FoodTimeline library
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "biscuit" debuted in the 14th century. Primary definition here:
"Biscuit: 1. a. A kind of crisp dry bread more or less hard, prepared generally in thin flat cakes. The essential ingredients are flour and water, or milk, without leaven; but confectionery and fancy biscuits are very variously composed and flavoured. Even the characteristic of hardness implied in the name is lost in the sense A kind of small, baked cake, usually fermented, made of flour, milk, etc. used, according to Webster, in U.S."The OED states "cookie" was introduced to the Engish language during the 18th century via the Dutch:
"Cookie: 1. a. In Scotland the usual name for a baker's plain bun; in U.S. usually a small flat sweet cake (a biscuit in U.K.), but locally a name for small cakes of various form with or without sweetening. Also S. Afr. and Canad."
Why do we Americans choose "cookies" over "biscuits?"
The answer to this is probably twofold: (1) Our early Dutch heritage and (2) Our revolutionary tradition of separating ourselves
from "all things British."
"Early English and Dutch immigrants first introduced the cookie to America in the 1600s. While
the English primarily referred to cookies as small cakes, seed biscuits, or tea cakes, or by specific
names, such as jumbal or macaroon, the Dutch called the koekjes, a diminutive of koek
(cake)...Etymologists note that by the early 1700s, koekje had been Anglicized into "cookie" or
"cookey," and the word clearly had become part of the American vernacular. Following the
American Revolution, people from other parts of the country became familiar with the cookie
when visiting New York City, the nation's first capitol, a factor that resulted in widespread use of
the term."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 317)
A little bit of cookie history
"The art of making cookies and crackers is that of turning simple ingredients into wonderful
things....Like cakes and pastries, cookies and crackers are the descendants of the earliest food
cooked by man-- -grain-water-paste baked on hot stones by Neolithic farmers 10,000 years ago.
The development of cookies and crackers from these primitive beginnings is a history of
refinements inspired by two different impulses--one plan and practical, the other luxurious and
pleasure-loving.
Savory crackers represent the practical and may well have been the first convenience foods: A
flour paste, cooked once, then cooked again to dry it thoroughly, becomes a hard, portable victual
with an extraordinarily long storage life--perfect for traveling....For centuries, no ship left port
without enough bone-hard, twice-cooked ship's biscuit--the word biscuit comes from the Old
French biscoit, meaning twice cooked---to last for months, or even years.
While sailors and other travelers chewed their way through unyielding biscuits, cooks of the
ancient civilizations of the Middle East explored the culinary possibilities of sweetness and
richness. These cooks lightened and enriched the paste mixtures with eggs, butter and cream and
sweetened them with fruit, honey and finally--when the food became widely available in the late
Middle Ages--with sugar...
Luxurious cakes and pastries in large and small versions were well known in the Persian
empire of the Seventh Century A.D. With the Muslim invasion of Spain, then the Crusades and
the developing spice trade, the cooking techniques and ingredients of Arabia spread into Northern
Europe. There the word cookies, distinguishing small confections, appeared: The word comes
from the Dutch Koeptje [koekje], meaning small cake.
By the end of the 14th Century, one could buy little filled wafers on the streets of
Paris...Renaissance cookbooks were rich in cookie recipes, and by the 17th Century, cookies were
common-place."
"The term [cookie] first appeared in print as long ago as 1703."
"During the seventeeth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries most cookies were made in
home kitchens. They were baked as special treats because the cost of sweeteners and the amount
of time and labor required for preparation. The most popular of these early cookies still retain
their prize status. Recipes for jumbles, a spiced butter cookie, and for macaroons, based on beaten
egg whites and almonds, were common in the earliest American cookbooks...Because it was
relatively inexpensive and easy to make, gingergbread was one of the most popular early
cookies...As kitchen technology improved in the early 1900s, most notably in the ability to
regulate oven temperature, America's repertoire of cookie recipes grew."
When were commercial cookies introduced?
"After the Civil War, when the so-called 'traveling' market for biscuits and crackers began to decline, the industry adjusted itself to the new conditions by importing the
machinery and methods for making English sweetened biscuits and yeast-raised crackers. In addition, during the late 1890s the National Biscuit Company introduced wrapping and
packaging machines for cracker products, which were quickly adopted by other industry members."
ABOUT COMMERCIAL SUGAR WAFERS IN NORTH AMERICA
First came UK imports:
[1878]
[1879]
[1884]
Then American companies entered the market:
If you are doing a "cookies around the world" project ask your librarian
to help you find The International Cookie Jar Cookbook, Anita Borghese.
Ammonia cookies
According to the food history reference books, "Ammonia" cookies are not one specific
cookie recipe but a whole host of edible treats employing ammonium bicarbonate, an old-fashioned
(probably now hard to get?) leavening agent. Ammonium carbonate is a byproduct of hartshorn,
a substance extracted from deer antlers [harts horn]. Hartshorn is most commonly referenced in
old cookbooks in jelly recipes. It was also known a source for ammonia, which could be used as
a leavener.
"Hartshorn...1. The horn or antler of a hart [male deer, esp. Red deer] the substance obtained by
rasping, slicing or calcining the horns of harts, formerly the chief sources of ammonia. 2. Spirit of
hartshorn, also simply hartshoren; the aqueous solution of ammonia (whether obtained from harts'
horns or otherwise). Salt of hartshorn, carbonate of ammonia; smelling salt."
Historic English definitions & sources:
"Hartshorn was formerly the main source of ammonia, and its principal use was in the production
of smelling salts. But hartshorn shavings were used to produce a special, edible jelly used in
English cookery in the 17th and 18th centuries."
"Ammonium bicarbonate...This leavener is the precursor of today's baking powder and baking
soda. It's still called for in some European baking recipes, mainly for cookies. It can be
purchased in drugstores but must be ground to a powder before using. Also known as
hartshorn, carbonate of ammonia and powdered baking ammonia."
"Ammonia cookies...Any variety of cookies made with a leavening agent called ammonium
carbonate, or baking ammonia. They are most commonly found in Scandinavian-American
communities In their book Farm Recipes and Food Secrets from the Norske Nook (1993), Helen
Myhre and Mona Vold wrote, "Talk about Old Faithful, this was one of those basic stanbys every
farm lady made."
"Ammonia, is a gas and its ordinary form of Spirits of Ammonia, or Hartshorn, is water saturated
with the gas. Ammonia is sometimes used in Baking Powders, but being extremely volatile must
soon lose its strength."
The greatest challenge for modern cooks recreating "old fashioned" ammonia cookies is the amount of this item is
often expressed in non-traditional terms. Recipes specifying a "lump" or "5 cents worth of ammonia" are not uncommon.
Since baking is chemistry and prices fluxuate according
to period & place, one needs to research these particular recipes in historic context.
[1919]
[1955]
Animal crackers
By the middle of the 19th century the industrial revolution made it possible for biscuits, cookies
and crackers to be manufactured in factories. Crisp biscuits (what we Americans now call
cookies) baked in fancy shapes were very popular in Victorian
England. Some of these biscuits were shaped like animals. "Zoologicals" (animal crackers)
were sold at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia [1876]. They were made by Philadelphia
baker Walter G. Wilson.
According to a recent Washington Post
article, in 1889 when P.T. Barnum's circus travelled to England, animal cookies proliferated.
Food companies were most likely capitalizing on Barnum's popular entertainment. Animal
Crackers
manufactured at that time were probably designed as a marketing promotions. Shirley Temple's
Animal Crackers in my soup (1935) remains an iconic American song through the 21st century.
The earliest mention of animal crackers we have in print is this recipe from
1883:
National Biscuit Company's (now Nabisco) classic Animal Crackers were introduced to the
American public in 1902. According to Nabisco sources, the first Animal Crackers were marketed
as a seasonal item. The brighly-colored box (not the cookies) was promoted as a Christmas tree
ornament, thus explaining the string attached to the top.
Although Animal biscuits/crackers are a very simple cookie we find no evidence they were
created/promoted as health foods. 19th century cookie-type health products often contained
arrowroot and Graham's flour (whole wheat). They were not generally marketed in fancy shapes.
This is what the food historians have to say on the subject:
"Animal Crackers are actually a cookie, first produced as Christmas tree ornaments in 1902 by the
National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco). They are formed in the shapes of various circus
animals and packed in a box decorated like a circus train. Nabisco currently produces about 7
million Animal Cracker cookies per day."
"Animal crackers were created and achieved fame many years before the advent ot NBC (National
Biscuit Company). In the beginning they were just called "Animals," They were imported from
England when "fancy" baked goods first began to be in demand here. In the latter part of the
nineteenth century they were manufactured domestically by Hetfield & Ducker in Brooklyn as
well as Vandeveer & Holmes Biscuit Company in New York. Both firms eventually became part
of the New York Biscuit Company and "Animals" were one of their staples. When "Animals"
were adopted by NBC, their name was changed to "Barnum's Animal Crackers," named after
P.T. Barnum, showman and circus owner who was so famous during this era. Barnum's Animal
Crackers provided the nation with a new type of animal cracker, produced in a small square box
resembling a circus cage with a tape at the top for easy carrying. Barnum's Animals appeared
during Christmas season just three years after the Uneeda Biscuit. What was originally a seasonal
novelty proved so popular that it became a steady seller. Soon Animal (the 's' was dropped)
Crackers became part of the American scene and of almost every American household."
"P.T. Barnum, the greatest self-promoter in history, had absolutely nothing to do with the box
that bears his name. And never got a cent for it. That's according to our man Fisher of the Barnum
Museum. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus still doesn't get a cut, or a licensing fee.
This is what happened: In 1889, Barnum decided to do something truly nutty, a tour of England
with his circus. So after his buddy Bailey figured out how, exactly, you get a circus that normally
takes up 10 rail cars onto a boat and across an ocean, Barnum's animals made their European
debut. The English, meanwhile, had already invented something called animal biscuits. Sensing a
marketing moment, several companies started manufacturing animal biscuits with circus
packaging and called them Barnum's. Soon the product migrated across the ocean, where
Nabisco's forerunner, the National Biscuit Co., put them on U.S. store shelves in 1902. Originally
called "Barnum's Animals,'' they became Barnum's "Animal Crackers'' in 1948."
---"Circus
food," Jennifer Frey, Washington Post, March 20, 2002
How much did these cost?
Who designed this special package?
"Animal Crackers in my Soup"
The song:
Did Shirley Temple really put animal crackers in her soup?
Nabisco food history sources generally tell us Animal Crackers have been a stable product since they were introduced in 1902. While the product is not overly
sweet (compared to Oreos, for example), it does have a sweetish flavor, not particularly suited for pairing with soup. Of course, there are many types of soup,
including chilled fruit soups served for the dessert popular in Scandinavian countries. We don't think that was the kind of soup 6 year old "American as apple pie"
Shirley Temple as singing about in 1935.
There are several theories regarding the origin of the name "A.P." for a particular cookie popular
in the
Philadelphia/Pennsylvania Dutch country. These food historians sums them up nicely:
"Apee. Also "apea" and, in the plural "eepies." A spiced butter cookie or form of gingerbread.
Legend has it
that the word derives from the name of Ann Page, a Philadelphia cook who carved her initials into
the tops
of the confection. This was first noted in print in J.F. Watson's Annals of Philadelphia
(1830) to the
effect that Ann Page, then still alive, "first made [the cookies] many years ago, under the common
name of
cakes.'"
"Apeas are a cookie once popular in Philadelphia. The origin of the name is a bit confusing.
Essentially,
they were a form of Anis Platchen (anise cookies) and stamped A.P. to distinguish them from
cookies with
carraway, which were known as "seed cakes." A great many bakers hawked Apeas to children on
the
streets. One of those bakers in Philadelphia was Ann Page. The A.P. became associated with her
name, if
only because Anis Platchen were extremely popular. In any event, A.P. cookies are of German
origin.
Philadelphians called them Apeas, hence the peculiar name, but to call them anything else--such as
Chocolate Apeas, only further muddles the issue."
A survey of historic American recipes
[1849]
[1871]
[1886]
[1905]
Educator brand crackers were produced in Boston from 1885 through the 1980s. They were a
direct early competitor to the National Biscuit Company (aka Nabisco). Through the years, the company has undergone several
reoganizations, mergers, and name changes. The registrations for both manufacturers and trademarks have expired. The brand is no longer in production.
"Let's go back to the days of clipper ships when iron men from New England sailed wooden ships to far off corners of the globe...One of the foods used was 'ship's
bread,' a dehydrated wheat product conceived by a New England baker made from flour, salt and water. To satisfy this need for ship's bread, and other cracker
products, many small bakeries sprang up along the Eastern seaboard. Massachusetts can claim credit for being the mother of the biscuit and cracker industry in the United
States, as within her borders were located the three bakeries, one of them being Butler's bakery at Newburyport, founded in 1791. This was operated by its original owner
and his heirs until the plant was sold in 1891 to the Johnson Educator company, just 100 years after that business was founded. Dr. William L. Johnson, a practicing
dentist, concluded that his patient's teeth were in poor condition because most diets consisted of white flour products and other soft foods. Dr. Johnson decided that a cracker
made from whole wheat which had to be thoroughly masticated, would be much more beneficial to his patients' dental health. After extensive experimentation, he was able to
make a satisfactory whole wheat cracker. He called his new cracker Educator, as he knew only too well that changing the dietary habits of people required a lot of food
education. In addition to being benefitted by Educator crackers, many people liked their taste and before long, the good doctor had the nucleus of a biscuit business. he
opened the first Johnson Educator food store on Boylston street in Boston, May 15, 1885. His business thrived; other health-giving foods such a cereal, coffee, maize meal,
hominy, peanut butter and grape juice were sold. He made arrangements for Butler's Bakery in Newburyport to manufacture his products for him. After Dr. Johnson's death,
the business was carried on by his daughter, Norma Johnson Barbour. In 1934, demand for Educator products increased to such a degree that additional capacity was installed
in a large brick building located in Lowell which is the headquarters of his company today. In June 1937, Robert Lee Megowen became interested in the company and
changed the name to Megowen Educator Food company. Possibly the greatest contribution made by Megowen Educator food company was the introduction of small
packages of cookies wrapped in cellophane. After Mr. Megowen's death in 1954, the business was carried on by his on, William J. Megowen. In March 1962, Megowen-
Educator food company was sold. In June 1962 the name was changed to Educator Biscuit Company, incorporated."
[1923]
[1937]
"Through the consolidation of Star Biscuits of America, Johnson Educator Biscuit Co. and the Johnson Educator Food Co. a new biscuit group is being organized by
Chicago and New England capital. The new company will serve the New England territory. Directors of the companies have approved a plan of reorganization which has been
built around the Star Biscuit Co., of America, with which Johnson Educator has had contracts for the major portion of its output."
[1976]
[1980]
[1990]
The last registration/listing in the US Patent and Trademark Office was held by the McKesson Corporation. It was canceled May 19, 2001. Both the manufacturer and the brand ended:
"Word Mark EDUCATOR Goods and Services (CANCELLED) IC 030. US 046. G & S: CRACKERS, BISCUITS AND COOKIES. FIRST USE:
19630411. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19630411 Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING Serial Number 73831731 Filing Date October 16,
1989 Current Filing Basis 1A Original Filing Basis 1A Published for Opposition February 13, 1990 Registration Number 1595624 Registration Date
May 8, 1990 Owner (REGISTRANT) MCKESSON CORPORATION CORPORATION MARYLAND ONE POST STREET SAN FRANSCISCO
CALIFORNIA 94104 (LAST LISTED OWNER) MCKESSON CORPORATION CORPORATION BY CHANGE OF NAME FROM DELAWARE ONE
POST STREET SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA 94104 Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR). Live/Dead Indicator DEAD Cancellation Date May 19, 2001"
A selective survey of historic newspaper ads reveals several varieties:
1902
November 16, 1913
May 13, 1917
August 25, 1918
October 31, 1920
July 24, 1924
June 30, 1938
December 22, 1953
August 18, 1965
December 29, 1965
March 15, 1973
January 31, 1977
October 25, 1985
Fig Newtons were first produced in 1891 by the National Biscuit Company, now known
as Nabisco. They have a long and interesting history.
There seems to be some confusion as to which the year Fig Newtons were created. The company
that manufactures these cookies (Nabisco) and the town of Newton state the year is 1891. Most
food history sources say 1892.
The town of Newton celebrated the 100th anniversary of Fig Newtons April 10th, 1991:
"The 100th anniversary of a cookie may not be considered a milestone for the history books, but
residents of Newton believe the Fig Newton's first century is something to celebrate. Newton is
an all-American city, and the Fig Newton is an all-American cookie," said Linda Plaut, the city's
director of cultural affairs. "We're all proud of that." ...The Newton, as it was originally called,
was created in 1891 at the Kennedy Biscuit Works in Cambridgeport, now known as Cambridge,
said Mark Gutsche, a Nabisco spokesman."
This is what the food history books say:
"Fig Newtons were first produced in 1891, when baker James Henry Mitchell invented a machine
that would allow a cake-like cookie, filled with fig jam, to be made. The machine was actually a
funnel within a funnel, so handy and effective that Kennedy Biscuit Works snatched it up and
started to produce the famous cookie, which became an immediate success. The name of the
cookie originally was "Newtons," taken from the town of Newton, a suburb of Boston...The
Kennedy Biscuit Works later became a part of the National Biscuit Company [now
Nabisco]....Neither the taste, shape, or size of Fig Newtons has been changed in over one hundred
years."
"Fig...A sweet multiseeded fruit of the fig tree or shrub, usually eaten dried. It originated in
northern Asia Minor. The word is from the Latin 'ficus.' Figs were introduced into America on the
island of Hispanola in 1520 by the Spaniards...Most of the fig crop goes into making a sweet
filling for Fig Newtons...The cookie was first produced after Philadelphian James Henry Mitchell
developed a machine in 1892 to combine a hollow cookie crust with a jam filling. This machine
was brought to the Kennedy Biscuit works, which tried it out in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts,
and the resulting cookie was christened "Newton's cakes," after the nearby Boston suburb of
Newton..."
"In 1892 Mitchell applied for a patent for his new machine, which was granted. Although he had
no name for his 'pie,' he thought the idea might be of value in commercial baking. So in 1892 he
persuaded officials of the Kennedy Biscuit Works, which had recently become affiliated with the
New York Biscuit Company, to try out his new machine, which he shipped to Cambridgeport.
Mitchell personally installed the machine and supervised its functioning...The professional bakers
tasted the final result, found it good and went away impressed....But promotion could not start
until a name was selected...The exciting new product of the Mitchell machine needed some such
name. Later an assistant to James Hazen, manager of the Cambridgeport bakery, recalled, "The
name was taken from the name of the town Newton-a suburb of Boston." When the name was
selected for this new product, it reflected a practice--by Mr. Hazen, who was manager of this
plant--of using the names of towns and cities in the vicinity of Boston."
"In 1892 the Kennedy Biscuit Works...purchased a machine designed to extrude a thick filling
material and enclose it in cookie dough, and decided to produce a cookie filled with fig jam."
It seems that the cookie itself was first created in 1891, but not marketed under the name Fig
Newton until 1892.
U.S.Patent & Trademark Registration:
And then...there's this other claim:
A Fig Newton of His Imagination?
Roser Park was originally developed by Charles Martin Roser, an Ohioan who foresaw the opportunities of the Florida land boom of the early twentieth century.
The prospect of a leisurely life on the balmy Pinellas Peninsula was drawing a steady stream of emigrants from the cold north, and to accommodate them Roser
purchased land on the outskirts of another developer's work. The location he selected along Booker Creek was picturesque, geographically and ecologically
dynamic, and truly unique. Accordingly, he created a neighborhood that was as appealing and diverse as its environment, offering the widest possible array of
architectural styles. Roser was born in 1864 in Elyria, Ohio. It is believed that he earned his fame and fortune by developing the recipe or baking process for the
famous Fig Newton cookie, and selling it to the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco). Roser initially had an interest in a cheese business in Wellington, OH, and by
1899, was operating a candy and cookie factory in Kenton, OH that was turning out fig cookies. Legend has it that Roser sold Nabisco the rights to his fig cookies
for 1 million dollars, the modern equivalent of about 19 million. Nabisco has maintained for some time that the Fig Newton was invented in 1891 by Philadelphia
inventor James Henry Mitchell. Mitchell is said to have invented the duplex dough-sheeting machines and funnels that made the jam-filled cookies possible.
According to a Nabisco marketing director, Nabisco purchased Mitchell's fig cookie, his machines and his Kennedy Biscuit Works outside Newton, MA in 1898,
the same year that Nabisco itself was formed by the merger of the New York Biscuit Company and the American Biscuit & Manufacturing Company in Chicago.
Nabisco observed further that although they are familiar with several stories claiming credit for the cookie, they have no record of Charles Roser.
More recently, however, Nabisco has seemed more willing to take other possible contributions to the confectionary invention into account. After all, the company
was formed in 1898 through the merger of 114 bakeries whose 400 ovens combined to consume 2 million barrels of flour a year, yielding 360 million pounds of
crackers annually. The New York Times reported that "all the biscuit and cracker companies between Salt Lake City on the west, Portland, Maine, on the east,
and St. Louis and New Orleans in the south, will tomorrow morning be under one management." Individual credit for specific innovations in any one of those given
markets or bakeries would be difficult to establish with any degree of accuracy after all this time. Some sources say that Roser sold his recipe to the Kennedy
Biscuit Works before it was swept up by the Nabisco merger."
African-American scholars state Low Country slaves had small garden patches for personal use. They grew sesame seeds and groundnuts (peanuts) among other edibles.
Generally, European colonists regarded ingredients used by people they considered inferior (think: Native Americans and slaves) as undesirable. They were used in
"make do" situations. Benne seeds present a conundrum because the were highly regarded in many parts of the world. Not so much England and France.
So: did African Americans incorporate their benne seeds into European recipes to entice white people to try them? Or, did the Europeans resort to benne due to lack
of imported seeds for their traditional cakes (caraway, aniseed). Early American cookbooks evidence the crossover for ground nuts (peanuts). It is possible benne
seeds were likewise employed but not well documented. The answer may be unlocked in primary documents not yet discovered: letters, diaries, manuscript cookbooks,
personal journals. Literacy among the slaves was minimal which may skew the possibility of balanced evidence.
Today we embrace benne wafers (cakes, cookies) as one of the cornerstones of Low Country culinary heritage.
Tracing the culinary evolution through recipes
[1847]
[1934]
"Peanut Cookies
[1940]
[1950]
"Benne Cookies
"Very Thin Benne Cookies
[1954]
Biscotti date to Ancient times. The term literally means "twice baked." These hard biscuits fueled
armies and fed travelers. Flavor variations and culinary techniques evolved according to time and
place. English rusk, German zweiback, Jewish mandelbrot, British ship's biscuit,
and American hardtack are similar in purpose
and method. About biscuits.
"Biscuit. A small, dry, flat cake, traditionally with good keeping qualities, eaten as a snack or
accompaniment to a drink, and sweet or savory. Sweet biscuits are eaten as an accompaniment
to coffee, tea or milk--and mid-morning wine in Italy--and partner desserts of ice cream. They are
used to make desserts--charlottes in particular--and macaroon crumbs are often added to custards
or creams...In France biscuits are simply regarded as one aspect of petits fours, with their own
wide repertoire...Their English and
French name comes from the Latin bis meaning twice and coctus meaning cooked, for biscuits
should be in theory be cooked twice , which gives them a long storage life...This very
hard, barely risen biscuit was for centuries the staple food of soldiers and sailors. Roman legions
were familiar with it and Pliny claimed that "Parthian bread" would keep for centuries...Soldiers
biscuits or army biscuits were known under Louis XIV as "stone bread." In 1894, army biscuits
were replaced by war bread made of starch, sugar, water, nitrogenous matter, ash, and cellulose,
but the name "army biscuit" stuck...Biscuits were also a staple item in explorers' provisions.
Traveller's biscuits, in the 19th century, were hard pastries or cakes wrapped in tin foil which kept
well."
"Biscotto. "Twice baked." Dry cookie. Often containing nuts, biscotti are usually slices from a
twice-baked flattened cookie loaf. In Tuscany, biscotti or cantucci are almond cookies. In Sicily,
biscotti a rombo are diamond-shaped cookies and b. Regina (queen's biscuits) are sesame seed
biscuits. B. Tipo pavesini are almond biscuits of Pavia. B. De la bricia are flavoured with fennel
seeds, a specialty of La Spezia. B. Aviglianese (Avigliano stype) are made with unleavened
bread."
"Biscuit, a cereal product that has been baked twice. The result is relatively light (because little
water remains), easy to store and transport (therefore a useful food for travellers and soldiers),
sometimes hard to eat without adding water or olive oil."
Recipe variations
[1945]
[1953]
Related foods? English rusk German zweiback, & Jewish Mandelbrot.
British ship's biscuit, and American hardtack are similar in purpose
and method.
Mandel (almond) Brot (bread)
"Mandelbrot, kamishbrot, and biscotti: three twice-baked cookies. One is Italian. The others are
Eastern European Jewish. Is there a connection? Perhaps. "We've thought about the connection,"
said Peter Pastan, chef-owner of Obelisk, a tiny pix fixe Italian restaurant in Washington D.C.
"Mandelbrot is all over Eastern Europe and in Italy everybody has a different recipe for
biscotti--some with fennel, some are crunchy; the ones around Siena are ugly but good." Mr.
Pastan, who comes form an American-Jewish family, studied cooking in Italy before opening his
mostly Italian restaurant. With a large Jewish population in Piedmont, Italy may have been the
place where Jews first tasted biscotti and later brought them to Eastern Europe where they called
the mandelbrot,
which means literally almond bread. In the Ukraine, a similar cookies not necessarily with almonds
by made at home, thuskamish, was served. In Italy they are often eaten as a dessert dipped into
wine or grappa. In Eastern Europe Jews dipped them into a glass of tea, and because they include
no butter and are easily kept they became a good Sabbath dessert."
Related foods? Italian Biscotti, English rusk & German zweiback,
British ship's biscuit, and American
hardtack are similar in purpose
and method.
English Rusk
"Rusks are composed of bread dough incorporating sugar, eggs, and butter. It is
shaped into a loaf or cylinder, baked, cooled, and sliced and then dried in low heat
until hard. They have a low water content and keep well. Sharing a common
origin with the modern biscuit, medieval rusks were known as panis biscoctus
(meaning twice-cooked bread') and were used as a for of preserved bread to
provision armies and ships at sea...In many countries there are products which
resemble rusks in that they are essentially oven-dried bread, whether plain (e.g.
bruchetta) or of a sweet kind; but they may incorporate other ingredients such as
spices or nuts, and ar given individual names according to the recipe."
"Rusks are a legacy of Elizabethan naval provisions. They were originally
smallish lumps of bread rebaked so as to be indestructible enough to last out a
long voyage. The earliest known reference to them comes in an account of
Drake's voyages written in 1595: The provision...was seven or eight cakes of
biscuit or rusk for a man.' The modern, more refined notion of a rusk as a slice of
bread crisped by rebaking emerged in the mid-eighteenth century, and already by
the end of the century rusks were being recommended as food for very young
children (a niche they largely occupy today). The word is an adaptation of Spanish
or Portuguese rosca, which originally meant literally twist, coil, and hense
twisted piece of bread'."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
2002 (p. 289)
About Rusk in America
Mrs. Lea's Rusk recipe, circa 1851
"Rusk for Drying
"Bread Rusk
Related foods? Italian Biscotti, Jewish Mandelbrot & German zweiback,
British ship's biscuit, and American
hardtack are similar in purpose
and method.
German Zweiback
"In German a rusk is a zweiback, i.e. twice baked. It takes the form of a small loaf which can be sold fresh but which
ordinarily is sliced before toasting and further baking until dry. It crossed the Atlantic with German emingrants in the 1890s
and is common in the USA. The French equivalent, biscotte, is baked as an oblong loaf, sliced, then toasted in a hotter oven than
is used to dry English rusks."
"Zweibach is an American English term which is etymologically, and to some extent semantically, identical with biscuit. it is a
sort of rusk made by cutting up a small loaf and toasting or baking the slices slowly until they are dry. Hence they are in effect
'twice cooked'--a notion expressed in French by biscuit and in German by zwieback (from zwie, a variant of zwei, 'twice' and backen,
'bake'). The word seems to have crossed the Atlantic with German emigrants in the 1890s. Zwiebacks are often given to
teething babies."
Related foods? Italian Biscotti, Jewish Mandelbrot & English Rusk,
British ship's biscuit, and American
hardtack are similar in purpose
and method.
Ruth Wakefield [June 17,
1903-January 10, 1977],
Whitman Mass., is credited for inventing chocolate chip cookies at her Toll
House Restaurant in the early 1930s. According to the story, Ruth used a Nestle candy
bar for her
chips. We will probably never know if Ruth was the very first person to put chocolate pieces in
cookies, but she is certainly the one who made them famous.
Who Was Ruth Wakefield?
Is the Toll House still operating?
The original recipe?
[1946]
[1947]
[1955]
[1956]
What is a *real* petit four and why the name?
"Petit four. A petit four is a small fancy cake, biscuit, or sweet-such as a piece of marzipan or a
crystallized or chocolate
covered fruit--typically severed nowadays with coffee at the end of a meal. The term is French in
origin. It means literally
small oven', and may have come from the practice of cooking tiny cakes and biscuits a petit four,
that is in low oven, at
low temperature'. It was adopted into English in the late nineteenth century."
The Oxford English Dictionary does nor include references to this term.
The oldest reference we find for this term appears in Jules Gouffre's The Royal Cookery
Book [1869] "Remarks
on Dessert. Under this heading I have given a limited number of recipes of Petits-Fours, of
Bonbons and Ices, without
attempting an elaborate treatise of confectionery,-a course which would have required far more
space than I have left."
(p. 545). Gouffre lists these items under the heading "Petits fours": filbert macaroons, pistachio
macaroons, chocolate
macaroons, macaroons souffles, lemon massepains (marzipan), almond paste loaves flavoured
with orange, almond
paste loaves with apricot jam, almond paste crescents, almond paste cakes, almond paste rings,
almond paste tartlets
with pine-apple, ice wafers, dutch wafers, Raspberry bouchees de Dames, coffee glaces,
marascsino glaces, small
meringues with cherries, etc.
The first mention of "petits fours" in The New York Times was a menu for a dinner given
by Mr. Randolph
Guggenheim (lawyer), January 28, 1894 (p. 17).
Mignardise
General French definitions
"Mignardise. Daintiness, delicacy."
Culinary definitions
"Mignardise. (i) Decorative pastry puff, (ii) Small dainty dish."
"At a sophisticated meal in France, an assortment of petits fours (sometimes known as
mignardises) may
be served either with or after the dessert."
Escoffier (1903/Le Guide Culinaire) does not not have a separate entry for mignardise.
These cookies are known by different names in different countries: Kipfel (Germany), kifli
(Yugolsavia) and cream cheese cookies (United States). Presumably, the first recipes for
rugelach-type foods were introduced to America by immigrants from Hungary, Yugoslavia and
neighboring countries. Some of these immigrants were Jewish.
The word "rugelach" descends from Yiddish linguistic traditions. There are several spellings and pronunciations. Although
some food history books state the word "rugelach" means "royal," Yiddish language scholars trace this word to Polish roots. Polish culinary
scholars agree:
"Rogale or crescent rolls (called crostulli in Latin) are half-moon shaped rolls made of high-quality wheat flour. The Polish
word rogal means 'horn.'"
Mildred Bellin's Jewish Cookbook [Tudor Publishing:New York, 1958] offers two recipes
for rugelach. One is a traditional yeast based product, the other is discreetly tucked under
"Hungarian cream cheese cookies,Variation II," containing unsalted butter, cream cheese, sugar,
flour and salt. Ms. Bellin observes:
"The variety of cookies and confections which may be found in a Jewish home reflects the long
history and international background of its inhabitants. There are for the holidays traditional
sweets, some of which like Hamantaschen, are a historic part of the festival. Others originated in
the many lands in which the Jewish people lived, but through the generations became part of their
own tradition. The cookies popular in the United States today are eagerly tried by Jewish cooks,
and are served as frequently as the older ones." (p. 262)
"There is no other Jewish sweet that has gone more mainstream than rugelach. Basically a
crescent-shaped cookies...it is also called kipfel,
cheese bagelach, and cream-cheese horns of plenty in this country. The yeast-based and often
butter or sour cream-based dough in Europe was usually rolled out into circles, cut into pie
shapes, covered with nuts, raisins, sugar, and cinnamon and then rolled up like pinwheels. It can
also be rolled out into a rectangle, covered with filling, rolled up, and cut into circles...The
American addition to rugelach was cream cheese and the myriad fillings used today. The
cream-cheese dough may have been developed by the Philadelphia Cream Cheese Company
because the
dough is often called Philadelphia cream-cheese dough. One of the the early cream-cheese doughs
appeared in The Perfect Hostess, written in 1950 by Mildred Knopf. Mrs. Knopf, the
sister-in-law of Alfred Knopf the publisher, mentioned that the recipe came from Nela Rubenstein,
the wife of the famous pianist Arthur Rubenstein. It was Mrs. Knopf's friend Maida Heatter who
put rugelah on the culinary map with Mrs. Heatter's grandmother's recipe. It is the most sought
after of all Mrs. Heatter's recipes and is the rugelach most often found in upscale bakeries
nationwide."
SELECTED RECIPES
[2004]
Moon pies, Whoopie Pies, Mallomars, Marshmallow Sandwiches,
Marshmallow Fluff, s'mores and dozens of other marshmallow-based concoctions were
immediate hits.
Scooter Pies were "second generation" so to speak. They were "born" in 1959.
According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office,
Scooter Pies were introduced December 17, 1959 (Registration #0834843) by Burry's, then a
division of Quaker Oats. How much did they cost 40 years ago? Thirty-nine cents for a 14 oz
package, according to a Waldbaum's [grocery store] ad that ran in the New York Times
September 9, 1964 (p. 39). Like Mallomars, these marshmallow chocolate treats are promoted in
the fall.
Vintage pictures of the Scooter Pie boxes:
Whoopie Pies
Whoopie pies belong to the same culinary family as Scooter Pies, Moon Pies, Devil Dogs, and
Marshmallow Sandwich Cookies. Second cousins are
Mallomars and S'mores. History notes here:
WHOOPIE PIE THEORIES OF ORIGIN: Pennsylvania Dutch or New England/Maine?
"Whoopie pie. A Pennsylvania-Dutch confection resembling a cupcake. It is usually made with
chocolate batter and a white icing filling, though there are many flavor variations. According to
the cookbook author and Pennsylvania restaurateur Betty Groff, whoopie pies may have
originated with mothers who used leftover batter from more traditional cakes to make little cakes
on cookie sheets for their children. The origin of the name is obscure, perhaps related to the
whoop of joy uttered by children on receiving such an unexpected sweet."
"The origin and name of the Whoopie Pie, just one of many Amish desserts, is shrouded in
mystery. No one seems to know when someone first decided to smear creamy filling between two
chocolate cookies. But we do know this delectable dessert is a characteristic Amish treat."
---"Not Amish? Try whoopie pies anyway," Alison Burke, Christian Science Monitor, April 30,
2003 (p. 17)
Whoopie Pie Festival [PA ]
"Cookie expert Nancy Baggett, author of "The All-American Cookie Book," speculates that the
whoopie pie was first made commercially at the Berwick Cake Co. in Roxbury's Dudley Square
in the mid- 1920s. The words "Whoopee! Pies" are still painted on the side of the aged brick
building. Today, the Berwick Research Institute, an experimental art and music venue there, calls
itself "the home of the whoopie pie." "Whoopie pies were most likely a commercial product,"
says Baggett from her home in Ellicott City, Md. "Some bakery probably had leftover cake
batter, plopped it onto a pan, and came up with a cake to eat out of hand." Whoopie pies have
endured commercially and in the home kitchen, where variations include pumpkin cakes and
cream cheese filling. They are perfect for the car and the lunchbox, sugary, squishy, chocolaty
fun. Fans of the confection delight in this squish - the right filling is crucial to a whoopie's
success."
"Just over a decade ago, Amy Bouchard drew on her love for baking to create a business in her kitchen making whoopie pies. In those
days she would crank out three at a time. Now, Mrs. Bouchard churns out 5,000 to 7,000 of the sweet Wicked Whoopies each day, shipping
the cream-filled cak sandwiches nationwide and beyond...Mrs. Bouchard...took a traditional New England treat and ran with it...
Her husband acknowledges that the pies are still something of a regional culinary curiosity...'I didn't invent the whoopie pie, but'
I like to take something and make it better, then make it great.' Mrs. Bouchard said. New England-style whoopie pies are a cousin
to the Moon Pies found in the South, cookie-and-marshmallow sandwiches dipped in chocolate. While Mrs. Bouchard has competitors
in her region, she believes her business is the first with a bakery devoted solely to whoopie pies. A big break came in 2003 when
Wicked Whoopies were featured on Ms. [Oprah] Winfrey's Web site and TV show."
Recommended reading & expert: Making Whoopies: The Official Whoopie Pie Book/Nancy Griffin
Langue de chat
Picasso's Still Life With Biscuits may very well have featured langes de chat.
