“Gingerbread” may immediately cause visions of cookie-and-candy houses dripping with icicles made of brittle white icing, but gingerbread’s Victorian history is so much more than that. Perhaps this broader history is why the National Day Calendar says today, June 5, is National Gingerbread Day.
Today, April 30, is Oatmeal Cookie Day!
Who knew?! “Everyone” online claims Fannie Merritt Farmer’s oatmeal cookie recipe (1896) to be the FIRST published (FALSE!)… but I found fourteen Victorian-American recipes in vintage cook books and newspapers beginning in 1883. How did history (mistakenly) favor Fannie?
This book review of an historic cookbook illuminates my reasons for a 4.5-star review. This vintage cookbook is so much more than a collection of historic recipes–it provides a peek into the homemaker’s roles, available ingredients, methods of food preparation and attitudes about waste, as well as regional favorites. Small elements–such as reference to measuring salt with a dessert spoon–explains much to amateur historians about the way things once were. Article includes one of the recipes from the book: cream pie with a rich pie crust.
