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Old Fashioned Recipes

Favorite Historic Dessert Recipes From Great-Grandma's Day

Old fashioned recipes from Great Grandma's day are the specialty of this dessert website. Maybe you've read about these historic recipes in books or magazine articles, or maybe you've heard them spoken of on the History Channel. Well, here's your chance to actually try making them.

Some old time dessert recipes don't easily fit into the dessert categories on my website, so I've added them to this page for your enjoyment.

Some are rare, hard-to-find recipes only known regionally and unheard-of elsewhere. Others became either lost or forgotten in the many decades since the original cookbooks were published. Modern cookbook authors and publishers concentrate on the newer, more popular desserts, often at the expense of old favorites.

Now, you can enjoy these old favorites from Great-Grandma's day using the same old fashioned recipes that she used. Some of these vintage dessert recipes are well-known, some are unusual, and therefore not so well-known, but all are interesting to make and the results are delicious.

Hope Chest Cake Recipe

In Grandma's day, it was a common tradition that a young unmarried woman anticipating her eventual married life would begin to store special clothing and household linens in a "hope chest" or "wedding chest." Unmarried girls in Great Britain and some Commonwealth countries often called them "glory boxes."

This unique cake isn't hard to make, and it tastes and looks absolutely delicious. Like a hope chest, it's filled with all the best things. And it's perfect for serving at your next St. Valentines Day party. It will be a real conversation starter.

This old fashioned recipe for Hope Chest Cake is taken from one of Mom's recipe scrapbooks, circa 1929.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup sour milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 orange, rind and juice
3/4 cup almonds
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup dates

METHOD:

Cream the shortening, add sugar and cream in well, then work in the eggs. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with the milk (save a little flour for dredging the fruit mixture). Then add the vanilla extract, and orange juice. After removing all of the white skin, grind the orange rind, nuts, and fruit, and add the mixture, floured, to the batter. Turn into loaf pan that has been lined with wax paper. Bake in moderate oven (350°F) for 1-1/2 hours.

Decorate with hinges and a lock made of banana icing, or an icing of choice; or, cover completely with icing, and add hinges, and a lock of a contrasting color. Enjoy.

Homemade Marshmallow Recipe

Thanks to old fashioned recipes, it's sometimes a lot of fun to make something that's now mostly purchased in stores. Homemade marshmallows not only taste delicious, but you can make them in any flavor you choose. You can even add nuts or dried fruit to make them even more chewy and delicious. Try an old-time treat from great-grandma's day.

This old fashioned recipe to make homemade marshmallows is taken from an old issue of "The Canadian Farm Cookbook," circa 1912.

2 rounded tablespoons gelatine
2 cups granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
Flavoring to taste
Powdered sugar as required

Soak the gelatine in 8 tablespoons cold water. Heat the sugar with 1/2 cup water until dissolved. Add gelatine to syrup and just bring it to a boil, take off the stove and let stand in a bowl until partially cool. Add salt and flavoring, beat with a whip until soft, then with a large spoon until only soft enough to settle into a sheet.

Dust pans thickly with finely powdered sugar, pour in the candy mixture about 1/2 inch deep, and set to cool until it will not come off the finger. Turn out on powdered paper, cut in cubes and roll in powdered sugar.

Nuts, chocolate, or candied fruit may be beaten in, or the marshmallows may be rolled in grated coconut before being powdered.

Rural Cookie Recipe

Here's an old fashioned cookie recipe from Great-Grandma's day that you will have fun trying. These old time Rural Cookies are very easy to make and taste delicious.

The recipe is taken from an old, unidentified newspaper clipping, circa 1915.

Break an egg in a teacup, put in three tablespoonfuls of melted butter, one of sour cream, a little bit of baking soda, then fill up with sugar; mix soft; shape; bake in a quick oven.

Pinwheel Biscuits Recipe

This is an old favorite taken from Mom's recipe scrapbook. She often used this old fashioned recipe of Grandma's to make delicious dessert biscuits to take to family get-togethers, or to serve on special occasions.

Though the old fashioned recipe calls for a filling of chopped raisins and citron, she often substituted small whole raisins, and/or sometimes chopped nuts.

Two cups of flour, quarter teaspoonful salt, four teaspoonfuls baking powder, two teaspoonfuls butter, three-quarters cup milk, roll batter one-fourth inch thick, spread with two tablespoonfuls melted butter after rolling, then spread on a mixture of two tablespoonfuls sugar, one-half teaspoonful cinnamon, one-third cup chopped raisins and citron, roll like jelly roll, cut off in slices, spread with softened butter and bake. Pin wheel biscuits are delicious.

Sweet Tea Biscuit Recipe

Here's an easy tea biscuit recipe from yesteryear. Tea biscuits are delicious when eaten warm from the oven with butter or with your favorite jelly preserve generously spread upon them. Make some today!

Sift one quart flour, with three teaspoons baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Add enough milk to make dough as soft as can be rolled, roll out an inch thick, spread with melted butter and sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar, roll like jelly roll, cut in slices about an inch thick, and bake till done.

Baked Egg Custard Recipe

Egg custard is a favorite comfort food that's old as the hills. Several readers have requested an authentic custard recipe so here's a good one from Grandma's day. Enjoy the rich, flavorful taste of this old time baked custard.

This old fashioned recipe for making baked egg custard is taken from an old unidentified newspaper clipping, circa 1900.

Whites of four eggs, one cupful of granulated sugar, one teaspoonful of vanilla, one and one-half pints rich milk. Stir the eggs, sugar and vanilla together. Add the milk, heated, but not boiled, and strain.

Pour into custard cups; stand in a pan of hot water and bake in a moderate oven until firm in the center. Test by running a knife into the custard; if it comes out clear, it is done.

Buttermilk Candy Recipe

Here's another comfort food recipe from the past that you'll enjoy trying. These old fashioned country-style buttermilk candies are very easy to make and taste truly yummy.

This vintage candy recipe is taken from an old farm magazine, circa 1920.

Boil together 2 cups sugar, 1 cup buttermilk, and butter size of a walnut until it forms a soft ball in water. Remove from the fire and beat until smooth and creamy. Pour into buttered pans and cut into squares when cool.

If you enjoyed reading these old fashioned recipes, there are hundreds of other vintage dessert recipes featured on the pages of this recipe site. Grab your favorite beverage, sit back and enjoy exploring.

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My name is Don and I've dedicated my site to bringing you the best in vintage dessert recipes.

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