The piped ridges might very well have intrigued Picasso's eye.
Still Life with Biscuits (langues de chat on plate on
right)is currently owned by the Cleveland Art Museum [OH].
Biscuit definitions & evolution:
"Langue de chat...In the view of some experts, this biscuit derives its name from its shape--thin,
flat and narrow, somewhat like a cat's tongue in appearance. Langes de chat, which are crisp, dry
biscuits can be made, or rather flavored, in various ways. Only biscuits made according to the recipe
given below, however, can properly be called langues de chat. These biscuits keep for quite a long
time and are usually served with certain liqueurs and sparkling wines. They are also served with
iced sweets (desserts) and used as an ingredients of various puddings."
The earliest recipe we have for Langue de chat was published in The Hotel St. Francis Cook
Book, 1919. The Hotel St. Francis (San Francisco, California) was a leader in early 20th
century American cuisine.
Langue de chat, II. One-quarter pound of sugar, one-quarter pound of butter,
one-quarter pound of flour, the whites of three eggs, and a little vanilla flavor. Mix the sugar and
butter until creamy; add the whites of eggs that have been well whipped to snow; add the flour
and flavoring, and mix lightly. Dress on buttered pan like lady fingers, but smaller. Bake and
remove from pan while hot."
[1927]
[1938]
Lemon bars
Enter: lemon bars
"Buttery lemon bars. The two components of these luscious bars--shortbread and lemon curd--are
old English favorites.
But layering the two in a bar cookie is, I believe, a twentieth century innovation. My friend and
colleague Joanne Hayes,
food editor of County Living magazine, remembers lemon bars being tested while she was
at McCall's magazine
back in the '60s. Yet the McCall's Cook Book (1963) doesn't include them. Nor do other
magazine cookbooks of
that time. My hunch is that dessert specialist Maida Hatter popularized lemon bars. Two of her
books offer variations on
the theme. The more classic-Sour Lemon Squares...appears in Maida Heatter's New Book of
Great Desserts
(1982)."
[1962]
[1963]
"Crunchy Lemon Squares
[1964]
[1982]
Mallomars
This is what the food historians have to say on the subject:
"On November 13, 1913, another famous cookie was born. Mallomar was described as "a
delightful combination of
marshmallow, jelly and layers of cake covered with chocolate icing." For several years before
Mallomar, the company
made a product called "Marshmallow Cream Sandwich," It was also convered with chocolate by
only sold in bulk. When
the formula for Mallomars was perfected, it was decided to make them a specialty and to pack
them in the In-er-seal
package. Later it, too, was made available in bulk."
The earliest Mallomar advertisment we've found far was published in the 1930s: "Chocolate Mallomars, 2 pkgs, 19 cents," New York Times,
November 9, 1934 (p. 15). Our survey of ad placed in historic American newspapers confirms the "seasonality" of this product.
"In a few weeks, a small but fiercely loyal group of consumers will breathe a collective sigh of
relief as they again are
able to buy their favorite cookie. Following a traditional warm weather hiatus, the first batch of
Mallomars cakes have
rolled out of the ovens and will soon be on store shelves. Mallomars, for those who have never
tried one, consist of a
vanilla base cookie topped with a marshmallow dome and coated in dark chocolate. It is the
chocolate that accounts for
the seasonal nature of the cookie. ''I wish we could produce and sell them year round but the
chocolate melts during the
summer,'' said Henry Havemeyer, plant manager of the Philadelphia bakery of Nabisco Brands
Inc. Havemeyer's facility
is the world's only source of Mallomars.
So each year, Nabisco halts Mallomars production, usually in late April and generally starts in
again in late September.
And each year, consumers follow what has become a ritual among Mallomars fans.
In a recent letter to Nabisco, a man representing the ''Mallomars Fan Club of South Connecticut''
explained, ''Early in the
spring, our members stockpile Mallomars, in their freezers, for the summer months. Sixteen or 18
packages per person
seem to be adequate to stave off Mallomars withdrawal until the product reappears in
September...''
Mark Kapsky, category business director for the Biscuit Division of Nabisco Brands, said the
cookie has achieved
almost a cult status among many people. ''Mallomars basically sells itself. We do little advertising
or promotion and still
sell every cookie,'' Kapsky said. The loyalty consumers have toward the chocolate encased cookie
was described by a
Florida man in a letter this spring, ''I'm a bit past 40 now and I guess I've been eating Mallomars
since I was about 8
years old. At approximately two boxes a week, 18 cakes per, well, that computes to 29,952
already consumed, give or
take a couple...''
The majority of Mallomars sales are tallied in the New York metropolitan area and Miami,
according to Kapsky.
Although available in some additional pockets of the
country, since its introduction in 1913 the cookie has been a big seller in places like Brooklyn,
N.Y., northern New Jersy
and Long Island. The regional nature of the brand accounts for many of the letters the company
receives from consumers
regarding Mallomars. The author typically is a person who moved from the New York area and
cannot find the cookie in
his or her new city....
This past spring, however, Kapsky said the company received hundreds of unexpected complaints.
A sales surge in
March and April meant that when people went to buy their summer stash, there were few bright
yellow boxes of
Mallomars to be had. And when they're gone in April, they're gone until production resumes in
September..."
Of course, there is ALWAYS the "other" side of the story:
Do you remember eating Mallomars in the summer?
Case in point:
How much did Mallomars cost?
[1919]
[1921]
[1928]
[1938]
[1948]
[1952]
[1955]
[1956]
[1957]
[1964]
[1968]
[1972]
[1973]
Food historians trace the history of these cookies and cakes to Medieval Arab cuisine, which was
rich in sugar. Small sugar cakes with nuts (most often almonds) and spices were known to these
cooks and quickly adopted by the Europeans. This sweet culinary tradition was
imported by the Moors to Spain, diffused and assimilated throughout Europe, then introduced to
the New World by 16th century explorers. Sugar cookies, as we
know them today, made their appearance in th 17th century. About sugar. Recipes called Mexican wedding cakes descend from this tradition.
They first appear in American cookbooks in the 1950s.
"...in looking for the roots of Spanish food traditions one must go back to the Phoenicians, who
founded the city now called Cadiz in 1100BC; the ancient Greeks, and the Carthaginians...and
more important, the Romans who used Spain as a major source of food, especially wheat and
olive oil...Introductions by the Arabs were also of fundamental importance for Spain's future.
They are particularly associated with the use of almonds (the essential ingredient for so many
Spanish desserts, baked goods, and confectionery items); with the introduction of citrus fruits
(including the lemon and the bitter (Seville) orange, without which British marmalade would
never have been born); sugar cane and the process of refining sugar from its juice..."
"...the Spanish sweet tooth is gratified by a range of dessert wines and liqueurs and
special-occasion candies, some of almost Oriental sugariness. Almonds and honey are included in
many of them Turron, or nougat, white or dark, soft or brittle, is exceedingly more-ish and is now
a big industry in Jijona. The Arabic influences in candy-making are pronounced and candies such
as
amarguillos date from Moorish times...In the Spanish kitchen, milk and cream are commandeered
for desserts, particularly in the north...The national dessert...is caramel custard, called flan."
"Polvorones Sevillanos
"Sevillian sweetmeats are the most popular in all of Spain. The art of Sevillian baking has enjoyed
great fame ever since Renaissance times, although in fact it goes back to the Arabs, whose passion
for honey, almonds and pine kernels is still very evident in today's sweets. Sevillian master bakers
produce a wide range of delicacies, including tortas de aceite (very flat, round, flaky cakes), which
originated in nearby Castilleja de la Cuesta, and polvorones (sweet, crumbly, almond cakes),
which are first recorded as being made in Estepa."
Polvorones translated into biscochitos once they settled in Mexico. The traditional Seville orange
flavor eventually subsided.
"Biscochitos (Spanish cookies)
Biscochitos are made from rich pie pastry dough. Add baking powder, 1 tsp. Cleaned anize seed,
& sugar to sweeten. Roll on bread board 1/3 inch thick. Cut into long strips about 1 2/3 inches
wide, and then across into 2 inch lengths. Cut little narrow strips about an inch long on sides, pull
long, and roll back each strip into a curlicue; dip in sugar and bake."
Did you know? The bizcochito is the official cookie of New Mexico!
12-3-4. J. The bizcochito is adopted as the official cookie of New Mexico.
1989, ch. 154, 1; . Recipe here.
MEXICAN WEDDING CAKES
The cookie is old, the name is new. Food historians place the first recipes named
"Mexican
wedding cakes" in the 1950s. Why the name? Our books and databases
offer no
explanations. Perhaps timing is everything? Culinary evidence confirms Mexican
wedding cakes
are almost identical to Russian Tea Cakes. During the 1950s and 1960s relations
between Russia
and the United States were strained. It is possible the Cold War provided the
impetus for
renaming this popular cookie. Coincidentally? This period saw the mainstreaming
of TexMex
cuisine into American culture.
"Mexican wedding cake. A buttery, melt-in-your-mouth cookie that's usually
ball-shaped and
generally contains finely chopped almonds, pecans or hazelnuts. It's usually rolled
in confectioners'
sugar while still hot, then again after the cookie has cooled. Many countries have
their own
rendition of this rich cookie. Two versions are Russian tea cakes and Spain's
polvornes."
"Mexican wedding cakes. These cookies masquerade under several
names--Butterballs, Russian
Tea Cakes, Swedish Tea Cakes, Moldy Mice. "Butterballs" is easy enough to
explain--these little
balls are buttery--but I have no idea how they came by their other
pseudonyms. The are
also known sometimes as Pecan Sandies, although true sandies are nearer
shortbread. Mexican
Wedding Cakes were a community cookbook staple throughout the 50s and
60s..."
"Cookies continue to outnumber all other recipe requests in our reader mail. Most in demand of late is a rich, semi-sweet butter cooky that is made in many
countries and has many names and variations. In America it is best known as Nut Butter Balls or Almond Crescents. Mexican Wedding Cakes, Russian Tea
Cakes, Danish Almond Cookies and Finnish Butter Strips are other titles for cookies made with the same basic dough. Still other names such as Napolean Hats,
Melting Moments and Filbert Jelly Fills come from variation in shaping the cookies."
[1951]
[1955]
Nut Butter Balls
Mexican Wedding Cakes: With bottom of tumbler dipped into flour,
flatten each 1" ball.
Bake at 325 degrees F. 12 minutes. While cookies are warm, sprinkle with
confectioners'
sugar."
A survey of historic American recipes indicates sand tarts, as we know them today,
may have
descended from simple sugar cookies. Recipes with this name first surface in the the 1880s,
without attribution (person/place/company/contest) or comment. They are popular Christmas cookies in
the Scandinavian counties: Sandbakkelser (Denmark) and Sandbakelse (Sweden). Food
historians do not offer
definative information regarding the genesis of the recipe's name. Perhaps it was
inspired by the
gritty granlated sugar and cinnamon covering the finished product? German/Viennese sand tortes (a sponge-type pound
cake) contain somewhat similar ingredients.
[1896]
[1907]
[1931]
Russian tea cakes
Noble Russian cuisine (along with every other facet of noble life) was influenced
by prevailing
French customs during the 18th century. Tea was first introduced to Russia in
1618, but the
Russian tea ceremony of samovars and sweet cakes was a legacy of Francophile
Catherine the
Great in the 18th century. It is interesting to note that A Gift to Young
Housewives, Elena
Molokhovet [1870s popular Russian cookbook] contains plenty of recipes for a
variety of small
baked goods, none specifically entitled Russian tea cakes. There are, however,
several recipes
which use similar ingredients. If you want to examine these recipes you are in
luck. Gift fo a
Young Housewife has recently been reprinted [in English with extensive notes
provided by
Joyce Toomre] by Indiana University Press (1992). Your librarian can borrow a
copy for you.
If you want to contribute sweet treats for a traditional Russian tea
ask your librarian to help you find The Art of Russian Cuisine, Anne
Volokh. If you need
something right now
check out these
recipes.
What are Nanaimo bars?
Our survey of historic recipes confirms several variations on the Nanaimo theme. The earliest print recipe we find for this tasty morsel was published in the mid-
1950s. USA newspapers commence reporting Nanaimo bars a decade later.
[1962]
"Nanaimo Bars
"Special Frosting
[1965]
Nanaimo Bars
[1977]
"George
First layer
Second layer
Third layer
A brief survey of American "no bake" recipes through time
"Persian Balls.
[1942]
[1952]
"Raisin Peanut Balls
[1962]
[1963]
Oats & oatmeal
"The cereal grass which produces the seeds called oats originated as a weed in wheat and barley
fields, which was accidentally harvested with the main crop. In due course it came to be cultivated
in its own right in northern Europe, and was introduced to Britain in the Iron Age. The Romans
knew of it (their word for it was avena...), but only as a weed, or as a fodder plant--although
Pliny, anticipating Dr. Johnson, mentions that the Germanic peoples made porridge with it. The
word oat, which is a descendant of Old English ate, is a pure English term, with no known
relatives in other languages. The remaining Germanic languaves have interrelated names for the
plant...Oatmeal, the term for flour made from oats, was coined in the fifteenth century."
"Oatcakes made from oats (in the form of oatmeal), salt, and water, sometimes with a little fat
added, were
the staple food of the inhabitants of the Pennines and the Lake District in England and of the
Scottish
Highlands for centuries. In these upland regions oats are the only cereal which will ripen in the
cold wet
climate. Oatcakes...were also of some importance in Wales and Ireland. They remain popular, and
are now
generally regarded as a Scottish specialty...Oatcakes had some importance as festive foods,
especially at
Beltane (1 May, and ancient Celtic festival) and Christmas."
"There is evidence that oats were quite qidely grown in Anglo-Saxon England, on athylle (on oat hill) is recorded in 779...The bishop
of Worcester's oat land is mentioned in a boundary charter of 984. However, oats do not feature in dues and rents as wheat
and barley do...oats may have been used for human consumption: while Pliny was not complimentary about oats he noted they were made
into porridge in Germany. Giraldus was perhaps sensationalising matters when he commented that the whole population of
Wales lived almost entirely on oats. In times of dearth they may have been utilized quite generally, but they could have been a staple
crop in aras with damp, acid soils."
"Myths of oats have much in common with myths of wheat, barley, rye, corn, and other cereal
grains. Grains generally were associated with fertility of the earth and soil, and served as symbols of the
earth's renewal."
American oats
"Rolled otats, or Oatflakes were developed in America by the Quaker Oat Company in 1877 and are made by steaming and rolling
pinhead oatmeal."
Oats as American health food
Dani Shaneyfelt, historical interpreter at Stuhr Museum [Grand Island, NE], sent us two additional period recipes. Both employ substantial
amounts of oatmeal.
[1898]
"Oreo. A trademark name...for a cookie composed of two thin chocolate cookies
enclosing a white
creme filling. The name...was apparently made up by the company. It has been
suggested that the
name may derive from the French word for gold "or" because the original package
had the
product name in gold. Another guess is that the word is from the Greek for
'mountain'...The first
Oreos were sold to a grocer named S. C. Thuesen on March 6, 1912...Oreos were
not, however,
the first cookie of this type: "Hydrox Cookies" had been on the market since
January 1, 1910, but
Oreos have been far more successful."
Product evolution
About the cookie's design:
"The ornamental pattern of the wafer itself...is Oreo's visual signature. Stampled out by brass rollers passing over sheets of chocolate dough, the pattern consists of
a series of four-leaf clovers around the word "OREO," which is set within the traditional trademark of Nabisco, its manufacturer--that trademark being a horizontal
oval with what looks like a television antenna extending up from it. Around the clovers, a broken line forms a broken circle. Beyond that, the outer edge of the
cookie is slighly ridged, serving both as a visual frame for the ornamental center and as a means of grasping the cookie with comparative ease. As a design, it is
pleasantly dowdy, like the wallpaper one might find in an old country house, or the wall stenciling that was common in the early years of this century, when the
Oreo was created. Although spokesmen for Nabisco say there have been no significant changes in the cookie (except for its size), magazine advertisements from
past years show that this has not been the case. In the 1950's, for example, the word "OREO" was set in a circle, which was surrounded by what appears to be a
garland of petals. It was a more graceful look a bit closer in appearance to that of the Oreo's erstwhile competitor, the Hydrox brand produced by Sunshine
Bakeries. Hydrox is the Pepsi to the Oreo's Coca Cola; it acutally predates Oreo, though it is less popular. The Hydrox's ornamental pattern is at once cruder and
more delicate than the Oreo's; the ridges around the edge are longer and deeper, but the center comprises stamped-out flowers, a design more intricate than the
Oreo pattern."
How much have Oreos cost through the years?
Where is "Oreo Way?"
Recommended reading:
We checked dozens of early 20th century American cookbooks and found peanut
cookies recipes
were quite common. These, however, called for crushed/chopped peanuts as an
ingredient. It is
not until the 1910s that we find peanut butter listed as an ingredient in
cookies. The first peanut butter cookies recipes were for rolled cookies. The 1933
edition of Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes contains a recipe for Peanut Butter
Balls which
instructs the cook to roll the dough into balls and press them down with the tines
of a
fork. This practice is still common in America today.
[1917]
[1933]
1. Sift flour, salt and soda together.
Related food? peanut butter & jelly
sandwiches.
Why the classic criss-cross pattern?
"It has been pointed out, on occasion, that you never can tell what on earth interests readers of
this column and to what degree. With tongue in cheek, we stated recently that we had a file of
letters marked Unanswered and Unanswerable. We quoted one of those letters, not fictional, in
which
someone aked if we could explain why peanut butter cookies were creased with a fork before
baking. We didn't really expect an answer to that, but replies we got. One reader wrote as follows:
The cookies are creased with a fork, she informed us, to make them crisper. "One of my sons,"
she continued, "once answered this technique and baked one pan of cookies plain, the other with
the tradtional fork creases on top. The plain peanut butter cookies did not taste as good and
seemed a bit soggy in the center. "Since the peanut butter cookie dough is quite rich, I think the
fork creases expose just enough dough to add a bit more crispy crust for better results. Another
reader offered this conjecture: "Most cookies dropped by rounded teaspoonsful will flatten in the
oven and bake evenly. Is there something in peanut butter cookie dough that prevents it from
flattening out by itself? The peanut butter, for example? Pressing the dollop with the tines of a
fork would assure the dough flattens properly and, therefore, bakes evenly." But the explanation
about pressing those cookies that we like best came from Sylvia Lavietes of New Haven, Conn.:
"Your column today contained an inquiry regarding peanut butter cookies. Well, a stupid question
calls for a stupid answer. Peanut butter cookies are crisscrossed in order to make it possible to
distinguish them from chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar."
Pizzelle
About pizzelle
"Pizzelle. A large round cookie made from a rich batter of eggs, sugar, butter, flour, and vanilla, baked on a
specially designed pizzelle iron, which looks like a waffle iron. The intricately carved sufaces of the pizzelle
iron imprint designs onto the cookie as it cooks. Pizzelle become crisp as they cool. While still warm, they can
be rolled into a cone shape, then filled with whipped cream when cool...The Scandinavian version of pizzelle
is krumkake, baed on a similar iron that has the traditional engraved scroll designs."
"Pizzelles, a centuries-old specialty of the Tuscan town of Montecatini, are a standard at most
Italian-American bakeries and espresso shops."
"One of the many delicacies we continue to enjoy preparing are pizzelle, crisp embossed cookies
from Italy that are baked one at a time in a patterned cookie iron. The word pizzelle, a derivative of
"pizza," means "small cakes." If your grandmother was Scandinavian or French, you may know this
cookie by such names as krumkake or gaufrette. These sweet, lacy cookies are made from a
wafflelike batter that is spooned into an iron mold with two long handles. The resulting cookie is
similar to waffle ice cream cones before they are rolled into shape. In fact, pizzelle come out of the
iron soft and flexible, and you can roll them into decorative cones or cannoli shells. Pizzelle are
usually flavored with anise or lemon, but you can add ground cinnammon, orange rind or almond
extract. Pizzelle offer a good flavor and textured contrast to fruit sorbets, ice creams and custards.
Pizzelle are perfect with afternoon tea or as a light dessert, spread with creamed honey. Although
pizzelle are popular all over Italy, in the south, pizzelle irons are traditional wedding gifts from
village blacksmiths. They come inscribed with the wedding date and the newlyweds' initials.
Subsequent celebrations call for bringing out the pizzelle iron."
Related food?
Ice cream cones!
Scottish shortbread
"As Jean-Louis Flandrin points out, butter consumption is a natural development in
regions
suitable for cattle-breeding. In such places, popular taste and the local economy
had gone right
over to butter as a cooking fat within 400 years....Flandrin is speaking about the
butter-eating
areas of Europe in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries..."
"Butter was the other principal milk dish [cheese being the other]. The manner of
making is had
changed little since Pliny's day...In other branches of cookery butter was an
enricher, the
accompaniment of cheese in herbolaces or with macaroni; of eggs, milk and sugar
in the filling for
a flathon; of plain or fancy breads in pain perdu or rastons. For short pastry and
cakes, it was at
first an alternative to fresh cream, but eventually superseded it, for butter had a
more highly
concentrated fat content, and was more easily stored...Nevertheless butter
appeared in a relatively
small proportion of the dishes in medieval recipe books, which were written mainly
for and by the
cooks of the nobility. It was only in Tudor times that an emerging middle class,
which did not
despise butter as the food of the poor, began to use it liberally in every possible
sphere of
cookery, setting a trend that was to last for some two hundred years."
This explains why the first shortbread recipes date only back as far as Elizabethan
times. This food
historian confirms:
"Shortbread...a biscuit whose origin lies in the short cakes made in the 16th
century...There are
many variations. The thick Pitcaithly bannock has peel and almonds in the
mixture..."
According to these sources, if you want to make Medieval/Elizabethan type
shortbread you might
want to add some finely ground oats to your recipe. This makes sense given the
fact that oats and
butter were staple foods of the poorer classes.
"Shortbread...A biscuit (cookie) rich in butter, which is served with tea and its
traditionally eaten
at Christmas and New Year. Originating from Scotland and traditionally made with
oatmeal, it is
now made with wheat flour...Shortbread is usually baked in a large round and
served cut from the
centre into triangles; it is a relic of the ancient New Year cakes that were symbols
of the
sun."
"Eaten all the year round but especially at Christmas and the New Year, this
delicious cake, which
is quite unlike any other, is made from only the finest materials...Originally made
with fine
oatmeal, it is now made with sifted flour, sometimes with a small proportion of
rice flour. On
festive occasions it can be decorated with fine strips of orange or lemon peel and
small sugared
almonds. In the Shetland and Orkney Islands it is call the Bride's Bonn, and has a
small
proportion...of caraway seeds added. The edges are traditionally "notched" by
pinching with the
finger and thumb, and this is thought to symbolize the sun's rays, from the early
days of
sun-worship."
What about the origin of the name "shortbread?" According to the Oxford
English
Dictionary,
"Short" (definition 20): Of edible substances: Friable, easily crumbled. This
describes the process
of making shortbread. This is also where the English term "shortening" comes
from. According to
John Ayto, the term "shortbread" dates back only as far as the early nineteenth
century. [An
A-Z of Food and Drink, Oxford University Press:Oxford 2002 (p. 310).]
"We all know what short dough is: a rich dough that makes a tender crust, as against the plain dough that turns into sturdy, chewy bread. And then there's shortbread, which always has a lot of butter or other "shortening" in it.
So how come there's no such thing as long dough or longbread? Or an ingredient known as lengthening, for that matter? In exactly what sense does shortening "shorten" anything?
In this case, "short" doesn't refer to richness but to a fragile, easily crumbled texture. Short doughs bake up crumbly because the fatty shortening coats the flour particles, preventing the formation of gluten when water is stirred in.
This is a rather uncommon and specialized sense of the word (in the Oxford English Dictionary, it's No. 21 of the 23 main definitions of "short"). "Short" may have acquired this meaning because it can refer to something that's inadequate--something that falls short, as we say. The idea might have been that short dough was weak, which it is.
On the other hand, maybe the metaphor of shortness came from brick-making. Professionally made bricks are fired in kilns at temperatures so high that the clay fuses into something as hard as rock, but anybody can make sun-dried bricks. The thing that gives a sun-dried brick strength is chopped-up straw; without straw mixed in, the bricks are just fragile lumps of dried mud.
Of course, the same would be true if the straw were cut too . . . short. It may have seemed to people that short dough behaved as if it contained short fibers."
Historic shortbread recipe sampler
[1736]
[1829]
[1875]
[1909]
[1956]
[1980]
Where did the idea come from? Victorian-era cookbooks contain recipes for
"sandwich cookies,"
soft sponge-cakes filled with jam or cream fillings. American cookbooks published
in the early
decades of the 20th century contain recipes for chocolate sandwiches (cool) and
marshmallow
sandwiches (warm). American food companies were combining marhsmallows,
graham crackers
and chocolate in the 1910s. These were wildly popular. About Moon
Pies, Scooter pies & Mallomars.
The director of the National Historic Preservation Center, Girl Scouts of the USA
kindly pointed us in the right direction. She confirmed the recipe first appeared first in GSA's 1927 book Tramping and Trailing with the
Girl Scouts. We own a copy of this booklet. Here's the original recipe:
The 1940 Girl Scout Handbook has a recipe for one "Some Mores" that
calls for "4
squares plain
chocolate (thin), 2 graham crackers, and one marshmallow. This recipe may be
varied by using
slices of
apple (cut cross-wise) in place of the graham crackers; by using pineapple slices or
peanut butter
in place
of chocolate."
Our 1947 GSA Handbook confirms this recipe adds these instructions:
We do not really know that the Girl Scouts were the first to make and enjoy
S'mores, but we also
don't
know of any earlier claims to this special treat. We also do not know when the
name of this treat
got
shortened. Recipes for "Some Mores" are in various Girl Scout publications until
at least 1971.
When were marshmallow roasts popular?
Food historians tell us the history of small cakes/cookies/biscuits with
snickerdoodle-type
ingredients dates back to ancient Roman times. Small cakes of this sort were quite
popular in
Medieval Europe. In Medieval and Renaissance England, similar cookies were
called jumbles.
Germans often added more spices and dried fruits, in the gingerbread tradition.
When Europeans
settled in the New World they brought with them their culinary heritage and their
recipes. We find
plenty of recipes printed in 18th-19th century American cookbooks that would
produce
something quite like snickerdoodles, but they are called other names (jumbles,
ginger
cookies).
Is it possible the recipe for snickerdoodles is very old but the name
snickerdoodle was invented
recently? Perhaps. The word does not show up in
the Oxford English Dictionary, Dictionary of Americanisms, and
other word origin
books. The U.S. Patent & Trademark
Office points us to
several products with this name, most notably, Snickerdoodle.com (1989). A
popular children's
book suggests the word "snicker" may have come from a Dutch word "snekrad,"
or the German
word "Schnecke, " both describing a snail-like shape. This is possible. This book
offers no
explanation for the "doodle."
This is what the the food historians have to say about the snickerdoodles:
"Snickerdoodle. A New England cookie made with flour, nuts, and dried fruits.
The name is
simply a nineteenth-century nonsense word for a quickly made confection."
"Snickerdoodle. Originating in 19th century New England, this whimsically named
cookie has a
charactaristically crackly surface and can be either crisp or soft...The name appears
to have no
particular meaning or purpose."
"I do not know the origin of the name, but it has been proposed that it is of
German origin and
derived from the word "schnecken", i.e. sticky buns."
"Snickerdoodle, a biscuit made from a creamed mixture enlivened with nutmeg,
nuts, and raisins.
It is a specialty of the Pennsylvania Dutch, a community with many sweet biscuit
and cookie
recipes."
What makes the history of Snickerdoodles so interesting?
Some authentic recipes [of English heritage] that would make
cookies approximating snickerdoodles:
Queen
cakes , Joe Froggers & Sand Tarts.
Plain and simple. Recipes titled "Snickerdoodles" first surfaced in USA print during the 20th century:
[1907]
[1920s?]
"Snickerdoodles.
[1939]
[1958]
[1963]
Related cookies: Hermits & Joe Froggers.
Food historians tell us small hard biscuits were probably first made by ancient
Middle Eastern
peoples. These foods were quite practical, as they were filling, easily transported
and able
withstand adverse weather conditions. This is why cracker-type foods have a long
history in
military rations. Ancient Roman armies ate biscuits,
Nelson's sailors ate
Ship's biscuit, and
Civil War
soldiers ate hardtack. These are
all related in method and ingredients to the tasty crackers we buy in today's
supermarket.
Many cultures and cuisines have developed their own special crackers. Italian
biscotti, Jewish
mandlebrot, German zwieback and English rusk are some examples. The word
"cracker" appears
to have originated in North America sometimes in the 18th century. Food
historians generally
agree that the light, crispy crackers we Americans know today appeared in the
19th century.
This concides with the "discovery" of chemical leaveners such as baking soda and powder.
"Cracker
"Cracker
"Crackers started out as thin, crisp nonsweet, bite-size flatbreads. The making of
crackers was
among the first food industries in America. During the eighteenth century, cheap,
hard crackers
called "ship's bread," "ship's biscuits," and later, "hardtack" were widely
manufactured for use on
ships and for those migrating westward. These large, sturdy crackers, made only of
flour and
water--no shortening--kept for a very long time. One of the earliest brand-name
foods was Bent's
water crackers, which were initially manufactured by Josiah Bent, a ship's bread
baker in Milton,
Massachusetts...Crackers were packed in barrels and sold to grocery stores and
restaurants.
Recipes for simple crackers appeared in early American cookbooks...By the 1840s
three major
cracker varieties made with shortening had been introduced: the soda cracker, the
butter cracker,
and the round sugar biscuit...The era of generic crackers ended in 1898 with the
formation of the
National Biscuit Company, the forerunner of Nabisco...The new company
introduced wrapping
and packaging machines for their new brand-name product, Uneeda biscuits...After
World War II,
the cracker industry expanded along with the rest of the snack food field."
"In certain areas of the midwest there was a strong preference for a cracker called
"Premium
Flake" or "Saltina," which replaced Uneeda in popularity. The Premium Saltine, a
soda cracker,
had long been a favorite in certain areas of the midwest, particularly in the
Missouri area where it
was invented. It had won prizes as far back as 1876. [Thomas L.] Green was
jealous for his
favorite soda cracker, Uneeda Biscuit, and kept the Premium Saltine confined to
its home ground.
However, in the twenties the Saltine began to be manufactured and distributed in
factories
throughout the country and was soon in wide demand. The popularity of the
Saltine was
increased many times over in the years ahead."
"About the time Green and Moore were, as young lawyers, descending upon Chicago, a special type of soda cracker was being produced by the
F.L. Sommer Company in its huge bakery in St. Joseph, Missouri. It was called 'Premium Saltine.' At first it was made only in the
west. But its popularity spread and soon it was in demand all over the country. The Premium soda cracker was the greatest thing that had
happened to the Sommer company since its government contract for half a million pounds of hard bread for distribution to
Indian tribes. The Premium soda cracker or saltine was to become--although not without opposition from Green--one of the most valuable
assets that NBC inherited."
Did Joseph Garneau "invent" the saltine?
"President of the Joseph Garneau Company, Inc., importers, died yesterday at his home in Kingston N.J., in his sixty-second
year. He was engaged in the manufacture of biscuits and crackers. He was the inventor of the saltine cracker."
Historic evidence
[1901]
Sift the flour several times, and add the salt. Mix well. Then rub in the butter
thorougly. Add the
soda, which you will have dissolved in a little boiling water, and the milk and mix
all well
together. Then knead well and put upon the biscuit board an beat with a rolling pin
for upwards of
half an hour, frequently rolling the dough over, and beating hard until the air
bubbles cover every
part, above and below. The roll out into a nice square, even sheet of dough, about
one eighth of
an inch in thickness, and cut into nice square cakes. Stick through and through
with a fork here
and there over the the surface in even rows, and bake them in a moderate oven till
they are hard
and crisp, but not brown. Then hang in a muslin bag for about two days to
thoroughly dry, and
they are ready to be served."
Why the name "oyster cracker?" Food reference books do not specifically
address this
question. There are (at least) two possibilities based on the history of the product:
1. They were
used in chowders (thus the association with oysters) and 2. They looked like
oysters (crackers are
three-dimensional if not stamped flat; these lumpy white crackers might have
looked like oysters
in shape and color.)
"Common crackers.
According to The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F.
Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p.
331), what we know today as the modern "oyster cracker" is a direct descendant
the Trenton [NJ]
cracker:
"Trenton cracker.
History of Trenton
crackers, 1848.
"Originally the oyster cracker was square, until Dr. E. T. Oakes of the NBC
[National Biscuit
Company] laboratory, conceived the notion of presenting Oysterette in a
hexagonal shape."
2. According to early 19th century New England cookbooks, biscuits/crackers
were puffed bread
products
which were cut in half and served warm with butter. This makes them somewhat
different from
the saltine-type Vermont common cracker we enjoy today. Yet? Hardtack and
other crisp biscuits
were certainly known
and consumed.
What does this tell us? Don't bother looking for recipes for "common crackers" in
19th century
cookbooks. You will, however, find references to New England/Middle States crackers and cakes.
Think: Boston crackers and New York Cookies.
The best you can do is examine the primary evidence for an approximating recipe.
This makes
tracing the
Vermont common cracker a bit more challenging. Is the product we enjoy today
the same item
our
foremothers baked? It's hard to tell.
We do we know: The concept of hard crackers (soaked in liquid, as in soup) traces
back to
Ancient Roman
days. Dried bread keeps easily, travels well, and fills the belly. This made it the
natural choice of
armies,
sailors and the like up until recent times. Think hardtack. Colonial-era cookbooks
and industrial
revolution-era manufacturing/retail literature offer many different types of biscuits
and crackers.
These vary greatly in
size, texture, and purpose.Names for said items range from generic descriptions
(souffle biscuits)
to place-specific claims (Boston crackers, Westminster crackers, Trenton crackers,
etc.) Mid-19th
century
technological advancements made saltine-type crackers, as we know them today,
possible. Some
of these
traditional recipes were converted to the ligther, more popular method. General
notes about oyster crackers & saltines .
Vermont common crackers
"Common cracker. Very crisp, hard, thick wheatflour cracker that may be split
and grilled with
butter or Cheddar
cheese, ground into bread crumbs, or eaten in chowders; similar to Boston
Cracker. The term first
appears in print in
1939. One manufacturer claims common crackers were first baked by Charles
Cross about 1830
in his Montpelier,
Vermont, bakery, and were called "Cross crackers" or "montpelier crackers." But
in the New England
Cookbook (1954),
Eleanor Early credits the cracker's invention to Artemus Kennedy of Menotomy,
Massachusetts,
almost two hundred
years ago. Early wrote that "Artemus had a large family and it was said that the
children learned
to retrieve crackers [that
Artemus tossed on the floor of a big Dutch oven]...before they could walk. Baking
was done
three times a week, and
Artemus rode about the countryside on his horse selling them from his saddlebags."
Whatever their
origins, common
crackers are no longer easily found, and the news that a Rockingham, Vermont
citizen named
Vrest Orton had bought
the original Charles Cross machinery and begun to sell common crackers again in
1981 was
greeted with considerable
interest by those who remember the taste of dry, crisp morsels split opened and
eaten with good
Vermont cheddar."
"Two years ago Cross Crackers, the thick white crackers that filled American
cracker barrels for
over a century, seemed
headed for oblivion as surely as beer in a bucket. The Cross Baking Company,
which was in
business for 151 years in
Vermont and later in New Hampshire, went bankrupt, and its machinery was sold
at auction. The
demise of the cracker,
however, turned out to be greatly exaggerated, and this edible bit of Americana is
once again
baking on the old
equipment in a new bakery addition to the Vermont Country Store, a thriving
replica of the real
thing, in Weston, Vt. It
is a mistake to suppose that the old-time country store cracker barrel, surrounded
of course by
genial, chatting rural
types, was filled with something like saltines. Modern crackers are thin, uniform,
Johnny-come-latelies compared with
Cross Crackers, which were a mouthful - an inch thick, hard, dry, bland and about
as large as the
rim of a coffee cup.
Their keeping qualities guaranteed that those on the bottom of the barrel would be
as firm as
those on top. In recent
years, when the cracker-barrel trade fell off, the crackers, boxed in a distinctive red
and black
design, were familiar on
New England store shelves. These are the New England ''common crackers''
mystifyingly referred
to in recipes. For
years they were a staple of the region's diet, with many people eating them
crumbled in a bowl
with milk. Often called
Montpelier crackers after their home town, they were first made by Charles Cross
in his Vermont
bakery in 1830. He
was a canny Yankee entrepreneur who mixed and baked crackers three days a
week, using his
horse on a treadmill to
rotate the special oven. On alternate days the horse pulled the delivery wagon. At
that time nearly
all country or village
stores bought crackers by the barrel, and before long business boomed. Mr. Cross
is credited with
later installing the
world's first cracker machines, and when he died at 93 in 1905 he was the oldest
baker in New
England... The common
cracker is solid and filling, meant for eating one at a time. On its own it tends to be
dry and
tasteless, qualities that
recommend it highly for additions. The easily split cracker takes well to cheese or
butter on top,
which can be toasted as
well. Although recipes, including cracker pudding, have been included in New
England
cookbooks over the years, the
favorite was for puffed crackers.
