Vintage Lane - Raspberry Buns from Nana's War Cookbook

Warning: this post is going to contain a lot of pictures. Because this recipe book is so cool. I honestly wish it was in better condition :(

As I've mentioned before, I couldn't make it to my grandmother's funeral, so my mother packed up some of her old cookbooks and aprons and brought them back for me. This is one of them. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the name is, nor when it was made - save to guess it was around the time of World War II, as there's a lot of info and ads geared to the goings-on of that time.

Hello. My name is _________________



Fire stove baking! As compared with Electric stove baking.

As with most of the books from this time, there is a bunch of information at the start about various things. So many tests to see if your oven is ready, etc... we once had a wood stove. I felt like I lived in the House on the Prairie.

Here's something you don't see every day though - making a will! I guess it was pretty important in times of war to ensure everyone was covered, and as recipe books were usually the bible of the housewife it makes sense that this kind of information was available to them easily.

There is also a preface by one Dorothy M. Giles, who politely informs us she has a Diploma of Domestic Economy. What I wouldn't give for one of those! Hailing as the 'sometimes' head of the Cookery Section of Swinburne Technical College, Glenferrie, Victoria (when did that section disapper?!), she has many years practical experience. Probably not in will-making, however.

She confidently recommends to all users of the book to patronise the advertisers therein, and also to use the ingredients advertised. Ok.

Ms Giles also regrets having to increase the price to 3/3, which has been approved by the Prices Commissioner (nice guy) - Approval No 1790 - and is necessitated "owing to the other paper being unprocurable and the super-calendar paper used in this issue being much more expensive," and goes on to say there is some compensation in the superior appearance of the book with its fancy new paper. Probably the sole reason it's still together all these years later!

There are recipes for soup, fish, meats, meat pies and pasties, chicken, cold meat dishes, economies, vegetables (with a little section on rules for preparation), steamed puddings, milk puddings, boiled puddings, cold sweets, jellies and creams, gelatine (an advertiser), pastry, pies, sauces, sandwich cakes, butter cakes, wedding cake, icings and fillings, biscuits, scones, bread, tea cakes, yeast goods, breakfast, eggs, casseroles, preserves, savories, and apologies about the lack of invalid cooking, which you can find in another book.

om nom not.

hm cake + brain... not a delicious combination.

Not sure what's weirder... a good daughter pudding or one made out of cabinets?

An example of the photos. There aren't many.



This was a popular page! Honey cakes next.



This poem cracked me up. How cute.

Plenty of "how to get a man" hints...

 I found this tucked away among the pages.

Still have no idea what this recipe makes!

"I'll have some propaganda with my buns, thanks."

You've been told...

LOVE IT.

There were so many recipes in here I wanted to make - from apple shortbread with lemon cream, to little honey cakes and cheese straws. But I couldn't go past the raspberry buns recipe - they sounded so cute! When I was a kid I used to love reading Enid Blyton, and she had a character called Mr Pinkwhistle. He had a cat for a housekeeper that always made him chocolate buns, and I always wanted to eat them! I will make chocolate buns one day... soon...

Anyway, this recipe gave amounts in pounds and gills (cute, right?) so I have adapted in case you'd like to make them yourself. Good for afternoon tea or as a home-made treat in a lunch box :)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

70ml milk

1/2 cup ground rice/rice flour

1 1/2 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder.

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar, add the egg and the milk.

2. Then the flour and baking powder, and mix into a fairly stiff paste.

3. Roll into small balls and hollow the centre of each.

4. Insert a little raspberry jam and close up. Dip into the white of an egg and put on a greased tray.

5. Bake in a quick oven. They will crack during the baking and show the jam.

They were so nice - a lot like a jam drop, but with the jam inside. I found it much easier to pat them into discs and pop the jam on top, then pinch closed and form into a ball from there. But that probably means the jam stayed more inside the bun, much like a donut and not a cracked-open jam-filled delight. It's up to you! for me, the "quick oven" was 250C for 20 minutes-half an hour.

Vintage Lane - Cherry Ripe Slice from the Harston CWA Recipe Book

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This little gem of a cookbook was once owned by my great-grandmother, and was given to me after my nana died. I couldn't make the interstate funeral, so my mother brought me back some of her aprons and all the cookbooks she could find. This one has all the recipes for slices and baked goodies I remember eating when I was a kid in the '80s, when it was the thing to do to bring a chocolate mint slice or tupperware container of honey joys to a potluck or backyard barbecue. And it was the thing for me to do to hover around the table and gorge on as many of them as I could...

Oh, hey Granny!

This book is dated October 31, 1981 and the foreword congratulates the Harston CWA members on 25 years' service to the community, and mentions that this cookery book is hoped to be a "challenge to the experienced and an aid to the newly-weds".

My favourite part of the book is this: an aid to good people everywhere.

Disgusting, yet helpful...

Something for everyone

I've said it before, but I'm totally bringing back the word "luncheon" to describe the midday meal. And I get a little excited when something is termed "savouries"... this book gives recipes for curried eggs, savoury tuna slice, toasted cheese sticks and a "desperation dinner" - meatballs in savoury sauce with potatoes on top... all stuff you'd normally find in a pantry.

Other highlights include boiled chicken loaf, rice a riso casserole, braised rabbit, golden syrup dumplings (yum!), jelly slice, and pickled zucchini.

This page looked especially popular:

Mmm flour that's as old as I am...

Casting my mind back to those barbecue tables all those years ago (ahem), the standout favourite for me was the Cherry Ripe Slice. Therefore, it's vitally necessary that I re-live those wondrous moments...

