drizzle down the sides of the cake.

Makes one 9-inch loaf cake

Read Full Post »

It Was a Very Good Year – 1975 – 1981

On July 13, 2012, my two daughters surprised me with a big box of wrapped gifts, informing me it was exactly 80 days until my 80th birthday and I would be able to unwrap one gift a day.  The gift items would commemorate a year in my life in some way.  This is what I received this week.

1975 – A collage of pictures from an old area amusement park, Fantasy Farms, including vintage tickets.  One sunny afternoon, my mother and I took my five-year-old daughter to the park.  My mother had just made herself a dress of denim with red bandana trim and also made one for my daughter.  I thought it was a cute idea but my daughter was indignant – not only that she went to an amusement park dressed like her grandma, but that all the other girls were wearing shorts and tee-shirts, not a pretty dress.  My oldest daughter made up the collage that includes bits from a home movie I took that day and some photo-booth antics of my daughter.  She also did a classic 1970s design on the back.

1976 – An RC soft drink bottle commemorating the Bicentennial 1776-1976.  This is even more special because it pictures and lists the Presidents who came from Ohio.

1977- A vintage Atlas Strong Shoulder Mason jar and zinc lid with a 1977 Ohio State Fair blue ribbon and entry tag.  This is amazing for me to receive because I remember so well seeing this woman’s food entries at the Ohio State Fair for many years – most of them with blue ribbons.  The jar dates between 1896-1902.  Somehow, the jar, ribbon and entry tag wound up in a Cincinnati antique store where my oldest daughter found it.

1978 – A 1978 Hallmark Date Book with calendar, gift guide and wedding anniversary gift list.  Also, a First Day of Issue for  the 13-cent square dance stamp, dated April 26, 1978.  This is important to me because I had just graduated from square dance class in March of 1978 and continued to square and round dance for over 15 years.

1979 – The 1979 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate – Choosing the Christmas Tree.   I’ve always loved Christmas and this plate will be a nice addition to my decorations this year.

1980 – 1980 issue of Quilt World Omnibook.  I hadn’t begun quilting yet in 1980 and I love seeing the patterns, stories and pictures from this era.

1981 – 1981 catalog – Gifts from Top Value Stamps.  These were the stamps our neighborhood store handled and it was like a wonderful bonus to collect the stamps each week and finally have enough to exchange for something nice.  I found a couple of items in this catalog that the girls remembered having in our 1981 kitchen.

All of my posts on this wonderful celebration are listed in Family – My 80th Birthday in my index on the right hand side of the page.

Read Full Post »

It Was a Very Good Year – 1954-1960

On July 13, 2012, my two daughters surprised me with a big box of wrapped gifts, informing me it was exactly 80 days until my 80th birthday and I would be able to unwrap one gift a day.  The gift items would commemorate a year in my life in some way.  This is what I received this week.

1954 – My oldest daughter embroidered dish towels from 1954 patterns.  The Dutch Boy is from The Workbasket – April, 1954 (the same month and year she was born) and the girl with the umbrella is from a 1954 coloring book.

1955 – A 1-½ inch diameter tin labeled School Buildings 1955 and containing an actual film strip showing the latest improvements in school buildings in that year.

1956 – A TV Guide for February 4-10, 1956.  A note is attached, “You were probably watching some of these shows waiting for your first son to arrive.”  My oldest son was born on March 8, 1956, so I was spending a lot of time watching Gary Moore, Perry Como, Annie Oakley (a favorite of my toddler daughter), and Cincinnati’s local star, Ruth Lyons.

1957 – A Betty Furness Westinghouse Roast Meat Thermometer and Skewer.  Betty Furness was best known in the early days of television for opening Westinghouse refrigerators and talking about all of their wonderful features.

1958 – A 1958 copy of Woman’s Day Cook Book of Favorite Recipes.  I have a large cookbook collection but have never seen this one.  I was interested to find a lot of canning and bake-from-scratch recipes.