"Julia Child's focus on the common
cracker underlines the importance of serving something crunch to complement and
balance the
soft texture of chowder. Common crackers, Crown Pilot crackers, or other had
crackers should
always be offered with chowder, because the toasts are so very dry and crisp that
they can be
presented in place of crackers...If there has been a constant in the history of
chowder, at least for
the last two hundred years, it is the common cracker. A perfect companion for
chowder, the
common cracker has remained unchanged...These round puffed, hollow, very hard
crackers have
been manufactured in New England for so long that almost no home cook knows
how to make
them. Even those who do know don't bother, because they take almost two days to
make and if
you do everything just right, they might turn out as good as the ones you can buy at
the store. In
and around New England, you can find common crackers in many specialty and
seafood markets
and sometimes in ordinary supermarkets...At its inception, the common cracker
was known as the
Boston cracker throughout New England, lending plausibility to the belief that
Boston was its
place of origin. Ironically, it was Bostonians who coined the name "common
crackers," and the
name stuck--no one calls them Boston crackers anymore, and no one in Boston
manufactures
them. The common cracker descended from hardtack, also called ship's biscuit--a
very dense,
unleavened brick of baked flour. Necessity wrote this recipe, since flour would not
keep in the
damp and vermin-infested conditions aboard ship. Hardtack was also a staple all
along the coast
of New England and in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, where villagers faced
similar problems
with fresh flour...Chowder was a way to make hardtack edible. When the potato
became a
popular ingredient in the early 1800s, it put hardtack out of the chowder business.
Potatoes
became the primary thickener in chowders, producing a version that was more
brothy and lighter.
But the dry cracker didn't go away completely...The new and improved leavened
version, the
common cracker, was and still is very dry, with a hard exterior and great storage
capabilities. But
when you split, butter, and toast them, they strike a perfect balance between being
crisp enough to
crunch, even after sitting in a hot broth for a few minutes, and having a flaky
tendernesss..."
Historic evidence
The Improved Housewife, Mrs. A.L. Webster [Stereotyped by Richard H.
Hobbs, 5th
edition, revised, Hartford
CT:1844] includes recipes for hard biscuits and crackers:
"317. Crackers
"367. Hard Biscuit
"Salaeratus Biscuit.
"As any New Englander knows, you can't enjoy a real New England chowder
without toasted
common crackers. These are not like pilot biscuits or saltines; they are softly
crackly, layered,
somewhat puffy round crackers about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. You split them in
half, butter
them, and toast them, and then you crumble them into your chowder. They are
difficult to find
outside of the New England area, and the recipe has always been a locked-up
secret. Our team
decided we would break the monopoly, and our own determined Kathleen, after
making
thirty-eight different versions, finally, on October 25, 1994, came up with a
winner. Her it is--a
strange
method, but a very special cracker.
Ingredients for about 5 1/2 dozen round crackers 1 1/2 inches across and 3/4 inch thick.
For the yeast starter
For the cracker dough
Making the starter:
Whisk all the ingredients together into a batter, and store in a covered container at room temperature (70 F to 75 F) for at least
24 hours or up to 60 hours. It will rise and form large bubbles, then subside and separate.
Making the Cracker Dough: Knead enough flour into 1 cup of the starter to make a firm ball of dough. Cover and let rest
for 1 hour. In a separate bowl, whisk the shortening of lard, salt, potato flakes, brown sugar, and baking soda together, mixing
in the water and lemon juice at the end. Knead this liquid into the ball of dough, using the paddle attachment. Gradually knead in
the additional flour, changing to the dough hook as the dough stiffens. After about 5 minutes you should have a stiff, smooth
ball.
Rolling Out the Dough: Cut the dough into quarters. One at a time, roll a piece of dough into a rectangle 3/8 inch thick
and, starting at one of the short ends, put through the pasta rollers, fold into three like a business letter, give a quarter
turn, and roll again. Repeat the process six times in all and going down to position #6 on the machine. Use as little flour
as possible. The final dough should be no thicker than 1/4 inch. meanwhile, preheat the oven to 435 F.
Forming and Baking: Cut 1 1/2-inch rounds out of the rolled pieces, and press the tines of a table fork thorugh the rounds
in two places. Arrange 1/4 inc apart on no-stick or parchment-paper-lined baking sheets. Bake for about 8 minutes, until the
crackers have risen, are light golden-brown, and feel firm to the touch.
Drying Out and Storing: Lower the thermostat to 200 F and let the crackers dry out in the oven for 2 hours or longer--
to dehydrate and crips the inner layers.
Ahead-of-Time Note: When completely cool, store in an airtight container. If they become stale or soft, reheat for 5
minutes or so in a 400 F oven."
Boston crackers?
Today most folks have heard of Vermont Common Crackers, but not Boston Common Crackers (aka Boston Crackers). It helps to know that in the early 20th century the Boston appellation was also unknown to the general reader:
"It is doubtful of a large number of people know what the Boston cracker in these days of trade marked brands. It is not found in this part of the country often. It is
a round cracker which will split in hales and is agreeable toasted and for some other purposes to which the square crackers do not lend themselves so readily."
More recently:
"The National Biscuit Company launched a new and permanent cracker sensation in the early
1930's. For years the company had been seeking a buttery creacker to compete with others in the
field. After a long period of experimentation, a formula was produced. The new product was
called "Ritz." It was a butter cracker, different from a soda cracker in that it had more shortening
and no yeast. It was consequently crisper and less fluffy. A thick coat of coconut oil and a
sprinkling a salt were spread over the cracker after it had gone through the oven. The recipe
seemed simple. But the taste evidently had a special appeal. Furthermore, Ritz was introduced as
a prestige item with such promotional headlines as "Anytime is the right time to serve Ritz,"
"Tomorrow's cracker--today," and "Almost overnight, America's most popular cracker."
The Ritz cracker took the country by storm. The company baked more than 5,000,000 in the
first year. In three years--aided by imaginative promotion--Ritz became the largest-selling cracker
in the world with more than 29,000,000 baked daily. It became a staple in a huge number of
American households and in foreign nations as well. In Europe a box of Ritz was presented to a
girl friend much as a boy in America presents a box of candy."
"It was during these gloomy days [the Great Depression] that Nabisco cheered everyone up with
a round, buttery, crunchy cracker it called Ritz, hoping to conjure up images of Manhattan's posh
Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Like the hotel, the Ritz Cracker was a luxury, but at 19 cents a box most
people could afford it and soon made it the best-selling cracker in the world."
The oldest print reference we find for Ritz Crackers is this:
Ritz cracker ad, circa 1936, described the crackers this way:
It is said that the cracker was named for our town because we provided the flour used in making
the
crackers at the National Biscuit Company plant in Portland, Oregon. Fact or fiction?
Fiction.
According to Nabisco, Ritz Crackers were named thusly because they conjured up the image of
wealth and
glamour. This was a brilliant marketing ploy for an affordable product launched during the Great
Depression. Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines ritz/ritzy this way: "Ritzy [Ritz
hotels, noted
for their opulence] (1920). 1. Ostentatiously smart: fashionable, posh. 1. Snobbish." Mass
production of this
cracker was conducted in North Philadelphia.
The Ritzville connection
We do not find evidence that Nabisco did business with Ritzville. We do, however, find a
connection
between Nabisco and the Martin Milling Company in Cheney, WA. Unfortunately, without
specific reference to supplying flour for Ritz crackers. If there's any connection between this town and Ritz crackers,
perhaps this is it:
Behind 601 First St. (1918-1997).
This is a large complex composed of older and newer buildings. On two sides of the tower, facing northwest and southeast, are molded concrete shields enclosing the capital letter "M" for "Martin." The buildings of this complex contain milling equipment and flour moving equipment such as augers and bucket elevators.
Cheney had several grain storage and milling facilities during its early days and acted as a regional center for concentrating supplies of harvested grain and processing flour. Such activity was a mainstay of the town's economy. As early as 1888, the Cheney Flouring Mills and the Northern Pacific Elevator Company operated large wood frame plants along the railroad tracks. Both of these facilities were gone by 1905. In that year F.M. Martin owned a hay and grain warehouse in a large wood frame building beside the railroad tracks. Mr. Martin began his grain milling business in 1907 on this site. This enterprise not only developed the capacity to store large amounts of grain, but also to mill it into wheat at the same location. The nearby Northern Pacific Railroad tracks facilitated this operation. Harvested grain could be brought to the storage elevators by train, milled into flour, and then shipped to clients.
At some point, the storage areas and the mill were expanded and a three-story grain elevator (wood crib construction) was added, which subsequently burned in the mid-1910s. Undeterred, Martin rebuilt on site, this time with fire-proof reinforced concrete. The current flour mill and the bank of grain elevators to the northeast were completed in 1918. Additional and larger concrete elevators were added in 1922 and 1923. Subsequent concrete structures were added to the plant between 1933 and 1954. The Martin Grain and Milling Company remained in the Martin family until 1943, when the buildings and equipment was sold to the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco). The business was subsequently operated by several companies, including Ralston-Purina, Centennial Mills and, at present, ADM Milling Company.
Related food? Mock Apple Pie.
Why do some crackers have holes in them?
Is the a symbolic significance to the number of holes in a cracker? According to the
experts at
Bent's Cookie Factory, the answer is no. The purpose of the holes is keep the
product crisp and
even. The number and placement of the holes is determined by the size and shape
of the cracker.
There is no evidence to support the theory that 13 holes in colonial
crackers/hardtack stood for
the thirteen colonies. In fact? There is no evidence that there were 13 holes in
these crackers at
all!
"Biscuit...The word derives from the Latin words "bis" (twice) plus "coctus"
(cooked). In
England a biscuit is what Americans usually call a cracker or cookie. The
American meaning
for biscuit was first noted by John Palmer in his Journal of Travels in the United
States of
North America, and in Lower Canada, (1818), and by 1828 Webster defined
the confection
as "a composition of flour and butter, made and baked in private families." In
general usage such
puffy leavened little breads were called "soda biscuits" or "baking-soda biscuits," in
contrast to
the unleavened cracker type....Recipes for soda biscuits are found in every
nineteenth-century
cookbook, especially with reference to the cookery of the South...The South is
also the home of
the beaten biscuit, which was first mentioned in 1853...In 1930 General Mills
began selling a
packaged quick biscuit mix called Bisquick that was a great success and spawned
many
imitators."
Cathead biscuits
"There, in the Blackstone kitchen, Berry's grand chefs, Vernie and Floyd Nabors, turned out Sunday morning biscuits that melted in one's mouth. Particularly if you
opened one up and added fresh butter along with the generous portion of the Berry-made apple butter...One of my classmates put it for me in hushed tones: "What you
see there, Joe, is what we call the Cathead Bsicuit, the gift of an all-knowing and benevolent God." Mountain people, he explained, were particularly partial to the
giant-size biscuits, which were destined by the Almighty to go with milk-enhanced sawmill gravy, another mountain favorite...Indeed the "cathead"--an Applachian
phenomenon--was the precursor to the even larger size biscuits offered today by chains such as Hardee's and Mrs. Winner's. The big difference between regular-size
buttermilk biscuits and the catheads was that with most "cats," the cook pinched off handfuls of dough rather than rolling it out and using a biscuit cutter...
Cowboy biscuits
Sift together dry ingredients, then rub in lard with fingertips, until flaky. Pour
about a cupful milk
to moisten. Turn out on well floured board and pat about 1/2 inch tricknesss. Cut
with biscuit
cutter and place in greased dutch oven that has been slightly preheated. Biscuits
should be
touching but not crowded. Place preheated lid on oven and cover with hot coals.
Place on bed of
good red coals and let bake about twenty minutes or until brown on top and
bottom."
"Mrs. E.'s soda biscuits
Sift dry ingredients together. Add and cut into flour mixture. Add milk, a little at a
time, stirring
with a fork. Add as much of the milk as necessary to make a very soft dough. Roll
out 1/2 inch
and
cut with a small biscuit cutter. Bake at 425 degree for 15-20 minute. Makes 15
biscuits."
The above recipe is adapted from this original text (notice the lack of oven temp!):
"1 quart flour, 2 heaping tablespoonfuls lard, 2 cups sweet milk, or you can take
can milk, 1
teaspoonful soda, 2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar, 1 teaspoonful salt. Rub soda and
cream of tartar
into flour dry. Next the lard. Lastly the milk. Work with as little handling as
possible. The dough
should be very soft. Cut more than half inch thick and bake in a quick oven."
ABOUT BISCUITS & GRAVY
"Eggs fried in bacon drippings, escorted by country ham, hot biscuits, grits with butter and
red-eye gravy, and a cup of
coffee so hot that the less acquainted might term it "scalding"--these aren't merely the makings of
a Southern breakfast,
they're the substance of a Southern lifeblood...Southerners can probably thank the English for
their skepticism toward
"fancy" food in general and for the notion that breakfast isn't really breakfast unless it contains
meat and grains--in
quantity. The English colonists brought with them their preference for puddings, porridge, meat
pies, beef, mutton, and
pork. In fact , the appearance of ham on the breakfast plates of Southeners can probably be
traced to the first pigs that
were carried from England to Jamestown, Virginia in 1608...Even after the Civil War, when many
Southerners were
attempting to modify their image and also their food, pork and pone continued to be inextricably
bound together on many
breakfast tables...The Southern breakfast saw its heyday during the plantation era of the
eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries--when breakfast was the first and most substantial meal of the day. As Southern lore has
it, planation owners
generally would begin the day with a julep or brandy, then inspect the crops, and sit down to a
large breakfast at ten
AM..."
"Gravy implies a certain excess. And a certain economy. Spread butter or jam on a biscuit and you better it. But ladle sawmill gravy on a
biscuit, unitl the crown of that biscuit can barely be seen amid a pool of sausage-pocked gravy, and you transform a quick bread
into a feed suited for plow hands...The Southern way with gravies as born of privation...And when folks are poor they make do.
Which means folks make gravy."
"Red-eye gravy served with ham and grits is arguably the most "Southern" of any Southern
breakfast combination. The
origin of the name of this gravy, however, is somewhat mythical. According to one theory,
Andrew Jackson once asked a
cook for gravy as red as the cook's eyes. Another source purports that the appearance of a "red
eye" in the middle of a
pan of a correctly made ham gravy reduction is what gives this sauce its name. The propular way
to make it is perhaps
equally contentious...Served on hot toasted cornbread, this makes a delightful breakfast."
About milk gravies
Sawmill Gravy
"Although some theorize on how the black pepper and sausage crumbles resemble sawdust, it's more likely that gravies like this got their
names in the lumber camps. It's a dishj devined by and perfected for working-class Southerners, the sort of folks who earn
their wages muscling logs into planers at sawmills."
"It is rare to find in any cookbook a recipe for this quite common and popular companion to hot biscuits. Th reasons probably
have more to do with the social and economic class than anything else; sawmill gravy is commonly thought of as a
subsistence food of the poor, and cookbooks seldom focus on such fare...The barest scraps of meat and a little milk are
enough to make a delicious gravy, and in lean times, many a family has gotten by on a combination of meat grease, flour, and
water. Even the name suggests poverty. By some accounts, it derives from the fact that
sawmill crews often
subsisted on little more than coffee, biscuits, and gravy. In some parts of Kentucky, this dish was
called poor-do--a little
something on which the poor made do. Native Kentuckian Jane Brock Woodall recalls that her
grandmother in Casey
County made the gravy from sausage or chicken dregs, and when there was not enough food to
go around, the men ate
first and got whatever meat there was and the women and children got by on poor-do. Elsewhere,
people would have
shunned anything called poor-do or even sawmill gravy ate essentially the same thing and called it
white gravy or cream
gravy. By whatever name, it was and is a flavorful and familiar dish on many Southern tables."
---Southern Food: at home,on the road, in history , John Egerton [University of North Carolina Press:Chapel Hill]
1993 (p. 194-195)
"Sawmill gravy (or Logging gravy). In the years following the turn of the century, logging camps sprang up all over the Smoky Mountains where timber companies had
bought up tracts of virgin timber. Lumberjacks and sawmillers by the hundreds came in to snake out the logs to nearby streams, sawmills, and newly built railheads.
Entire families moved in with the men to the camps. To feed the multitude was a big challenge. Breakfasts usually consisted of coffee and meat plus flour-based gravies
and large "cathead" biscuits. On e day, the story goes, the Tremont camp ran out of flour and had to substitute cornmeal in the gravy. Inquisitive loggers arriving before
breakfast asked what kind of gravy was on the menu that day. "This gravy's made out of sawdust!" the cooks replied. The name stuck. The cheap, easy-to-fix cornmeal
gravy caught on. While "sawmill gravy" was the popular nickname, some called itn "Logging Gravy." Others named it Poor Do or Life Everlasting, a reference to what many
felt was its role in keeping them alive. This recipe adapation comes from Janice Miracle of Middlesboro, Kentucky...
General observations on biscuits & gravy.
Alternative gravies served with biscuits:: tomato gravy & chocolate gravy?
About beaten biscuits
"Recipe for soda biscuits are found in every nineteeth-century cookbook, especially with reference
to the cookery of the South, where biscuits with ham remain a specialty. The South is also home of
the "beaten biscuit," which was first mentioned in 1853. This curious confection, known in
Maryland as a "Maryland biscuit," is rarely made today, but was once common in the
South,where the sound of a mallet beating the biscuit dough was a nostalgic morning sound."
"Beaten biscuits are, like grits, very much of a mystery to the uninitiated. They may be the forerunner of the modern
raised biscuit, but these chewy, unleavened morsels resmeble more the hard tack produced by early European bakers for armies
and navies than anything else served up in the modern South. Pilot bread and sea biscuit are terms for similar breads that
reflect their practical use. Country ham was for some time wedded the beaten biscuit in Southern cuisine. At the most traditional
fancy parties and weddings, biscuits no bigger than a quarter are invariably served up with baked, cured ham sliced as
thin as imaginable sandwiched inside and spiked with mustard. Otherwise, beaten biscuits are rarely seen anymore. They sound
harder to make than they are...those who enjoy a physical relationship with their doughs should be in heaven here. There is
no getting around the activity. Fifteen minutes of heavy, consistent abuse is the minimum. You can use a rolling pin, a hammer, the
side of an axe; whatever, it must be heavy...In the old days, the dough was beaten on a tree stump in the yard. When properly
beaten, the dough will blister at each blow. it will develop a strange plastic quality and be smoother than any other bread
dough you have ever seen...The biscuits, when done, will be dry throughout, yet soft in the middle."
Culinary evidence confirms beaten biscuits (aka Maryland Beaten Biscuits,
Maryland
Biscuits, Apoquiniminc Cakes, Hard Biscuits) predate 1853. Early recipes required butter and likely produced specimens
similar to plain biscuits (sugarless sugar cookies). Mid-19th century recipes employed lard, an economical alternative.
This would have produced a cruder product, a little lighter than hard tack.
What an interesting declination of food preparation!
Compare these recipes:
[1596]
[1817]
[1824]
[1853]
[1857]
[1881]
[1904]
[1932]
[1992]
Makes 3 1/2 to 4 dozen biscuits
What is a Black and White Cookie?
Origin theories
The black-and-white had been around forever. Herb Glaser, the baker at Glaser Bake Shop on First Avenue near 87th Street, said that as far as he knew, Glaser's has been making them ever since it opened 96 years ago."
Glasers Bake Shop. Herb Glaser isnt precisely sure why his baker on 87th and 1st on the Upper East Side is credited as the creator of
the black-and-white. He just knows his family has been baking them at the same location since around the time it opened, 1902Well,
he sort of knows. I wasnt around then, he says, but thats the legend and, so far, no one has debunked it.Glasers has always
made two sized of black-and-whites, small ones and not-so-small ones. In the 60s, Herb Glaser used to eat at least two of the smaller
cookies a day when hed walk home from school for lunch.
Symbolism & lore
Consuming psychology
New Yorkerscan measure a man by the tracks of his teeth imprinted in a black-and-white cookie. And burrowed right down the
middle, revealing himself as ambivalent, incapable of choice and afraid of commitment. Center-line attack can also appear judicious.
It allows you to savor equal parts of black and white. But the effect of the middle-of-the-road approach is devastating: that which
connects becomes instantly devoured, leaving disjointed oppositesIn the Whats My Craving? section of Chowhound.com
black-and-white devotees trade strategies for damage controlYou start with one flavor and then go to the nextan approved
alternative methodBreak the B&W in half, then in quarters. Then eat alternative quarters.
Seinfield speaks
The conundrum
We Americans like our snack food. We also have a unique taste for combining salty and sweet. Ice cream sundaes topped with
salted nuts and Cracker Jack reign supreme. In our world, the potato chip cookie was inevitable.
When did happen? Recipes published in local newspapers provide clues. The earliest print evidence appears just after
WWII. In 1959 the Potato Chip Institute International began sponsoring an annual Men's
National Cooking Championship with one mandatory ingredient. Recipes proliferated.
The most challenging potato chip cookie recipes to recreate today are those specifying product
by price (a 29 cent bag of potato chips) rather than standard measure (1 cup). Cooks wondering how many chips they needed for
1 cup crushed were helped by (you guessed it!) potato chip companies
[1960]
"Potato Chip Cookies
[1968]
"Potato Chip Cookies
[1971]
Our sources credit Lively Willoughby of Louisville, Kentucky for inventing refrigerator dough packed in cardboard tubes in 1930.
A patent was issued in 1931. This product was acquired by Ballard & Ballard (also of Louisville) which was acquired by Pillsbury Mills (Minneapolis MN) in 1951.
See the original patent record dates below. View actual patent via Google patents (type in patent number or keyword:
willoughby dough)
Patent number: 1811772
Details courtesy of the original company's employee magazine:
"...speaking of revolutionary changes! Lately the routine of the housewife...has been completely altered by the placing upon the
market of a product of Ballard & Ballard of Louisville, Ky., known as Oven Ready Buttermilk Biscuit. This biscuit is all ready
to bake. The busy housewife simply removes the biscuits from a specially prepared container and plots them into an oven
which would have a temperature of 500 degrees. In eight or ten minutes the biscuits can be removed, baked to a golden brown and
ready for devouring. The dough can be kept on hand for about two weeks, the only requirement being that the biscuits be kept in
the refrigerator...A few years ago there lived in Bowling Green, Ky.--a junction point for three of the Old Reliable's divisions,
the Louisville, the Nashville and the Memphis Line--a gentleman and incidentally the hero of our story...by the name of L. B. Willoughby.
Mr. Willoughby was a master baker there and his chief distinction from other men was the fact that his profession was also his
holiday. Generally, Mr. Willoughby was known as 'the experimenter.' At this time he had given to the public, as has been hinted,
many choice yum-yums, a seed roll in particular...Being mechanically-minded--an expert with the drawing as well as the bread
board--he had invented a flour-sifter for use in bakeries, besides many other gadgets best known to the trade. Mr. Willoughby,
like all other bakers, was well aware of the fact that in winter his business went into a considerable tail spin. This, of course,
was due to the circumstance that in perspirationless season people were more apt to lover lovingly over their own ovens. He had long
had a yen to woo some of this business back into the fold and, for obvious reasons, an oven ready biscuit seemed to him to be just
the thing to do this trick. Bakery baked biscuits had never been a howling success because of the fact that a biscuit to
deserve three rousing cheers must be served piping hot. But if biscuit dough could be fixed so that it could be kept several days
and still used--ak! that was another matter. Mr. Willoughby went to work on the problem. For quite quite a period of time he confined
his experimenting in this field. One day his patience was rewarded. A batch of dough that he had specially prepared a week or so
before and had since kept refrigerated when cut up into biscuits and placed inb an oven turned into somethign a few minutes later
that went very well with butter and honey...He called his discovery the Olde Kentucky Buttermilk Biscuit and placed it on
the market. Ten of the biscuits were placed in each container, each biscuit being separated from its neighbors by a piece of
foil and oiled paper. On the label adorning the container purchasers were given simple instructions on how to bake...
Ballard's took over Mr. Willoughby's brain-child on January 22 of this year...The flour people prepared to capture the country in
the name of the Oven Ready Biscuit, city by city. Indianapolis was the first to fall through vigorous advertising via
newspapers, billboards and store window displays."
This early company ad does an excellent job describing this revolutionary grocery item:
"Once in a lifetime, once in a generation, such things happen! Today a revolutionary discovery brings you a thrilling new convenience. Delicious Southern Buttermilk
Biscuits. Freshly made, cut out and packaged all ready to bake in your own oven. Today the most thrilling discovery since you have been keeping home is waiting
for you at your grocer's. It is a package of ready-to-bake Southern biscuits, the old-fashioned kind, made with pure country buttermilk. We call them OvenReady
Biscuits because all the work has been done for you. You only have to bake them. Now you can serve delicious home-baked Southern biscuits, without any of the
bother of buying and assembling and mixing ingredients; of getting out and washing and putting away utensils. The sifting, measuring and mixing, the kneading, rolling
and cutting have already been done for you. The ingredients we use are the same that are used in the most exacting kitchens, and are as carefully selected. Every
proportion and process is accurate to the finest degree. As soon as the dough is cut out, each biscuit is wrapped in foil and they are sealed in an airtight package
that guarantees the to be as fresh and wholesome when you open the package as at the moment they are made. Frequent delivery of OvenReady Biscuits to your
grocer insures a continuous fresh supply. Take the compact convenient package from your grocer's icebox to your own. When you are ready to serve them, simply
open the package with an ordinary kitchen knife, place the biscuits in a pan, run them into the oven, and let them bake themselves while the bacon broils or the
table is being set. Think of the time that you or your cook will save in a single day, a week, a month--time that is needed for the countless other details of planning
and preparing meals and keeping house. Now, in less time than you need for making toast, you can serve hot biscuits for breakfast, whether you have a cook or
not. In ten minutes' time, and with no trouble at all, OvenReady Biscuits can turn your cold luncheon or buffet supper into an important and delicious meal. It's a
simple matter, too, to make them into doughnuts, drop dumplings and individual shortcakes, However late you may be kept at an afternoon party or at your office,
there's no need for supper to be a hurried, unsatisfactory meal if you have a package of OvenReady Biscuits in your icebox. And every time you serve OvenReady
Biscuits you are sure of biscuits equal to your own highest standards. Don't wait to discover this wonderful convenience and goodness. Put OvenReady Biscuits at
the top of your marketing and menu lists today. They're at your grocer's. Made by Ballard and Ballard Company, Incorporated, OvenReady Division, Louisville,
Kentucky. 10 for 10 cents."
How were refrigerator biscuits invented? Food historians trace the path from accidental mess to the Pillsbury Doughboy:
"The story of Pillsbury's refrigerator dough begins in 1930 with a baker in Louisville, Kentucky. Lively Willoughboy, as he was called, sliced and stacked unbaked
biscuits, wrapped them in foil, and packed them in cardboard tubes before storing them in an icebox. When the compressed dough was removed from the icebox, it
exploded, converting the Willoughby kitchen into a shooting gallery. Lively's son had to stand on a ladder to scrape the dough off the ceiling with a putty knife.
Consistent efforts by Lively to eliminate the explosive character of his refrigerated dough eventually paid off and he sold his process to the Ballard and Ballard
Flour Company. Pillsbury obtained this process in 1952 when it acquired Ballard. Pillsbury launched its crescent rolls in 1965, first approaching Leo Burnett, its ad
agency, which came up with the idea of the animated Pillsbury Doughboy. Poppin' Fresh, a revolutionary figure in advertising, laucnhed the crescent rolls in 1965
and went on to symbolize Pillbury's products in a vast number of commercials."
"In 1951 Pillsbury bought Ballard & Ballard, which owned a process for storing refrigerated dough in cardboard tubes. The process was invented by a Louisville,
Kentucky, baker in 1930 and refined over the years. The acquisition of Ballard & Ballard marked Pillsbury's entry into the refrigerated dough market, which
became a company mainstay. The launch in 1965 of refrigerated crescent rolls coincided with the debut of the Pillsbury Doughboy, as well as the signature tag line,
"Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven,"..."
"Federal Judge Roy Shelbourne ruled today that any manufacturer is free to use the Ballard and Ballard Company patent for oven-ready biscuits. Shelbourne also
held that the Borden Company, a rival in the sale of canned biscuits ready to pop into the oven for baking, was innocent of copying the label and package design
of the Ballard product. Ballard and Ballard, now owned by Pillsbury Mills, Inc., Minneapolis, had sued the Borden Company and its west-coast distributer,
Ready-to-Bake Foods, Inc. alledging infringement of patent and unfair-trade practices in copying its package. Kraft Foods, Inc., Chicago, had intervened on the
Ballard side as its west-coast distributor. On the patent angle, Judge Shelbourne held the original patent, issued in 1931, had expired after seventeen years and a
new patent obtained in 1948 did not contain enough additional new ingredients or methods to make it valid..."
"A garibaldi is a type of British biscuit with a layer of currants inside. Little seen nowadays, it was popular in the first half
of the twentieth century, and seems to have started life in the 1880s or 1890s. It was named after Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82), the
Italian nationalist leader. Its colloquial nickname, squashed-fly biscuit (coined from the appearance of the currants), dates
from at least the first decade of the twentieth century; it is mentioned by H.G. Wells in Tono-Bungay (1909): 'instead of offering me a Garibaldi
biscuit, she asked me with that faint lisp of hers, to 'have some squashed flies, George.'"
"Guiseppe Garibaldi, the very embodiment of romantic patriotism, was another Italian hero with higher things on his mind than eating.
Perhaps the only dish that commemorates the swashbuckling spirit of the great condottiere is the Garibaldi biscuit, a thin sandwich of
short pastry and chopped currants that could hardly be less Italian: it was invented in a factory in Bermondsey, South London, in 1861.
The manufacturer, the company Peek Frean, baptized it 'Garibaldi' to cash in on the general's fame."
Our survey of historic English cookbooks confirms raisins/currants/sultanas were regularly employed in all sorts of
baked goods, including biscuits (cookies). None of these, however, offer a recipe for Garibaldi biscuits or anything
approximating them. The earliest print reference we find to a biscuit by this name is this 'tongue in cheek' notice
published in 1882:
"Why are Garibaldi biscuits always to be found in Belgrade? Because they are Eaton Square."
The earlist commercial advertisment we find was published in 1914. The ad proclaims the biscuit has been around since the mid-1th
century:
"Popularity that never wanes is won only by unvarying excellence. Because the same high quality has been maintained for more than half
a century in Huntley & Palmers Garibaldi Biscuits, these currant dainties are as much in favour now as ever."
We're satisfied Garibaldi biscuits are British. Which makes the recipe below quite the curiosity.
Caramel Glaze
What was Graham flour?
"Graham flour. An unsifted whole-wheat flour containing the bran of the wheat kernel (1825). It is named after Reverend Sylvester
Graham (1794-1851), a tenacious advocate of temperance, healthy nutrition, and the virtues of home baking with this kind of
flour...Graham sent up 'Graham hotels' serving strictly controlled meals quite in line with the belief of the temperance movement that
food should not contain any stimulants...Graham began is crusade in 1830, within four years people were talking of
'Graham bread.' by 1882 a flat, slightly sweet cookie called a 'graham cracker' was well known...Graham's legacy survives today
mostly in the form of the cookies named after him..."
"The Graham crackers, upon which we principally existed, were baked hard and dry like sea biscuit, and we found it necessary to
moisten and soften them before eating, and we resorted to the use of boiling hot water, breaking the crackers into it, and
allowing them to absorb all the water they would."
Early American Graham recipes
[1890] Graham Cracker recipe,
(note: recipe was submitted by a woman doctor)
[1911]
Who was Dr. Sylvester Graham?
"Sylvester Graham. His name lives on in a nursery cookie, but Sylvester Graham, one of America's earliest and most vocal advocates
of dietary reform, left a far larger legacy: the concept that a vegetarian diet of natural and largely raw foods--whole grains,
vegetables, fruits, and nuts--can restore and maintain health. Graham campaigned for pure, unadulterated food at a time when baker's
bread might contain copper sulfate, plaster, or alum. And in an era predating scientific knowledge of carbohydrates, protein,
fat, and fiber, he insisted that processing, milling, sifting, and overcooking stripped food of its most important
components. Although mocked in his day, Graham's theories foreshadowed much modern nutritional knowledge."
"Graham's recommendations came at a time when America's diet consisted largely of corn, pork, molasses, puddings, and pies, with potatoes cooked in lard...Early
in his speaking career Graham seized upon the sorry state of commercial bread that had begun to enter the New England
marketplace after the 1830's. In his Treatise on Bread and Bread-Making (1837), Graham advocated homemade brown bread made
of unbolted flour and bran instead of light, thin-crusted loaves then being sold which he condemned for being adulterated with
unwholesome fillers and additives."
The Nabisco factor
"Another NBC [National Biscuit Company, later Nabisco] product, the graham cracker, was also
popular throughout the country. It had been a favorite since it was created and introduced in the
early part of the nineteenth century by Dr. Sylvester Graham, an eccentric but sagacious expert
on health foods...The graham cracker had been sold by bakeries for decades. The New York Biscuit
Company and its rivals to the west all sold it. However, it remained for the National Biscuit
Company to stabilize its production, package it, and give it national promotion."
Chocolate covered Grahams crackers
[1929]
[1933]
[1942]
[1949]
Related foods? S'mores.
"Hardtack. Also, "sea biscuit," "sea bread," "ship biscuit," and "pilot bread," A hard
biscuit made with flour and water but not shortening or yeast. The word is a combination
of "hard," for the firm consistency of the biscuit, and "tack," an English word meaning
"food."...Hardtack was long part of the staple diet of
English and American sailors, because of its ability to keep for lengthy periods of time at
sea."
"For centuries, hard breads made of flour and water and baked into round, oval, or square
shapes have accompanied travlers on long treks, soldiers in military campaigns, and
sailors at sea. Hardtack's first important North American role was in sustaining crews and
passengers of European vessels en route to the New World and as a ration in the ensuing
sea-borne trade. Ships' bread continued to feed seamen well into the twentieth century.
Hardtack, was also known as biscuit, crackers, ships's bread or biscuit, hard bread or
biscuit or crackers; soft tack was fresh bread. Military biscuit predated the independent
United States, serving armies in both Europe and North America and was an important
rations for the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War (1774-1783). General George
Washington constantly asked the baking superintendent Christopher Ludwich for large
quantities to feed his campaigning soldiers...This durable foodstuff achieved iconic status
during the American Civil War (1861-1865)."
"Much of the tainted or inferior food that reached the military resulted from bureaucratic
bungling and corrupt suppliers, but on good days Northern troops could expect over a
pound a fresh beef and almost a pound and a half of soft bread, cornmeal, or hardtack, the
latter a ubiquitous cracker that could also be found among Confederate army rations.
Made of plain flour andwater, hardtack was similar in shape and design to a modern
saltine cracker, but larger and thicker and a lot harder, especially when stale (as it almost
invariably was). Hardtack was commonly crumbled into coffee or soup or soaked in water
and then fried in pork fat until brown. But regardless of preparation, so notoriously hard
was the cracker that it was the constant subject of derisive soungs and jokes, like the one
about the Kansas soldier who found something soft in his hardtack--a ten-penny nail. In
Northern camps and hospitals, milk toast was made of hardtack soaked in condensed
milk, a product that became widely available to federal troops when the Union
appropriated the entire output of Gail Borden's condensed milk plant in Connecticut."
"...the real staple of their [Confederate soldiers] diet, something that only an army
bureaucrat could call bread, a product of reputedly ancient origins--and equally ancient
manufacture to the soldiers' minds--that so-called "army bread" or "hard bread" that
Voris mentioned, universally known after 1861 as hardtack. Its precise birth is obscure,
but it had been used in European armies for generations and in the United States Army
before the [Civil] war. The cracker--for such it was--was simplicity itself, just wheat flour
and water in a rough proportion of six to one, mixed and rolled out into a thickness of
about three-eighths of an inch, then cut into roughly three-inch squares. Perforated with a
few holes to speed baking, the crackers went into ovens at standard bread-baking heat,
and after twenty to thirty minutes, they emerged as hardtack, imperishable, indestructable,
and practically indedible, too hard to chew, too small for shoeing mules, and too big to
use as bullets, though one Illinois private assured his friends that "we live on crackers so
hard that if we had of loaded our guns with then we could have killed...in a hurry."
Soldiers often quipped that their ration had been in storage in commissary vaults at least
since the war with Mexico in 1846-1848...Yet somehow, they ate it and used it in
puddings, stews, and bizarre dishes of their own invention. They also cursed it and threw
it away...Perversely, the soldier became almost fond of it, so long as they did not have to
eat it...On the march when soft bread was not available, the standard daily ration of
hardtack was nine or ten crackers per man according to the whim of his commissary..."
