You see it gives me a chance to blog about Grammie’s cookbook.
Remember here when I thought her cookbook might be the one in the picture? Well, it is.
Only hers was a working copy, as you can see.
Let me show you some evidence of its working life. There was this little tri-fold pamphlet advertising coming movie attractions inside the front cover.
My parents’ hometown is a little hard to find. It’s tiny and far into Maine’s western mountains, near the Canadian border. There isn’t a movie theater now, but in the days before television was available in remote areas, entertainment was cultivated within the community. I have heard stories of movies and Saturday night community dances. My grandmother helped arrange some of the dances, I’ve heard.
Here is what was playing:
These movies, for the most part, were released in 1951, two of them in 1952, and a quick check of the 1952 calendar to see if the days of the week matched the date and I confirmed that this advert was from Spring 1952. I’ve heard of most of the stars, but I’m disappointed to say that I haven’t seen any of the movies on TCM. Maybe “Samson and Delilah”.
This little cookbook is geared to baking, no surprise since it was put out by General Foods. 
It was an opportunity for them to promote their products.
And to educate the home baker; after all, successful consumer baking means healthy sales of baking products, right? (Those Madison Avenue-types can’t fool me.)
Here’s the recipe I made. Well, with a few tweaks.
I had a little buttermilk and some caramel syrup left from a cake I tried on Thursday. So, I worked it in.
I substituted about 3/4 cup buttermilk for the 1/2 cup milk. And I had about 1/3 cup caramel syrup. I warmed it with the butter to spread over the top of the dough. Then I sprinkled a few chopped walnuts over the sugar-flour-cinnamon topping. It took a little longer to bake than I thought it would – does buttermilk do that? But it was yummy!
I especially like the way they spell out the techniques for those of us who will always be learning.
Give the recipe a try! But don’t forget:
It’s A Wise
Woman Who Knows Her Baking Rules!
Woman Who Knows Her Baking Rules!
1 comment:
What a treasure to have that cookbook!! And to know it was a working copy of your Grammy's is extra special. That coffee cake looks yummy! ~Vonnie
Post a Comment