I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, dear readers. And now the Christmas season is finally here! Let’s ring in the cheer with some delicious and easy treats.

Here is a recipe for Divinity Fudge that goes all the way back to my dad’s dad’s mom – my great grandmother! These fluffy, melt-in-your mouth candies have a deliciously nutty aroma that you will not be able to resist! You can chop your nuts and mix them in, or you can top your candies with nut halves, or you can do like I did – BOTH!

Divinity Fudge
From my great grandmother

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
½ cup light or dark corn syrup
2 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, if desired
40 walnut halves or pecan halves (toasted, if desired)

Combine sugar, water, and syrup in saucepan.  Heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.  Boil without stirring until syrup forms a hard ball in cold water (265 degrees on candy thermometer).  Remove from heat and quickly beat the egg whites and salt until stiff.  Slowly add syrup in a thin stream to the egg whites, beating constantly.  Beat until candy thickens and begins to loose its gloss (about 5-7 minutes, depending on the weather and temperature where you are).  Add almond and vanilla extracts (and the chopped nuts, if desired) Quickly shape with teaspoon into large pieces and drop onto a greased plate or wax paper.  Put half a nut on each piece.

Well, it’s an exciting day for Vintage Victuals, dear readers. It is VV’s third blogoversery! I can’t believe that my first post three years ago has led to so many fun recipes, fun people, and fun food! Thank you all for being a part of this special place – it wouldn’t be the same without you!

My family had an impromptu get together last night, so I whipped together an old-time favorite: a pumpkin roll with cream cheese filling. I started making this tasty treat years ago when I was in college, and it has become a much-loved tradition, especially for my brothers and my husband. I often make it for Thanksgiving, as it nicely complements our usual collection of pies and tarts. It is always a major crowd pleaser!.

Assembly is easier than it sounds – the process is very similar to my Auntie Gladys’s Chocolate Yule Log,which you should check out for Christmas! It helps to have an extra set of helping hands during the rolling process, but just remember – it’s going to taste amazing even if it doesn’t look perfect!

Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling
from Libby’s

For cake roll:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2  teaspoon cloves
1 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin puree

For filling:
1 eight-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted for lumps
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup powdered sugar for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 15″ by 10″ jelly-roll pan, and line with parchment paper. Grease and flour the parchment paper. Lay a smooth tea towel on a flat surface and sprinkle it with the powdered sugar. Set these aside.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. In a large electric mixer bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and light in color.

Add the pumpkin and beat vigorously. Stir in the dry ingredient mixture until completely moistened. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared jelly roll pan.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly touched. Quickly loosen and turn the cake out onto the prepared towel. Carefully peel off the parchment paper. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar. Roll the cake up in the towel, starting with the narrow end. Allow the rolled cake to cool completely on  a wire rack.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer. The filling should be completely smooth. Carefully unroll the cooled cake, and remove the towel. Spread the filling evenly over the cake, and re-roll the cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. (I can’t usually manage to get the boys to stay away from it for that long, so good luck!)

You may want to slice a sliver off of the ends of the cake to create a clean look. Plus, you get to sample the slivers just to make sure the cake is completely delicious. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

Happy Halloween, dear readers! I hope you all had a day filled with magic, mystery, and (of course) delicious food. Here is a festive fall recipe to celebrate the day.

I have adapted Paula Deen’s pumpkin bars so that they are more flavorful, and more munchable. Her recipe gives us a great start, with an unbelievably moist and tender pumpkin cake topped with fluffy cream cheese frosting. But extra spice and a thinner cake make for a more finger-friendly (and finger-lickin’ GOOD) pumpkin bar. And the toasted pecan topping really takes this tasty dessert over the top…

Pumpkin Bars
adapted from Paula Deen’s recipe

For the bars:
1 cup oil
1 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg

For the frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, chopped and toasted (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9×13 inch pans with non-stick spray and set aside.

In a medium electric mixer bowl, beat the sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate. Add the pumpkin and the vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture, mixing on low speed until smooth and creamy. Split the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth with a spatula. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and butter together. Next, add the powdered sugar (be sure to sift it if it is lumpy). Add the vanilla, and beat the frosting until it is smooth and creamy.

Frost the cakes and slice into bars. Sprinkle with pecans, if desired. Yield 32 to 40 bars. Enjoy!!