Ship's biscuit
"...the Royal Navy preferred biscuit to bread. Biscuit would keep for many montys, it came in handy pieces, and because it did
not require any form of leaven it dod not need any great skill to make and it could be made in large quantities more quickly than
the equivalent weight of soft bread. The method was equally simple: water was added to flour, it was mixed, kneaded until
smooth, rolled, cut, stamped with the broad arrow (affectionately known as the 'crow's food') which marked it as Crown
property, baked, cooled, and packed. The process required no great degree of knowledge or careful temperature control both of
which were essential for the methods of bread-baking used at the time...Some of the biscuit was bought from outside contractors, some
was madee by the Victualling Board at its depts in Deptford, Portsmouth and Plymouth, and later in some of its victualling yards
abroad. They were made of whole-meal, some of the surviving specimens containing quite large pieces of recognisable
wheat grains. The contracts for outside bakers stated that the biscuits should 'weigh not less than five to the pound'
(ie at least 3.2 ounces or 91 grams each) and that they should be packed in bags of hundredweight. The shape was not specified and they
could be square, round or octagonal, usually pricked with holes and with the broad arrow and a letter designating the bakery
stamped in the middle. This compressed dough, making the middle even harder than the rest; eaters tended to leave this hard piece until
last, designating them 'pursers' nuts'. It was almost impossible to bite into these biscuits without first soaking them. The normal
technique was to break bits off on the edge of a table, or to use a hard object to crush them, having first wrapped them in a piece of
cloth to avoid explosive dispersal. These pieces could be sucked and chewed, or added to soup or gravy. Despite their hardness, these
biscuits were tasty enough. It was when they became damp that the taste deteriorated and the livestock moved in. The secret of
keeping the biscuit dry was to pack it in airtight boxes; the Dutch knew this as early as the seventeenth century. American sailors
knew it too, but somehow the message did not get through to the British Admirality until well into the nineteenth century.
Captian Basil Hall, writing of his experiences during the War of 1812, remarked on this: American biscuit, he said, was tasty and
good quality and he attributed this to their practice of keeping it sealed up until needed, whereas the British practice was to
ventilate the bread room in fine weather with the aid of wind-sails which funnelled air down from above. Unfortunately in warm
weather this air was warm and moist while the cellar-like bread room was cold; the biscuit absorbed this damp air and the process of
deterioration started. When the bread ran short, or had deteriorated beyond the eatable stage, the standard substitute was rice, issued on an
equal-weight basis: one pound of uncooked rice was considered by the Victually Board to be equal to one pound of biscuit."
How to make ship's biscuit?
Why call them hermits?
What makes this cookie particularly interesting?
[1792]
[1878]
[1880]
[1884]
"Cookies...Richer Cookies.
[1886]
[1889]
[1908]
[1930]
Related cookies? Billy goats (aka
Billy Goat Date Cake)
Enter: Hello Dolly Bars
"But it was Borden's recipe for Magic Lemon Meringue Pie, known as Lemon Icebox Pie in the 1940s, that created a big
hit with bakers, or in this case, non-bakers. It called for only six ingredients and cooking was required only to brown the
meringue. However, according to JoEllen Helmlinger, manager of product publicity, the company's all-time winner has
been the Magic Cookie Bar recipe, also known as Hello Dolly Bars and 7-Layer Bars, introduced in the late '50s
and early '60s. It still gets requests and makes the rounds in offices and neighborhoods."
"Hello Dollies bring up sweet memories for readers Every once in a while a reader will ask for
a recipe that sends dozens of you to your old cookbooks. This time, you had to go to your old
spiral notebooks from Home Ec. This is that kind of recipe. Hello Dollies, as so many of you
told us, are an easy bar cookie with infinite variations. They can have a graham-cracker crust or
a vanilla-wafer crust. Janie Faber even has a wheat-free version -- she uses corn flakes. The
crust is topped with chocolate chips. Or butterscotch chips. And some of you even use raisins.
That's topped with coconut and a layer of chopped pecans or walnuts. Then a thick, sticky layer
of sweetened condensed milk gets poured all over the top. They're lump-of-sugar-in-the-back-of-your-throat sweet. But that's part of their charm. And, because they take just minutes to
prepare, it's no wonder many teenagers learned to cook with this recipe. Robin Crowell got out
her "Our Favorite Desserts -- Favorites from Home Economics Teachers" cookbook to find the
recipe and found 12. Each has the same basic components, but the names range from "Dieter's
Downfall" to "Mound Bars" and "Nancy's Delight."... Finally, from Dianne Kaufmann, we had
to print this: "I've been baking Hello Dolly cookies for my son since he was 7 years old
-- back in 1973. He is now 36 and I still take a batch of these cookies to
him at work every year during the holidays."
[1940]
[1942]
"Walnut Dream Bars
[1963]
[1965]
"'Hello Dolly' Cookies
[1966]
[1976]
[1992]
[2003]
Who was Joe Frogger?
Joe Frogger. A thick New England cookie spiced with ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and other spices. The origins of the name are
unknown, though the most often cited story concerns an old man named Uncle Joe who lived near a frog pond in Marblehead,
Massachusetts. He loved rum and always put it into his cookies, which resembled the frogs in the pond. The cookies are a
traditional Sunday-night snack in New England.
A long time ago there was an old Negro who lived in Marblehead. His name was Uncle Joe and he lived on the edge of a frog
pond, and the pond was called Uncle Joes Frog Pond. Uncle Joe made the best molasses cookies of anyone in town, and
people called them Joe Froggers because they were as plump and as dark as the little fat frogs that lived in the pond.
Marblehead fishermen would give the old man a jug of rum and he would make them a batch of Froggers. The fishermen liked
them because they never got hard, and women packed them in
sea chests for the me to take to sea. Uncle Joe said what kept them soft was rum and sea water but he wouldnt tell how he
made them. And when he died, people said, Thats the end of Joe Froggers. But there was a woman named Mammy Cressy, who
said she was Uncle Joes daughter, and Mammy Cressy gave the secret recipe to a fishermans wife. Then half the women in
Marblehead began making Joe Froggers. With a pitcher of milk, Froggers became the towns favorite Sunday night supper.
They were also sold in a local bake shop. Children bought them, instead of candy, for a penny apiece, and they remained
popular for generations. Joe Froggers, 6 inches in diameter, are made almost every day in the old Village Tavern in
Sturbridge, and on Sunday nights they are served with a pitcher of milk, in the Publick House. The chef got the recipe
from a woman whose ancestors lived in Marblehead in the days of Uncle Joe. The recipe has been in her family for more than
a hundred years.
Today a private residence, it was once a popular neighborhood tavern run by "Black Joe," a free black man who had fought
in the Revolutionary War, and his wife, Aunt Crese. For the half-century following the Revolution, they served rum and
homemade root beer to the Marblehead fishermen and their families who climbed the hill to dance to Black Joe's fiddling
and to munch on Aunt Crese's Joe Froggers, plate-sized ginger cookies laced with rum.
How old are Joe Froggers [Floggers] really?
Joe floggers: The earliest reference I have found to this familiar-sounding item dates from 1852 and speaks of Joe
floggers with an l. An 1889 citation describes Joe-Floggers (peculiar pancakes stuffed with plums) for breakfast--that
is, pancakes with raisins in them. Joe-froggers with an r simply didnt exist or were not widespared enough in the
nineteenth century to be found in imprint or manuscript sources by that name. They seem to be a twentieth-century
phenomenon, possibly derived from fishermens floggers.
The oldest print evidence (including recipe) we find for Joe Froggers dates to 1954. Both credit Old Sturbridge Village (Sturbridge MA)as the
for re-introducing this "old fashioned" cookie to modern American tourists. OSV re-creates an 1830s New England village. Whatever the truth, whoever decided to sell
Joe Froggers was brilliant. No better way to experience history than by tasting it.
"Old Sturbridge Village is a slice out of yesterday. Nestled there on the banks of the little Quinebaug River in southern
Massachusetts, this 200-acre tract of unspoiled countryside is a New England Williamsburg...The Place I loved best was Minor Grant's store--
it drew me in by the nose. Cookies were baking, the old-time favorites: hobnails, lumberjacks... and those bog Joe
Froggers."
Jumbles, Jambals & Iambals
"Jumbles...sometimes called knots, a type of biscuit popular in the 17th and 18th
centuries. They
were made from a light mixture of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, flavoured with
rosewater and
aniseed or caraway seed. The mixture was made into thin rolls and shaped into
rounds or knots
before baking; the name derives from gemmel, twin, here referring to a double
intertwined finger
ring."
"Jumbals existed in Italy as cimbelline and in France as gimblettes, all manifestly related words. The pastry may have
originated in Italy, but I believe that Favre is in error when he assigns cimabetta...as the etymology of gimblette... He
also gives what he claims to be an ancient recipe from Albi which calls for parboiling the gimblettes afer "pricking the well,"
then baking them; also some old recipes for echaudes call for ring shapes. The first citing of jumbal in OED [Oxford English
Dictionary] is from Markham, 1615, but Dawson gives a recipe in 1585, To make Jombils a hundred...Also, in The
Accomplisht Cook, 1671, Robert May gives recipes for Jemelloes and Jamballs, which he directs us to "boil them in fair water like
simnels" before baking them. This makes jumbals originally related in technique to other ancient cakes such as cracknells...and to the
breads pretzels and bagels, for that matter."
Robert May's The Accomplist Cook (London, 5th edition, 1685) contains
this recipe,
which is probably quite similar to the one that the original Mayflower passengers
used:
Compare with Martha Washington's Recipes
And this twentieth century rendering:
Want to make jumbles at home? Modernized recipe, adapted from Eliza Leslie's 1857 cookbook here:
American sugar cakes
[1825]
[1841]
[1953]
[1956]
[1971]
[1973]
About culinary research & about copyright
The book Cookies and Crackers, Time/Life Books, 1982 (page 5) provides a history of
cookies that is perfect for elementary gourmets:
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
(page 212).
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 317-8)
"Leavened crackers had been made as early as 1800, but not until
compressed yeast became available about 1870 their production was not attempted on a large scale. Sweet biscuits had previously been imported from
England. When such sweets achieved a measure of popularity in this country, Belcher and Larrabee, cracker bakers in Albany, New York, imported machinery and
methods for baking them shortly after the Civil War. The change in the demand for biscuit and cracker output was clearly a shift from staple to 'luxury' products. Unlike the
demand for bread, there was little opportunity for cracker bakers to benefit form a home to factory movement. But like the expanded demand for food in general, the
boom for the cracker industry was made possible by increased incomes and the willingness of people to add new foods to
their changing diets."
---Baking in America: Economic Development, William G. Panschar, Volume 1 [Northwestern University Press:Evanston IL] 1956 (p. 54)
--ibid (p. 67)
"Peek Frean & Co. Sugar Wafers."
---display ad, Fitchburg Sentinel [MA] January 11, 1878 (p. 3) [No price or product description]
"Mssrs. Carr & Co....manufacture between 150 and 200 different classes of cakes and biscuits. The 'arrowroots' are one of the oldest, and in these the
business is enormous. For upwards of thirty years, also, the firm have had a reputation for soda biscuits. To mention ...in any kind of detail all the other varieties would be
impossible...a glance only at one of their price lists is sufficient...[selected biscuits named including sugar wafers]...Of these latter [sugar biscuits] it may be said
that that they are a very luxury in biscuit food; as their names imply, so like wafers that they are, they seem to melt almost the moment they are flavored with vanilla, rose, or
lemon, as ma be desired. The manipulation (mechanical, not handwork) required to get these biscuits to perfection is so delicate, ingenious, and
'indescribable.' that it must be seen to be fully appreciated."
---"Carr & Co The Original Biscuit Manufacturers," The British Mail [London]. December 1, 1879 (p. 45-46)
"Homes and Court's celebrated biscuits...Sugar Wafers (assorted flavors), 30 cents a box."
---Newport Mercury [RI], July 26, 1884 (p. 5)
[1890]
Advertisement placed in Daily Tribune [Salt Lake City UT] November 19, 1890 offers several wafer biscuits made by the Massachusetts based Kennedy Biscuit
Company. Wafer biscuit flavors are: Princess, Vanilla, Lemon, Oatmeal, Graham, Fairy, and Sugar.
Kennedy was soon to be absorbed by the National Biscuit Company (aka NBC, Nabisco). Fact this east coast company's products were available in American interior west
illustrates both national market penetration and brand recognition. Our survey of historic newspapers confirm Kennedy's ads were placed in local newspapers throughout
the country by 1900 (NewspaperArchive.com).
---Oxford English Dictionary
HARTS-HORN, 205. Shavings of the antlers of a stag or hart were the source of a jelly. Nott (1726) is among the authors who explain how to make it.
(Robert May, 1660/1685)
HARTS-HORN: deerhorn, used as a source of gelatine. (Sir Kenelm Digby, 1669)
HARTSHORN: the shavings of a stags antlers were used to set a jelly. In Receipt 194 it is combined with isinglass (see below), a material that eventually
superseded hartshorn in most cookery operations. (John Evelyn, Cook, C17)
HARTSHORN: See H 22. The receipt is self-explanatory. (John Nott, 1726)
HARTSHORN: a harts horn or antler, used as a source of gelatin. Pierre Pomet says that many remedies were prepared from hartshorn and mentions that
hartshorn jelly was good against fainting and swooning fits, heartburn, convulsions, falling sickness, hysterical fits, and worms. (See volume II, p. 257.)
(Richard Bradley, 1736)
HARTSHORN, HARTSHORN-JELLY. Hartshorn was formerly the main source of ammonia, and its principal use was in the production of smelling salts. But
hartshorn shavings were used, in a different operation, to produce a special and edible jelly. In her recipe for a Hedge-Hog, 85, Hannah Glasse assumes that
the reader will know how to make this. A full recipe is given by Nott (1726), and earlier authors.(Glasse, 1747)
HARTSHORN is deerhorn, used as a source of gelatine. (William Ellis, 1750)
---Source: Prospect Books
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] (p. 372)
---Food Lover's Companion, Sharon Tyler Herbst, 3rd edition [Barrons:New York] 2001
(p. 14)
---Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 6)
---Grocers' Hand-Book and Directory for 1886, compiled by Artemas Ward, published
by The Philadelphia Grocer Publishing Co. (p. 13)
[1889]
A sampler of historic American
ammonia recipes (run separate ingredient
searches for ammonia & hartshorn)
"Cup Cookies
Rub to a cream three-quarters of a cup of butter and one cup of sugar; add four eggs, one at a time, and the grated peel of a lemon. Then dissolve a lump of
ammonia, about the size of a bean, in a quarter of a pound of lukewarm milk; add this and just enough sifted flour to enable you to roll out on the baking-board.
Roll quite thin. Beat up an egg and brush over the cookies, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and pounded almonds. These are very nice. Be careful not to add too
much flour. Omit the almonds if you are not fond of them."
---Aunt Babette's Cook Book
"Old Fashioned Hamburger Cookies
Take one pound of butter, one pound of sugar, yolks of six eggs, hard-boiled, and flour enough to make a dough that is not too stiff.
Dissolve three cents worth of ammonia (hartshorn) in scalded milk. Place the ammonia in a large bowl and pour one cup of scalding milk over it. After this has
cooled add it to the dough with one-half cup of cold milk. Flavor to taste. Flour the pans and the cookie dough. Roll and proceed as with sugar cookies."
---Intenational Jewish Cookbook, Florence Kreisler Greenbaum
"Ammonia Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup lard
1/2 cup butter (or substitute vegetables shortening for lard and butter)
3 egg yolks
1 cups flour
1 tsp. dry ammonia
pinch of salt
Cream sugar and shortening: add yolks and stir well. Add flour and ammonia; roll dough in hands to size of walnut; bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) oven."
---"Mrs. Bert Vium: Presented as 'Original' Cook of the Week,' Racine Sunday Bulletin [Racine WI], May 22, 1955 (p. 29)
Food historians generally agree the art of crafting small baked goods into fancy shapes
began as a Christmas tradition in Medieval Germany. Lebkuchen (gingerbread) was a highly
sophisticated art. The legal right to make these products was carefully protected by Guilds. They
were sometimes used as Christmas decorations.
Animals or Menagerie
1 bbl flour, 40 lbs sugar, 16 lard, 12 oz soda, 8 ozs ammonia, 6 3/4 gals milk."
---Secrets of the Bakers and Confectioners' Trade, J. D. Hounihan
[self-published:Staunton VA] April 1, 1883 (p. 96)
[NOTE: this is professional cooking text. It does not offer any instructions regarding the shaping
of these cookies. The author offers this interesting preface note on p. 89: "The following recipes
are from threee of the best workmen in the business. One of them is at New York, another at
Philadelphia and the third at Cambridge, Mass. They are all employed in the best bakeries in their
respective localities, and I have their sworn affidavit that they are the recipes they are now
working with, and the best known to them...I am not at liberty to give the names of the parties I
have the recipes from, for reasons best known to myself and the parties"]
"During the 19th century supplies of cheap sugar and flour, plus chemical raising agents such as
bicarbonate of soda, led to the development of many sweet biscuit recipes. In Britain several
entrepreneurs laid the foundations of the modern biscuit industry. The firms of Carrs, Huntley &
Palmer, and Crawfords were all established by 1850. Since the mid 19th century the range of
commercially baked biscuits based on creamed and pastry type mixtures has expanded to meet the
demand..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
76)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 104)
---Out of the Cracker Barrel:From Animal Crackers to ZuZus, William Cahn [Simon &
Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 106-7)
[1905] 4 cents (no size)
[1947] 15 cents (2 packages, no size)
[1954] 29 cents (3 packages, no size)
[1963] 10 cents (2 oz pkg)
[1967] 10 cents (2 oz pkg)
[1981] 33 cents (2 oz pkg)
[1983] 45 cents (2 oz pkg)
"Sydney S. Stern, designer of the original Ritz Crackers, Shredded Wheat and Animal Crackers boxes...was trained as an artist, joined the National Biscuit
Company in 1923 and spent much of his life desining its cartons and wrappers. His design for Nabisco's Animal Crackers including caged lions, tigers and bears,
replaced the original 1902 packaging and has changed only slightly over the years...Mr. Stern, who began painting in water colors as a child, studied at the Art
Students League, Columbia University and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He won recognition for his work as a painter, a photographer and a set
designer."
---"S.S. Stern, 99; Designed Ritz Crackers Box," [obituary], New York Times, June 15, 1989 (p. D24)
[NOTE: We do not know who designed the original 1902 box. Yet.]
This popular Shirley Temple song was introduced in the movie Curly Top, 1935.
"Animal Crackers in my Soup" (from the film Curly Top, 1935)
Animal crackers in my soup, Monkeys & rabbits, loop da loop
Gosh, oh gee, but I have fun, Swallowing animals one by one.
In every bowl of soup I see, Lions & tigers watching me.
I make 'em jump right through a hoop, Those animal crackers in my soup.
When I get hold of the big bad wolf, I just push him under the zebra hoof,
Then I bite him in a million bits And I gobble him right down.
Temple, Shirley (composer Ray Henderson; lyricists Irving Caesar and Ted Koehler)
---SoupSong.com.
"Though she cheerfully sang that song in her 1935 movie 'Curly Top,' Shirley Temple really didn't put animal crackers in her soup.
'Shirley knows the crackers are too sweet for that, She knows the combination would taste terrible,' her father announced at the time.
'Shirley saves the animal crackers for after dinner.' George Temple wasn't doing a commercial. He merely was trying to make good with
thousands of parents across the country who had written to him complaining that their kids wanted to pour animal crackers into their
soup after seeing 'Curly Top.'"
---"75 Years Later, Cagey Animal Crackers are Still Capturing the Fancy of Children," Joan Zyda, Chicago Tribune, April 25, 1977 (p. B3)
[NOTE: We do not have the original source of Ms. Temple's quote.]
Apees
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999
(p. 6-7)
---The Christmas Cook: Three Centuries of American Yuletide Sweets, William Woys
Weaver
[Harper Perennial:New York] 1990 (p. 143)
[NOTE: this book includes a recipe from Maria Parloa's Choice Recipes, 1904 which does not
list anise as
one of the ingredients.]
[1828]
"Apees.
A pound of flour, sifted.
Half a pound of butter.
A glass of wine, and a tablespoonful of rose-water, mixed.
Half a pound of powdered white sugar.
A nutmeg, grated.
A tea-spoonful of beaten cinnamon and mace.
Three table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds.
Sift the flour into a broad pan, and cut up the butter in it. Add the carraways, sugar, and spice,
and pour in
the liquor by degrees, mixing it well with a knife. If the liquor is not sufficient to wet it
thoroughly, add
enough of cold water to make it a stiff dough. Spread some flour on your paste-board, take out
the dough,
and knead it very well with your hands. Put it into small pieces, and knead each separately, then
put them
all together, and knead the whole in one lump. Roll it out in a sheet about a quarter if an inch
thick. Cut it
out in round cakes, with the edge of a tumbler, or a tin of that size. Butter an iron pan, and lay the
cakes in
it, not too close together. Bake them a few minutes in a moderate oven, till they are very slightly
coloured,
but not brown. If too much baked, they will entirely lose their flavor. Do not roll them out too
thin."
---Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, by a Lady of Philadelphia
[Eliza
Leslie], facsimile reprint of 1828 edition published by Munroe and Francis: Boston [Applewood
Books:Chester Ct] (p. 56-7)
"Apees.--Rub a pound of fresh butter into two pounds of sifted flour, and mix in a pound of
powdered
white sugar, a grated nutmeg, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and four large
table-spoonfuls of
carraway seeds. Add a wine glass of rose water, and mix the whole with sufficient cold water to
make it a
stiff dough. Roll it out into a large sheet about a third of an inch in thickness, and cut it into round
cakes
with a tin cutter or with the edge of a tumbler. Lay them in buttered pans, and bake them in a
quick oven,
(rather hotter at the bottom than at the top,) till they are of a very pale brown."
---Directions fo Cookery in its Various Branches, Miss Leslie [Carey & Hart:Philadelphia]
1849 (p.
354)
"Apees (A.P.'s).
One pound and a half of flour, one pound of sugar, one pound of butter, one gill of milk; rub the
butter,
sugar and flour together; add the milk; stir the mixture with a knife or spoon into the dough; turn
it out, and
work it until it becomes perfectly smooth; roll it into thin sheets, cut with a small cutter, place on
tins, and
bake them in a cool oven. It will take a few minutes to knead all the ingredents into a dough, but,
as the
quantity of milk is quite sufficient, it would spoil them to add more."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M.E. Porter, facsimile reprint of 1871
edition with
introduction and suggested recipes by Louis Szathmary [Promontory Press:New York] 1974 (p.
267)
"Apees (Ice Cream and Cakes)
1 pound of butter
1 1/2 pounds of flour
1 pound of sugar
1 gill of milk
Cream the butter and sugar; sift in the flour, then the milk, and stir it to a dough; turn it out on the
moulding-board, and work to a fine dough again. Roll into sheets, as thick as a dollar piece, cut
into small cakes, lay
them on tins, and bake in a cool oven."
---Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book, Mrs. S.T. Rorer [Arnold and
Company:Philadelphia] 1886
(p. 496-7)
"A-P's.
Cream half a pound of butter and the same of sugar, add a wine-glass and a half of cold water, ten
drops
of essence of lemon, a few caraway seeds, and one pound of flour; foll out as thin as paper, and
bake on
buttered tins."
---The Economical Cook Book, Mrs. Sara T. Paul [John C. Winston:Chicago] 1905 (p.
247)
Educator Crackers
---"Women Play Major Roles in City's Industries," Lowell Sunday Sun [MA], November 10, 1963 (p. 26)
"A syndicate of New York and Boston bankers has purchased 30,000 shares of the new Johnson Educator Biscuit Co...The Johnson Educator Food Co., to
succeed which Johnson Educator Biscuit Co. is being organized, was incorporated in 1902 in Massachusetts. The company produces about 140 varieties of
crackers."
---"Johnson Educator Food Co. Financing," Wall Street Journal, June 25, 1923 (p. 10)
"The Johnson Educator Biscuit Company of Cambridge, holding company of the Johnson Educator Food Company, petitioned in Federal District Curt for a
reorganization under Section 77b of the Bankruptcy Act."
---"Files Bankruptcy Plea, Johnson Educator Biscuit Plans a Reorganization," New York Times, January 12, 1937
---"New Biscuit Group Formed For New England Area," Wall Street Journal, January 18, 1937 (p. 4)
"One of the most famous brand names in New England, Educator cookies are back in the area, according to Robert M. Brodsky, president of the new Educator Co. Inc,
of Lawrence, after an absence of two years. Plans have been completed to re-introduce the name to supermarkets with particular emphasis on the best-known brand names--
Crax, Beer Chasers, Sea Pilots, Noel Cookies and others. An additional line of high-priced cookies has been developed. Bay View Food Products, Inc., Lawrence
will be the distributor, founded in 1939 by Brodsky. The Educator name goes back to the late 18th Century New England."
---"Back Again," Lowell Sun [MA] January 22, 1976 (p. 22)
The Massachusetts Corporation database reports The Educator Biscuit Company as being registered June 3, 1937; involuntary dissolution July 7, 1980
SOURCE: Massachusetts Corporations database
Bay View Food Products was registered September 13, 1939, involuntary dissolution December 31, 1990
SOURCE: Massachusetts Corporations database
Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [1902] includes "Educators" in one of her
menus for "simple dinners." Mrs. Rorer was a well known home economist, cooking teacher, and
author who was devoted to healthy meals and proper nutrition. The entire menu includes: clear
soup, broiled steak, mushroom sauce, stuffed potatoes, spinach, chicory salad, educators, cream
cheese, coffee, almonds and mint wafers. (p. 665) She does not include a recipe or notes for
educators. Perhaps this implies her audience would have understood what they were and where to
buy them.
"Johnson's Educator Crackers...reg. 10 cents, sale 8 cents: Toasterettes, Wafers, Luncheon, Graham, Animal, Ginger."
"Educator" choices: Sweet Graham, Butter Thins, Ginger Snaps, Luncheon Biscuits, Kremex, Demitasse. They were
selling for .08/pkg or .90/dozen.
"A sale or Educator Corn Meal Crackers. They are rich in nature's energy producing material. Food experts urge the use of more
Corn Meal Products because of their great food value. 10-oz. cartons, this sale, 22c each. Educator Wheatless Crackers, made
of the purest ingredients. A good, tasty cracker, not too sweet. Large carton, containing 12 oz., this sale, 29c each."
[NOTE: "Wheatless Wednesdays" were declared by Hoover in 1918 to save food for the WWI troops:
Sugarland, Gingerland, Raisinland, Lassesland, Chocolateland and Coconutland in "big" packages (no count/weight
provided) , 35 cents/pkg. "
"Toasterettes, Fig bars, Butter thins, and Graham crackers. .09/carton or $1.06/dozen. These items were being sold in
prominent New York City department stores (Macy's, Bloomingdale's)"
"Educator Crackers, Crax, .15/lb pkg."
"Educator Ice Box Cookies, .29/10 oz pkg."
"Educator Crackers. You've seen the name....you'll taste the quality. 8 3/4 and 9 3/4 ounce boxes from the educator biscuit
company...for snacking, entertaining picnics or parties!. Barbecue crax, sesame crax, and flavorful vee-gee crax...introduce tem
to your favorite spreads and dips! box 29 cents." (Los Angeles Times, p. 8, includes illustration of sesame crax box)
"Beer, Cola or Scotch Chasers."
"Sea Pilot, Cheese 'N Chive, Beer Chasers, Crax"
"Beer Chaser Crackers, Tavern Crackers, Animal Crackers."
"Educator Crax"
Fig Newtons
---Associated Press Newswire, April 11, 1991, Thursday, AM cycle
---The Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, edited by Janice Jorgensen, [St. James
Press:Detroit] 1994, Volume 1 (pps.183-185)--includes a list of articles
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 126-7)
---Out of the Cracker Barrel, William Cahn [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1969 (p.102)
---Yankee Magazine, August 1995 (p. 19)
Word Mark FIG NEWTONS Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: BAKERY
PRODUCTS-NAMELY, BISCUITS. FIRST USE: 18910000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE:
18910000 Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED
FORM Serial Number 71551025 Filing Date March 2, 1948 Registration Number 0588911
Registration Date April 27, 1954 Owner (REGISTRANT) NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY
CORPORATION NEW JERSEY 449 WEST 14TH STREET NEW YORK NEW YORK (LAST
LISTED OWNER) NABISCO, INC. CORPORATION BY CHANGE OF NAME FROM NEW
JERSEY 7 CAMPUS DRIVE PARSIPPANY NEW JERSEY 070540311
Source: Roser Park, Florida, history
Benne wafers
Food historians tell us benne/sesame seeds were introduced to colonial-era America by West African slaves. The traditional use in that region was as a thickener for soups and stews. Not cake or candy.
Confections composed of seeds and nuts originated in the Middle East (think: Medieval halva &
brittle). Europeans overlayed local culinary traditions creating
comfits and
seed cakes (Elizabethan era forwards). Europeans, like all immigrants, cooked what they knew when they arrived in America. When & how did benne seeds slip into
European recipes?
[1770]
"Thin Naples Biscuits
Take 1 lb Sugar and 12 Eggs whites and yolks, beat the Whites separately as the froth rises throw it in, just before you put it in the
oven add 1/2 lb. Flour, beat it very well to-gether, and put in either a little rose Water, a few peach kernels or Orange
Peel, but the principal thing to be observed is to bake it extremely thin, you may bake it on paper or tin sheets."
---A Colonial Plantation Cookbook: The Receipt Book of Harriott Pinckney Horry, 1770, edited with an introduction by Richard
J. Hooker [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1984 (p. 104)
[NOTE: Were benne seeds were substituted for peach kernels at some point?]
"An Excellent Receipt for Groundnut Candy.
To one quart of molasses add half a pint of brown sugar and a quart of a pound of butter; boil it for half an hour over a slow
fire; then put in a quart of groundnuts, parched and shelled; boil for a quarter of an hour, and then pour it into a shallow
tin pan to harden."
"Groundnut Cake.
One pint of parched and pounded groundnuts, one pint of brown sugar, the whites of five eggs; froth the eggs, and stir in,
alternately, the sugar and nuts. Bake in patties, in a slow oven."
---The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge, facsimile 1847 edition with an introduction by Anna Wells Rutledge [University of
South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1979 (p. 219)
[NOTE: Ground nuts were also "imported" from Africa by slaves. Presumably, benne seeds, of similar origin, could have been
used instead.]
"Benne Brittle
Benne seed cannot be procured in many places, but the candy made with it is so delicious and so characteristic of Charleston that the recipe is here
included.
1 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups parched benne seed
Add the extracts to the sugar. Melt the sugar in a saucepan, stirring constantly, as for peanut brittle. When the sugar is
melted, add the benne seed, stirring it in quickly. Pour at once onto a marble slab to cool or pour into lightly buttered pans. Mark
in one-inch squares while still warm and break along the lines when cold.--Mrs. Rhett."
---200 Years of Charleston Cooking, Recipes gathered by Blanche S. Rhett, revised edition [Random House:New York] 1930, 1934(p. 220-221)
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 up flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped peanuts
Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually, and bat in the well-beaten egg. Sift the flour and salt together and add with the peanuts.
Drop from a spoon on a well-greased cookie sheet and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) from fifteen to twenty minutes. This makes
about four dozen cookies, very rich in peanuts. In fact, the idea is to use just enough other ingredients to make the peanuts
stick together. Helen Rhett Simons."
---ibid (p. 205-206)
[NOTE: We wonder if benne seeds could have been used as a variation.]
"Benne (Sesame) Seed Cookies
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups benne seed
3/4 cup melted shortening
3/4 cup flour
1 egg
3 tablespoons hot water
Pinch of salt
Drop on baking sheet and cook in moderatae oven. This recipe for Benne or Sesame Cookies dates back to the days when slaves were shipped to South Carolina from
Africa. Their medicine men brought this seed with them and it was used first as a medicine, then in cookies and molasses or honey candies."
---America Cooks: Favorite Recipes from 48 States, the Browns, Cora Rose and Bob [Garden City Books:Garden City NY] 1940 (p. 757)
"Benne Seed Wafers
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1 block butter, or 3/4 cup cooking oil or oleo
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup benne seed (toasted)
Crean the butter and sugr, add beaten egg, then four sifted with salt and baking powder. Add vanilla and benne seed. Drop by teaspoon on greased cookie sheet. Bake
in moderate oe 325 debrees Cool quickly Allow to cool one minute before removing from pann. This makes a transparent wafer. Yield: about 100.---Mrs. Gustave P
Richards (Lizetta Wagener)
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup benne (toasted)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Cream butter and sugar together and mix with other ingredients, in the order given. Drop with a teaspoon on waxed paper in pan far enough to allow spreading. Bake in moderate oven
325 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Yield: 7 dozen.---Mrs. Maynard Marshall (Harriott Simons)
3/4 cup melted butter
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 cup benne seed
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Mix and droep on greased pan let it run. Bake in 375 degree F, oven and cook till brown. Remove from pan while hot. Yield: about 50.---Mrs. L. L. Oliveros
(Evelyn Kenan)"
---Charleston Receipts, collected by the Junior League of Charleston [Walker, Evans & Cogswell:Charleston SC] 1950 (p. 267-268)
"Benne Seed Cookies
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter and add sugar. Add beaten egg. Sift flour, salt and baking powder and add to butter mixture. Add vanilla and toasted
benne seed. Drop with a teaspoon on cooky sheet--allow for spreading. Bake at 325 degrees F. till a golden brown."
---The South Carolina Cook Book, collected and edited by the South Carolina Extension Homemakers Council and the Clemson Extension
Home Economics staff, revised edition [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1954 (p. 372)
Biscotti
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New
York] 2001 (page 113)
---The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York]
1998 (p. 36)
---Food in the Ancient World From A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p.
53)
Almonds, hazelnuts, anise, and sesame seeds were well known to ancient cooks. Chocolate was
introduced to the "Old World" in the 16th century. It took approximately hundred years before
this ingredient was incorporated into European desserts. It wasn't until the 19th century this
ingredient found its way into baked goods. Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History (Alberto
Capatti & Massimo Montanari) references both biscotti and hazelnuts, although not together in
one recipe, as foods relished by the wealthy during the 16th century (p. 128).
[1891]
"568. Biscotti Croccanti I
(Crunch Cookies I)
500 grams (about 1 pound) of flour
220 grams (about 7 3/4 ounces) of powdered sugar
120 grams (about 4 1/4 ounces) of whole sweet blanched almonds, mixed with some pine nuts
30 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter
a pinch of aniseed
5 eggs
a pinch of salt
Leave aside the almonds and pine nuts to add later, and blend all the other ingredients with four eggs (you only ned to use
the fifth egg if necessary) to make a rather soft dough. Add the almonds and pine nuts, and then make four loaves of dough about as
thick as a finger and as long as the palm of your hand; arrange them in a baking pan greased with butter and dusted with flour, and gild with
egg yolk. Do not bake the loaves too long, so that you can slice them. This is better done the next day, because the crust has time to
soften. Put the slices bakc in the oven and toast lightly on both sides, and there you have your crunchy cookies."
---Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, Pelligrino Artusi, 1891 edition translated by Murtha Baca and Stephen
Saratelli [Marsilio Publishers:New York] 1997 (p. 396)
[NOTE: This book also offers recipes for Crunch Cookies II, Biscoitti Teneri (Soft cookies), Biscotti da Famiglia
(Family-style cookes), Bisciotti Della Salute (Health Cookies) and Biscotto Alla Sultana (Sultan cake).]
"346. Biscuit (Biscotto)
Eggs, 6
Powdered sugar, 1/2lb.
Wholewheat flour, 3 1/2 oz.
Potato Flour, almost 2 oz.
Lemon rind flavoring
Stir the egg yolks, the sugar and a spoonful of tow kinds of flour for at least half an hour. Beat the egg whites and add; mix
slowly, and when the compound is uniform, pour int he flour thorugh a sieve. The flour must have been dried in the sun or near
the fire. Smear a baking-pan with butter and spraty it with powdered sugar and flour. Bake the biscuit until it is raised about
2 in."
---Italian Cook Book, adopted from the Italian of Pelligrino Artusi by Olga Ragusa [S. F. Vanni:New York] 1945 (p. 220)
[NOTE: This book also offers a recipe for Chocolate Biscuit.]
"Biscoitti Al'Anici
Aunt Lena's Anise Slices
6 eggs
1 lb. flour
6 drops anise oil (purchased at drugstore)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Beat 5 eggs with salt; add sugar; blend thoroughly. Sift flour and baking powder; add to eggs and sugar mixture. Add anise oil...Softened
butter or shortening; mix well. Knead until dough is smooth and manageble. The roll dough into oblong loaf 5 inches broad and about 3/4 inch
thick. Brush with 1 beaten egg; sprinkle with sugar; cut into 1-inch slices. Place slices in greased baking pan; bake for 15
minutes in moderate oven, or until light brown. Enough for 1 1/2 dozen slices."
The answer to questions regarding the origin of this recipe depends upon whether you are
seeking a culinary history or linguistic study of mandelbrodt. Historians confirm that almonds
were known to ancient middle eastern cooks, and were incorprated into many recipes.
Biscuits/biscotti, twice-baked hard breads, were popular in Ancient Rome and generally spread
with the Romans to other parts of the continent. Back in the day when modern packaging/preservation options didn't exist,
this dried bread was a sensible option. The term mandelbrot is of Germanic heritage and
this particular food is traditionally associated with Eastern European Jews. Perhaps this suggests
(although the recipe may be ancient) the genesis of the food with this name may be linguistically
placed in Medieval Eastern Europe.
---Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 354)
Ancient Roman soldiers carried a hard bread known as biscoctus. This literally
translates as bis/twice coctus/cooked).
Rusks are a similar product. Foods of this type existed in ancient Rome, the name
did not. Food historians tell us recipes for foods named rusk began showing up
during the reign of Elizabeth I. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the
first printed record of this word dates to 1595.
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 676)
"This was a particularly popular form of small bread or roll among the Quakers and was usually served at breakfast or at
afternoon tea. In flavor, traditional Quaker rusks shoudl be fainly sweet; in color, they should be deep yellow (from the
eggs) with dark brown tops. In the country, there were usually eaten fresh, although technically a true rusk should be dry
and brittle because it is dried out in a slack oven. The dry rusks were broken up in breakfast coffee or tea. At one time, rusks
were a fairly widespread feature of urban Anglo-American cookery, at least on the East Coast. They were introduced from England,
where they were popularly served as shipboard fare, as dried rusks soulc be laid down in tins or stored for long periods of
time. The name, however, is of foreign origin and may be derived from the Spanish or Portuguese rosca, a twist or
roll of bread. Such small breads often served as part of the traveling fare for Spanish or Portuguese sailors."
---A Quaker Woman's Cookbook: The Domestic Cookery of Elizabeth Ellicott Lea, facsimile 1851 edition introduced and
historially noted by William Woys Weaver [Stackpole Books:Mechanicsburg PA] revised edition, 2004 (p. 341)
"Rusk
Take a quart of milk, a tea-cup of cream, half a pound of lard, quarter of a pound of butter, a spoonful of salt, and boil them
together; beat well two eggs with a pound of sugar, and pour the boiling milk on them gradually, stirring all the time; when
nearly cold, add a tea-cup of yeast, and flour sufficient to make a stiff batter; when quite light, knead it up as bread, and let it
lighten again before moulding out; when they are moulded out, wet them over with sugar and cream, and let them rise a few
minutes and bake them; grade a little sugar over when they come out of the oven."
Boil a quart of milk, and put in it half a pound of butter, and a little salt; when nearly cold, stir in a teacup of yeast, a
pound of sugar, and flour to make a batter; when it is light, knead it up with flour, and let it rise again; grease your pans, and
make it out in cakes, about the size of a tea-cup, and an inch thick; put two layers in each pan, and bake them three-quarters of
an hour; when take them out, break them apart, and put the top ones in other pans, and let them dry slowly in the oven for
an hour or more. This rusk will keep for months, and is very useful in sickness, to make panada; it is also good for delicate
persons that rich cake disagrees with, or to take on a journey. Nutmeg or made to your taste. If you like it richer, two eggs
may be put in."
Take as much lightened dough, as wopuld make a loaf of bread, spread it open, and put in a tea-cup of sugar, some nutmeg and
a piece of butter; work it well, mould it out, and bake it with your bread; wet the top with sugar and cream before it goes
into the oven."
---A Quaker Woman's Cookbook/Weaver (p. 124-125)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 676)
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
2002 (p. 375)
Chocolate chip cookies
"Ruth Graves graduated from the Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924. After graduation, she worked as a dietitian and food lecturer. In 1930, she published a cookbook entitled Ruth Wakefield's Recipes: Tried and True. The book went through thirty-nine printings.
The most famous of her original recipes was the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie, named for the restaurant that she and her husband Ken Wakefield owned, the Toll House Inn. Better known as the chocolate chip cookie, Ruth Wakefield developed this recipe in 1933 by breaking up a Nestle semi-sweet chocolate bar and adding it to a basic brown sugar cookie dough.
In the years that followed, the Wakefields enjoyed a pleasant relationship with the Nestle Company, which eventually featured the cookie recipe on the wrapper of its semi-sweet candy bar. When Nestle began the production of chocolate morsels, the recipe, too, was printed on the back of each package where it remains to this day.
Ruth's interest in seeking new and innovative recipes to serve at the couple's restaurant led her to amass a collection of cookbooks. In 1969, two years after the
Wakefields sold the Toll House Inn, Ruth Graves Wakefield donated her cookbooks to the Special Collections."
---
Framingham State University Library (Mrs. Wakefield's cookbooks and archives are housed at this library).
Sadly, No. It was destroyed by fire in 1985. The caption under the photograph printed by
the New York Times (January 2, 1985 I 12:5) describing the fire that destroyed Ruth
Wakefield's kitchen the reads "Wreckage of Toll House Restaurant in Whitman, Mass. It was
where the chocolate chip cookie was invented." In the July, 1997 Governor Weld signed
legislation that declared chocolate chip cookies to be the *official cookie of the
Commonwealth* in honor or Ruth Wakefield (much to the dismay of the Fig Newton
faction).
Ruth Wakefield's Toll House Tried and True Recipes [M. Barrows & Company:New York] enjoyed 27 printings December
1930--September 1952. Our earliest copy (6th printing 1937) does not offer a recipe for any cookies
made with chocolate chips. Massachusetts area newspapers c. 1939 confirm "Toll House Cookies" were sold in bakery departments
of local grocery stores.
[1940]
"Here's a new cookie that everybody loves because it is so delicious, so different and so easy to make. With each crisp bite you
taste a delicious bit of Nestle's Semi-Sweet Chocolate and a crunch of rich walnut meat. A perfect combination. Here's a proven
recipe that never fails. Try it tomorrow.
1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten whole
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon hot water
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts
2 Nestle's Semi-Sweet Economy Bars (7 oz. ea.)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Important: Cut the Nestle's Semi-Sweet in pieces the size of a pea. Cream butter and add sugars and beaten egg. Dissolve soda in the
hot water and mix alternately with the flour sifted with the salt. Lastly add the chopped nuts and the pieces of semisweet chocolate.
Flavor with the vanilla and drip half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in a 375 degree F. oven. Makes 100
cookies. Every one will be surprised and delighted to find that the chocolate does not melt. Insist on Nestle's Semi-Sweet
Chocolate in the yellow Wrap, there is no substitute. This unusual recipe and many others can be found in Mrs. Ruth Wakefield's
Cook Book--"Toll House Tried and True Recipes," on sale at all book stores."
---display ad, Chicago Tribune, April 26, 1940 (p. 24)
[NOTES: (1) Nestle ads promoting these cookies were published in USA papers nationwide. This chocolate was in bars, not
tiny morsels. "Nestle's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bars for making 'Toll House' cookies, 2 Bars for 25 cents,"
---display ad, Los Angeles Times, January 29, 1940 (p. 4). (2) The earliest print references we find for morsels
appears the following year: "Nestle Morsels, two 7 oz pkgs 25 cents." Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1941 (p. 6)]
"Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies
A specially prepared chocolate may be bought for use in cookies. Any semisweet chocolate may be substituted, cut into pea-sized pieces. Use it as you would raisins,
nut meats, etc. Follow the proceding recipe for: Drop Cookies. Use only 1/2 cup chopped nts. Add: 1/2 cup chipped chocolate."
---Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill Company:Indianapolis IN] 1946 (p. 595)
"Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies
Cream 1 cup butter, add 3/4 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 eggs beaten whole.
Dissolve 1 tsp. Soda in 1 tsp. Hot water, and mix alternately with 2 1/4 cups flour sifted with 1
tsp. Salt. Lastly add 1 cup chopped nuts and 2 bars (7-oz.) Nestles yellow label chocolate,
semi-sweet, which has been cut in pieces the size of a pea. Flavor with 1 tsp vanilla and drip half
teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 375 degrees F. Oven. Makes 100
cookies."
---Toll House Tried and True Recipes, Ruth Wakefield [M. Barrows:New York] 1947 (p. 216)
"Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies
Cream
1 cup butter. Add
3/4 cp brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten. Dissolve
1 teaspoon soda in
1 teaspoon hot water. Add
alternately with
2 1/4 cups flour sifted. Add
1 teaspooon salt. Add
1 cup chopped nuts
2 packages semisweet chocolate morsels
1 teaspoon vanilla
Drop by half teaspoonsfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 100 cookies. At Toll House,
we chill this dough overnight. When ready for baking, we roll a teaspoon of dough overnight between palms of hands and place balls
2 inches apart on grased baking sheet. Then we press balls with finger tips to form flat rounds. This way cookies do not spread as much in
the baking and they keep uniformly round. They should be brown through, and crispy, not quite and hard as I have sometimes seen
them."
---Ruth Wakefield's Toll House Cook Book, Ruth Wakefield [Little, Brown and Company:Boston] new edition completely revised, February 1955 (p. 208)
"Chocolate Chip Cookies
...Glamourous, crunchy, rich with chocolate bits and nuts. Also known as 'Toll House' cookies...from Kenneth and Ruth Wakefield's charming New England Toll House on the
outskirts of Whitman, Massachusetts. These cookies were first introduced to American homemakers in 1939 through our series of radio talks on 'Famous Foods
from Famous Eating Places.'
Mix thoroughly...2/3 cup soft shortening (part butter), 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar (packed), 1 egg, 1 tsp. vanilla.
Sift together and stir in...6 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate pieces (about 1 1/4 cups) *For a softer, more rounded cooky, use 1 3/4 cups sifted flour.
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls about 2" apart on ungreased bakding sheet. Bake until delicately browned...cookies should still be soft. Cool slightly before removing from baking
sheet.
Temperature: 375 degrees (quick mod. oven). Time: Bake 8 to 10 min.. Amount: 4 to 5 doz. 2" cookies."
---Betty Crocker's Picture Book, General Mills, Inc., revised and enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw-Hills Book Company:New York] 1956 (p. 197)
Petit fours & mignardise
The confusion regarding "petit four" is that it is not a recipe. It is a term denoting a wide variety
of small, fancy cakes
and cookie. Some people today think of petits fours as defined by mail-order food companies:
bite-sized seasonally-decorated chocolate-covered muli-layered cake-like confections.
"Petit four. A small fancy biscuit (cookie), cake or item of confectionery. The name, according to
Careme, dates from the
18th century, when ovens were made of brick and small items had to be cooked a petit four (at a
very low temperature),
after large cakes had been take out and the temperature had dropped. After the bonbons, dragees,
marzipans, pralines
and crystallized (candied) fruits that were in vogue during the Renaissance and in the reign of
Louis XIV, other tidbits
were created. They required imagination an flair by the pastry cooks to reproduce the large-scale
decorations in
miniature. Careme himself attached great importance to the petits fours known as
colifichets..."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York]
2001 (p. 876)
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 252)
The term mignardise, as applied to the culinary world, means an assortment of small, dainty
confections.
This assortment is generally composed of petits fours in the larger sense: tiny decorated cakes,
specialty
cookies, bonbons and sugared fruits. In other words, a plate of identical petits fours confections
(no matter
how ornate) would not be considered a mignardise. A mixed presentation of small, decorated
specialty
pastries, cookies and candies would qualify as mignardise.
"Mignardise. Preciousness, ornateness, daintiness, affectation."
---Collins Robert French English/English French Dicitonary, unabridged, Beryl Atkins et
al, 4th ed.
[HarperCollins:New York]1995 (p. 512)
---Harrap's New Standard French and English Dictionary (p. M:40)
"Mignardises. Small, dainty confections."
---Master Dictionary of Food and Cookery, Henry Smith [Philosphical Library:New York]
1950 (p.
153)
---International Dictionary of Food & Cooking, Ruth Martin [Hastings House:New York]
1974 (p. 177)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang, editor [Crown:New York] 1988 p. 793)
Rugelach
Cream cheese cookery is a Central European tradition with ancient Middle Eastern roots. Cookies,
pastries and cakes combining this ingredient with fruits, jams, nuts and spices are specialties of
this part of the world. According to the food historians, contemporary Jewish-American rugelach
(typically made with cream cheese) descends from this tradition. George Lang's The Cuisine
of Hungary [New York:Atheneum 1982] contains several examples: Dios szelet (walnut pie),
Edes okorszem (Sweet Bull's Eye) and Gyumolcskosarkak (Little Fruit Crescents) among them.
---Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past, Maria Dembinska [University of
Pennsylvania Press:Philadelphia PA] 1999 (p. 116)
---Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 351-2)
[1958]
"Rugelach--Elsie Waldman's Recipe
1 cake yeast
1 cup commercial sour cream
4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
3 egg yolks, well beaten
1/2 pound butter (or part margarine)
1/2 cup sugar
1/16 teaspoon salt
Have all ingredients at room temperature. Crumble the yeast into the cream. Alternately add the
flour and
egs. Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt, and blend thoroughly into the batter. Divide the
dough into
4 parts, wrap each in waxed paper, and chill in the refrigerator overnight. Roll out each part of the
dough
into a strip 6 inches wide and 1/4 inch thick. Spread each with jam, and sprinkle with any or all of
the
following: raisins, ground cinnamon, sugar, ground nut meats, and shredded cocoanut. Roll up
and cut
each roll into 12 slices. Place on greased cookie sheets and bake at 375 degrees F. About 30
minutes, until
a rich brown."
---The Jewish Cook Book, Mildred Grosberg Bellin [Tudor Publishing Company:New
York] 1958 (p.
268)
Joan Nathan's
apricot or
chocolate rugelach recipe (Jewish Cooking in America/PBS):
Scooter Pies & Mallomars
According to the food historians, manufactured marshmallow cake and cookie treats were first
marketed to the American public in the early decades of the 20th century. These most likely
descended from Victorian
sandwich cakes. Advances in technology made marshmallow
products of all kinds readily available to the American public. Products proliferated.
Whoopie pies descend from cream-filled sandwich cakes popular in the Victorian era. Delicious
recipes graced most European countries. Chocolate cake variations became popular in the late
19th/early 20th century when advancements in food technology made this ingredient available to
the masses. Contemporary products are typically composed of chocolate/devil's food and vanilla
cream. Sizes, thicknesses, and cream textures vary according to region. Some American culinary
pundits tout Amish origin but offer no supporting historic print evidence for this claim. A
survey of magazine/newspaper articles [ProQuest Historic, Readers Guide
Retro, NewspaperArchives.com]confirms popularity (esp. In the northeast/Maine) but does not divulge much in the way of
product origin.
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York]
1999 (p. 347)
[NOTE: None of our PA Dutch historic cookbooks offer recipes for Whoopie pies.]
---"Treat worth cheering for," Leigh Belinger, The Boston Globe, Sept. 17, 2004 (p. C1)
[NOTES: (1) Nancy Baggett's contact here: http://www.kitchenlane.com (2)The oldest print reference we find for Berwick's
Whoopie Pies was a 1/3 page ad published in the Portland Press Herald [ME], January 28, 1950 (p. 16). This was a contest offering
a 1950 Plymouth Sedan 1st prize. Several local Whoopie Pie distributors listed.]
---"One Bakery Owner's Dream: Taking Whoopies to the World," New York Times, December 26, 2005 (p. A23)
[NOTE: This company still in business: http://www.wickedwhoopies.com]
Many food history books mention Langue-de-chat, a small, dry, finger-shaped biscuit whose name
translates literally as "cat's tongue," but none provide much in the way of definative history. We
can surmise from the ingredients/method of cooking, the earliest cookies of this type might
possibly date to the 17th century. At that time refined white sugar and piping bags (capable of
extruding shapes) were popular with the wealthy classes of Northern Europe. Shaped sugar
cookies and sweet biscuits (gemels, gimmows, sugar cakes etc.) date to Medieval times. Mexican
wedding cakes, Russian tea cakes, Spanish polvorones, melindros and biscochos are all related.
Our notes on these biscuits here. Our culinary history sources do not
credit a specific region of France for creating the first Langues de Chat. Presumably, the recipe evolved
in regions rich with butter (north, central, mountains) rather than mediterranean areas featuring oil.
"A langue de chat, literally a 'cat's tongue', is a flat thin finger-shaped sweet biscuit with rounded
ends, typically served with desserts and sweet wines. Its name no doubt comes from its
shape."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 184)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne [Crown Publishers:New York] 1961 (p.
578)
[1919]
"Langue de chat, I. Work a quarter pound of butter with a quarter pound of sugar until
creamy. Then add four eggs, one by one, and keep on working until very smooth. Add a few
drops of vanilla extract and a quarter pound of flour, and mix lightly. Put into a pastry bag and
spread on a buttered pan in the shape of small lady fingers. Bake for a few minutes in a rather hot
oven.
---The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book, Victor Hirtzler [Hotel Monthly Press:Chicago] 1919
(p. 179-180)
"Cats' Tongues, or Finger-Biscuits (Langues-de-Chats Fines)
The dough for this kind of cookie varies, but they are always cooked in the same way; it requires the use of thick black
steel baking sheets; the cats' tongues will color too much on a thin baking sheet. If possible, it is a good idea to have two baking
sheets, so that you can shape the dough on the second while the first is in the oven. Also, you need a pastry bag fitted with
a nozzle 1/2 centimeter (3/16 inch) in diameter...If ou do not have one, you can use a large cone of heavy paper, cutting the end
to the right diameter. You have to prepare as many cones of paper as the number of times you would need to refill the pastry bag,
because these paper cones can be used only once. Time: 1 hour for the preparation. Makes 5 dozen.
125 gram (4 1/2 ounces, 9 tablespoons) of fine butter;
160 grams ( 5 2/3 ounces) of good sifted wheat flour;
140 grams (5 ounces) of confectioners' sugar;
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder; 2 egg whites beaten into a snow.
Procedure: Once the flour has been strained through a drum sieve or sifted, mix in the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla
powder, then sift everything a second time through the drum sieve onto a stiff sheet of paper. Leave it on the table. Have
ready the baking sheets, lightly buttered, as well as the pastry bag or the paper cones. In a terrine large enough to be able
to mix the whites, work the mixture as directed...The whisk the egg whites into a snow...Add the prepared flour and sugar to the
butter made into a pomade by lightly shaking the sheet of paper above the terrine while mixing with the wooden spoon, without
working the dough too much. Finally, incorporate the egg whites beaten into a snow with the movement and care required for this
mixture...Immediately afterward, fill the pouch of the paper cone. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheet in little sticks about half
the length of a pencil. Leave about 3 centimeters (1 1/8 inches) of space between each little stick, because the dough will
spread out a great deal when baking. Then immediately put them into an oven at a good medium heat for 7-8 minutes, until
only the edge of the cookies has taken on a lightly brown golden tint. Take the baking sheet out of the oven and loosen the
cookies from it by passing the flexible blade of a large knife under them."
---La Bonne Cuisine: The Original Companion for French Home Cooking, Madame E. Saint-Ange, translated and with an
introduction by Paul Aratow [Ten Speed Press:Berkeley CA] 2005 (p. 717-8)
[NOTES: (1) Elipse (...)indicates directions to be found on other pages of this book. (2) We have a copy of the original French
book. If you would like to see this recipe from that source let us know. Can scan, mail or fax.]
"Langue de chat (Patisserie).--Ce petit gateau est ainsi nomme, disent certains auteurs
culinaries, a cause de sa forme plate et allongee qui est, parait-il, semblable a une langue de chat.
A vrai dire, il faut mettre une extreme bonne volonte pour trouver que cette patisserie ressemble a
une langue de felin domestique, amis n'ayant pas d'autre etymologie a proposer pour justifier
cette appellation, nous l'adoptons sans discuter.
Les langues de chat, qui appartiennent a la categorie des gateaux secs, se preparent de diverses
facons, ou, du moins, peuvent etre partumees diversement. Mais seulement peuvent etre designes
sous ce nom les petits gateaux dont ci-apres nous donnons les recettes. Les langues de chat, qui
sone des patisseries d'assez longue conservation, se servent surtout comme accompagnement de
certains vins de liqueur ou de vins mousseux. On les sert aussi comme accompagnement des
entrements glaces et enfin, on les utilise dans la preparation de divers poudings."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne [Librarie Larousse:Paris] 1938 (p.
637)
[NOTE: This book also offers two recipes for langues de chat: simples and fines.]
The term "bar cookies" or "squares" originated in the 20th century. The earliest examples we find
in
American cookbooks are from the 1930s [Date bars]. A survey of cookbooks suggests these
recipes gained
popularity as decades progressed. Food historians do not credit a specific person/place with the
invention of
"bar cookies." Presumably the practice evolved from earlier recipes, most notably brownies and
fudge.
Lemons are ancient fruits enjoyed in many cultures and cuisines from the beginning of time
through
present day. The figured prominently in custards, pies, cheesecakes, candies, and baked goods.
They were
also used to flavor savory dishes (lemon chicken, etc.). Lemon bars (aka Lemon Squares), as we know them today,
evolved from
Renaissance times. Why? The ingredients provide the answer. This is when shortbread/crust was
developed, lemon custard was very popular and sugar was sprinkled on everything. Lemon meringue pie
likely served the inspiration.
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 499)
[1958]
"Crunchy Lemon Squares
[About 2 dozen]
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup confectoners' sugar
2 egg yolks
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Topping:
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Cream shortening; gradually add sugar and blend until mixture is light and fluffy. Add egg yolks; mix well. Beat in flour and grated peel. Spread
evenly in bottom of ungreased 13 by 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees 10 minutes. Remove from oven and spread with topping. To
prepare topping, beat egg whites until stiff, then gradually beat in sugar and lemon juice. Fold in nuts. Bake 25 minutes longer.
Cool slightly and cut into squares."
---"Try Barbecued Turkey! It's Delicious and Different," Mary Meade, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 15, 1958 (p. B3)
"Serve these cookies with fresh fruit for dessert or with glasses of cold milk or lemonade for snacks.
Lemon Bars
[24]
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup confectioners's sugar
1 cup sifted granulated sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons flour
Cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Add 1 cup flour and mix well. Spread in an ungreased pan, 9 by 9
by 2 inches. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Beat sugar into eggs gradually. Add salt and lemon juice. Add sifted baking powder
and 2 tablespoons flour; mix thoroly. Spread over crust and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes longer. Cool, dust with confectioners'
sugar, and cut into squares. Mrs. Eleanore Mickelson, 3-33 N. 1st st., Milwaukee."
---"Today's $$5 Favorite Recipe," Chicago Daily Tribune, August 27, 1962 (p. B12)
"Lemon squares.
1 cup Gold Medal Flour
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 tbsp. Lemon juice.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. (Mod.). Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Blend flour,
butter, and
confectioners' sugar thoroughly. Press evenly in square pan, 8 X 8 X 2". Bake 20 minutes. Beat
rest of the ingredients
together. Pour over crust and bake 20 to 25 min. More. Do not overbake! (The filling puffs
during baking but flattens
when cooled.) Makes 16 squares."
---Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, [General Mills:Minneapolis] 1963
(p. 13)
[NOTES: (1) Photo of Lemon Squares from this book.
(2) Even though this recipe is called "squares" it is included in the section on "bar cookies."
Traditional bar
cookies cooked in a shallow pan and cut after baking. There are also
no-bake bar cookies. (3) This book also offers recipes for Coconut Lemon Bars (p. 73) & Lemon
Coconut Bars (p.106).]
Set out a 13 X 9 X 2-in. Baking pan.
Finely chop and set aside 1/2 cup (about 2 oz.) Pecans
Measure and set aside 1 cup sifted flour
Cream together 1/2 cup shortening, 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Add gradually, creaming until fluffy after each addition 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
Add gradually, beating thoroughly after each addition 2 egg yolks, beaten
Mixing until well blended after each addition, add flour in fourths to creamed mixture. Spread
batter evenly over the
bottom of pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. 10 min. Remove to cooling rack.
Meanwhile, beat until frothy 2 egg whites
Add gradually, beating well after each addition 1/2 cup sugar
Continue beating until rounded peaks are formed and egg whites do not slide when bowl is
partially inverted.
Fold in the chopped pecans and 1 tablespoon lemon juice.
Spread evenly over first payer in pan. Return to oven and bake for 25 min. or until meringue is
delicately browned.
Cool and cut into 2-in. Squares."
---The Family Home Cookbook, Culinary Arts Institute[Grosset & Dunlap:New York]
1963 (p. 421)
"Lemon Meringue Bars
This rather rich cooky, good with tea (iced or hot) or with ice cream, is not difficult to make.
2 egg yolks
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Put together in a vowl the butter, powdered sugar, egg yolks, flour, salt, and lemon peel. Knead with the hands until the
mixture is smooth and the color evenly distributed. Spread in a 10-inch square or 10 by 12-inch ungreased pan, and bake in a
moderate oven (350 degrees F.) for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool while making meringue. Beat egg whites until stiff.
Add lemon juice, and beat until the meringue stands in peaks. Spread on cooky dough and return to the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until
nicely brownded. Cool and cut into bars. Makes about 2 dozen."
---Sunset Adventures in Food, editorial staffs of Sunset Books and Sunset Magazine, Dorothy Kress, editor
[Lane Book Company:Menlo Park CA] 1964 (p. 186)
"Sour Lemon Squares
"This recipe comes from a friend in Scottsdale, Arizona. The cookies have a crisp, buttery base and a soft, custardy, sour-lemon
topping. They are more delicate than many other cookies and they are fabulous! Make them to serve with tea (especially) or
coffee, or serve them as dessert, or along with a fruit or custard dessert. They may be frozen.
Pastry base.
3 ounces (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
Adjust a rack to the center of the oven to 350 degrees. To line qan 8 X 8 X 2-inch square pan with foil, turn the pan upside down.
Center a 12-inch square of foil over the pan, fold down the sides and coreners to shape it, remove the foil, turn the pan right
side up, place the foil in the pan and press it into shape. To buer the foil, put a pices of butter (in addition to what is called
for in the recipe) in the pan, place the pan in the oven to melt the butter, and then brush the butter over the bottom and halfway
up the sides. Let the pan cool and then place it in the freezer (it is easier to presss the bottom crust into place if the
pan is cold). In a small bowl, cream the 3 ounces of butter. Beat in the salt, sugar, and then the flour. (Or you can do this in a
food processor: Place the dry ingredients in the bowl, with the steel blade; cut the butter into pieces and add, then
process until thoroughly mixed.) If the mixture does not hold together, turn it out onto a work surface and knead it until it
does. Place the mixture in mounds (each one about a rounded teaspoonful) over the bottom of the cold pan. Then, with your fingers, press
it to make a smooth and firm layer on the bottom only. Bake for about 18 minutes until the crust is lightly colored. Meanwhile, prepare
the Lemon Layer.
Lemon Layer
Finely grated rind of 2 medium-size lemons
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 eggs (graded large, extra large, or jumbo)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
Confectioners sugar (to be sued after the cookies are baked)
In a small cup mix the rind and juice and set aside. In a small bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs well. Add the sugar,
flour, and baking powder and beat for 1 minute at high spaeed(see Note). Stir in rind and juice. Pour the lemon mixture over the hot bottom
crust. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the top is lightly colored and dry to the touch; when it is done it will feel spongy and
custardy, not dry or stiff. Cool completely in the pan and then chill in the freezer for about half and hour. Cover with a small
cutting board and turn over the board and the rack or sheet, leaving the cake right side up. The cake will be only about 1/2 inch deep.
Use a long, heavy, sharp knife and cut the cake into 16 squares. Wipe the blade after making each cut. Place them on wax paper and
strain confectioners sugar generously over the tops. Package these in a shallow box or arrange them on a tray and cover with
plastic wrap. These may be refrigerated and served cold or they may be served at room temperature. When they are cold, the
lemon layer is more firm and wonderful; when they are at room temperature the lemon layer is softer and wonderful. NOTE: I once made
these in a kitchen that did not have an electric mixer or an egg beater. I used a wire whisk, and they were just as good."
---Maida Heatter's New Book of Great Desserts, Maida Heatter [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1982 (p. 321-323)
[NOTE: This recipe is accompanied by an illustration of Pillsbury Best brand flour. Pillsbury and Betty Crocker are both General
Mills brands.]
If you have to ask "what is a Mallomar?" you didn't grow up in the greater New York area.
These chocolate enrobed
marshmallow treats are in a class by themselves. According to the record of the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, they were introduced to
the American public
November 20, 1913 by the National Biscuit Company (registration number 0096171). They have
been a fall tradition
ever since. Why New York and why fall? Nabisco claims its because the product doesn't travel
well and chocolate
doesn't sell in the warmer months. Whatever. Those of us who still live around the city know it's
fall when the
Mallomars come back. Sort of like when the swallows return to Capistrano.
---Out of the Cracker Barrel: From Animal Crackers to ZuZus, William Cahn (p.
144)
[NOTE: this book is about the history of the National Biscuit Company/Nabisco--your librarian
can help you find a
copy.]
--- "Mallomars make fall debut," Business Wire, October 20, 1987
The Cookie
Crumbles," Gersh
Kutzman, Newsweek, Oct. 7, 2002
Today's food writers happily perpetuate
the myth of the Mallomar season. It makes good copy. It is true that today's
Mallomars are introduced in
September/October. Production ceases in March/April. The product lingers in the supermarket for a while then disappears
from the shelves altogether. The reason offered by the company is that the chocolate covering is delicate and cannot survive hot summer months. Was it always this
way? No. Our research confirms not only were Mallomars sold in the summer, they were sold all over the country. Up until recently.
Mallomar nostalgia articles proliferate in the 1980s-1990s. This is about the time we find first print references to
this product's seasonality. Coincidence?
"Visiting day at summer cam is usually the first weekend in July, and camps will soon be sending out the standard instructions: DO NOT BRING FOOD ON
VISITING DAY, ALL FOOD PACKAGES WILL BE CONFISCATED...The problem is that kids have an emotional strangle hold on parents when it comes to
food packages. The parent writes, 'The camp director says that we cannot bring food.' The child responds, 'So how come Jimmy's mother is bringing up a carton of
Mallomars?'...As the last parent leaves camp it's time to divide the loot. Each camper opens his carton...After the opening begins the trading, and here you must
remember that you can't trade sunflower seeds for Mallomars. M & M's trade for Mallomars. So do Milky Ways--the small kind."
---"Invasion from Mallomars," Leonard S. Bernstein, New York Times, June 27, 1976 (p. 355)
"Mallomars, 15 cents," Anniston Star, Alabama, October 12, 1919 (p. 12)
"Mallomars, 4 pkgs, 50 cents," New Castle News, Pennsylvania, July 27, 1921 (p. 11)
"Mallomars, 3 pkgs, 25 cents," Port Arthur News, Texas, November 9, 1928 (p. 12)
"Mallomars, 2 pkgs, 19 cents," Galveston Daily News, Texas, June 4, 1938 (p. 18)
"Chocolate Mallomars, 4 oz pkg, 16 cents," Lawton Constitution, Oklahoma, January 15, 1948 (p. 8)
""N.B.C. Chocolate Mallomars, 5 1/4 oz pkg, 29 cents," Los Angeles Times, June 26, 1952 (p. 10)
"Mallomars, 5 1/4 oz pkg, 39 cents," Fairbanks Daily News Miner, Alaska, October 19, 1955 (p. 16)
"Chocolate Mallomars, 5 1/2 oz pkg, 25 cents," Middleboro Daily News, Kentucky, March 14, 1956 (p. 9)
"Nabisco Mallomars, 5 1/4 oz pkg, 29 cents," Fort Pierce News-Tribune, Florida, November 10, 1957 (p. 20)
"Chocolate Mallomars, 8 oz box, 33 cents," Galveston Daily News, Texas, March 21 , 1964 (p. 10)
"Nabisco Mallomars, 8 oz twin pack, 29 cents," New York Times, May 1, 1968 (p. 51)
"Mallomars, 8 oz pkg, 49 cents," News Tribune, Ft. Pierce, Florida, December 13, 1972 (p. 36)
"Delicious Mallomars, 7 oz twin pack, 41 cents," New York Times, June 27, 1973 (p. 55)
Mexican wedding cakes & Russian tea
cakes
According to several food history sources and cookbooks, Mexican wedding cakes and Russian
tea cakes (aka Biscochitos/Mexico, Tea cakes/Sweden, Melting Moments
/Australia, Mandulas
kiflik/Bulgaria,
Biscochos/Cuba,
Kourabides/Greece, Polvorones/Italy & Spain, Rohlichky/Ukraine and
Sand Tarts, Sandies, Butterballs & Moldy Mice/United States) are a universal holiday
cookie-type treat. This means this recipe is not necessarily connected to any one specific country.
It IS
connected with the tradition of saving rich and expensive food (the richest butter,
finest sugar, choicest nuts) for special occasions.
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
741)
---Recipes from a Spanish Village, Pepita Aris [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1990 (p.
124)
These typical Spanish holiday cookies are of Arab origin, but just about every country in the
Western world has some version of a sugar cookie. Sevilla is famous for its cookies, but they are
also found throughout Spain. Although often made with lard, butter produces a finer
cookie."
---The Foods and Wines of Spain, Penelope Casas [Knopf:New York] 1982 (p. 745)
---http://www.sevillacultural.com/ocio/english/gastronomy.htm
Biscochitos are a "new world" food with "old world" roots. Introduced to Mexico by Spanish
explorers in the 16th century, their true origin can be traced to Medieval Arabian cuisine. When
the Moors invaded Seville, they brought this recipe with them. Biscochitos (known in many
countries/cusines by different names) are traditionally associated with holiday feasts; most notably
Christmas. Variations on this recipe are endless. Orange juice/rind is probably one of the
oldest...Seville is/was famous for oranges.
Chokeberries (Aronia melanocarpa) are "new world" foods.
---The Genuine New Mexico Tasty Recipes, Cleofas M. Jaramillo, Unabridged reprint of
Seton
Village Press edition, 1942 [Ancient City Press: Santa Fe NM] 1981 (p. 23)
---Food Lover's Companion, Sharon Tyler Herbst, 3rd edition
[Barron:New York] 2001
(p. 385)
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Foods of the 20th
Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 481)
[NOTE: Ms. Anderson provides a recipe in her book.]
---"Recipe: How Cooky Is Put Together," Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1964 (p. G21)
[1944]
"Polvorones (Mexican Tea Cakes)
1 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 1/4 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Confectioners sugar for rolling
"Mexican Wedding Cakes
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter with sugar. Add flour gradually, beating well after each addition. Add nuts and vanilla and blend. Shape into crescents,
place on an ungreased cooky sheet. Bake in slow oven (325 degrees F.) for 15 to 18 minutes. Approximate yield: 4 dozen crescents.
Crisp little things, ready to break in the mouth, melting richly on the tongue."
---"Quick-as-a-Wink Dishes," Clementine Paddleford, Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1951 (p. G27)
"Mexican Wedding Cakes (a variation of Nut Butter Balls)
1 cup soft butter or margarine
1/4 to 1/2 cup granulated or confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract; or 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 to 2 cups finely chopped or ground walnuts, pecans, almonds, black walnuts,
Brazil nuts, or
filberts.
Mix butter with sugar until very light and fluffy. Add salt, extract, flour, nuts; mix
well.
Refrigerate until easy to handle. Start heating oven to 350 degrees F. Shape dough
into 1" balls or
1" to 2" X 1/2" rolls, triangles, or crescents. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. (Or
drop by level
tablesoonfuls onto cookie sheet.) Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until light brown.
While cookies are
warm, roll in granulated or confectoners' sugar, fine cookie crumbs, or cinnamon
and sugar.
Makes 4 to 5 dozen.
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh editor [Good
Housekeeping Book
Division:New York] 1955 (p. 479)
[NOTE: this book does not contain a recipe for Russian Tea Cakes.]
[1886]
"Sand Tarts
1 pound of granulated sugar
Yolks of three eggs
1/2 pound of butter
Whites of two eggs
Flour enough to make a stiff paste
Beat the butter and sugar together; add the yolks beaten to a cream, then the
whites well beaten;
mix all well together, and add the flour. Roll out on a baking-board, cut with a
round cutter, and
bake in a moderate oven until a light brown."
---Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book, Mrs. S.T. Rorer [Arnold and
Company:Philadelphia] 1886 (p. 498)
"Sand tarts, Boston Cooking School Cook
Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer
"Sand Tarts
Stir to a cream one cu putter and a cup and a half of sugar. Add three eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately, one
tablespoonful water, and a half teaspoonful of baking pwder sifted with enouth flour to make stiff enough to roll. Roll thin, on
a floured board, cut in squares, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top and bake."
---"Domestic Science," Emma Paddock Telford, Los Angeles Times, July 14, 1907 (p. VII2)
"Sand tarts
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar.
1 egg.
2 cups sifted flour.
2 teaspoons baking powder.
1/4 teaspoon salt.
1 teaspoon cinnamon.
3 tablespoons granulated sugar.
Halved almonds or pecans.
Cream together the butter and brown sugar, and add the well-beated egg. Sift
together the flour,
baking powder, and salt, and add to the first mixture. On a lightly floured board
make a roll of the
dough about 3 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and let stand for several
hours or
overnight in a cold place. In the morning slice wafer thin with a sharp knife, and
sprinkle with a
mixture of the cinnamon and granulated sugar. Press a nut in the center of each
cookie. Bake in a
moderate oven (350 degrees F.) For about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Store in air-tight
containers."
---Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised, Bureau of Gome Economics,
U.S. Department
of Agriculture [United States Government Printing Office:Washington DC] 1931
(p. 119)
The typical Russian Tea Cake recipe calls for butter, eggs, flour, salt, vanilla, nuts
(walnuts,
almonds, pecans, hazelnuts) and confectioner's sugar. This particular combination
of ingredients
essentially dates back to the Jumbles baked in
Medieval Europe
(minus the vanilla).
