Old Cookbooks

As we get closer to Christmas, my heart wrestles with the holiday favorites. The tried and trues versus the bright shiny new ones I find on Pinterest. I often cave in, trying the new recipes but sorely disappointed with the results. 

I can’t help but remember the pride I felt when I’d help with Christmas cookie making at Grandma’s house, each one cut with old aluminum shapes of Santa, Snowmen, stars and wreaths, also used for donuts!

Her cookbook looked like this, worn out, dog eared, with stains on nearly every page. Turning the pages was difficult, tucked in between the pages were recipes jotted down on envelopes or neatly clipped receipts from magazines or the local Harrison Daily Times. The Cook of the Week column ran for years, sharing the wealth of good recipes from cooks in the area.

   

Many of the recipes Grandma jotted down were only ingredients, after all she pretty much knew how to stir up a recipe and the really old recipes simply say “Bake in a hot oven until done.”

I treasure the old file cards that Mom, Aunt Burline or Aunt Joy sent me through the years, Woolworth Cheesecake, tomato pickles, Chicken Dumplings, divinity and fudge recipes from a dear cousin now gone. So all you Memory Makers out there, knee deep in your cookbooks and saved Pinterest recipes... try some new ones but don’t forget the old. They’re the ones with a secret ingredient, love!