Featured in my soon-to-be-released title, Sophia’s Leap-Year Courtship, is my heroine Sophia Amelia Sorensen. I didn’t pull that name out of a hat…or off a list of most-common names from her birth decade (my usual practice). I borrowed my great-great grandmother’s name…and her cookie jar.
Vintage pie recipes, true to the pioneer and Victorian era experience, look a lot different than modern recipes. In this article, I share recipes from vintage newspapers and Prairie Farmer magazine (1841-1900). One includes “Pie Plant”, an ingredient I remember from the Little House on the Prairie series, but never knew what it actually was!
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.
Historic recipes are a valuable link to our immigrant ancestors (whether the actual recipe is a family heirloom or not). This recipe for shortbread and Pebber Nodder (Danish Butter Cookies) put me in mind of my great grandmother. I include the Top 5 Reasons why I care about old fashioned cookie recipes.