Nanaimo bars
Canadian Nanaimo bars descend from no-bakes, popular from the 1930s forward. Economical & delicious; combinations are endless. About
No-bakes
"Nanaimo bar is a baked treat popular all across Canada, often as little cut squares of biscuit alternating with a sweet cream filling and covered with chocolate. They
may have been first concocted in the city of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. A number of local native bands amagamated in the mid-19th century, calling their union
sne-ny-mo, or 'big, strong tribe.' "
---Canadian Food Words, Bill Casselman [MacArthur Company:Toronto ON] 1998 (p. 271)
[1954]
"Nanaimo Bars
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups graham wafer crumbs
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Place softened butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and egg in bowl. Set the bowl in a dish of boiling water. Stir well until butter has melted and mixture remsembles thin custard.
Combine graham wafer crumbs, coconut and nuts, blending well. Add in custard mixture. Pack evenly in 9-inch square pan, spread with icing. Icing--Cream 1/4 cup butter,
add 2 tablespoons milk which has been combined with 2 tablespoon vanilla custard powder. Blend in 2 cups icing sugar. Spread over chocolate base, and let stand about
15 minutes or so to harden somewhat. Then melt 4 squares semi-sweet chocolate with 1 tablespoon butter and spread over custard icing. When set, cut into bars."
---"The Herald's Daily Recipe," Lethbridge Herald [Alberta CA], January 18, 1954 (p. 11)
"Recipes have a way of becoming lost when not kept in a book or file. We have gathered together some of the most popular misplaced bar-cookie recipes...The Nanaimo
Bars are not baked. They have a chocolate base and a white icing with custard powder. Originally the thin chocolate icing was made with semi-sweet chocolate. There is
a sweet cooking chocolate on the market now and we tried it as a topping and liked it better than the semi-sweet. However, you may melt one cup semi-sweet chocolate
bits with the butter and spread it on. Other names for the bars are Chocolate Slice, Unbaked Chocolate Slice and Custard Brownies but the recipes are all the same.
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups graham wafer crumbs
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
special frosting<
Place butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and eggs in bowl. Place over bowl of boiling water. Stir until butter is melted and mixture resembles custard. Combine crumbs, coconut
and nuts. Add to custard mixture. Pack in ungreased 9X9X2-inch pan. Spread with Special Frosting. Cool and when set cut in small squares. Yield: 36 squares.
1/4 cup butter
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons vanilla custard powder
2 cups sifted icing sugar
4 squares sweet chocolate
1 tablespoon butter.
Cream butter. Mix milk and custard powder; add to creamed mixture. Blend in icing sugar. Spread on chocolate bars. Let stand 20 minutes. Melt sweet chocolate and
butter over hot water. Spread over custard mixture. Cover pan. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve."
---"Cookie Bars and Squares Sweeet, Easy and Popular, Norah Cherry, Winnipeg Free Press, February 5, 1962 (p. 13)
"'As a pastor's wife in Canada, I was served these Nanaimo Bars,' writes Mrs. Jane Sandberg. 'They are very easy to make as they are not baked but chilled. They are a
rich and delicious dessert.'
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 tbsp. instant vanilla pudding mix
2 tbsp. milk
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
3 sq. semi-sweet chocolate
1 tbsp. butter
Melt 1/2 cup butter in saucepan. Blend in granulated sugar, cocoa, vanilla, egg, crunmbs, coconut and nuts. Press mixture into a 9-in. square pan. Cream 1/4 cut butter
until light and add dry pudding mix, milk and confectioners' sugar, blending well. Spread mixture on top of crumb mixture and chill thoroughly. Melt chocolate with 1 tbsp.
butter, stirring to blend. Spread over chilled mixture. Chill, then cut into bars."
---"Nanaimo Bars Make Cool Dessert," Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1965 (p. D12)
"The authors of The Best of Bridge decided they wanted a cookbook that was both informative and entertaining. So the eight Calgary women, remembers of the bridge club
that met weekly, spiced their book...with jokes and riddles to encourage a few chuckles from the cooks in the kitchen. They also included their favorite recipes, collected
from friends and relatives over the years...[including] george (commonly known as Nanaimo Bars)...The recipe for George came to the group by way of a friend's mother...
Whenever she made her squares, the children would always say 'This is real George, mom,' an expression meaning 'teriffic.'
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 beaten egg
2 cups graham water crumbs
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Combine, put in nine-inch square pan and chill for 1/2 hour.
2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup cream or milk
2 tablespoons custard powder
Conbine all ingredients, beating until smooth and fluffy. Then spread carefully on top of first layer.
3 chocolate squares (sweet or semi-sweet)
1/4 cup butter, melted
Melt chocolate and butter together, then spread over second layer and chill."
---"Cookbook spiced with jokes, riddles," Lethbridge Herald [Alberta] April 7, 1977 (p. 40)
No-bake cookies
Food historians tell us unbaked confections composed of nuts, dried fruit, seeds and sweeteners were made by ancient Middle
eastern cooks. "No bake" (cookies, squares, bars, balls), as we Americans know them today, surfaced in cookbooks published during the Great Depression.
Like their ancient counterparts, contemporary "No bakes" contain dried/desiccated fruit, nuts, and/or seeds glued together
with a sugar (honey, Karo) or fat (cream cheese, peanut butter, butter, margarine). No bake cookies (generally pressed into a pan and cut in
squares/bars) descend from the same tradition. These recipes appear in the 1950s. The primary difference between bake and no bake'
recipes (besides the obvious oven time, of course!) is the "no bakes" do not contain eggs or flour. They are not intended to rise.
[1936]
"Date Balls.
Stone: 1 pound dates, or use 1/2 pound seeded dates
Put them through a food chopper with: 1 cup chopped pecan meats
Add: 1/4 teaspoon salt
Shape the candy into tiny balls. Roll them in: Powdered sugar."
Remove the seeds from: 1 pound dates, or use 1/2 pound seeded dates
Cut the stems from 1 pound dried figs
Put these ingredients thorugh the coarsest cutter of a meat grinder with: 1 pound seeded raisins, 1 pound pecan meats, 1/3 pound crystallized ginger
Shape these ingredients into balls. Roll them in: Powdered sugar.
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis IN] 1936 (p. 543)
"Fruit Cookies (Unbaked)
1 lb. raisins
1 lb. figs
1 lb. dates
1 lb. cooked prunes
1 c. nuts
1 lb. graham crackers
2 tb. lemon juice
2 tb. honey
Grind fruit and nuts; add lemon juice and honey. Mix thoroughly and make into roll. Keep in refrigerator. Serve thin slices."
---Granddaugher's Inglenook Cookbook [Bretheren Publishing House:Elgin IL] 1942 (p. 51)
"Honey Bars
2 Cups Raisins
1 Cup Mixed Nuts
1/4 Cup Honey
Grind raisins and nuts. Mix with honey and press into sheet 1/2 inch thick. Cover, and place weight on top for 24 hours. Cut in bars. Roll in white or colored
coconut."
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Raisins
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Plumb raisins by steaming. Drain and chop. Roll coconut into fine pieces. Toast to a light brown in moderate oven (370 degrees F.). Mix peanut butter, sugar,
lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, and raisins. Blend thoroughly. Shape into small balls. Roll in toasted coconut."
---Searchlight Recipe Book, Ida Migliaria, et al [Household:Topeka KA] 1952 (p. 81)
"No-Bake Cookie Balls
1 pkg. Semisweet chocolate pieces (1 cup)
3 tablesp. White corn syrup
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 teasp. instant coffee
1/3 cup hot water
1 3/4 cups finely crushed packaged vanilla wafers (about 3 doz.)
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar.
In double boiler over hot, not boiling, water, melt chocolate; remove from heat. Mix in syrup, 3
cups sugar, nuts, coffee dissolved in hot water, wafer crumbs. Form into 1" balls. Roll in 1/2 cup
sugar. Store in covered container a day or so to ripen. Makes about 5 doz."
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh [Good Housekeeping:New York] 1962 (p.
480)
[NOTE: It is interesting to note mid-1950s "no bake" recipes typically employ popular packaged/processed
items. Perhaps the idea was a timely treat promoted by food companies? The earliest mention we
find for "no bake" cookies was printed in the Good Housekeeping Cook Book, 1962 (copyright
1955).]
Holiday Apricot Balls
1 pkg. (8 oz.) dried apricots, ground or finely cut
2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
3/4 sweetened condensed milk
1 cup finely chopped nuts
Blend apricots, coconut, and milk well. Shape in small balls. Roll in chopped nuts. Let stand about 2 hr. to firm. Makes
about 5 doz. balls."
---Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, facsimile 1963 edition [Hungry Minds:New York] 2002 (p. 135)
Oatmeal cookies
Oatmeal cookies, as we Americans know them today, descend from ancient bannocks and
oatcakes known to peoples of the British Isles. The raisins, nuts, and spices commonly found in
today's oatmeal cookies date to the Middle Ages. Oats, and their recipes, were introduced to the
New World by European explorers in the 17th century. In 19th century America, oats were
considered health foods. They were recommended to invalids and served as hearty breakfast fare
(mush/porridge). Culinary evidence confirms the crossover from "health food" to confection
occured around the turn of the 20th century. Several other popular American foods made the
same leap at this juncture (thanks to corporate America): breakfast cereal and chocolate pudding
among them.
"Oats...The first traces of cultivation...date from about 1000 BC in Central Europe. However, the
Greeks
and Romans of classical times were unimpressed, regarding oats as coarse, barbarian fare; and the
Romans used them mainly as animal fodder, but did foster the growing of oats in Britain, where
they were
to become important as a food for human beings. Indeed, they became the principal cereal in
Wales and,
even more markedly, in Scotland...There seems to be an affinity between oats and people of Celtic
origin."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University:Oxford] 1999 (p. 547)
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
229)
[NOTE: Oatmeal, ground oats mixed with milk/cream, descends from ancient pottage. These econmical, nutritious, belly-filling dishes
provided energy needed by hard working people.]
---Oxford Companion to Food (p. 546)
---A Second Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Food and Drink: Production and Distribution, Ann Hagen [Anglo-Saxon Books:Wilton UK] 1995 (p. 23)
[NOTE: This book contains much information about oats. Ask your librarian how to obtain a copy.]
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews
[ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 161)
"Oats were introduced to North America by early European explorers including Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, who planted them on Elizabeth Island off the Massachusetts coast. The
Dutch grew oats in New Netherlands by 1626, and they were cultivated in Virginia prior to 1648.
Oats were generally grown throughout colonial America, mainly for animal feed, but Scottish,
Dutch, and other immigrants used them in their traditional porridges, puddings, and baked goods.
Hannah Glasse's Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747 and subsequent editions)...includes
oats in recipes for haggis, flummery, and hasty and other puddings, as well as for cake. Similar
recipes were published in America throught the nineteenth century. Other oat recipes published in
the United States included Scotch burgoo, an oatmeal hasty pudding in which the rolled oats were
stirred into boiling water until the mixture thickened; gruel, which was a thinner porridge
frequently identified as invalid food; and oatmeal blancmange. Baked goods included Scottish and
English oaten cakes baked on a griddle, muffins made from cold cooked oatmeal, and bread and
biscuits, for which the oatmeal was usually mixed with flour, because on its own, oatmeal or oat
flour does not develop enough gluten to support rising bread. By the nineteenth century, grocer
stores sold oat products in bulk...In 1877, rolled oats were developed and trademarked by Henry
D. Seymour and William Heston, who had established the Quaker Mill Company. The product
was baked in cardboard boxes...In 1901, the Quaker Mill Company merged with other mills, and
became the Quaker Oats Company. Directions for cooking oatmeal were printed on the outside of
the Quaker box. These recipes, in turn, were reprinted in community and other cookbooks, and
oatmeal became more popular as a cooking ingredient. During the twentieth century many new
oatmeal recipes were published, including ones for soup, cakes, cookies, wafers, drops,
maracroons, quick breads and yeast breads, muffins, scones, and pancakes. Oatmeal was also used
as a filler and binder in meatloaf..."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 208)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 547)
So? Where do oatmeal cookies (as we know them today) fit in?
"The first recipe I've found for oatmeal cookies appears in the original Boston
Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer (1896). Nineteenth century, to be
sure. But just
barely (in fact they were barely oatmeal cookies, containing only half a cup). I include oatmeal
cookies here because they did not begin routinely appearing in cookbooks until the twentieth
century."
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 482)
Ms. Farmer's 1896 oatmeal cookie recipe.
[1884]
Related recipe? Bannock.
Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup lard.
1 cup brown sugar.
1 cup molasses.
2 cups fine oatmeal.
1 teaspoon soda, dissolved in
2/3 cup boiling water.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 tablespoon ginger.
White flour for stiff batter.
Drop in little pats in a greased dripping-pan."
---Mrs. Owens Cook Book and Useful Household Hints, Mrs. Frances E. Owens, Revised and Illustrated [Owens Publishing Company:Chicago]
Copyright 1884-1885 (p. 265)
Oatmeal Cookies.
Three cups oatmeal (fine), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup lard, 1/3
cup butter, 1/2 tea-spoon salt, 1/2 tea-spoon soda; make thick with white
flour, roll very thin and bake a nice brown.
Theresa J. Cochran, Alternate Lady Manager Worlds Fair, Groton, Vermont."
The Home Queen Cook Book, [Fort Dearborn Publishing:Chicago] 1898 (p. 367)
Oreos
According to the records of the U.S. Patent and
Trademark
Office. Oreo
brand cookies were introduced to the American public by the National Biscuit
Company (now
Nabisco) on March 6, 1912. It is registration #0093009. Nabisco is now owned by
Kraft Foods. One month later, the product was launched nationally.
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York]
1999 (p. 225)
"On April 2, 1912, the company's [National Biscuit Company] operations department announced to its managers and sales agents that it was preparing "to offer to
the trade...three entirely new varieties of the highest class biscuit in a new style...The three varieties of biscuit...will be known as the Trio. "The varieties comprising
the 'Trio' are as follows, namely: Oreo Biscuit--two beautifully embossed chocolate-flavored wafers with a rich cream filling at 30 cents per pound. Mother Goose
Biscuit--a rich, high class biscuit bearing impressions of the Mother Goose legends at 20 cents per pound. Veronese Biscuit--delicious, hard sweet biscuit of
beautiful design and high quality at 20 cents per pound. This Trio is an exciting innovation, and we are quite sure it will immediately appeal to public favor...
...two members of the trio most lavishly promoted in the initial announcement have since disappeared. But the third, Oreo, was evidently just the kind of cookie
the American consuming public wanted. Somewhat similar to a previous product named "Bouquet," the Oreo consisted of two firm chocolate cookies with rich
vanilla frosting in the middle. The first Oreos were slightly larger than today's product, but always round. Within a short time Oreo, which resembled an English
biscuit, became a fantastically good seller among NBC sweet goods...The origin of the name is not really known, although one possibility is that it came from the
Greek oreo, meaning hill or mountain. Supposedly, either in testing or when the product was first produced, it was shaped like a baseball mound or hill-hence, an
oreo. This has a certain validity in view of A.W. Green's [company executive] tendency toward classical names. Oreo was officially registered in 1913 as "Oreo
Biscuit." By 1921 it had become "Oreo Sandwich" and by 1948 "Oreo Creme Sandwich." Variations have been tried--a vanilla Oreo, a single-cracker Oreo, and
in the 1920s a lemon-filled Oreo was introduced. The size has undergone changes, too. Today's is about midway between the largest and the smallest. Through all
shifts in public preferences, Oreo has remained one of the nation's most consistent favorites. As frequently happens with popular products, there are people who
fancy that they contributed to is creation. An Oreo admirer once wrote to the company "During the early 1920's you have a contest offering a cash reward for a
suitable name for this particular cookie. I entered this contest and submitted the name Oreo. Time passed, I learned or heard nothing concerning the matter, so
gave it no further thought until this past Sunday night....If you will kindly check your records concerning the said contest, I am sure that in them you will find I am the
one who submitted the trade name, Oreo." The company answered, "We think that you must be confused about the origin of the trademark Oreo. It was not
originated as the result of a contest in the early 1920's or at any other time. It was originated by our advertising department, and first used on March 6, 1912."
---Out of the Cracker Barrel: From Animal Crackers to ZuZu's, William
Cahn [Simon &
Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 142-4)
---"Machine Imagery, Homey Decoration," Paul Goldberger, New York Times, June 4, 1986 (p. C6)
"Q. Why is 15th Street at Ninth Avenue now called Oreo Way?
A. Because that is the birthplace of America's favorite cookie. IN 1898 several baking companies merged to form the National
Biscuit Company, Nabisco, and opened a large industrial bakery on Ninght Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets at the Chelsea
Market Building...In 1912, Nabisco had an idea for a new cookie: two chocolate disks with sugar icing in the middle. That year
Nabisco sold its first package of Oreos to a store in Hoboken, N.J. Since then Nabisco has made more than 450 billion Oreo
cookies. It was the best-selling cookie of the 20th century. Last year Americans dunked, twisted and chomped nearly 12
billion Oreos. Nabisco moved out of the Chelsea Market building in 1958 and now produces Oreos in bakeries around the world."
---"450 Billion Oreos to Go," Ed Boland Jr., New York Times, July 28, 2002 (p. CY2)
"Oreos," Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Volume 1: Consumables,
Janice Jorgensen
(editor) [St. James Press:Detroit] 1994 (p. 425-427)
Peanut butter cookies
Small cakes composed of nuts, dried fruits, and spices were prepared by ancient
cooks. These
early cakes were very different from what we eat today. They were more
bread-like and
sweetened with honey. The Romans are usually credited with spreading such
recipes throughout
Europe. Medieval bakers prefered white sugar and perfected gingerbread, fruitcake
and a host of
related sweetly spiced recipes, many with nuts. Northern European bakers
specialized in cookies.
When the Dutch arrived in the New World in the 17th century, they brought their
cookie recipes
with them. Peanuts are a "New World" food. About peanuts & peanut butter.
[1915]
"Special Peanut Cookies
Put three tablesooons Larkin Peanut Butter, one teaspoon lard, one and one-half cups granulated sugar, and two egs into a
mixing bowl. Stir and beat until mixture is quite light. Add two and one-half cups sifted flour and one teaspoon soda dissolved in
three tablespoons thick sour milk. Flavor with one teaspoon Larkin Vanilla Extract. Roll and bake in a quick oven. This
amount makes fifty cookies. Mrs. G.W. Parkins, Lyons, N.Y."
"Peanut Butter Cookies
2 tablespoonfuls butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten light
1/3 cup milk
2 cups flour
4 teaspoonfuls baking powder
1/4 teaspoonful salt
Cream the butter, add the peanut butter, and cream again; beat in the sugar; add the egg, the milk, and flour sifted with the
baking powder and salt; mix to a dough, knead slightly, roll into a thin sheet, and cut into rounds, set into a buttered
pan, dredge with granulated sugar, and bake in a quick oven. For a softer cookie, add a little more milk. MOre flour may be
needed, but do not mix too stiff."
---Cakes, Pastry and Dessert Dishes, Janet McKenzie Hill [Little, Brown, and Company:Boston MA] 1917 (p. 67)
"Peanut Butter Balls
Recipe makes 5 dozen small cookies
Temperature: 375 F.
1 cup Pillsbury's Best Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Grated rind of 1 lemon
2. Cream peanut butter and shortening; add sugar gradually.
3. Add unbeaten egg, lemon juice and grated rind; beat well.
4. Stir in dry ingredients. Chill dough thoroughly.
5. Form dough into small balls; place on greased baking sheet; press each cooky
once with tines
of a fork to flatten. Bake in moderate oven."
---Balanced Reicpes, Mary Ellis Ames [Pillsbury Flour Mills
Company:Minneapolis] 1933
(recipe 76)
1930s recipes instructed cooks to create criss-cross pattern on cookie with the tines of a fork.
They did not specify why. Neither do subsequent cookbooks. Craig Claiborne's observations on
the subject are quite enlightening:
---"The Fork and the Cookie," Craig Claiborne, New York Times, April 2, 1979 (p. A17)
Food historians confirm crisp waffle-type cookies have ancient roots. These fancy holiday batter recipes were
embraced by many cultures and cuisines: Italian pizzelles, Dutch wafres (waffles), French gaufrettes,
Norwegian krumkake, etc. The primary difference between recipes is thickness of the batter and design of
product. Who made the first food of this type? We will probably never know. History does not typically record
the "invention" of simple foods. We do know, however, that pizzelles and their fancy European cousins were
very popular in the Middle Ages and played significant roles in the Christian calendar, most notably Lent.
Some of these foods later evolved into street fare.
Fancy shapes, different sizes, decorative patterns, and thickness variations are achieved by special cooking
apparatus called wafer (waffle, gauffre) irons. About waffles.
---The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections, Carol Bloom [Hearst:New York] 1995
(p. 236)
---"Pizzelles bring Tuscan Elegance to the Cookie Tray," Annette Gouch, Chicago Tribune,
December 13, 2000 (p. 9)
---"Italy's Traditional Pizzelle Cookes Get an Update," Jolene Worthington, Chicago Tribune,
January 6, 1994 (p. 2)
The history of Scottish shortbread is interconnected with the history of dairy
farming and butter
making in the British Isles during the Medieval Ages:
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble
Books:New York]
1992 (p. 121)
[pages 120-124 present
the history of butter, including its symbolism]
---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C.
Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p.
161-164)[ask your librarian to help you find this book--it is chock full of
interesting information.]
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
721)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang [Crown Publishers:New
York] 1988 (p.
974-5)
---A Taste of Scotland, Theodora FitzGibbon [Avenel Books:New York]
1979 (p. 117)
---"Folklore; The Short Story," The Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1998 (p.
2).
[1694]
"Short Cakes Made at ye Bathe.
Take a pound of flower & rube into it a half pound of flouwer butter very fine; then put in half a pound of flo sugar & wet it with white wine to a paste;
the rowle it very thick & cut it round with ye top of ye Drudger, & knotch it round with a squef [sic]& bake them upon a tin."
---Receipt Book of Mrs. Ann Blencowe, facsimile 1694 edition, with an introduction by George Saintsbury [Polyanthos:Cottonport LA]
1972 (p. 14)
"To make Short Bread
Take a Peck of Flour, put three lib. of Butter in among a little Water, and let it melt, pour it in amongst your Flour, put in a Mutchkin of good
barm; when it is wrought divide it in 3 Parts, roll out your Cakes longer than broad and gather it on the Sides with your Finger,
cut it through the Middle, and job it on the Top, then send it to the Oven."
---Mrs. McLintock's Receipts for Cookery and Pastry-Work, facsimile 1736 edition with an Introduction and Glossary by
Iseabail Macleod [Aberdeen University Press:Aberdeen] 1986 (p. 6-7)
[NOTES: Scots Measures on p. xxx-xxxi state a "mutchkin" is 2.996 gills or .212 litres; a "lib" is 1 pound 1 ounce drams or 496 grammes.]
"1014. Scotch short-bread.--To the fourth of a peck of flour, take six ounces of sifted sugar and of candied citron and
orange peel, and blanched almonds, two ounces each. Cut these in rather large slices, and mix them with the flour. Rub
down among the flour a pound of butter in very minute bits, and melt a half-pound more, and with this work up the flour, &c. The
less kneading it gets the more short and crisp the cakes will be. Roll out the paste into a large well-shaped oval cake, about an inch
and a half thick, and divide this the narrow way, so as to have two cakes somewhat the shape of a Gothic arch. Pinch the cakes neatly at the edges, and mark them on the top with
and instrument used for the purpose, or with a fork. Strew caraway-comfits over the top, and a few strips of citron peel. Bake on paper rubbed with
flour. The cakes may be squares, or oblong figures.--Obs. Plainer short-bread may be made by using less butter and no candied
peel. The whole of the butter may be melted, which makes the process easier. Chopped almonds are used in larger quanitity
for very rich short-bread."
---The Cook and Housewife's Manual, Mistress Margaret Dods, facsimile 1829 4th edition revised and enlarged [Rosters Ltd.:
London] 1988 (p. 446-447)
[NOTE: The author's real name was Mrs. Isobel Christian Johnston (b. Fife 1781, died 1857). "Meg Dods" was a character invented
by Sir Walter Scott. According to Theodora Fitzgibbon, Traditional Scottish Cookery c. 1980 (p. 6) Mrs. Johnston was
a great friend of Scott.]
Short Bread, Scotch.
No. 1. Mix two pounds of flour with four ounces of moist sugar, two ounces of
candied citron,
chopped small, and two ounces of sweet almonds, blanched and sliced. Rub one
pound of butter
into the flour, melt another half pound of butter, and with this work up the four to
a smooth
paste. If a plainer cake is wanted, less butter may be used. Sometimes the whole of
the butter is
melted, and then the bread is more easily made. Roll out the pastry to the thickness
of an inch, and
in a large oval shape, pinch the edges evenly, prick the surface with a fork or
skewer, and sprinkle
large comfits over the top. Cut the oval across, thus making two cakes, and place
these upon
paper rubbed with flour, and then upon tins. Bake in a moderate oven. When the
bread is lightly
browned, it is done enough. It should be remembered that the less the bread is
kneaded the
shorter it will be. No. 2. Rub three-quarters of a pound of fresh unsalted butter
into half a pound
of flour; add a quarter of a pound of ground rice, four tablespoonfuls of moist
sugar, two ounces
of candied citron, finely minced, and an ounce of sweet almonds, blanched and
chopped small.
When these ingredients are thoroughly mixed, work the whole into a smooth paste
with the yolks
of two small eggs. Roll the pastry out to the thickness of half and inch, divide it
into four squares,
pinch the edges neatly, prick the surface with a "dabber" or fork, sprinkle comfits
and sliced citron
on the top, and bake as above. Time to bake the bread, half to three-quarters of an
hour."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell,
Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1875 (p. 866)
"Shortbread, Scotch.
Ingredients.--2 lbs. of flour, 1/4 lb of cornflour, or ground rice, 1 lb. of butter, 1/4 lb. of castor sugar, 1 oz. of sweet almonds, a few
strips of candied orange peel.
Method.--Beat the butter to a cream, gradually dredge in the clour, and add the sugar and sweet almonds, which should be blanched and
cut into small pieces. Work the paste until it is quite smooth, and divide into 6 pieces. Put each cake on a separate piece of paper, roll
the paste out square to the thickness of about 1 inch, and pinch it round the edges. Prick it well with a skewer, and ornament with 1 or 2 strips
of candied orange-peel. Put the cakes into a moderately-heated oven, and bake from 25 to 30 minutes.
Time.--25 to 30 minutes. Average cost, for this quantity, 2s. Sufficient to make 6 cakes.
---Mrs. Beeton's Every-Day Cookery, New Edition [Ward, Lock & Co.:London] 1909 (p. 639)
"Shortbread
Good shortbread must be made of the finest ingredients, fresh butter, castor sugar, and white flour. Tradtionally shortbread is
decorated with orange or candied peel and almonds. It needs lightness of hand and nice judgement, for if the ingredients are worked too
much together the result is tough and chewy, instead of being short and melt-in-the-mouth.
Scots Shortbread
4 oz. fresh butter
2 oz. castor sugar
4 oz. fine flour
2 oz. rice flour or fine semolina
orange or citron candied peel
blanched split almonds
castor sugar
Crema butter, beat in the castor sugar. Add flours by degrees, working quickly and lightly. Immediately they are incorporated pat out with the fist to
a cake about 3/4 inch in thickness and 8 inches in diameter. Pinch round the ege with pastry pincers or with the fingres. Prick the middle and
decorate with strips of the peel and the split almonds. Dust over with castor sugar. Slide on to a baking-sheet covered with a
piece of paper dusted with flour and bake in a moderately hot oven 15-20 minutes. The shortbread must be a pale biscuit colour."
---The Constance Spry Cookery Book, Constabce Spry and Rosemary Hume [Pan Books:London] 1956, 1972 (p. 789-790)
Shortbread
The ingredients should be warm and dry
1 lb (450 g.) butter
8 ox (225 g.) castor sugar
pinch of salt
1 lb (450 g.) sifted flour
8 oz (225 g.) rice flour
Cream the butter and sugar together very well. Mix the flours and salt, sift them,
then incorporate
them gradually but thoroughly until the dough is like a shortcrust pastry texture.
Do not knead or
roll out as this only toughens it. Press with the and into 2 round cakes and if you
don't have a
wooden shortbread mould, then put on to an ungreased baking sheet covered with
baking-paper.
The usual thickness is about 3/4 inch (1.9 cm.) for an 8-inch (20.3 cm.) shortbread.
Pinch the
edges regularly with the finger and thumb and prick all over, lightly with fork.
Cook in a
pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F. (190 degrees C.) or gas mark 5 for about 1
hour, and after 20
minutes reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. (180 degrees C.) or gas mark 4 to let it
crisp up and get
a pale fawn colour. Leave to cool before putting on to a rack. NOTE: if rice flour
is not available
then all wheat flour can be used, but reduce to 1 lb. (450 g. ) in all."
---Traditional Scottish Cookery, Theodora FitzGibbon [Fontana
Paperbacks:UK] 1980 (p. 252)
S'mores
If you camp, you know s'mores. These warm squishy energy-packed
chocolate treats are ubiquitious. This delicious trifecta of ingredients
(graham crackers, marshmallows
and chocolate bars) were readily available to the
American public by the late 19th century and very popular in the early 20th. The Girl Scouts of America are generally
credited for introducing S'mores to hungry campers.
"Some More"
8 sticks [for toasting the
marshmallows]
16 graham crackers
8 bars plain chocolate
(Hershey's or any of the good plain brands, broken in two)
16 marshmallows
Toast two marshmallows over the coals to a crisp gooey state
and then put
them inside a graham cracker
and chocolate bar sandwich. The heat of the marshmallow between the halves of
chocolate bar
will melt
the chocolate a bit. Though it tastes like "some more" one is really enough."
---Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts [Girl Scouts, Inc:New York City] 1927 (p. 68-69)
[NOTE: This book is full of useful information, including 12 different kinds of campfires (purpose & method), nosebag
(hiker) meals & campfire menus. Very happy to share!]
"Some-Mores (serves 1)
4 squares plain chocolate (thin)
2 graham crackers
1 marshmallow
Toast marshmallow slowly over the coals until brown. Put chocolate on a graham
cracker, put the
toasted
marshmallow on top, then another graham cracker. Press gently together, and eat.
Taste like
"some more."
This recipe may be varied by using slices of apple (cut cross-wise) in place of the
graham
crackers; by
using pineapple slices or peanut butter in place of chocolate."
---Girl Scout Handbook [Girl Scouts of the United States of America:New
York] 1947 (p.
316)
Snickerdoodles
The story behind the snickerdoodle is and excellent lesson in food lore. What little
is written on
this tasty treat is hard to substantiate [prove] with primary documents [old
cookbooks] and
reference books. Some books say snickerdoodles were popular in colonial
America. Were they
really?
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 299)
---Food Lover's Companion, Sharon Tyler Herbst, 3rd ed.[Barrons:New
York] 2001 (p.
575)
---Craig Claiborne's The New York Times Food Encyclopedia, Craig
Claiborne [Times
Books:New York] 1985 (p. 412)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 77)
1. You won't find recipes for snickerdoodles in early American
American
cookbooks.
---You WILL find plenty of recipes for currant (they are like raisins) cakes and
jumbles
combining sweet spices, nuts and dried fruits
2. Some food historians say snickerdoodles are a New England recipe
[English
origin].
---Others say it is from the Pennsylvania Dutch [German origin].
[1902]
"Snickerdoodles
Three cups of flour, two cups of sugar, one cup of butter, two eggs, two teaspoons of cream of tartar, one teaspoon of soda. Drop
in a pan and sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon over each. Bake in a quck oven. --Mrs. John Montgomery"
---1902 Cook Book: A Collection of Tried Recipes Contributed by Estherville [Iowa] Housewives, Mrs. A.L. Barnum and
Mrs. S. I. Delavan editors,
(p. 80) [submitted by Nancy Baggett]
"Snickerdoodles
Take one cup granulated sugar and one-half cup butter and lard;add one egg, salt, one cup milk, and two and one-half cups flour, wtih
two teaspoons baking powder. Lastly one-half cup currants, dredged with a little flour. Put in square pan. Before
baking, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake twenty minutes. This will cut into twenty-four square pieces. Mrs. O.Y. Palmer, 1080 Oakwood avenue,
Toledo O[hio]."
---"Paste These in Your Scrap Book," Alice Wann, ,i>Chicago Daily Tribune, August 25, 1907 (p. G3)
[NOTE: This recipe won a $1.00 prize.]
1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1 egg, 1 cup milk, 1 1/2
cups flour, 2
teaspoons
baking powder, 1/2 cup currants. Put into a large square tin and sprinkle with
sugar and cinnamon
before baking."
---Tried and True Recipes, published for the Benefit of the First
Congregational Church,
Wilmette, ILL. By the East End Circle Woman's Guild [1920s?--no date on the
book] (p. 72)
"Snickerdoodle
1/2 cup butter or lard, mixed
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup water or milk
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup raisins, dredged with flour
sugar, cinnamon
nuts
Combine all ingredients excepting the second listing of sugar, the cinnamon and nuts. Stir till mixed. This will be very stiff butu
spread it out in a shallow bread pan, sprinkle thickly over the top with sugar, cinnamon and nuts. Bake about 20 minutes in
a moderate ove (375 degrees F.)."
---New York World's Fair Cook Book: The American Kitchen, Grosbt Gaige [Doubleday, Doran & Company:New York] 1039 (p. 116)
[NOTE: This recipe is grouped with Illnois foods.]
"Snickerdoodles
2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teasp. cream of targar
1 teasp. baking soda
1 cup soft shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
2 tablesp. granulated sugar
2 teasp. cinnamon
Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. With electric mixer at medium speed, or "cream" (or with spoon),
thorougly mix shortening with 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs until very light and fluffy. At low speed, or "blend," beat in flour mixutre
until batter is dough-like; chill until easy to handle. Start heating oven to 400 degrees F. Form dough into walnut-size balls;
roll in 2 tbsp. sugar and cinnamon, mixed. Place, 2" apart, on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 mon., or until done. Makes
5 doz."
---Good Housekeeping's Bood of Cookies, Good HOsuekeeping Magazine [Chicago Book Publishers:Chicago IL] 1958 (p. 14)
"Snickerdoodles
The recipe for this delicious "family cooky" came to us from Mrs. Ronald
Anfinson, Benson, Minnesota.
1 cup shortening (part butter or margarine)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups Gold Medal Flour
2 tsp. cream of tarter
1 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. (Mod. Hot). Mix shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and
eggs thoroughly.
Measure flour by dipping method...or by sifting. Blend flour, cream of tartar, soda,
and salt; stir
in. Shape dough in 1" balls. Roll in mixture of 2 tbsp. sugar and cinnamon. Place
2" apart on
ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 mins. These cookies puff up at first, then
flatten out. Makes
6 doz. Cookies."
---Betty Crocker's Cooky Book, General Mills, facsimile 1963 edition
[Hungry Minds:New York] 2002 (p. 23)
[NOTE: General Mills is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.]
Notice a distinct midwest American theme here?
Crackers, Oyster
crackers, Saltines & Vermont common
crackers.
A name first used in N. America,f rom the mid-18th century onwards, for a plain,
unsweetened,
dry, hard, bread product; thus corresponding to part of the domain covered by the
wider English
term "biscuit." When crackers are broken into pieces they make a cracking noise,
which accounts
for the name. Crackers may be leavened or unleavened. Those of the former sort
were formerly
baked by a particular method which called for a dough leavened with bicarbonate
of soda (hence
the term "soda cracker") and left to stand until pockets of carbon dioxide formed
in the mixture.
When biscuits of this dough were placed in a very hot oven they rose quickly,
giving the
characteristic texture. Unleavened crackers may be made from flour and water only
(as are
matzos) or with the addition of a little salt. Some examples of this sort are the
small oyster
crackers, used on top of seafood chowders, and the crackers know as ship's
biscuit...The cracker
barrel was an institution in American general stores and groceries which sold
crackers loose in
bulk. The term was first used in print in the 1870s..."
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 222)
"...Since the eighteenth century Americans have spoken of these wafers by this
term, first
appearing in print in 1739, but it is still a word rarely used in England, where
biscuit is
preferred...In the 1830s Americans called the wafers soda crackers, and common
crackers or
oyster crackers were placed in New England chowders or split and buttered."
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman
Books:New York] (p.104)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith
[Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 353)
Saltines
Like Vermont common and Oyster crackers, modern saltines descend from
mid-19th century soda crackers. Nabisco biographer William Cahn attributes the commercial creation to F.L. Sommers Company,
St. Louis Missouri. A careful read of his text states the product won a prize in 1876. It does not identify a specific date
or credit a specific person for creating this cracker. Some online sources credit Joseph Garneau as
the "inventor."