Buttermilk Pie has been a favorite in our family for many years. There is something about the simplicity of the recipe that surprises me every time, because the end product is so amazingly delicious. It feels like cheating it’s so easy to make! The pie itself has no crust but holds is own with a deliciously rich and fluffy custard. As wonderful as it is plain, it’s even better topped with fresh berries and a dollop of whipped cream….

Buttermilk Pie
from Paula Dean

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup Bisquick
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9-inch pie plate

Measure all ingredients into a medium bowl and beat for 1 minute until smooth and creamy. Pour the mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit. How easy is that?!?

One of the best, and most unexpected, parts of maintaining this blog is my interaction with all of you, dear readers. Back when I started VV, I never expected to gain such a wide readership! I thought maybe my mom and a few other family members and friends would enjoy my work here.

I love getting emails with questions, suggestions, and recipes from my readers. I am still methodically attempting to respond to each and every email that I get (bear with me!) because I am always touched, amazed, and intrigued by the input that I get from you all. My favorite emails are those from readers who want to share their own cherished family recipes with me. I had the chance to try one of these recipes out tonight, and it was such a hit!

Shredded apples are rolled inside a thin biscuit-like dough and sliced into individual rolls. Then the entire pan of rolls is baked in a syrup scented with cinnamon and nutmeg. The result is a surprisingly light-and-flaky roll with delicious apple filling, and the edges are mouth-wateringly caramelized – a perfect match for vanilla ice cream!

Luscious Apple Rolls
from VV reader Elizabeth C.

2 cups sugar (less if you are using sweet apples)
2 cups water
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
½ cup milk
2 ½ cups shredded cooking apples

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and grease well a 13×9 inch pan.

Combine the sugar, water, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a saucepan and stir well.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the butter, and set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Use two forks or a pastry blender to cut the shortening into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.  Add the milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.

Roll the dough into a 12×9 inch rectangle.  Spread the apples evenly over the dough, and roll up like a jelly roll, beginning and ending with the longer side.  Cut into 12 (1-inch) slices, and place the slices into the prepared pan.

Pour the sugar syrup around slices (the syrup will be absorbed in baking).  Bake for about 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.  If desired, serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Last year, I threw together a batch of these cookies without really measuring any ingredients or thinking about it at all! I took them to a dinner with friends. My brother-in-law would not stop talking about how delicious they were, so this year I tried really hard to re-create what I had made last year. I had him sample the results, and he was very happy that I had re-captured the original magic.

These cookies are chewy and doughy with crisp edges and buttery centers. The combination of creamy white chocolate, tart cranberries, and just a hint of spice is perfect for the holiday season. I hope you will give them a try!

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
adapted from my dad’s famous chocolate chip cookies

2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg – set aside. In a large electric mixing bowl, cream butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add the eggs, beating well until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture – blending until a very stiff dough forms. Using a wooden spoon, stir in your chocolate and cranberries until evenly distributed. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown on top. Cool on racks.

There is nothing like a day of baking cookies to get you into the Christmas spirit. I went on a cookie-baking rampage the other evening while listening to Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole sing my favorite Christmas carols on the stereo… Here is a “new” vintage cookie recipe that my family already loves that I am happy to share with you on this Christmas Eve Day.

These cookies truly do melt in the mouth!! They are delicious golden discs of heaven…. Their texture is soft and chewy, and they are sweet and buttery on the tongue. I used some very finely chopped pecans in mine, and each cookie is like a divine bite of pecan pie melting in your mouth! A hit of cinnamon or nutmeg would not hurt if you are craving a bit of spice…

Melt-in-the-Mouth Cookies
from Woman’s Day Collector’s Cook Book from 1960

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nuts, finely chopped (I used pecans)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, and egg, and beat until the mixture turns a light brown color. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and nuts, and beat until combined.

Keep batter chilled while working with it. Drop by scant teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet, about 1 1/2″ apart.

Bake for 4-5 minutes. Cool for about 30 seconds on the sheet before removing to a cooling rack. Cool completely and store in an air-tight container. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers!!

Here in the United States, we are celebrating Thanksgiving, the harvest, our families, delicious food, and life in general. This recipe celebrates all of those, fully and simultaneously.

Again, I’m afraid I have been holding out on you, dear readers. Don’t hold it against me – just know that I still have plenty of special family recipes up my sleeve… This is pretty much my mom’s family’s most prized, most loved, most famous and most delicious recipe. And here we are, over two years into this blogging adventure together, and I am finally handing over the goods!

