I can't seem to pass up a vintage recipe booklet. Usually, I look for pretty ones in case I want to photograph the cover or use the inside graphics for one of my book projects. Last week, however, I spotted this one at an antiques shop in Carrollton and was charmed by how very worn this 1934 booklet was. With the cover hanging on only with the assistance of masking tape, this booklet was a General Foods publication designed to promote Swans Down Cake Flour.
And since I always love to know the story behind an item (it may end up in one of my stories), I was delighted to learn that this booklet came from a rummage sale!
Whenever I see old booklets like this, I turn to the index of recipes in the back and search for the word "Tea." This time, I found an entire section called "Tea Cake Recipes."
The section includes such delicacies as Two-Egg Cup Cakes, Coconut Vanities, and …
Butterscotch Slices and Blueberry Tea Cakes. (I trust you noted the pretty teapot and teacups in the photo! Google Lens helped me determine that this is the Rosebud Chintz pattern from Spode.)
And I must admit that I always thought it was "Swan's" Down and not "Swans" Down, so I learned a new (i.e., correct) spelling from this booklet as well. Do you have any tattered old cookbooks or recipe booklets, maybe something that was handed down in your family? I'd love to know!
We have a few booklets such as this as my MIL was a “home ec” major at Syracuse Univ. then a rep for Niagara Mohawk who taught people how to use their new electric stoves and ovens. Also, my father was an executive in the flour business when Cornell developed their Cornell Formula bread. We have tried to preserve these pages from the past as best as possible.
ReplyDeleteI love the older cookbook pamphlets. I have my mother's from the Rumford Baking Powder Company entitled Rumford Everyday Cook Book for the Housekeeper and Student. (1933) Irene Martinez
ReplyDeleteI have the cookbook my mom received from her employer when she got married in 1942. No sure if it was new at the time or not...will have to go look and see when it was printed. I also still have the "Betty Crocker Kids Cookbook" that I got as a child in the 1950's.
ReplyDeleteI also love those old recipe booklets! I don't have any that were handed down through the family, but I do have some that I got at yard sales or as gifts from my sisters. One of my favorites is from Jell-O and has some of those perfectly awful-sounding ones with shaped Jell-O made with tuna, celery, and olives inside.
ReplyDeleteTattered old cookbooks are the best! That recipe for butterscotch slices look really good.
ReplyDeleteI have a few tattered recipe books. This looks like a really super find.
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