------Out of the Cracker Barrel: From Animal Crackers to ZuZu's, William
Cahn [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 198)
---ibid (p. 105)
We're finding two references. One is an online condensed version of an article published in
Central Magazine, July 1873. The biographical
profile confirms Mr. Garneau was a leader in the new commercial cracker industry.
The other print reference is a 1917 obituary for Joseph Garneau, of New York City, claiming saltine invention.
The first Garneau emigrated to St. Louis in 1832; the second was born in 1855. Possibly a family connection but definately not the
same man.
---"Obituary Notes," New York Times, July 4, 1917 (p. 9)
[NOTES: (1) Death notice published in the NYT the following day (p. 9) states Mr. Garneau will be buried in St.
Louis, MO. (2) According to the New York Times, the Joseph Garneau Company was in the business of importing
wine and alcoholic beverages. No mention of a biscuit business. Perhaps this obituary note was referencing an earlier
business endeavor or past employment. (3) Burial in St. Louis may indicate a prior connection with the F.L. Sommer biscuit operation.
Genealogy research may cement the connection. St. Louis is approximately 300 miles from St. Joseph. (4) Obituary indicates
Mr. Garneau was born in 1855, which would make him 21 when the saltine won its award.]
[1883]
"Soda Biscuit or Cracker
[For Small Batch] Can be doubled as you wish. One and one-half barrel flour, twenty-five pounds of lard, two pounds of
salt; set you sponge witgh hop yeast or Flesichmann's Compressed yeast; set it in the evening and let it fall about four inches, then
make your dough and let it rise well, then work in your saleratus, two pounds; should the dough not have enough saleratus add two
ounces more. You may try a pieces of the dough, as this is a certain way, and after a little practice you may be able to tell by the
look of the dough; take care to work in the saleratus well; when there is enough saleratus in it the dough will e noticed to have
something like stripes in it; this will be observed, if you have some knowledge of cracker making; above all let your dough be broken
well before running off; proceed in this way to make your sponge and dough: Take eight quarts hop yeast, or say in proportion to
Fleishmann's Compressed Yeast; add twelve quarts of water; regulate the water according to the weather; this will make your sponge. When it has
risen and fallen make your dough by adding three pails of water, common size; add twenty-five pounds of lard, two pounds of salt,
and work your dough well. A very good way for new beginners is to work half the saleratus in half of the dough; then try, and if
not enough add a little more and try; if too much, add some of the dough that has none in, and to that has none in added less than you did in the
first half. This is a sure way for beginners. This same dough makes oyster crackers, but if making may you make a separate dough for them,
adding only twenty pounds of lard to the one and one-half barrel of flour."
---Secrets of the Bakers and Confectioners' Trade, J.D. Hounihan [J.D.
Hounihan:Staunton VA] 1883 (p. 12) [Professional industry text, no docking]
"Soda crackers (Biscuits de Soda)
1 Quart of Flour
3 Tablespoonfuls of Butter
2 Cups of Sweet Milk or Water
1/2 Teaspoonful of Soda
1 Teaspoonful of Salt
---The Picayune's Creole Cook Book, 2nd edition, New Orleans:1901
reprinted
[Dover:1971] (p. 401)
Oyster crackers
The practice of combining hard bread with liquid nourishment is ancient. Roman
biscuits and
gruel, Medieval sops and stew, 18th century hard tack and soup, and early 19th
century common
crackers and fish chowder are part of a long tradition of using bread to extend thin
foods to fill
hungry bellies. Oyster crackers are part of this tradition. These bite-sized crackers
are closely
related to common crackers. Their lighter composition is the by-product of
mid-19th century
leaveners, most notably baking soda. Today's manufactured oyster cracker
products are closer to
saltines than common crackers.
If there has been a constant in the history of chowder, at least for the last two
hundred years, it is
the common cracker. A perfect companion for chowder, the common cracker has
remained
unchanged...These round pufffed, hollow, very hard crackers have been
manufactured in New
England for so long...The common cracker descended from hard tack, also called
ship's biscuit--a
very dense, unleavened brick of baked flour. Necessity wrote this recipe, since
flour would not
keep in the damp and vermin-infested conditions aboard ship. Hardtack was also a
staple of all
along the coast of New England and in the Maritime Provinces of
Canada...Hardtack had to be
shaved or shopped off the baked brick, then soaked with water then soften before
it could be used
for chowder and other dishes."
---50 Chowders: One-pot Meals-Clam, Corn & Beyond, Jasper White
[Scribner:New
York] 2000 (p. 205-6)
A light, puffy round cracker made from wheat flour, vegetable shortening, salt, and
yeast. It is a
traditional eastern cracker used in oyster stews. The Trenton cracker was first
made in 1848 by
Adam and John Exton, two English immigrants who created the item in the
Trenton, New Jersey,
bakery. They called it the "Exton Oyster and Butter Cracker and Wine Scroll
Biscuit." Within a
short time more than thirty competitors were making imitations, including Ezekial
Pullen, owner
of the Pullen Cracker Company in Trenton...This company was later sold and in
1887 became the
Original Trenton Cracker."
---Out of the Cracker Barrel: From Animal Crackers to ZuZu's, William
Cahn [Simon &
Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 198)
[NOTE: According to the records of the U.S.
Patent &
Trademark Office Oysterettes were introduced to the public in December
1900.]
[1883]
Oyster Crackers
"100 pounds flour, 8 lbs butter, 6 lbs lard, 8 oz soda, 2 oz tartaric acid, 16 qts
milk; cut with an
oyster cracker cutter."
---Secrets of the Bakers and Confectioners' Trade, J.D. Hounihan [J.D.
Hounihan:Staunton VA] 1883 (p. 150)
[NOTE: This is a professional baker's text. Recipes for oyster crackers do not
show up in our
cookbooks published for home cooks.]
Vermont common crackers
The Vermont common cracker is a curious thing, on two accounts:
1. According to the food historians Vermont common crackers were New England
"inventions"
that
happened sometime in the early 1800s. There are (at least) two claims as to the
inventor. Yet?
The name
of the cracker first appeared in 1939.
According to the Dictionary of American Regional English (Frederic G.
Cassidy editor,
Volume 1), the first print
reference to the term "common cracker" appeared in 1939. Where? Yankee
Cook Book
(p. 362): "Common
Cracker. A large old-fashioned lightly salted cracker also called Boston cracker."
This source
also places the first print
reference to the Boston cracker to 1818, noting it was a type of biscuit (p. 346).
Boston crackers
were served split with
butter. There is no mention in this source regarding crispness.
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 92-3)
---"Old-time Crackers Bounce Back," Marily Stout, The
New York Times, November 4,1981, (Section C; p.13)
[NOTE: these sources contain a recipe for "Puffed Montpelier Crackers,"
reprinted from
Louise Amdrews
Kent's Mrs. Appleyard's Kitchen (1942).]
---50 Chowders, Jasper White [Scribner:New York] 2000 (p. 203-207)
[NOTES: (1) Julia Child's notes & recipe here. (2) Vermont Common Crackers can be purchased
online.]
The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book,
Mrs. E.A.
Howland [E.P. Walton and
Sons:Montpelier VT] 1845 does not contain a recipe for any kind of crackers. It
does, however,
contain a few recipes
which include crackers as an ingredient. These items are more like bread
pudding:
113. Cracker Plum Pudding
135. Bird's Nest Pudding
Julia Child's Common Cracker notes & recipe
Rub six ounces of butter into two pounds of flour; dissolve two teaspoonfuls of
salaeratus in a
wineglass of milk, and
strain it on the flour; add a teaspoonful of salt, and milk sufficient to roll it out.
Beat it with a
rolling pin for half an hour,
pounding it out thin; cut it into cakes with a tumbler; bake them about fifteen
minutes, and then
take them out of the
oven. When the rest of your things are baked enough, take them out, set in the
crackers again,
and let them remain till
baked hard and crispy."
---(p. 131)
Taker four pounds of flour; rub three pounds and a half of it with a quarter of
butter; four
well-beaten eggs, and two
teaspoonfuls of salt; moisten it with milk, pound it out thin with a rolling pin, and
sprinkle a little
of the reserved flour
lightly over it. Roll it up and pound it out again, and sprinkle on more flour.
Continue to repeat
this operation till you
work in all the reserved flour; then roll it out thin, till you work in all the reserved
flour; then roll
it out thin, cut into
cakes with a tumbler, lay them on flat, buttered tins, and cover them with a damp
cloth to prevent
their drying. Bake
them in a quick oven."
---(p. 130)
Put two teaspoonfuls of salearatus to a pint of sour milk. If you have no sour milk,
put a spoonful
of vinegar to a pint of
sweet milk, and set it in a warm place. As soon as the milk curdles, mix it with the
salaeratus, put
in two spoonfuls of
melted butter, and flour to make stiff enough to roll out. Mould into small biscuit,
and bake
immediately."
---(p. 130)
Kathleen Annino's Cape Cod Common Crackers
Manufacturing note: You can do all of this by hand, but Kathleen recommends a heavy-duty mixer with paddle and dough hook
attachments, and a hand-cranking pasta machine.
1 1/2 teaspoons dry-active yeast
1 cup warm water (105 F to 110 F)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup bread flour (available in health food stores)
1 cup yeast starter
1 to 1 1/4 cups bread flour
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) vegetable shortening or lard
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant potato flakes
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
An additional 1 1/2 to 2 cups bread flour
---In Julia's Kitchen With Master Chefs, Julia Child [Alfred A. Knopf:New
York] 1995
(p. 225)
Our research indicates Boston Common Crackers were variously known throughout New England with state names (Vermont Common Crackers) or simply as Common Crackers.
These items were small, soft, split plain crackers (almost tiny muffins) that were often paired with chowder. They were soft & puffy & could be warmed and split. Kind of like a chewy cross between today's modern English muffin & crispy oyster cracker. About Vermont crackers: http://foodtimeline.org/foodcookies.html#vermont
In the late 19th/early 20th century common crackers did double duty as pie fillers and cracker pudding (think: bread pudding with these crackers). 1914 was a time of rampant inflation/economic hardship/war for the USA & much of Europe. Using crackers was generally recommended as a thrifty alternative for some recipes.
---"Economical Housekeeping," Jane Eddington, Chicago Daily Tribune, July 24, 1911 (p. 4)
[NOTE: This article offers a recipe for Mock Mince Pie with Boston crackers, "rolled fine." (crushed?)]
"Unsalted crackers, called in New England common or Boston crackers, are still added to chowders by some cooks but most often they are served either split or
crumbled in the finished dish."
---"New England's Hearty Chowder," Kay Shaw Nelson, Washington Post, January 17, 1974 (p. D1)
Ritz crackers
According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the
National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) introduced their stylish Ritz crackers November 1, 1934:
Word Mark RITZ Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: BAKERY
PRODUCTS-NAMELY, BISCUIT. FIRST USE: 19341101. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE:
19341101 Mark
Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS Design Search
Code 260112 260118 260121 Serial Number 71358561 Filing Date November 23, 1934
Owner (REGISTRANT) NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY CORPORATION NEW JERSEY
449 WEST 14TH STREET NEW YORK NEW YORK
"Ritz, pride of the Nabisco cracker fleet, has been the premium cracker of choice since its
inception in 1934. But its history dates back to the early nineteenth century. It was in 1801, in
fact, that the Ritz cracker got its beginnings.It was in that year that John Bent, a retired sea
captain, adapted a hardtack recipe into a product more palatable to the general public. He took
the hardened "biscuit" (an English designation used at that time) and added leavening agents until
the product was a flat, crisp biscuit. Bent's family handled the baking chores while he traveled the
countryside selling crackers from his wagon. The basic cracker recipe was refined four years later
by the Kennedy Biscuit Works, which used sponge dough for a lighter consistency. In 1898 the
Bent baker, Kennedy Biscuit Works, and dozens of other bakeries across America joined forces
to
form the National Biscuit Company...In 1934 the recipe was perfected, resulting in a smooth,
flaky cracker hinting of butter. Contrary to the pale, square crackers widely sold, these creations
were golden and rounded, with serrated edges. A company-wide cracker naming contest yeilded
the name Ritz. Mass production of Ritz crackers began in Nabisco's North Philadelphia bakery
and on November 21, 1934, the new product was introduced at markets in Philadelphia and
Baltimore. Consumers responded to this new type of cracker...By 1935 Ritz was distributed
nationally. It was initially marketed as a taste of affordable luxury, no small claim during the
Depression years. The positioning worked, with Ritz selling in the five-billion volume
area...during its first year of nationwide distribution. Some of this success can be attributed to the
product's relatively low price; mass production by Nabisco, the only baking manufacturer with
the
facilities to distribute nationwide at that time, kept the price of a box of Ritz crackers to an
affordable 19 cents."
---Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Volume 1:Consumable Products, Janice Jorgenson editor
[St. James Press:Detroit] 1994 (p. 494)
[NOTE: This book describes Ritz' evolution and marketing strategies. If you need more details
ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 32)
"Uneeda Baker's Ritz Crackers, 1 lb pkg, 19 cents,"
---display ad, Chicago Tribune, January 11, 1935 (p. 18)
"Guess what! It's something you're crazy about--Try Ritz...they're marvelous alone...and see how they improve appetites for salads
and vegetables. You've never known a cracker like Ritz. A flavor that just can't be described. A tastiness that remindes you of
fresh-roasted nuts. A delicate tang that refreshes like salt sea air. Crust? The same secret process that creates Ritz'
famous flavor provides a brand new kind of crackling crispness. And this delicious crispness lasts from ovens to you! You'll
know at first taste why Ritz became America's most popular cracker almost overnight. Try Ritz today. Enjoy them alone, or with meat
pastes and other relishes. The see how they bring out hidden flavor in soups, salads, cheeses and even the plainest economy
dishes. Pound and half-pound packages."
---full-page display ad, Good Housekeeping, September 1936 (p. 142)
"Townspeople here [Ritzville WA] even like to say--apocryphally, alas, according to the Nabisco
Company--that the Ritz cracker was named for Ritzville. (A Nabisco spokesman says "Ritz" was
chosen in the
Depression because of its "luxurious, hight-class" connotation.)"
---"Fields of Flame Follow The Harvest of Wheat," Sam Howe Verhovek, New York Times,
August 23, 1999
(p. A10)
---City of Cheney, WA
Soda and [other types of] crackers have holes in them to help keep the product
even in texture,
flat in shape and crisp to taste. The process by which the hole are made is called
"docking." Holes
are spaced evenly to facilitate the evenness of the cracker. Prior to
industrialization, crackers were
pierced by hand using knives, nails and hand-held tools made of cast iron specially
designed for
the purpose. Elizabeth David describes a old-fashioned docker as "a
dangerous-looking utensil
consisting of sharp heavy spikes driven into a bun-shaped piece of wood."
English Bread and
Yeast Cookery, Elizabeth David [Viking:New York] 1980 (p. 200). Why is
this process
called docking?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Volume IV (p. 912)
the origin of
this word as it relates to biscuit-making is unknown. The first use of this term in
print is dated
1840. In 1875 "The biscuit was then docked, that is, pierced with holes by an
instrument adapted
to the purpose...A stamping or docking frame..."
American Biscuits
In many English speaking countries, the word "biscuit" refers to a hard
cookie or
cracker. In the United States biscuits are generally small soft, yeast-based
products served
with breakfast or dinner. They perform a variety of functions including filling
(hungry bellies),
topping (eg. pies) and sopping (eg. biscuits & gravy).
Cowboy-style biscuits were rustled up by pioneers and overland travelers in makeshift ovens. Cathead
biscuits and beaten biscuits are two popular American regional favorites. Refrigerator
biscuits (packed in a tube, ready to bake) debuted in 1931.
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (page 29)
Huge as a cat's head, served up hot with with Sawmill Gravy. An Appalchian down-home favorite!
Bryson City Cathead Biscuits
2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
5 tablespoons lard
1 cup buttermilk.
Sift and mix dry ingredients then blend with lard. Add buttermilk. For each biscuit, pinch off a portion of dough about the shape of a large egg and pat out with your hands.
Bake in 350 degree F. oven in wood stove about 10 minutes. In a modern electric or gas oven, bake at 475 to 500 degrees."
---Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread, & Scuppernong Wine, Joseph E. Dabney [Cumberland House:Nashville TN] 1999 (p. 114-5)
The two main types of biscuits made by chuckwagon cooks were soda and
sourdough. Their only
method for baking was the Dutch oven. This portable iron pot sat up from the fire
on three small
feet. This allowed air to flow through the bottom. The lid was lipped, making it
easy to pile
heated rocks on top for more even baking. It was reliable but had no scientific
temperature
controls.
"Baking powder biscuits
3 cups flour
6 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoon fat (lard or bacon drippings)
Approx. 1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
--Clair Haight, Hashknife Outfit, Winslow AZ, 1922 (reprinted in: Chuck
Wagon Cookin',
by Stella Hughes [University of Arizona Press:Tuscon AZ] 1974 (p. 123))
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons lard or margarine
3/4 to 1 cup milk
---An Army Wife's Cookbook, Alice Kirk Grierson (recipes collected
1850s-1870s).
Biscuits and gravy is traditionally connected to the American South. Althought it can be served at
any meal, the most
popular meal appears to be breakfast. Historic cookbooks contain many recipes for biscuits but
no information with
regards to smothering them with gravy. Perhaps it was "understood." Most cookbooks stress
serving biscuits HOT from
the oven, with butter. We find notes referencing the combination of biscuits and gravy in current
southern-American
cookbooks. Sadly, they do not impart much in the way of history. This book sums it up best:
---Around the Southern Table, Sarah Belk [Simon & Schuster:New York] 1991 (p.
335-6)
[NOTE: This is an excellent book full of history snippets and traditional recipes. Your librarian
can help you find a
copy.]
---The Southern Foodways Alliance Community Cookbook, Sara Roahen & John T. Edge editors [University of Georgia Press:
Athens GA] 2010 (p. 15)
[NOTE: this book offers recipes for Breakfast shrimp gravy, Butterbean gravy, Creole red gravy, Tomato gravy, Redeye gravy, Mississippi
Madras okra gravy, Oyster gravy, Roan Mountain Corn gravy, Sawmill Gravy, & Sopping chocolate (aka Chocolate gravy).]
---ibid (p. 347)
Sauce/gravy recipes were introduced to the New World by European settlers. These ranged from
very simple fat & flour
combinations to complicated French reductions. Milk/cream based gravy [aka white gravy] was
among the simpler
concoctions. This vesatile gravy adapted easily to "ingredients at hand" which made them popular
with folks facing hard
times. They were quick to make, easy to store, added flavor to otherwise basic foods, and filled
the belly. Milk gravy
recipes appear in American cookbooks from colonial days to present. This evidence suggests they
were not "invented"
during the Civil War. They were, however, likely adapted to incorporate whatever ingredients
were available at the time.
In modern times, milk gravy was sometimes made with manufactured products, such as
dried/canned milk or cream. As
with most gravy/sauce recipes, there are dozens of variations.
Sawmill gravy is Applachia's version of milk gravy. Why the name?
---The Southern Foodways Allicance Community Cookbook, Sara Roahen and John T. Edge editors [University of Georgia Press:
Athens] 2010 (p. 24)
"Life Everlasting" Sawmill Gravy
3 heaping tablespoons white cornmeal
1 tablespoon bacon drippings
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups milk
A dash of pepper
In a frying pan, combine cornmeal, bacon drippings, and salt. Stir until brown. Add milk and let boil until gravy thickens. Stir forcefully to keep gravy from pumping. Add
pepper to taste."
---Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread and Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern
Appalachian
Cooking, Joseph E. Dabney [Cumberland House:Nashville TN] 1998 (p. 207-8)
[1839]
"White or Drawn Gravy.
This kind of gravy, to avoid expense and trouble, should be made of the liquor in which fresh
meat, poultry or game has
been boiled. Put it away in a covered vessel, and in cold weather it will keep good for several
days: then, by adding the
different catchups, &c., with a little butter, flour and cream to thicken it, you can have nice gravy
in a few minutes'
warning; and besides that, it is saving what otherwise might be thrown away."
---The Kentucky Housewife, Mrs. Lettice Bryan (facimile 1839 reprint) [Image
Graphics:Paducah KY] (p. 164)
These unusual biscuits are generally connected with the mid-Atlantic and southern Appalachian
regions. Marlyand Beaten Biscuit recipes are good examples. Food historians trace the practice of "beating" bread to England, possibly
as far back as the 16th century.
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 29)
Mr. Mariani lists the sources he uses in The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink at the end
of his
book. The 1853 reference for [Maryland Beaten Biscuits is this:
"1853 (1982) Lea, Domestic Cookery 69: MD, Maryland Biscuit. Rub half a pound of lard into
three pounds
of flour; put in a spoonful of salt, a tea-cup of cream, and water sufficient to make it into a stiff
dough; divide
it into two parts, and work each well till it will break off short, and is smooth; (some pound it
with an iron
hammer, or axe;) cut it up into small pieces, and work them into little round cakes."
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Frederic G. Cassidy chief editor, Volume III
I-O
[Cambridge MA:Belknap Press of Harvard University Press] 1996 (p. 528)
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1996 (p. 39)
"To Make Fine Biscuit Bread
Take a pound of fine flour, and a pound of sugar, and mingle it together [with] a quarter of a pound of aniseeds,
four eggs, [and] two or three spoonfuls of rose water. Put all thse into an earthen pan and with a slice of wood beat
it the space of two hours. Then fill your moulds half full. Your moulds must be made of tin. Then let it into your oven,
being so hot as it were for cheat bread. Let it stand one hour and an half. You must anoint your moulds with butter before
you put in your stuff. And when you will occupte [make use] of it, slice it thin and dry it in your oven, your oven being
no hotter than you may abide your hand in the bottom."
---The Good Housewife's Jewel, Thomas Dawson, with an introduction by Maggie Black [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1996 (p. 79)
"Hard biscuits
"Warm two ounces of butter in as much skimmed milk as will make a pound of flour into a very stiff paste, beat it with
a rolling pin, and work it very smooth. Roll it thin, and cut it into round biscuits; prick them full of holes with a fork. About
six minutes will bake them."
---The Female Instructor: or Young Woman's Guide to Domestic Happiness, [Thomas Kelly:London] 1817 (p. 473)
"Apoquiniminc Cakes.
Put a little salt, one egg beaten, and four ounces of butter, in a quart of flour; make it into a paste
with new
milk, beat it for half an hour with a pestel, roll the paste think, and cut it into round cakes; bake
them on a
gridiron and be careful not to burn them."
---The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, facsimile 1824 edition with Historical Notes
and
Commentaries by Karen Hess [Columbia:University of South Carolina Press] 1984 (p. 170)
"Maryland Biscuit.
Take any quantity of flour you think the size of the family may require; put in salt, and a lump or
table-spoonful of good lard; rub it well in the flour; then moisten it with new milk, work it well,
and beat it with a
rolling-pin until perferctly light. On the lightness depends the goodness of the biscuit. Bake rather
slowly, a
light brown."
---Cookery as it Should Be: A New Manual of the Dining Room and Kitchen, A Practical
Housekeeper and Pupil of Mrs. Goodfellow [Willis P. Hazard:Philadelphia] 1853 (p. 184)
"Maryland Biscuit
Take two quarts of sifted wheat flour, and add a small tea-spoonful of salt. Rub into the pan of flour a large quarter
of a pound of lard, and add, gradually, warm milk enough to make a very stiff dough. Knead the lump of doung long and hard, and
pound it on all sides with a rolling pin. Divide the dough into several pieces, and knead and pound each piece separately.
This must go on for two or three hours, continually kneading and pounding, otherwise it will be hard, tough, and
indigestible. Then make it into small round thick biscuits, prick them with a fork, and bake them a pale brown. This is the
most labourious of cakes, and also the most unwholesome, even when made in the best manner. We do not recommend it; but there is not
accounting
for tastes. Children should not eat these biscuits-nor grown persons either, if they can get any other
sort of
bread. When living in a town where there are bakers, there is no excuse for making Maryland
biscuit.
Believe nobody that says they are not unwholesome. Yet we have heard of families, in country places, where neither the
mistress nor the cook knew anyother preparation of wheat bread. Better to live on Indian cakes."
---Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book, Eliza Leslie [T.B. Peterson:Philadelphia PA] 1857 (p. 432)
[NOTE: "Indian cakes" refers to bread products made with maize meal. They were generally regarded as inferior to wheat
products.]
"Maryland Beat Biscuit
Take one quart of flour, add one teaspoonful of salt, one tablespoonful of lard, half tablespoonful
of butter.
Dry rub the lard and butter into the four unitl well creamed; add your water gradually in mixing so
as to
make dough stiff, then put the dough on pastry board and beat until perfectly moist and light. Roll
out the
dough to thickness of third of an inch. Have your stove hot and bake quickly. To make more add
twice the
quantity."
---What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Old Southern Cooking, Mrs. Fisher, facsimile 1881
reprint with
historical notes by Karen Hess [Applewood Books:Boston] 1995 (p. 9)
"Beaten Biscuits
1 pint of flour
1 rounded tablespoon of lard
1 good pinch of salt
Mix with very cold sweet milk to a stiff dough. Work 150 times through a kneader. Roll into sheet one-half inch thick.
Cut out or make out with the hands. Stick with a fork and bake in a hot oven about twenty minutes till a rich brown."
---The Blue Grass Cook Book, Minne C. Fox, fascimile 1904 reprint with an introduction by John Fox Jr. [University
of Kentucky Press:Lexington KY] 2005 (p. 1)
Maryland Beaten Biscuit
3 pints winter wheat flour, 1/4 lb. Lard, one-half ice water and milk to make a stiff dough, 1
heaping
teaspoon salt. Work in the lard, add the liquid and beat with a club for twenty-five minutes. Make
in small
biscuits and bake in a hot oven."
---Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Maryland, Frederick Philip Steiff [G.P. Putnam:New York]
1932 (p. 186)
"Beaten Biscuits
Beaten biscuits originated in Maryland more than 200 years ago, when a mixture of soda and
cream of tartar was used as leavening. The dough was beaten to make it light and airy. These
biscuits became such a necessity that a machine similar to a wringer was invented to manipulate
the dough. Even in modern times, this type of biscuit dough is still beaten. By tradition the dough
is beaten with a hammer, mallet, or an ax for about 30 minutes. Lard was originally used in the
biscuit dough, but today either solid vegetable shortening, margarine, or butter is often
substituted.
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup lard, solid vegetable shortening, margarine, or butter
1/3 cup milk combined with 1/3 cup water
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Cut in the shortening until it
resembles coarse meal. Add just enough of the liquid, a little at a time, to make a stiff dough.
Knead the dough several times in the bowl and then turn it out on a lightly floured board. Beat the
dough for about 30 minutes, turning it several times until it pops and is smooth and elastic. Shape
the dough into smooth balls by hand. Place on a cookie sheet and prick each biscuit with a fork,
making 3 rows of holes. Make in a preheated 400 degree F. Oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until
light brown."
--- Taste of the States: A Food History of America, Hilde Gabriel Lee [Howell
Press:Hong Kong] 1992 (p. 45)
1. It is a soft, round, flat, oversized, chewy drop cake, iced in perfect halves with vanilla and chocolate.
2. It is generally considered a New York City specialty.
3. It is sold fresh in bakeries and delicatessens.
4. It has been around for maybe 100 years.
5. It has no definitive inventor (person/restaurant).
6. It was elevated to national iconic status when Jerry Seinfeld waxed philosophically Look to the cookie.
No one seems to know who invented the Black and White, or where it was first created. George Greenstein, a second-generation
Jewish baker who has devoted his retirement to translating the old New York neighborhood bakery recipes into contemporary home
recipesfeels they must have been invented at the beginning of the twentieth century by a baker looking for yet another way to use
his standard yellow cake. They were clever. They got copied all over town.
---Arthur Schwartzs New York City Food, Arthur Schwartz [Steward, Tabori & Chang:New York] 2004 (p. 294)
---'Look to the Cookie': An Ode in Black and White, William Grimes, New York Times, May 13, 1998 (p. F1)
---A Tale of Two Cookies, Jule Banville, Washington City Paper, June 13, 2008 (p. 40-41)
The black-and-white cookie, that trumpy and oversize mainstay of New York City Bakeries and delis, has not endured by dint of its
taste. Unlike other edible icons, like New York cheesecake or bagels, there is no such thing as a delicious black-and-white cookie. They
are either edible or inedible. Fresh-baked and home-baked are the best. The form persists as an object lesson. There is, of course,
divergent opinion as to the message embodied in the cookie. One school holds that the cookie endures as an icon of balance. And
on its shiny black-and-white-frosted surface, the cookie displays at least the peaceful coexistence of opposites good and bad, yin
and yang, life and death, ebony and ivoryLook to the cookie! Jerry Seinfeld regaled the crowd waiting in a New York City
bakery
He waived the round harlequin above his head like a placard for radical harmonyBalance is not the black-and-white cookies only
claim on the populace. Some swear it is a metaphor for clarity. In the gray of urban chaos, there is innocence and simplicity, in a
black-and-white cookie.
---Smart Cookies: Why black-and-whites have assumed deep cultural significance, Molly ONeill, New York Times, January 28, 2001 (p. SM29)
" I think of as New York's answer to the Oreo, because there was a ritual to it," said Rochelle Udell, the editor in chief of Self magazine, whose family owned Ratchik's bakery in Brooklyn. "The black-and white always asked the question, which side you start with first? It was graphically appealing, and it allowed you enormous freedom to personalize how you ate it...
---'Look to the Cookie': An Ode in Black and White, William Grimes, New York Times, May 13, 1998 (p. F1)
---Smart Cookies: Why black-and-
whites have assumed deep cultural significance, Molly ONeill, New York Times, January 28, 2001 (p. SM29)
[NOTE: Ms. ONeill states B&W are also called Half Moons in Boston and Harlequins in the Midwest.]
[Episode 77,The Dinner Party, aired February 4, 1994].
[The Royal Bakery]
ELAINE: Ummm, I love the smell of bakeries.
JERRY: Mmm. Oh look Elaine, the black and white cookie.
ELAINE: Mmm.
JERRY: I love the black and white. Two races of flavor living side by side in harmony. It's a wonderful thing isn't it?...
JERRY: and a black and white cookie, for me. Peace!... (Jerry and Elaine are waiting in line, Jerry takes a bite of his cookie and then speaks)
JERRY: Uhm, see the key to eating a Black and White cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite.
Nothing mixes better than, vanilla and chocolate. And yet still somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only *Look to the
Cookie* -- all our problems would be solved.
ELAINE: Well your views on race relations are just, fascinating. You really should do an Op-Ed piece for the Times. (Op-Ed stands for
Opinions and Editorials)
JERRY: Hmm. Look to the cookie Elaine... Look to the cookie.
(Jerry sees a black man on the other side of the bakery eating the same cookie -- Jerry raises his cookie up and so does the man -- in a
moment of racial harmony & unity to which he just spoke of.)
JERRY: I dont know, I don't feel so good.
ELAINE: What's wrong?
JERRY: My stomach, I , think it was that cookie.
ELAINE: The black and white?
JERRY: Yeah.
ELAINE: Not getting along?
JERRY: I think I got David Duke and Farrakhan down there.
ELAINE: (mocking - in a dopey voice) Well if we can't look to the cookie where can we look?
SOURCE: Seinology.
This native New Yorker finds the ubiquitous iconography unsubstantiated by historic print evidence puzzling. New Yorkers generally
pride themselves on proclaiming firsts and claiming inventions. This does not jive with the laissez-faire we dont know attitude
relayed by contemporary reporters. Crosby Gaiges New York Worlds Fair Cook Book [1939] offers recipes & menus for every state.
There are no Black and White cookies in this book. Nor are they addressed in New York City/Jewish/Ethnic cookbooks (Joan Nathan,
Lynn Stallworth, Jane Ziegelman, Hasia Diner). Lawton Mackalls Knife and Fork in New York [1946] profiles several Jewish delicatessens.
He mentions Lindys cheese cake & Reubens sandwiches but no black & whites. We find no recipes in our cookie books
(professional/home cooks). No ads or descriptions in the New York Times before the Seinfelds episode aired. Like Jerry Seinfield,
sitcom premise: Its a story about nothing. Which makes the Black-and-White cookie even more compelling.
Potato chip cookies?
Food companies and trade associations have been promoting products through recipes from the earliest days forward. What better way to entice
the home cook (aka primary supermarket shopper) to try new products? Some recipes invented in corporate kitchens
have become American icons. Think: Jell-O-Molds. Back-of-the box promotions,
colorful magazine ads, company booklets, and contests encourage home cooks to be creative (economical, efficient) with everyday ingredients.
Breakfast cereal instead of bread crumbs, graham crackers into pie crust, powderered cocoa into fudge, condensed canned soups
for quick gravy.
Rice Krispies Treats and Chex Mix are
perfect examples of companies capitalizing on food trends.
[1946]
Potato chip definitions from WISE [1962]
"Potato Chip Cookies
Don't put up your hands and your hands in awe because we recommend potato chips in cookies. Crush one cup of them. Buy a package of prepared pudding mix
of butterscotch flavor, sift one cup flour, any kind that you can get, be sparing on the salt, just a pinch will do. Sift it with the flour and one-half teaspoon each of
soda and baking powder. Put pudding mix into a bowl, add the chips and the flour mixture. Add one beaten egg and one-half cup shortening, melted. Form a dough
in a roll and chill until firm. Slice one-fourth inch thick and arrange on a lightly greased cooky sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for from 10 to 12 minutes, or until done
or drop from a spoon on to a cooky sheet, flatten to one-fourth inch thickness and bake as suggested."
---Freeport Journal-Standard [IL], August 5, 1946 (p. 14)
"Potato Chip Cookies
1 cup of white sugar
1 cup of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups of shortening
2 cups of flour
3 cups of oatmeal
2 cups of potato chips, crushed medium
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup of nut meat. Chill, then roll in balls and flatten with fork. Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes."
---Muscatine Journal [IA], February 11, 1960 (p. 13)
?
Three-fourths cup butter
Two eggs
Two cups brown sugar
Two cups flour
One-third cup milk
One-half teaspoon soda
One teaspoon vanilla
One cup nuts, chopped
One cup potato chips
One cup chocolate chips
One cup coconut
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Sift flour and soda and add to creamed mixture. Add milk and vanilla. Add coconut, nuts, and potato and chocolate chips.
Drop by spoonsful on buttered cookie sheet. Bake in moderately hot oven (375 degrees F.). Makes about five dozen."
---State Journal [Madison WI], September 4, 1960 (p. 8)
"Potato Chip Cookies
1/2 lb butter and 1/2 lb. margarine
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla; cream well
Add 3 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 -25 cent bag of potato chips crushed.
mix thorougly and drop from teaspoon onto cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 min., in 350 degree F. oven. Add 1/2 cup chopped nuts if desired. Sprinkle with
powdered sugar. Makes 100 cookies."
---Kelvyn Park Journal [Chicago IL], July 31, 1968 (p. 8)
1 lb margarine
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Mix margarine and sugar until its creamy. Add vanilla, flour and crushed potato chips. Mix thoroughly. Roll into one inch balls, and put down gently on an ungreased
cookie sheet. Put 1/2 candied Maraschino cherry on top of each cookie and bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 12 minutes."
---South Austin News [Chicago IL], July 31, 1968 (p. 4)
?
"Potato Chip Cookies
1 pound butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 cups crushed potato chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar and vanilla and cream well. Add flour and beat thoroughly. Add crushed potato chips and chopped nuts and mix just enough to
blend. Drop dough from a teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees. If cookies are not to be eaten within two or three
days, store them in the freezer. Just before serving, dip tops into powdered sugar. Makes approximately 100 cookies."
---The Herald [Chicago IL], July 29, 1971 Section 5 (p. 8)
"Special notes:: Definition of crumbled, crushed and finely crushed potato chips:
Crumbled Potato Chips--are potato chips slightly crushed to the size of a quarter.
Crushed Potato Chips--are potato chips crushed to the size of dimes or smaller.
Finely Crushed Potato Chips--are potato chips crushed as finely as possible. Place chips between 2 pieces of wax paper and crush with rolling pin.
Approximate Yield of Wise Potato Chips
1 cup Crumbled requires approximately 1/2 oz. WISE potato chips.
1 cup Crushed requires approximately 1 7/8. WISE potato chips.
1 cup Finely Crushed requires approximately 4 1/2 oz. WISE potato chips."
---Recipes that Pep-up Meals with Wise Potato Chips [Wise Potato Chip Company:Berwick PA] 1962 (p. 32)
[NOTE: this booklet offers recipes for Brownies, Fudge Crispies, Chip Kisses, Chip Nests, Seafoam Chip Kisses, Chocolate Chip Kisses, Butterscotch Crispies, Double Chip (chocolate & potato) & Lemon Coconut Crispies. Butterscotch Crispies are the closest by ingredient to the recipes published in newspapers.