Recipe: Cherry Ripe Slice

Ingredients:
1 lb malt biscuits
2oz chopped glace cherries
1/2 teaspoon cochineal
1 tablespoon caster sugar
3oz Copha
1/2 lb coconut
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1/2 tsp almond essence

Directions:

Grease a 7" x 11" swiss roll tin and arrange a layer of malt biscutis in the base. Melt copha and mix in remaining ingredients, blending thoroughly, spread over layer of biscuits. Top with another layer of biscuits, pressing them firmly into mixutre. Ice with chocolate icing when set, cut into small squares. Cherries and almond essence may be omitted OR replace evaporated milk with 3/4 cup condensed milk and cut out caster sugar.



I totally forgot the caster sugar (but it didn't seem to make a noticeable difference), and only used one packet, or 250g of the malt biscuits. Nor did I grease the tin, but did put down a piece of greaseproof baking paper. Still tastes just as I remember it!

Rum Balls

I am such a liar.

There is no rum in these, nor will there ever be. Well, if I make them there won't be.

I can't say I enjoy liqueur or alcohol in anything sweet. I still remember my excitement one afternoon at the school gate, when someone's mama brought rum balls to give out to the kids. Rum balls are seriously one of the only sweet things I not only eat but truly enjoy. I bit into that glorious little bundle of condensed milk, chocolate and coconut with gay abandon, and immediately wondered what the hell was wrong with it! This wasn't the rum balls of my dreams - this one tasted weird and icky and had some kind of foul tinge to it. I was assured it was only rum essence, given I was about nine years under age, but I was bitterly disappointed. Now looking back on it, all I can think about is Garth in Wayne's World 2 when Honey Horneye gives him an adult drink and he spits it out and exclaims "oh, this coke's gone bad!"

Garth, I know exactly what you mean.

While we're on the subject, rum balls or truffles or dream balls or whatever you want to call them, should never include sultanas or be made from Weet Bix. Thank you.

Ingredients:
1 packet Arnott's Marie biscuits, or plain sweet biscuits (250g)
1 400g tin condensed milk
1 cup coconut
2 tablespoons cocoa

Directions:

1. Crush the biscuits either with a potato masher or in a food processor until reasonably small crumbs.

2. Add condensed milk, coconut and cocoa and mix.

3. Roll into balls, roll in coconut and leave in fridge at least an hour to set.


I recommend making two batches, just quietly....

Easy Microwave Fudge

Um, why have I not made fudge before?

This is stupidly easy. And fast. I had no idea.

To appease my family's sweet tooth, I made two batches, one with M&Ms, and one with crushed candy canes on top. I like cooking, they like chocolate, we are a match made in kitchen heaven.

Plus, I like condensed milk, and this just means I get more of it.

Ingredients:
1 400g can sweetened condensed milk
100g butter, cubed
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 tbs golden syrup
100g chocolate (any type), chopped if not in bits.

Directions:

1. Put the condensed milk, butter, sugar and golden syrup in a glass bowl.

2. Cook on high in the microwave for 6 minutes, stirring at 2-minute intervals.

3. When there are bubbles all over the surface, stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth.

4. Pour into 20cm pan lined with baking paper. If you want toppings, add them now.

5. Cool in fridge for 1 hour. Cut into pieces.



I still get excited about shapes my measuring cups make. dork.



This is how it should look when it's ready for the chocolate.



Shortbread

Shortbread is another of those gifts I like to make and then have to make more because I eat it all.

Again, shortbread + tea = perfection.

Ingredients:
250g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup rice flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 150C.

2. Put caster sugar and flours into a bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until dough starts to stick.

3. When the dough comes together, squeeze into a ball and spread out evenly onto a tray covered in baking paper. Prick all over with a fork and score lines where you would like to cut into pieces.

4. Bake for 15-30 minutes until starting to brown slightly around the edges.

5. Cool on the tray and cut into squares.

Peach Jam

This year, I have decided to make all my christmas gifts - and it has been amazing. What you think would be extra effort and work actually isn't. Well, to me anyway. It's hot, I'm pregnant, I'm not excited about the hordes of shoppers, I hate the constant struggle over that "perfect present", and I'm spending more time at home lately so am kicking it old-school and putting that time to good use. This way everyone gets something they like to eat or use and I haven't spent a fortune on one of the tons of presents they're going to get that day anyway.

Besides, I get to keep one of just about everything.... a good trade off!

I love jam, it goes so well with toast, or crumpets, or scones or pikelets, or just about anything you can have with tea, which is obviously going to appeal to me! Jam seems so terribly British, and makes me think of the Famous Five eating huge slices of thick, freshly-made bread with churned butter and home made jam.

Jam is insanely easy to make. And tastes way better than the store-bought stuff, even the ones in fancy jars. Isn't that always the way?

And because I like to make things easy, I've made this out of canned peaches. But you don't have to.

Ingredients:

2 large tins canned peaches (should be equivalent to 1.5 kilos of fresh)

1.5 kilos warmed sugar

Juice from 1 lemon

50g packet Jamsetta

Directions:

1. Warm the sugar in a 160C oven for 6 minutes.

2. Drain the peaches and add to a huge pot - you want the whole mix to only occupy 1/3 of the pot.

3. Mash the peaches to as much of a goo as you can. Add the warmed sugar and Jamsetta and stir constantly over medium heat until dissolved.

4. Bring to a boil and boil vigorously 10 minutes. Have ready some saucers in the freezer. Place a level teaspoonful on a cold sauce and after 30 seconds, drag your finger through it. If it crinkles, it's ready to jar. If not, try again in three minutes with a new saucer.

5. Leave to cool 5-10 minutes, then spoon into warm, sterilised jars and seal straight away.

May the Famous Five be with you.