1959 – A metal tin that had held a typewriter ribbon.  It has an interesting graphic on the top of the tin and Feb 59 on the back.  After all of the years I spent typing, I love anything dealing with typewriters, especially the vintage items.

1960 - A picture of President and First Lady Kennedy leaving the hospital with John Kennedy, Jr.  The note attached to this picture says, “1960 – The year two important John-Johns were born“.  This refers to my youngest son, John, who was born March 11, 1960.  When he was a toddler, we did refer to him as John-John now and then.

As I was leaving the hospital with my baby John, I looked nothing like Jackie in her perfect suit, hat, gloves and pumps.

All of my posts on this wonderful celebration are listed in Family – My 80th Birthday in my index on the right hand side of the page.

Read Full Post »

It Was a Very Good Year – 1947 – 1953

On July 13, 2012, my two daughters surprised me with a big box of wrapped gifts, informing me it was exactly 80 days until my 80th birthday and I would be able to unwrap one gift a day.  The gift items would commemorate a year in my life in some way.  This is what I received this week.

1947 – A 1947 magazine article about the Cincinnati Reds’ star pitcher, Ewell Blackwell.  I’ve always been a baseball fan and was particularly devoted to the Reds in 1947.  As usual, we had a pretty poor team but then Ewell Blackwell came within two outs of consecutive no-hitters (I’ve never forgiven Eddie Stanky of the Brooklyn Dodgers for ruining that moment) and dazzled everyone that season.

1948 – A set of leaflets showing the wonderful hair styles that could be achieved with cold wave permanents.  I always had naturally curly hair and never needed a permanent, but I remember my mother and sister trying every means to having pretty hair – and they succeeded. 

1949 – A 1949 baby care book which I would have loved when I had my first child in 1954.  This is really interesting to me but there’s a bonus –

…there’s a letter from the old French Bauer Dairy in Cincinnati which I can add to my collection.

1950 – My youngest daughter copied 26 songs from the 1950s, chosen by my oldest daughter who remembers hearing a lot of them when she was growing up in the 50s.

1951 – A 1951 baseball card for Cincinnati Reds third-baseman, Grady Hatton.  Ewell Blackwell, mentioned above, was a super-star, but the one all the girls liked was Grady Hatton.  He was young, single, and handsome.  I’m sure he made the Ladies’ Days at old Crosley Field a lot more crowded than they normally would have been.

1952 - A special piece my oldest daughter made from an Altoid tin.  I was 20 in 1952 – not old enough to vote but I admired Dwight D. Eisenhower from World War II days.  The inside of the tin shows a picture of me showing off my I LIKE IKE pin.

I was more of an Eisenhower fan than I was a Republican and I was so thrilled when he won.  I posted about that 1952 election here.

1953 – My youngest daughter knit a great dusting mitt from a 1953 pattern.

Here is the link to my daughter’s blog for the pattern and information:

http://wardenslog.blogspot.com/2012/08/celebrating-80-yearswith-knit-dusting.html

All of my posts on this wonderful celebration are listed in Family – My 80th Birthday in my index on the right hand side of the page.

Read Full Post »

Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake – a 1940s Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

This is a good, family-style cake – soft and moist, but not too rich.  Normally, I use a reduced-fat, olive oil based mayonnaise but since the mayonnaise is replacing eggs and shortening in this recipe, I went with the full-fat version (Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise).

MAYONNAISE CHOCOLATE CAKE

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup regular mayonnaise (not low fat)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ¼ cup cocoa
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F for a glass pan, 350 degrees F for a metal pan
Grease and flour a 9 inch baking pan

In the large bowl of a mixer, beat together the sugar, water and mayonnaise.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and cocoa.

Add the dry ingredients to the mayonnaise mixture and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Pour into prepared pan …

…and bake in preheated oven for approximately 40 minutes or until cake tests done when a tester is inserted in the center of the cake.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Keep cake in pan and when cool, frost with:

VINTAGE CHOCOLATE FROSTING

• 2 cups powdered sugar, divided
• ¼ cup cocoa
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3-4 Tblsp. cream (or evaporated milk)

Place 1 cup of powdered sugar, cocoa, salt, butter and vanilla in mixer bowl.  Beat for one minute.  Gradually add remaining cup of powdered sugar alternately with cream until of desired consistency.