Refrigerator biscuits
Filing date: Mar 10, 1931
Issue date: Jun 1931
Inventor: LIVELY B. WILLOUGHBY
Assignee: BALLARD and BALLARD COMPANY
---"L. & N. Takes a New Biscuit to Market," by K.A.H., The L. & N. Employes' Magazine, November 1931 (p. 22-23)
---Dislay ad, Atlanta Constitution, June 25, 1931 (p. 17)
---Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Volume 1: Consumable Products, Janice Jorgensen editor [St. James Press:Dover] 1994 (p. 454)
---Advertising Age Encyclopedia of Advertising, John McDonough ed. [Fitzroy Dearborn:New York] Volume 3, 2003 (p. 1235)
---"Patent Infringement Suit Lost," New York Times, August 16, 1952 (p. 23)
Garibaldi biscuits
The second most popular cookie question we get comes from people remembering a thin, flaky, oblong cookie with yummy raisin
filling. The answer? Garibaldi Biscuits. The good news is, they are still available. You can find them online
(google: garibaldi biscuits sale) for purveyors. Who was Garibaldi & are these biscuits Italian? Food historians weigh in:
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 137)
---Delicia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food, John Dickie [Free Press:New York] 2008 (p. 169-170)
---Clerkenwell Pres [London], September 30, 1882 (p. 4)
---display ad, The Daily Mail [London] May 25, 1914 (p. 8)
[1985]
"Garibaldi: Buttery Raisin-filled Bars
This delicious buttery raisin-filled cookie is simplicity itself. A layer of sweet pastry dough is covered with a thick carpet
of raisins, topped with another layer of pastry, and glazed lightly with caramel.
Makes 88 bars
Pasta Frolla I (page 399) made through chilling
1 or 2 eggs, beaten
4 cups (600 grams) raisin
Divide the dough into 2 pieces, one twice as large as the other (two-thirds and one-third). Roll out the large piece into a
17 X 11-inch rectangle on a lightly floured work surface. Toll up the dough onto the rolling pin and then unroll it on a 17 X 11-inch
baking sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper. Brush the surface with beaten egg and scatter the raisins evenly on top. Press
the raisins firmly into the dough with the rolling pin and brush again with beaten egg. Roll the remaining dough into the same size
rectangle. Roll it up onto the rolling pin and then unroll it over the raisins. Don't worry if it rips and tears a bit, for it's
easily patched. Trim the dough and brush the surface with beaten egg.
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1/4 cups water, plus additional for thinning
1 tablespoon corn syrup
Stir the sugar, 1/4 cup water, and the corn syrup in a small heavy saucepan until the sugar is dissolved, 3 to 4 minutes. Clean the side of the
pan with a rubber spatula. Cook over medium heat without stirring until the bubbles get thicker and thicker and the mixture begins to
begins to caramelize. Do not stir again with the same spoon since it has sugar crystals on it that will cause the mixture to
harden. Reduce the heat and cook to a dark caramel color, about 320 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Remove immediately form the heat and swirl
the pan to mix it evenly. Stirring constantly with a clean wooden spoon, very gradually and very carefully add water a tablespoon
at a time, until the caramel is thin enough to be spread. Spread the dough with half the caramel glaze, smoothing it with a spatula
or knife. Decorate the top with a squiggly pattern made with the tines of a fork or better yet, with a cake-decorating comb made especially
for this purpose. Refrigerate 15 minutes to 4 hours. Brush again with beaten egg and spread with the remaining glaze. Decorate the glaze
as before. Refrigerate 15 to 30 minutes to make sure that the dough is cold so that it can be cut cleanly into 1 1/2 X 1-inch bars.
Baking. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Cool in the pan."
---The Italian Baker, Carol Field [Harper & Row:New York] 1985 (p. 416-417)
[NOTE: Carol Field's IACP award winning revised Italian Baker [Ten Speed Press:Berkeley CA] 2011 does not include a recipe for Garibaldi Biscuits.]
Graham crackers
Our survey of historic newspapers suggest "Graham crackers" (aka Graham wafers) were known by the early 1870s. We find references
to manufactured products. Presumably Graham flour items were also made at home. Earliest allusions likened Graham Crackers
to ships' biscuit. These hardy foodstuffs (think: hardtack) were better known for their dietary function and economical properties than
flavor or savor. This makes sense, because Graham's followers advocated a spartan approach to diet. It was not until
mass 20th century commercialism that Graham Crackers (like peanut butter) crossed over from health prescription to popular food. Dr. Graham would NOT have appreciated
the chocolate-coated versions some people enjoy today.
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 143)
---Week's News [London], December 21, 1872 (p. 19)
Michigan State University's Feeding America digital cookbook collection lets you identify
Graham recipes by title and
ingredient. Here you will find early recipes for Graham bread, cake, gems, muffins, mush, popovers, porridge, pudding and wafers.
[1884] Graham Wafer recipe,
(same shape & ingredients as modern Graham Crackers)
"Graham Crackers--Sweet
2 cups each graham and white flour
1/2 cup butter or oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspn. salt
cold water for stiff dough
Mix well together, run through food cutter (with finest knife) 5 or 6 times, roll about 1/8 inch thick, prick with fork, cut into
any desired shape, set in cold place for 2 hrs. or longer, bake in moderate oven. Omit sugar for unsweetened crackers. Dough may be
kneaded, picking it apart into small pieces, if food cutter is not at hand. Or, crackers are very good made up without any
kneading, when rested in cold place."
---Laurel Health Cookery, Evora Bucknum Perkins [Laurel Publishing Company:Melrose MA] 1911 (p. 462)
A New England health advocate with a passion for temperance and fiber.
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, volume 1
(p. 573)
---Culinary Biographies, Alice Arndt editor [Yes Press:Houston TX] 2006 (p. 186)
Although Nabisco (formerly the National Biscuit company) was not the first and/or only
company to manufacture graham crackers, it is often credited with introducing them to the American
public for mass-production. The National Biscuit Company was formed at the very end of the 19th
century. This passage is from a corporate biography:
---Out of the Cracker Barrel: Nabisco History From Animal Crackers to ZuZu's>, William Cahn,
[Simon & Schuster:New York] 1969 (p. 105)
The earliest print reference we find for chocolate-covered graham crackers is from 1929. They were made by the National Biscuit Company [aka Nabisco!]
"Sale of National Biscuit Co. Cookies and Crackers, Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers, per leb, 30 cents. Graham Crackers,
2 lbs, 31 cents."
---display ad, Laurens Sun [IA], October 17, 1929 (p. 4)
"Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers, 2 lbs for 37 cents,"
---Chicago Daily Tribune, December 17, 1933 (p. 14)...no brand mentioned
"We were unrolling our bedrolls. We hadn't used them for three nights. We'd been moving too fast for that kind of luxury. I was shaking
the sand out of a sour-smelling blanket when Benson let out a yip, and a tin clattered to the floor. It was a long tin, about a foot
long, and four inches square. It bore the label of Fortnum and Mason's, Piccadilly, London, and contained--chocolate-covered
graham crackers! Benson held it before him, an end in each hand, as you would a football, and let out a yell that competed with the
whistle. He tore at the top and couldn't open it, It was stuck all round with gummed paper...He'd got the top of as was rustling
the waxed brown paper aside with clumsy fingers when we became conscious of faces peering at us from the other side of the glass
doors and panels of the compartment. There were three or four men there, one of them with a bandaged head. Two were Italians and
at least one other was a German. before I could stop him, Benson stood up, pulled aside the sliding door and began passing out the
crackers, one to each. He went through the car and presently returned with one cracker. He divided it up neatly in two portions and
we sat on the edges of our long seats, taking small bites, fighting, each of us, an impulse to gulp, chew and swallow. We sat there
for a long time, not talking..."
---"Hospital Train," Frank Gervasi, Los Angeles Times, January 18, 1942 (p. H14)
"New delicacies have been uncovered by the freezer, such as frozen chocolate covered graham crackers. They are delicious in the frozen
state."
---"Industry's Aim: Freezing Unit in Every Home," Ann Douglas, Chicago Daily Tribune, September 11, 1949 (p. H4)
Hardtack & Ship's Biscuit
Hardtack (Army)and Ship's Biscuit (Navy) descend from ancient Roman Army hard breads. They
were issued to Revolutionary
War soldiers on all sides, a staple food for new world explorers and regretfully consumed by Civil War
soldiers. Why? For the most part it was portable, nutritious, and filling. On the other
hand...it was monotonous, hard to eat, and did go bad.
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 150-1)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 589)
---From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals,
Barbara Haber [Free Press:New York] 2002 (p. 50-1)
---A Taste for War, William C. Davis [Stackpole Books:Mechanicsville PA] 2003 (p. 40-1)
This was the Navy's answer to hardtack.
---Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era, Janet MacDonald [Stackpole Books:Mechanicsburg PA]
2004 (p. 16-18)
"The original method. The biscuit-making process at Deptford victualling yard was on a grand scale, producing almost 25,000 pounds of
biscuit a day from twelve ovens, each baking twenty batches a day, and being fed wtih raw biscuits by a team of seven men. To
knead the dough they used a device called a horse; this consisted of a circular platform on which a big lump of flour and water dough
was placed, and a wide lever mounted on a central pole which a man 'rode' like a hobby horse, jumping it up and down to knead the
dough, working his way round the circle as many times as it took to bring the dough to the desired state. It was then passed, in
sequence, to a series of men who cut the dough, moulded it into shape, stamped it, split it into two biscuits, arranged it on a
peel and 'shot' it into the oven to bake."
---Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era, Janet MacDonald [Stackpole Books:Mechanicsburg PA]
2004 (p. 184)
[NOTE: This book also offers a modernized version for home cooks.]
Hermits
Hermit cookies descend from medieval Arabian recipes. Small baked goods flavored with spices
(cinnamon, nutmeg, mace), fruits (raisins) and nuts (almonds) were introduced from the Middle
East to Europe by returning Crusaders. These sweet treats have been known through time by different
names. Medieval gingerbread, Elizabethan
jumbles, and 18th century plumb cakes, are likely progenitors.
20th century
Joe Froggers and snickerdoodles make similar claims to "old timey New England" culinary
heritage.
Excellent question with no definative answer. John Mariani (Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink) is the only
person who ventures a guess: "the name may refere to the
brown lumpy appearance of the cookie, like that of a hermit's robe." (p. 154).
1. As years progress, recipes become more complicated and origination stories grow longer and more detailed.
2. Eleanor Early's recipe (1954) is the first to claim Hermits belong to New England. Her recipe stands out because she bakes
her hermits in a shallow cake pan, similar to brownies. Her recipe strikes us closer to
Lafayette Gingerbread, without the ginger.
3. Historical references to "old time New England" are defendable when one looks beyond the recipe title and examines ingredients and mode.
4. The earliest print reference we find for "Hermit Cookies" are published in Midwestern newspapers (circa 1878, 1880), not New England
sources.
[1747]
"To make little Plum-Cakes.
Take two Pound of Flour dried in the Oven, or at a great Fire, and half a Pound of Sugar finely powder'd, four Yolks of Eggs, two
Whites, half a Pound of Butter wash'd with Rosewater, six Spoonfuls of Cream warm'd, a Pound and a Half of Currans unwash'd, put picked and
rubb'd very clean in a Cloth; mix it all well together, then make them up into Cakes, and bake them in an Oven almost as hot as for a
Manchet, and let them stand balf an Hour till they be colour'd on both Sides, then take down the Oven Lid, and let them stand to
soak. You must rub the Butter into the Flour very well, then the Sugar, then the Egg and Cream, and then the Currants."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, 1747 facsimile edition, introductory essays by Jennifer Stead and
Pricilla Bain, a glossary by Alan Davidson [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 141)
[NOTE" "Manchet" was bread of the finest quality.]
"Little Plumb Cakes.
Take two pounds of fine flour dried in the oven or before a great fire, and half a pound of sugar finely powdered, four yolks of eggs,
two whites, half a pound of butter washed with rose water, six spoonsful of cream warmed, a pound and a half of currants unwashed, but
picked and rubbed very clean with a cloth, and mi all well together; them make them up into cakes, and bake them in a pretty hot oven,
and let them stand half an hour till they are coloured on both sides; then take down the oven lid and let them stand to soak. You must
rub the butter into the flour very well, then the eggs and cream, and then the currants."
---The New Art of Cookery According to the Present Practices, Richard Briggs [W. Spotswood, R. Campbell and B. Johnson:
Philadelphia PA] 1972 (p. 463)
[Notice the "gentle" borrowing of Ms. Glasse's recipe? This was not uncommon back in the day.]
"Hermit Cookies. Little over a cup of nice raisins chopped, one cup butter, one of sugar, two eggs, one teaspoonful each of
cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg, one-half cup molasses, a little salt, flour to roll out."
---Daily Globe [St. Paul, MN], June 30, 1878 (p. 4)
"Hermit cookies. Half cup butter, one and a half cups sugar, three eggs, one teaspoonful of all kinds of spices, half teaspoonful soda, dissolved
in a little water. Mix up stiff and roll."
---Indian Journal [Muskogee OK], March 25, 1880 (p. 7)
"Hermits.
Add half a cup of stoned and chopped raisins to the receipt for Richer Cookies, and roll about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut into
rounds." (p. 386)
1/2 cup butter.
1 cup sugar.
1 tabpespoonful milk.
2 eggs.
1 heaping teasp. baking-powder.
Flour to roll out.
Cream the butter; add the sugar, milk, egg, beaten lightly, and the baking-powder mixed with two cups of flour, then enough more flour to
roll out. Roll a little at a time. Cut out. Bake about ten minutes." (p. 385)
---Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D.A. Lincoln, 1884 facsimile edition [Dover Publications:Mineola NY] 1996
"Hermits.
"Hermit Cookies. Three eggs, one and one-half cups of sugar, one small cup of butter, one cup of stoned raisins chopped fine, one
teaspoonful of soda dissolved in very little hot water, and just flour enough to handle easily. Take out a little at a time the cake board, knead
slightly, and roll them."
---"Useful and Suggestive," Iola Register [KS], October 11, 1889 (p. 7)
"Hermit cookies.
Mix well together 1 cup butter and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar. Add 3 well-beaten eggs, 1 cup of chopped raisins, 1 tablespoon soda
dissolved in 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 small teaspoon each of cinnamon, cloves, and grated nutmeg. Just flour enough to roll out--but
do not roll too thinly. Cut and bake in a quick oven."
---"All About Cooking Cookies," New York Times, June 5, 1908 (p. X9)
"Hermits.
1 cup shortening
2 cups brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup sour milk
1 cup raisins
1 cup quartered dates
1 cup broken nut meats
Cream shortening and sugar thoroly [sic], add eggs, and beat until smooth. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with sour milk.
Add fruit and nut meats and drop from spoon on greased cooky sheets. Bake in moderately hot oven (375 degrees F.) abiyt 15 minutes.
Dates may be omitted and raisins increased to 2 cups. Makes 4 dozen cookies."
---My New Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book [Meredith Corporation:Des Moines IA] 1930, Chapter V (p. 18-19)
Hello Dolly bars
The term "bar cookies" or "squares" originated in the 20th century. The earliest examples we find in
American cookbooks are from the 1930s. A survey of cookbooks suggests these recipes
gained popularity as decades progressed. Food historians do not credit a specific person/place with the
invention of "bar cookies." Presumably the practice evolved from earlier recipes, most notably brownies
and fudge. Bar cookies were embraced by thrifty cooks, harried homemakers, and time-crunched home ec
teachers because they were easy to assemble and delicious. The variations were endless. Lemon
bars are perhaps the most famous items in this culinary genre.
Our survey of historic newspaper & magazine articles suggests Hello Dolly Bars (aka
Hello Dollies, Magic Cookie Bars, Seven Layer Bars, Dream Bars, Fancy Layer Bars) first surface during the Great Depression. This recipe
family generally includes chocolate chips, graham cracker crumbs, sweetened condensed milk, coconut & chopped nuts.
Why the name? In 1964 Carol Channing debuted in Jerry Herman'sa Hello Dolly. One year later, recipes with that name occur.
Our survey suggests folks called them Hello Dolly because they *appear* to be rich. Fitting, don't you think?
---"Back of the Box," Barbara Durbin, The Oregonian [Portland OR], June 21, 1988 (p.FD1)
---"Reader Exchange: Old faithful," Ashley Parrish, Tulsa World [OK], February
5, 2003 (p. D1)
[1939]
"Corn Flake Dream Bars
Cream 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar thorougly, add 1 cup flour and blend well. Press mixture in bottom of shallow baking
pan. Bake in moderate oven, 350 degrees, for about 15 minutes, or until delicately browned. Beat 2 eggs well and add 1 cup brown
sugar gradually and continue beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon salt,
1 cup shredded coconut, 1 cup corn flakes and 1 cup chopped nut meats. Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls on top of previously baked crust and
spread evenly. Bake in moderate oven, 350 dgrees, about 25 minutes. Remove from pan and cut into squares while warm. Yield is 40
1 1/2-inch squares."
---"Corn Flake Dream Bars Truly Distinctive," Washington Post, September 15, 1939 (p. 23)
[NOTE: Several USA breakfast cereal companies offered similar "Dream Bar" recipes promoting their products in the 1940s-1950s.]
"Dream Bars...Mix together until crumbly, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup flour. Press out flat in a large flat pan.
Bake in a moderate oven for 10 minutes, cool a little and cover with the following mixture. Mixtuer--to 1 cup brown sugar, add 1
teaspoon flour and 1/2 teaspon salt. Add 2 beaten eggs, 1 teaspoon vanila, 1 cup chopped nuts and 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut. Cover
the first part and bake in a moderate oven, 350 degrees, for 20 minutes."
---"Prize Cookies Delight All Ages," Washington Post, March 15, 1940 (p. 22)
"Tom Thumb Cookie Bars
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. brown sugar packed
1 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2-3 lb. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. shredded coconut
1 c. nuts chopped
Combine shortening and salt. Add 1/2 c. brown sugar and cream well. aAdd 1 c. flour and blend. Spread mixture in 8 X 12" buttered
pan. Bake in slow oven 20 min. Add remaining 1 c. brown sugar and vanilla to eggs, beating until thick and foamy. Then add 2 tb.
flour, baking powder, coconut and nuts and blend. Spread over the baked mixture; return to oven and bake 25 min."
---Granddaughter's Inglenook Cookbook [Brethren Publishing House:Elgin IL] 1942 (p. 49)
1/4 c. butter or margarine
1 1/4 c. sifted cake flour
1 1/4 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1/2 teasp. baking powder
1 teasp. vanill extract
1 1 /2 c. moist shredded coconut
1 c. chopped walnuts
With a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter or margarine into 1 c. of the flour and 1/4 c. of the brown sugar, until mixture is of the
consistency of coarse corn meal, as in biscuits. Pat this mixture firmly into an ungreased 8" X 8' X2" pan, and bake in a moderate oven of
350 F. for 15 min., or until lighrtly browned. Meanwhile, beat the eggs until light. Then add the remaining brown sugar gradually, shile
continuing to beat with a hand or electric beater, until mixture is light and fluffy. Fold in the remaining flour, which has been sifted with the baking powder. Add
the vanilla extract, coconut, and chopped walnuts, and combine all thoroughly. Spread this mixture over the top of the still-warm
bake mixture in pan, and bake in moderate oven of 350 F. for 15 min., or until ligthly browned. Meanwhile, beat the eggs until
light. Then add the remaining brown sugar gradually, while continuing to beat with a hand or electric beater, until mixture is
liught and fluffy. Fold in the remaining flour, which has been sifted with the baking powder. Add the vanilla extract, coconut, and
chopped walnuts, and combine all thoroughly. Spread this mixture over the top of the still-warm baked mixture in pan, and bake in
moderate overn of 350 F. for 20 min., or until crisp and lightly browned. While still warm, cut into 16 2" squares, or into 16
bars 4" X 1", as desired."
---The Good Housekeeping Cook Book, completely Revised 7th edition [Farrar & Rinehart:New York] 1942, 1944 (p. 763-764)
"Dream Bars
Sometimes called Toffee-Nut Bars
1/2 cup shortening (part butter or margarine)
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 cup Gold Medal Flour
Almond-Coconut Topping (below)
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (mod.). Mix shortening and sugar thoroughly. Stir in flour. Press and flatten with hand to cover bottom of ungreased
oblong pan, 13 X 9 1/2X 2". Bake 10 min. Then spread with Topping. Return to oven and bake 25 min. more, or until golden brwon. Cool
slightly, then cut in bars. Makes about 2 1/2 doz. 3X 1" bars.
Almond-Coconut Topping
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup moist shredded coconut
1 cup slivered almonds (or other nuts)
Mix eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Mix with flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in coconut and almonds...
Chocolate Chip Dream Bars
Make Dream Bars (above)--except use 1/3 cup butter or margarine in bottom layer. In topping, use 1 pkg. (6 oz.) semi-sweet chcooalte
pieces in place of cocont. Bake 15 to 20 min. Cool; spread with Thin Chocolate Icing (p. 151)"
---Betty Crocker's Cooky Book [General Mills:Mineapolis MN] 1963(p. 13)
"Mrs. Davis served a new cookie and gave seach member the recipe to try and add to her fiie. The cookies are Hello Dolly Cookies. To make:
Melt one cube of butter or oleo in a 9 by 13 cake pan. Sprnkle 1 cup vanilla wafers or graham cracker crumbs distributed evenly over the melted butter in the
bottom of the pan. Add one 8 ounce package of chocolate chips, one cup chopped nuts and one cup of angel flake coconut: over this pour one
cup canned milk undiluted. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degress until lightly browned, cool, then refrigerate before cutting into squares. Keep
leftovers refrigerated."
---"Roff HD Club Members, Gueses Enjoy Program," Ada Evening News [OK]. July 22, 1965 (p. 6)
1 stick margarine, melted
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. walnuts
1 c. coconut
1 can heavy condensed milk
Mix melted margarine and graham cracker crumbs and shape into a 9X9 inch pan. Put in layers on top the chocolate, walnuts, coconut and
finally the condensed milk. Bake for 30 minues in a 350 degree oven. Cut only when cold.--Mrs. Don P. Miller, 1307 North Forrest, Hutchinson."
---"Favorite Recipe," Hutchinson News [KS], July 6, 1965
[NOTE: This recipe was published in several papers throughout the US in the 1960s & 1970s.]
"Fancy Layer Bars
1 cup sifted flour
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 6-oz pkg. semi-sweet chocolate pieces
1/4 cup flaked coconut
Mix 1 cup flour and 2 tbsp. brown sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Press firmly into
an 8-in. square pan. Bake at 350 deg. 15 min. or until set but not browned. Beat eggs with remaining 1 1/2 cups brown sugar. Sift
together 1/4 cup flour, the baking powder and salt and fold into egg mixture. Stir in nuts, chocolate pieces and coconut. Spread
over baked cooky layer. Bake 25 to 30 mins. longer. Cool slightly and cut into bars. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen."
---"Versatile Bar Cookies Skip Fuss and Muss in the Kitchen," Marian Manners, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1966 (p. F1)
"Magic Cookie Bars (makes 24 bars)
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 can Eable Brand Sweetenend Condensed Milk
1 (6-oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 (3 1/2-oz) can flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts
Presheat ovedn to 350 degrees F (use 325 if using glass dish). In 13 X 9-inch baking pan, melt butter. Sprinkle crumbs over butter. Pour
sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top evenly with chocolate morsels, coconut, and nuts; press down gently. Bake 25 to 30
minutes or until lightly browned. Cool thoroughly before cutting. Loosely cover any leftovers."
---They'll Love It! Easy taste treats with sweetened condensed milk," [Borden Company] 1976 (p. 24)
"Hello Dollies >
We originally ran this recipe under the name Dream Bars. They are, however, better known by the above name. One of the
best bars, bar none.
1 1/2 cups graham wafer crumbs
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup flaked or shredded coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
200 mL can sweetened condensed milk
Toss graham wafer crumbs with melted butter. Press mixture into 13-by-9-inch baking pan.
In bowl, combine coconut, chocolate chips, walnuts and condensed milk. Spread over crumb crust.
Bake in pre-heated 350F oven 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
Makes 24 bars."
---"Second Helpings," Marion Kane, Toronto Star, January 8, 1992 (p. D1)
"Hello Dollies
1 stick butter, melted 1 cup vanilla wafer crumbs or graham cracker crumbs 1 6-ounce package
chocolate chips 1 6-ounce package butterscotch chips 1 cup flaked coconut 1/2
cup chopped pecans 1 can Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk Melt butter in an 13x9-inch
pan, then layer other ingredients in order. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top. Do not
mix. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes, checking after 25 minutes for doneness. Cool
completely."
---"Reader Exchange: Old faithful," Ashley Parrish, Tulsa World [OK], February
5, 2003 (p. D1)
Joe Froggers
Molasses cookies are well documented in colonial New England. There were dozens of variations, with different names. Some
were hard, others were soft. Many employed traditional English spices of nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Raisins and
nuts were often added for flavor and texture. Molasses replaced refined cane sugar for economic reasons. According to culinary legend, Joe Froggers belong to this venerable
confectionery genre. Joes *secret ingredient* was rum.
No one knows, for sure. This is a prime example of what food historians call "culinary legend," or "fakelore." If a story sounds plausible, and
is circulated widely enough, it becomes "truth."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 172)
---New England Cookbook, Eleanor Early [Random House:New York] 1954 (p. 166-7)
[NOTE: Early's recipe here.]
"A Visit to Breezy Marblehead Is Worth Its Salt," Dorothy Stephens, Los Angeles Times, Apr 7, 1991 pg. 8
The legend is quaint, but print culinary evidence does not support the existence in colonial days. Just like
Snickerdoodles. We can confirm similar recipes but not molasses cookies with rum. Of course, the Pilgrim fathers did not
approve of alcohol. Neither did the early temperance folks/cookbook authors, like Catharine Beecher. It is quite possible
folks snuck the ingredient in long before it was recorded in books. Sandra Oliver, food historian with notable expertise
in 19th century New England fare states this:
---Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and ther Food, at Sea and Ashore, in the Nineteenth Century, Sandra L. Oliver [Mystic Seaport Museum:Mystic CT] 1995 (p. 138)
---"Spice Wheels," Clementine Paddleford, Los Angeles Times, May 2, 1954 (p. L27)
"Joe Froggers
Related cookies? Hermits & Snickerdoodles.
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. salt
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup rum
2 tsps. baking soda
2 cups dark molasses
7 cups flour
1 tbsp. ginger
1 tsp. clove
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
1. Cream shortening and sugar until light.
2. Dissolve salt in water and mix with rum.
3. Add baking soda to molasses.
4. Sift flour with ginger, clove, nutmeg and allspice. Add liquid ingredients alternately with flour mixture to creamed mixture.
Stir well between additions. Dough should be sticky. Chill overnight in refrigerator.
5. In morning, flour board and rolling pin. Roll dough ougt to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with large cutter. (A big brandy snifter
makes a nice Joe Frogger.)
Sugar cookies: Jumbles & American sugar
cakes
Food historians trace the history of these cookies and cakes to Medieval Arab
cuisine, which was
rich in sugar. Small sugar cakes with
nuts (most
often almonds) and spices were known to these
cooks and quickly adopted by the Europeans. This sweet culinary tradition was
imported by the Moors to Spain, diffused and assimilated throughout Europe, then
introduced to
the New World by 16th century explorers. The primary differences between
English sugar cookies
and their continental counterparts were the spices, use
of nuts (lacking
in English versions), and shapes.
In English cookbooks, precursors to sugar cookies were known by many names,
most often:
jumbal, jumble, jambal, jemelloe, gemmel. Jumbals were hard spiced biscuits. They
were baked
thick to make them suitable for journeys and could be stored for about a year.
They were also
typically twisted into knots, presumably to make them a little easier to break and
eat.
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 423)
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1995 (p. 349)
"To make Jambals
Take a pint of fine wheat flour, the yolks of three or four new laid eggs, three or
four spoonfuls of
sweet cream, a few anniseeds, and some cold butter, make it into paste, and roul it
into long rouls,
as big as a little arrow, make them into divers knots, then boil them in fair water
like simnels; bake
them, and being baked, box them and keep them in a stove. Thus you may use
them, and keep
them all year." (p. 275)
"To Make Iumbals
Take a pound & a halfe of fine flowre & a pound of fine sugar, both searced & dried in an oven, 6 youlks, & 3 whites of eggs, 6
spoonfulls of sweet cream & as much rose water, fresh butter ye quantety of an egg. Mingle these together & make it into stiff
paste. Work it a quarter of an hour then break it abroad, & put in as much annyseeds or carraway seeds as you shall think fit,
& put in A little muske & ambergreece. roule them into rouls & make them in what forms you please. lay them on pie plates thin buttered,
& prick them with holes all over. then bake them as you doe diet bread. If this quantety of eggs will not be enough to wet ye flour
& sugar, put in 23 or 4 more, but no more cream, butter, not rosewater."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1995 (p. 348)
[NOTE: Martha Washington's book also proffered recipes for leamon (lemon), almond, and barberry iumbals (jumbals). Historic recipes are
published in this book.]
"Jumbles (American Recipe)
Ingredients.--14 ozs. of flour. 5 ozs. of sugar, 3 ozs. of butter, 1 eg, the finely-grated rind and juice of 1 lemon, 3 teaspoonfuls of milk, 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, 1/2 a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda.
Method.--Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the egg, milk, lemon-juice, and rind. Sieve the flour, cream of tartar, and soda, and miz with the other ingredients. Roll out rather thinly and cut into rounds, or cut into long, narrow strips, which, after being lightly pressed into a round shape with the palm of the hand, should be wound round and round to form small cakes. Bake in a quick oven.
Time.--To bake, about 10 minutes...Sufficient for about 1 1/2 lbs. of jumbles. Seasonable at any time."
---Mrs. Beeton's Every-Day Cookery, New Edition [Ward, Lock & Co.:London] 1909 (p. 429)
Jumbles
Makes about 3 dozen
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon rose water
3 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
additional sugar
Preheat Oven to 375 degrees F. Sift flour with spices. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar until very light. Add egg and rose water,
blending thoroughly, Add dry ingredients all at once to creamed mixture, blending well. Wrap dough and chill at least 2 hours.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out circles with a wine glass or cut into thin
shapes and shape into rings...Bake on ungreased cookie sheets 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Remove to a rack, sprinkle
with sugar, and cool."
---Hearthside Cooking: Early American Southern Cuisine, Nancy Carter Crump [Univeristy of North Carolina Press:Chapel Hill]
2nd edition, 2008 (p. 212-213) [NOTE: Hearth cookery instructions also included in this book. Happy to send in you need them.]
American "sugar cakes" appear to be an iteration of the English jumble, without the fancy shape. Modern sugar cookies present three ways:
molded, cut & dropped.
[1750s?]
Related foods? Moravian sugar cakes,
Mexican wedding cakes & Thumbprint cookies.
"To Make Sugar Cakes
"Take 3 ale quarts of fine flowre, & put to it a pound of sugar, beaten & searced,;
4 youlks of
eggs, strayned thorough a fine cloth with 12 or 13 spoonfulls of good thick cream;
& 5 or 6
spoonfulls of rosewater; A pound & a quarter of butter, washt in rose water &
broaken in cold, in
bits. Knead all these ingredients well together. After, let it ly A while, covered
well, to rise. The
roule them out & cut them with a glass, & put them on plates (a little buttered) in
an oven gently
heat. All these kinde of things are best when ye [the] sugar & flower are dryed in
an oven before
you use ym [them]."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess
[Columbia
University Press:New York]1981 (p. 309)
[NOTES: (1) Ms. Hess adds these observations: "We now come to a section of
baked cakes,
starting off with what Americans would call cookies. This is an excellent recipe for
sugar cookies,
really sand tarts. The dough will not actually rise, but even a short period of rest
permits a
maturing and fermentation that improve texture and flavor...A note on the word
flour. It comes
from French fleur de farine, flower of meal...Flour and flower were not
differentiated until the
eighteenth century..."ibid. P. 309-10 (2) this book contains two more recipes for
sugar cakes.]
"Sugar biscuits
Three pounds of flour, sifted.
One pound of butter.
A pound and a half of powdered sugar.
Half a pint of milk.
Two tablespoons full of brandy.
A small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved in water.
Four table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds.
Cut the butter into the flour. Add the sugar and carraway seeds. Pour in the
brandy, and then the
milk. Lastly, put in the pearl-ash. Stir all well with a knife, and mix it thoroughly,
till it becomes a
lump of dough. Flour your paste-board and lay the dough on it. Knead it very well.
Divide it into
eight or ten pieces, and knead each piece separately. Then put them all together,
and knead them
very well in one lump. Cut the dough in half, and roll it out into sheets, about half
an inch thick.
Beat the sheets of dough very hard, on both sides, with the rolling-pin. Cut them
out into round
cakes with the edge of a tumbler. Butter iron pans, and lay the cakes in them. Bake
them of a very
pale brown. If done too much they will lose their taste. These cakes kept in a stone
jar, closely
covered from the air, will continue perfectly good for several months."
---Seventy-Five Reciepts, for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, By a Lady of
Philadelphia
(Eliza Leslie), facsimile reprint 1828 edition by Monroe and Francis:Boston
[Appelwood
Books:Chester CT] (p. 62-3)
"Sugar cakes
Take a half a pound of dried flour, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, a quarter
of
a pound of sifted loaf sugar; then mix together the flour and the sugar; rub in the
butter, and add
the yolk of an egg beaten with a table-spoonful of cream; make it into a paste, roll,
and cut it into
small round cakes, which bake upon a floured tin."
---The Good Housekeeper, Sarah Josepha Hale (p. 99)
[NOTE: this author also wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb"]
Thumbprint cookies
Baked goods topped or filled with fruit preserves feature prominently in many cuisines. Think:
Linzertortes & Hammentashen.
Thumbprint (aka Thimble) cookies combine these two traditions. It also confirms the "thumbprint" recipe name [at least in the United States]
happened sometime in the 1950s. Modern Swedish Hallongrottor and Rosenmutter cookies/cakes may possibly be a Swedish-American twist on this
culinary tradition. The earliest recipes we found titled "Thumbprint Cookies" in a USA source ("Favorite Recipe," Hutchinson News
Herald [KS], June 20, 1949 (p. 5) does not employ fruit filling. These hardy sugar cookies are covered with chopped nuts and they
are marked with a thumbprint halfway through the baking period.
Related cookies? Sugar cookies.
"Jelly Tots.
Method I....This rule makes 28 amusing little cakes.
Combine:
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup finely chopped pecan meats
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt if the butter is unsalted
Sift and stir in:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Place the bowl containing the dough over hot water so that the dough will become soft enough to handle.
Roll it into 1 inch balls. Make a depression in each ball. Place in the depression a bit of:
Drained strawberry preserves
1/2 pecan meat
Bake the tots on a greased sheet in a moderately hot oven 400 degrees F. for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle
them with:
Confectioners' sugar."
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer & Marion Rombauer Becker [Bobbs-Merrill
Company:Indianapolis] 1953 (p. 681)
"Thumbprint Cookies.
Nut-rich...the thumb dents filled with sparkling jelly...
Mix thoroughly...
1/2 shortening (part butter or margarine)
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg, separated
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Sift together and stir in....
1 cup Gold Medal Flour
1/4 tsp. salt
Roll into 1" balls. Dip in slightly beaten egg whites. Roll in finely chopped nuts (3/4 cup). Place about 1"
apart on ungreased baking sheet and press thumb into center of each. Bake until set. Cool. Place in
thumbprints a bit of chopped candied fruit, sparkling jelly, or tinted confectioners' sugar icing. Temperature
375 degrees F., Time: Bake 10 to 12 min. Amount: About 2 doz. 1 1/2" cookies."
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, 2nd edition, revised and enlarged [McGraw Hill:New York] 1956 (p.
219)
"Thimble Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Dash salt
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1 cup finely chopped nuts
1 cup strawberry or other jelly
Beat butter with sugar until smooth and creamy. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in flour and salt. With floured hand,
roll dough into 1-inch balls. Dip balls into beaten egg white, then into nuts. Place cookies 2 inches apart on greased cookie
sheets. With a thimble, handloe of a wooden spoon or thumb, make a depression in center of each cookie. Bake in moderate
oven (350 degrees F.) for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool cookies on a rack. If centers have risen, make
depression again while cookies are warm. When cool, fill centers with jelly. Makes about 24 2-inch cookies."
---"Tea-time can be fun-time for housewives, neighbors, school kids and friends," Chicago Daily Defender, August 26, 1971 (p. 20)
"Some traditions go on and on. When I was a little girl an aunt let us children help her bake Thimble Cookies...
Thimble Cookies
1 cup (2 one-quarter lb. sticks) butter
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups unsifted flour, stir to aerate before measuring
1/4 cup (about) strawberry jam
In a medium mixing bowl cream butter and sugar. Thorougly beat in egg yolks and vanilla. With a wooden spoon gradually work in flour
until blended. Chill if necessary before shaping. Shape dougn into 1-in. balls. Place balls about 1 1/2 in. apart on ungreased
cookie sheets. Using a lightly floured thimble, press a small hole about 1/4-in. deep in the top of each cookie. Fill each hole
with strawberry jam. Bake in a preheated 325-deg. oven until browned on bottom but not on top--about 25 min. Remove to wire
racks to cool. (Cookies may slide on cookie sheets dring baking but this will not affecttheir shape.). Store in tightly covered tin
box. Makes about 4 dozen."<
---"Tradition Gives Children Role in Baking Thimble Cookies," Cecily Brownstone, New York Times, October 18, 1973 (p. OC-D28)
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