Vintage Desserts

Above is the directions to cookie making. This page comes from my 1942 Betty Crocker Cookbook of

All-purpose baking. Another favorite book of mine. There are a bunch of different variety of cookies from that same book below. I love how sweet and simple the photo is. It reminds me of the pastel color photos from long ago. (I love everything vintage and I still do not know what those types of photos are called.)

Here is my version of "Jumbles." They are a very soft and fluffy sugar cookie. Notice in the above photo "Cinnamon Jumbles" in the blue crock. I made mine plain so they would be more of a sugar type cookie. If you want cinnamon then simply sprinkle the top with cinnamon before baking. Also, buttermilk makes a huge difference in this cookie. The buttermilk makes the cookie more puffed up and gives it more of a distinct flavor rather than plain milk.

From my Health For Victory Cookbook comes this wonderful apple crisp. It smells so delicious baking in the oven. It is not the typical crisp that we know of today. The golden gooey goodness is made with honey. If you don't like honey then you can just use 1/2 cup of sugar. I believe honey was substitued a lot because honey was not rationed and sugar was very tightly rationed.

Sugar was the first food to be rationed, as the war with Japan caused our nation’s supply of sugar to quickly be reduced by more than a third. The Office of Price Administration issued 123 million copies of War Ration Book One, which contained stamps that could be used to purchase sugar. (1940s.org)

I thought this would be interesting to all the vintage lovers. 1940s Slang Terms:

Take a powder – to leave
Fuddy-Duddy – old-fashioned person
Gobbledygook – double talk, long speech
Fat-head – stupid or foolish person
Chrome-dome – word for a bald headed man
Eager beaver – enthusiastic helper
Stompers – shoes
Grandstand – to show off
Brainchild – someone’s creative idea
What’s buzzin’, cousin? – how’s it going?
Khaki wacky – boy crazy
Hen fruit – eggs
Hi-de-ho - hello

Some fun terms to be used today. I found these at 1940s.org. If you get the time you should visit there it has a lot of good information.

As I read and think about the 1940s and everyone living in that time I often find myself wondering if ideas from then would help our country today. It's no big secret our country is struggling with money and many other things. When the war started with Iraq would it have saved our country money to ration things such as were rationed in the 1940s? Rationing documents are everywhere and I bet the government still has the original idea and plan that started it all. I could be wrong because I usually am but I think another large part of our debt is due to the war. Wars cost money that is why rationing began in the first place to save money. The government asked us for our money in buying war bonds. I know everything wasn't "hunky dory" in the decades that have passed. I also know there are many other factors to the mess our country is in. Okay, that's my rant for now but I just think of this from time to time.


As I'm constantly compiling information for the Diary "Blog," I am still unsure of where I want to go with this. I know what I want my readers to feel, see, and hear but I just haven't found my groove of this yet. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Should I write as in a diary or should it be more informational as I live my 1940s life? That's where I'm quite confused with all this.

Mrs. Homemaker