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Category: Desserts

Homemade chocolate macaroons
How to Make Homemade Macaroons

How to Make Homemade Macaroons

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In the 1800s, stoves were heated with wood, so cooking in the oven was a challenge. Cooks had to learn what type wood would provide the heat they needed and how long it would burn. Cookbooks provided guidelines, but cooking skills were gained through experience. Oven thermometers had not been invented yet, so recipes for baking had no exact temperatures or cooking times. Temperatures were sometimes referred to as slow,  moderate, or quick/hot. One way to test your oven’s heat was…

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Desserts made with cream
Delicious Cream Desserts

Delicious Cream Desserts

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When I was growing up, my mother made puddings and other desserts from box mixes. In the 1800s, fresh cream and milk was used and had to be mixed by hand, or later in the century, with a rotary beater. Although it would have taken longer to prepare, the ingredients and tastes of these desserts are certainly superior. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS WHIPPED CREAMTo the whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth, add a pint of thick…

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gingerbread cake
Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Recipes

Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Recipes

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Settlers from Europe brought gingerbread recipes to the U.S. colonies. Molasses cost much less than sugar and became a common ingredient. American Cookery, the first American cookbook, published in 1796, contained seven different recipes for gingerbread.  Since there is so much variation in the different woods used in a wood burning stove, cookbooks usually just said to use a slow, moderate, or quick oven. And cooking times weren’t always provided, since they weren’t very accurate. But old recipes are still interesting…

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How to Make Meringue for Pies and Candy

How to Make Meringue for Pies and Candy

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Meringue for pie or candy is made with egg whites, which have to be whipped enough to make them airy and light. Egg whites were whipped by hand in the 1800s and was a time-consuming chore. Hand-operated rotary egg beaters were introduced around 1860, but didn’t really become popular in the United States until the Dover Stamping Company created their own version. Between 1870 and 1890, Dover made 4 million egg beaters, mostly for family use. INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s…

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Blancmange Dessert
How to Make Blancmange (a Dessert)

How to Make Blancmange (a Dessert)

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Blancmange is a sweet dessert usually made with milk or cream, sugar, and thickened with gelatin, cornstarch, Irish moss or isinglass, and sometimes arrowroot and tapioca. Blancmange is usually set in molds, cups, or wine glasses and chilled before serving. Before commercial gelatin was produced, Irish Moss and isinglass were used. Irish moss is a reddish purple moss found in the Atlantic Ocean coastline, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. And Isinglass is a form of collagen made from the dried fish…

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vintage jell-o box
Gelatin Dessert Recipes

Gelatin Dessert Recipes

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In 1894, Charles Knox saw how much work his wife had to do to make gelatin, and decided to find an easier way. The gelatin he created was made into dried sheets and Knox hired salesmen to show women how to use them. In 1896, his wife, Rose, published Dainty Desserts, a recipe book using Knox gelatin. Then in 1897, Pearle Bixby Wait trademarked a gelatin dessert, called Jell-O. He and his wife added fruit flavoring to granulated gelatin and…

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sweet fritters
Recipes for Sweet Fritters

Recipes for Sweet Fritters

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Even though these recipes are from cookbooks published in the 1800s, they can easily be followed today. If you don’t have access to lard or don’t care to use it, there are many other cooking oils you can use. Fritters can be pan fried or deep fried, and you’ll want to use an oil with a high smoking point (refer to article from “Serious Eats)”. Also, don’t put too many fritters in the oil at once; it’ll lower the temperature…

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Red ripe apples on tree
A Variety of Ways to Cook Apples

A Variety of Ways to Cook Apples

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Apples were introduced to North America by colonists in the 17th century, (the 1600s). The only apples native to North America are crab apples which were once called “common apples.” Apple trees are large if they are grown from seed, but most apple trees are grafted onto rootstocks, which control the size of the resulting tree. Source INFORMATION BELOW FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS NOTE: There were no oven thermometers in the 1800s. Cooks learned how to heat their ovens and how…

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