Vintage Cookbooks

There's a chill in the air tonight and it makes me want to turn on the oven and bake something. I have a variety of cookbooks I can turn to for recipes, but sometimes it's fun to go back in time and look through my little vintage paperback cookbooks for recipes that my grandma might have used.

These little booklets were put out by various companies; this one by the American Can Company and it features recipes using canned items.

This one highlights the Hotpoint Automatic Range and must have come with the stove.

I love the cover on this one, put out by General Foods in 1945. It would look so cute framed and hanging on my kitchen wall, but I can't bear to separate the cover from the booklet. 

This one is most special to me. It was published by Crisco in 1949. If you look closely, you can see the words "Mother's Book" in the top right hand corner. This actually was my Grandma's and the handwriting is my then 11-year old mom's, who gave this to me recently, and I treasure it. As I look through it, I can tell which recipes were most used by the aged brown splotches on the pages. Apparently the Crisp Sugar Cookies, Rich Brownies, and Walnut Slices were baked often! 

                       

Have you ever made a recipe from one of these old gems? There's a recipe for Spice Cake and Creamy Caramel Icing in my Grandma's book that sounds perfect for this crisp, cool weather. I think I'll get to work adding some more brown splotches to the little cookbook that's been passed down from mother to daughter twice now. Time to get out that can of Crisco!