Frost top of cake.

Makes 9 servings

Read Full Post »

A Great Antique Mall Find

This time, my daughter made the find and presented it to me as a gift.  She found a 1946 edition of Popular Mechanics Magazine with a great cover picture of harness horses trotting behind a starting gate.  She knew I would be thrilled with anything with a harness horse on it but she didn’t realize that I would remember the magazine from when my father had it back in 1946.  He also couldn’t pass up anything about a  harness horse.

My father came from a family of harness horse people and had been caring for horses since he was a child.  As a teenager, he was already a respected driver on the county fair circuit, but gave up the horse business when he married my mother in 1932.  He knew what a hard life it was for a child and was determined his own two daughters would have things better.

In September of 1946, I was a freshman in high school and by 1950 when I graduated, my father had bought a horse and was back in the business for the rest of his life.

The magazine included a nice article about harness horses and especially about the starting gate on the car which had first been used that year at the old Roosevelt Raceway in New York.  Up until this time, races were started by an announcer trying to get all of the horses away at the same time, resulting in a lot of false starts, restarts, etc.

There were some other articles and ads about repairing a radio (just before the debut of TV), and various handyman projects.

I was intrigued by the ads, noticing several for getting into the plastics business which was booming after World War II.

I wear a tiny hearing aid that is barely visible, so I was interested in an ad about a hearing aid the size of a deck of playing cards with the ear plug attached by a cord.  I remember my grandfather carrying this kind of hearing aid in his shirt pocket.

I love old magazines and ads, and the cover is worthy of copying and framing, so this was a very good find at the antique mall.

Read Full Post »

My Daughter’s Birthday Post

In reply to my gift of a table topper mini-quilt for her birthday (click here), my daughter posted a poem on her blog that gives her side of the story of the 1958 picture.

http://www.nudged2write.com/archives/2719

Read Full Post »

Brown Sugar Drops – A 1940s Cookie Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.  

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

My version of the recipe is one-half of the original and I substituted dairy sour cream for the sour milk.  Like all of the recipes in this little book, the Brown Sugar Drops are easy and quick to make, homestyle, not too rich – just a good old-fashioned cookie.

BROWN SUGAR DROPS

• ½ cup shortening
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
• Raisins or walnut halves (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Lightly grease cookie sheets

Cream together the shortening, light brown sugar, egg and sour cream.  Mix in the soda and salt.  Gradually mix in the flour until well blended.

Drop cookies by a level measuring tablespoon onto the greased cookie sheets.

Place cookies 2 inches apart.

If desired, press a walnut half or 3 raisins into the tops of the cookies.

Bake @ 400 degrees F for 6 to 7 minutes until cookies are golden brown on the tops and bottoms.

Place on a wire rack to cool.

Yield:  Approximately 32 cookies

A cup of tea from this pretty teapot would go well with the cookies.

Read Full Post »

Orange One-Egg Cake, a 1940s Recipe

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.  

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

It seems that every cookbook from the 1940s included a recipe for “One-Egg Cake” or “Busy Day Cake” that produced an easy, economical suppertime dessert.

The woman who kept this small recipe journal entered the recipe for One-Egg Cake twice.  On one, she noted that it was from “Mom”.

On the second one, she didn’t acknowledge Mom but did give more complete directions which I thought were a little strange:

“Mix dry junk together.  Then vanilla and 1 egg (rotten if so desired).  Gradually add milk or you’ll have lumpy batter.”

I have a very clear memory of the 1930s-40s, and never heard of anyone using a rotten egg.  I assume it was her idea of a joke.

For my version, I had four big oranges that I needed to use and substituted 1 cup of fresh orange juice for the milk, added 1 tsp. grated orange peel, and omitted the vanilla to make an Orange One-Egg Cake. I used the freshest egg I could find.

