Favorite Recipes of the Members of Xi Alpha Exemplar Chapter Beta Sigma Phi, Washington, D. C. (part 1: cover – pg. 25)

Here's a little pocket-sized collection of recipes I picked up at auction several years ago, amid a pile of ephemera and postcards. It's very much a home publication, as you can see by the hand-typed pages… no idea what the date is, for this little piece. 

Feel free to copy/share, click on any image to embiggen.

The one I can't resist… Extra Special Chocolate Chip cookie (recipe card image)

click to embiggen

I don't know where The Bat got this, but it's been a family favorite for nigh on a half century, now... 
needless to say, there will need to be a batch or three of these things made for Christmas, now that I've stumbled across this card, again.  Fortunately, The Bat already did the math so I don't have to think too hard, when I double the recipe.

I especially like how vague the temperature/time got. As if 25º F were negligible. But playing around with that is how you get your cookies the right texture for your own personal preferences. I like 'em gooey. Well, to be completely honest, I like 'em raw, but that's because I like living on the edge.


If you can't read the card (and I suspect many of you can't, because, heck, it's messy and in cursive), the recipe is as follows, with doubled amounts in parentheses:

Extra Special Chocolate Chips

ingredients:
1 1/4 cups shortening/butter (2 1/2 c.)

1 cup each brown & granulated sugars (2 c. ea.)

3 eggs (6)

2 Tablespoons vanilla extract (4 T.)

1 teaspoon salt (2 tsp.)

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (7 c.)

1 teaspoon each baking powder & baking soda (2 tsp. ea.)

2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels or bits (5 c.)

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped nuts - we prefer pecans (3 c.)

directions:

Preheat oven to 350º

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars until very fluffy (about 5 minutes). One at a time, add the eggs, mixing in thoroughly after each addition. Add vanilla and salt, mixing well.

Into a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add to creamed mixture and stir in thoroughly.

Add chips and nuts. 

Drop by generous Tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cooky sheet. 

Bake 12-15 minutes. 

From the Mixed-Up Files…

 The trouble with favorite cookbooks is that their bindings usually quit long before they books' usefulness ends. In our house, because we had long years of not being able to afford to buy new copies, we ended up putting those suddenly loose pages into ring-binder notebooks. When we got a little more money, Mom & I didn't want to give up the smeared, smudged pages to any further depredation, so we got boxes of transparent sleeves to hold them. This is where I stand, now, with the first two cookbooks I ever owned: Betty Crocker's Cooky Book and Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cookbook, both of which I received as gifts before I was advanced enough in years and education to actually read them, let alone work from them. 

The ring-binder holding the sleeved pages of the Cooky Book is a 3-inch-wide-spined notebook, which means there is more room in there for stuff besides the one publication. Extra sleeves and front & back pockets are now stuffed with more: recipe cards from friends and family, newspaper & magazine clippings, and other food-related… stuff. Stuffing. Thingy.

I will be scanning the entire of those contents, eventually. Today, I only got the first few sleeves & the front pocket checked through. Here is a mall portion of it (click on any image to enlarge, and feel free to copy/download):

Dangerously tasty! and so simple!

I wish I knew where the rest of this recipe was…

Ah, the good old days, when people weren't afraid to eat raw eggs...

The original page from which I scanned this was barely legible, it was so badly worn

Another cookbook from the collection: CAKE SECRETS, from Swan's Down flour

 Here's another booklet I picked up at auction sometime in the past 20 years or so. It's copyrighted 1928, so hasn't quite reached the century mark (so not yet in public domain), but since I always worry about damage from critters, weather, and such like, I'm posting its contents for posterity… and because I like to show off the cool stuff I've managed to get my hot little hands on. 

As usual, feel free to copy, download, and otherwise enjoy these pages, and click on any image to embiggen.

I'd like to add, this fell out of the booklet when I was getting ready to scan. No idea how long it had been in there, between pages 2 & 3… I had to convert it to grayscale for legibility.