Vintage Recipes

425.  I have been a collector of recipes since I was around 10 years old.  Always under my mother's feet when she was baking and sneaking licks and globs of dough.  Licking the mixing beaters was never enough!  Cookie dough, cake batter, frostings and raw raised dough was a weakness for me.  

My mother had recipe pamphlets that would come inside the flour bags.  Booklets available in the baking aisle of the market and small paper pamphlets that contained some of the best recipes.  I have to admit, it had become a passion of mine to sit and copy the recipes.  Until one day, I decided to cut out the pictures to glue to my handwritten recipes. 

Yes, my mother was so patient with me, although, I ruined many a recipe with holes cut out of the ingredient list or directions.  

She also had recipes from friends, each recipe tried and true, dog-eared, a favorite or a staple. Each recipe is such a treasure!  She also had recipes from my paternal grandmother and they were old when she received them.  

It is interesting to see the ingredients from the older recipes such as "Spry" or "Oleo", substitutes for butter.  I cherish all these memories and using these recipes to create delicious treats for my family and others is so fulfilling.

"A recipe is a story that ends with a good meal."

~ Pat Conroy

"I think baking is very rewarding, and if you follow a good recipe, you will get success." 

~  Mary Berry

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

395.  Prepare yourself for a mouthwatering treat with this strawberry tart.  With strawberries plentiful and picnics around the corner, you will love this recipe!  Feel free to add blueberries or blackberries as well.

Enjoy!!!

"I think baking is rewarding.  If you follow a good recipe, you will get success."

~ Mary Berry

Pumpkin Pie Biscotti

318.  Thanksgiving is near and I'm trying a new recipe for Pumpkin Pie Biscotti.

I experimented with a few recipes and found that if you add to a plain recipe; 1/2 cup purée pumpkin, canned or fresh along with pumpkin pie spices: 1/2 tsp clove, tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ginger and 1/4 cup flour with the dry ingredients,  1/2 cup chopped Ghirardelli white chocolate and 1/2 cup chopped pecans...you will have a great variation to your biscotti recipe.

 The texture of your batter should be moist but not dry or sticky and should be able to hold the shape of a log once formed.  Bake as your recipe states but make sure you do not over bake.  It should be browned and firm.

 I use Ghirardelli white chocolate baking bars because they melt smoother and will not become hard inside your biscotti. The white chocolate chips always seem to burn or become very hard when baked.
Once the biscotti are finished I make a drizzle of white chocolate and a teaspoon or more of crisco to bring the chocolate to a runny consistency for drizzling.

Experiment with your recipe and see how easy it is to change and adapt a recipe to new flavors.

Here is a great link to a variety of biscotti recipes:  http://italianchef.com/biscotti/

and http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17241/biscotti/

"Like most things in life, rushing the process only leads to disappointment."

- Mary Berry, Britains Great Bake Off