was NOT written on a bathroom wall ever. It does show just how memory can be tricky. I totally remember Betty’s Picture Cook Book.
BUT – the cook book that is actually in my mother’s collection – and for the moment in my hot little hand is actually:
This one is in better shape then my mother’s, which has a matching blue elastic to hold it all together.
Truth be told, the illustration are from the same series, and the photos’ – there’s nothing like ’50’s food photos…..
Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cook Book
“Betty Crocker’s brand-new idea book – 1000 time-saving, taste-tempting recipes and hints for busy modern homemakers.”
The first and last few pages are missing – It begins on page five, with Breakfast already underway, and ends p. 256 with the index slug of
Yellow (whole-egg) cake (sponge, 165)
And the whole thing is rather dash happy – – –
The half pear was a bear in a bowl of porridge – three dates stuck upright could be the three bears in another breakfast (nightmare) option….I’m glad that fruit as bears was not a part of my childhood. But I have seen this long ago – the question is where?
In the mean time, something I DO remember, confirmed by my mother and my sister:
STIR-N-DROP SUGAR COOKIES
BETTY CROCKER’S GOOD AND EASY COOK BOOK
(page 194)
(See picture, p. 182.)
2 eggs
2/3 cup cooking (salad) oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
- Heat oven to 400° (mod. hot).
- Beat eggs with fork until well blended.
- Stir in oil, vanilla, lemon rind.
- Blend in sugar until mixture thickens.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and stir into oil mixture.
- Drop with a teaspoon 2” apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Flatten with a greased glass dipped into sugar. (This is where I could help. The real secret is not to grind the little batter balls into the cookie sheet, but rather level off the tops and leave a little sugar behind, nuance often lost with the under 6 set. My mother would pick out which glass to use and put down a saucer with a little Wesson oil in in, and a second saucer with some sugar in it, so dip, dip, tap, it’s a cookie.)
- Bake 8-10 minutes, just until a delicate brown. (mostly the edges)
- Remove immediately from baking sheet.
- About 3 doz cookies.