ONE-EGG ORANGE CAKE – A 1940s RECIPE

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2-½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1-¼ cups granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. grated orange peel
• 1 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees for metal pans, 325 degrees F for glass dishes.
Grease and flour a 9-inch pan or dish.

When I have fresh oranges, I like to wash and dry them, grate the peel on a large piece of waxed paper and juice the oranges.  I use what I need for the recipe and the remainder is frozen for another time.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, and orange peel.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the orange juice, beating well after each addition.  Begin and end with dry ingredients.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 9-inch pan and bake @ 350 degrees F (325 degrees F for glass dishes) for 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done when a tester is inserted in the center.

Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Leave in the pan and frost the top with a 1940s version of Orange Frosting:

ORANGE FROSTING

• ¼ cup margarine, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tblsp. orange juice

Beat together the margarine and powdered sugar.  Add the orange juice gradually.  If necessary, add a tiny bit more juice or sugar until frosting is of good spreading consistency.

Yield:  6 to 9 servings

This is a nice soft cake with a bright orange flavor.  It would make a good cake for a picnic or cookout.

A 1940s era dishtowel

Read Full Post »

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls and Pastel Milk Punch – 1940s Recipes

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a small 4-½ x 6 inch leather bound book engraved “Cooking Recipes”, purchased at an antique mall in Sugar Creek, Ohio.  The pages are edged in gold and there are 10 index tabs for food categories.  

The real gold in this book, though, is the collection of handwritten recipes.  There aren’t a lot of recipes – just 25, 22 of which are desserts.  The book itself could have been from the 1930s, but I believe the recipes are from the 1945-1950 era.  This is based on a lot of recipes calling for shortening, for using the word “oleo” rather than margarine in most recipes and the attention given to oven temperatures.  I believe it’s post-World War II because of all of the sugar-laden desserts.

The handwriting is clear and ingredients are listed correctly, although most of the recipes give no idea of how the item is to be prepared, what kind of pan to use or how long to bake.  That’s why I’ve decided to make each of the recipes, using the products specified, and adding my own instructions.  I like to think that the woman from the 1940s kitchen (who would have been about my mother’s age) would enjoy having someone fuss around with these recipes again and turn out some delicious food for the family.

For my version of these two recipes, I used ¼ of the ingredients to make smaller amounts.  The popcorn balls are easy and a good buttery snack.  My only change was to substitute butter for oleo (margarine) and a dash of salt.

The Pastel Milk Punch is somewhat like a smoothie and I used the modern convenience of a blender rather than stirring as the 1940s cook did.  I also used frozen strawberries and omitted the sugar.  The only mint ice cream I could find had very fine chocolate chips in it which didn’t do any harm except for clogging the straws occasionally.

Both items, like the other recipes in the book, are rather mild.  My daughter wasn’t feeling well and drank two large glasses of the punch, saying that it settled her stomach.

MARSHMALLOW POP CORN BALLS

*4 cups of popped corn (about 2 Tblsp. unpopped corn)
*2 Tblsp. butter
*10 regular size marshmallows
*Dash of salt

In a large pan, melt the butter over low heat.  Add the marshmallows and salt.  Cook, stirring constantly, until marshmallows have melted.

Add popcorn to marshmallow mixture and stir to combine.  As soon as the popcorn has cooled down enough to handle (don’t let it cool completely), butter the palms of your hands and form balls of the mixture.  I chose to make 10 snack-size two-inch balls.  Any spare kernels that can’t be formed into balls can be a snack for the cook.

PASTEL MILK PUNCH

*¾ cup frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
*Dash of salt
*2 cups cold milk
*1 cup (½ pint) strawberry ice cream, softened
*1 cup (½ pint) mint ice cream, softened

Place slightly thawed berries in a blender.  Add salt, milk and ice cream.  Blend until smooth.

Serve immediately.

Yield:  3-4 servings, depending on size

This little planter (marked Japan on the bottom) was always in my Grandma Helen’s living room in the 1940s and until I inherited it in 1978.

Read Full Post »