You will love this recipe. If you don’t, then you are pretty much crazy. Nanny’s apple pie is the BEST. There is one small secret to this recipe. It’s such a simple, innocent secret. It’s not even a secret ingredient – it’s a secret LACK of an ingredient… Nanny’s apple pie has no cinnamon in it – nope, not even a pinch, not a twiddle, not a hint – none! The simple beauty of this secret is that it lets the apples speak for themselves in all their juicy, tangy, sweet glory. It’s amazing how the ingredients we use to enhance flavors can actually end up masking them. Once you try this, you will never go back to the spice rack again.

Nanny’s Apple Pie

Pastry:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces shortening
2 ounces ice water (more or less)

Filling:
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons sugar
6-7 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together the dry ingredients for the pastry in a large bowl. Add the shortening and blend with a pastry blender until the consistency is like small peas. Add the ice water, a little bit at a time, and chop the mixture with a knife. Mix with your hands until the dough forms a ball. Divide in half. Roll one piece in flour, and roll out to about 1/4″ thick. Place this in a 9″ pie dish, making sure you leave a generous edge over the lip of the dish. Roll out the other piece and set aside.

For the filling mix the flour and sugar in a small dish. Sprinkle a little bit of the mixture on the bottom of the prepared pastry shell in the pie dish.

Add the apples into the pie dish. With half way full, sprinkle more of the sugar mixture over the apples.

Sprinkle the rest of the mixture on top of all the apples.

Place the second piece of pastry over the apples. Tuck under and pinch to the bottom pastry all around the edge, decorating the edge if desired. Cut four slits on top.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 375 degrees; then turn down to 350 and bake for 30 more minutes.

Allow pie to cool before serving. Top each piece with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

For those of you who haven’t read Anne of Green Gables, the title of this post may look like a mistake. Trust me, dear readers, that this cake does not involve any actual liniment! The Anne of Green Gables books and movies were a staple of my childhood, and I even got The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook when I was little. (You may remember the wonderful lemonade recipe I posted from this book.)

As the story goes, Anne accidentally flavored the cake she was making with anodyne liniment instead of vanilla. Marilla had broken the liniment bottle and poured what was left into an empty vanilla bottle, which Anne then used in the cake. Oops! So this is the cake that Anne meant to make when she mistakenly substituted liniment for the vanilla!  Make sure you put the vanilla in yours…

This has been a go-to cake recipe in my family for many years. We have used it for many birthdays. (This one was for my mom’s birthday!) The cake is incredibly versatile, and it always turns out fluffy, buttery, and deliciously moist!  My favorite way to serve it is with a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate frosting. I hope you will give it a try!

Liniment Cake
from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate Macdonald (1985)

2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla (not liniment!)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two round cake pans (8″ or 9″ pans will work).

In a large electric mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk and the butter, and beat the mixture for at least one minute, until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat again for at least three minutes.

Pour the batter evenly into the two prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make whatever icing or filling you desire. A nice buttery chocolate icing like the one in this post matches this cake perfectly. Frost the top of the first layer; then top with the second layer, and frost the top and sides. Enjoy!

Ever find yourself in a pinch where you just NEED brownies (I mean… NEED!) but you only have cocoa powder on hand? Do not despair!! I only had some lovely, rich, Dutch-process cocoa powder on hand the other day, when the need for brownies completely overcame me. Luckily, I came across this stellar recipe. I cannot recommend it highly enough. A little tweaking, and voila!! Deliciously rich, chewy, dark cocoa brownies. Enjoy!

Dark Cocoa Brownies
adapted from Best Cocoa Brownies

3/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process is the way to go!)
a pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
a pinch of baking powder
2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees, and place the rack in the lower third of the oven. Line an 8×8″ baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, heat the butter over low heat until almost completely melted. Add the sugar, cocoa, and salt. Stir over low heat until butter is completely melted and mixture is hot to the touch. Remove from the heat.

Add eggs, one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. Add vanilla. As you add these ingredients, the mixture will thicken slightly and turn smooth and shiny.

Sprinkle in the flour and baking powder, stirring until the dry ingredients disappear. Then stir for 40 more strokes. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Top the batter with the nuts, if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean. Cool completely. Remove the brownies by lifting up the ends of the parchment paper. Cut into squares, as desired.