Showing posts with label WWII. Show all posts

Banana Tea Bread (1940) ★★★



Hello! Yes, I am still alive! I'm nearing the end of a 2 week summer vacation, which was spent mostly cleaning and sleeping. I really wanted to make a recipe for the blog, but it's difficult here. Honestly, I've been feeling a little defeated lately because it seems my baked goods never quite work out properly. But I had some ripe bananas (they go moldy within a day in this heat - blech!) and they were literally falling apart, so I made up my mind to make something historical!

The recipe comes from a WWII banana-themed cookbook, which I've used before. This time the source I used said it was published in 1940, while the source I used last time said 1941. Amazon lists one dated 1942. I'm not sure if these are multiple editions or some confusion, but regardless, it is clear this is an early 1940s book.

Original Recipe:


The Verdict:

This recipe comes together pretty quickly and easily. As a note, I don't have a sifter, so I just whisked some flour really well before measuring. The batter is really light and fluffy. I baked it in two thin loaf pans, as I don't have a regular 9x5 or 8x4 pan here. In my little Japanese convection oven it took 40 minutes to cook those thin pans.

I'm giving this 3 stars, but I think its more of a 3.5. The recipe without modifications is sort of blah, but I think even with some vanilla it would really improve. Maybe the use of butter instead of shortening, too. That said, the texture of the bread is nice and soft. I would happily eat this banana bread, but its not going to be my go-to recipe.



Modernized Recipe:

(Adapted from Bananas..how to serve them found at And Everything Else Too)

The original recipe is easy to follow! My only suggestion would be to add in some extra flavor with vanilla, chocolate chips, cinnamon, etc. 
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Chocolate Fudge Cake (1941) ★★★★



I know I've been MIA for a while here. I promise, its not because I have abandoned the blog! I have actually been busy researching for a big blog post. The problem is, it didn't start out so big. Somehow it snowballed into a huge project, so unfortunately its nowhere near ready to share yet.

So what is it about? Food rationing in Canada during WWII! I know, I know, theres TONS of information out there about wartime food rationing. But what I found was, there's hardly anything about Canada. And what little information there is is often incomplete or misleading. So I'm on a mission!

In the meantime, I thought I'd share a Canadian wartime recipe.

Original Recipe:


                            CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE
1 egg                                 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup butter                    2 tsp. cocoa (large)
1 tsp. salt                          1/4 cup hot water
1/2 tsp. soda                     1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sour milk
     Beat egg, add sugar slowly, then melted butter. Sift flour, cocoa and 
baking powder and add to egg mixture, beating well. Dissolve soda in 
sour milk and add alternately to cake mixture with the hot water. Cook 
in a moderate oven.
Filling----
2 tbsp. cocoa                    1 cup hot water
2 tbsp. butter                    1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. corn starch
     Mix altogether and boil until thick, stirring constantly, and spread 
in centre and on top of cake.
---Mrs. D. H. Green.

The Verdict:

So as soon as I went to make the cake batter, I noticed that I managed to pick the ONE RECIPE that was missing an ingredient. See, the first step is to beat the egg and add the sugar....but oh wait, there's no sugar on the ingredients list! I saw that most of the other cake recipes in the book called for 1 cup of sugar, so I went with that. 
Also, as a disclaimer, I have a weird Japanese measuring cup, so everything was measured by grams on my scale or in liquid milliliters. 
I baked the cake in my convection oven at 180C, which is 356F. It took about 35 minutes.

This cake is pretty good! The cake itself was very moist, and a little heavy. It is a bit bland, but its not surprising, considering it only had 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder. However, its not necessarily a bad thing. The filling is pretty sweet, so I was glad that the cake wasn't strongly flavored. The filling is kind of like a fudge sauce. Mr. Man said it tasted like hot chocolate. Its definitely not an amazing chocolate cake, but I could see this being great for wartime and it definitely wins for ease and budget. Overall, we all enjoyed this cake and we will definitely finish it, so 4 stars!


Modernized Recipe:

(Adapted from Navy League Chapter I.O.E.D. Victory Cook Book)

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups flour
2 heaping teaspoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour milk (substitute buttermilk or 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar mixed with enough milk to make 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup hot water

2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 cup hot water
1 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C or 355F. Grease a cake pan. It's helpful to line the bottom with paper, too.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg. Slowly beat in the sugar. Add the melted butter, being sure that its not too hot (otherwise it will cook the eggs).
3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder into the egg mixture. Beat to combine. It will be thick like cookie dough, but don't worry if you can't get everything combined.
4. Mix together the baking soda and sour milk. 
5. Alternate adding the milk mixture and hot water to the batter. Mix well to combine between each addition. The batter should be smooth and fairly runny.
6. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
7. Prepare the filling by mixing everything together and boiling until smooth and thick. Let it cool before putting it between cake layers and on top. Make sure the cake is cool before filling, too.
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Baked Crispy Peaches (c.1939-1945) ★★★★★


Back around November, a friend contacted me about a recipe book she had recently acquired. It was an undated WWII cookbook, focused on using canned foods. Although we don't know the publication date of the cookbook, it was obviously sometime during WWII. It was published by the American Can Company, possibly in Iowa. She asked me if I was interested in the recipes, and of course I replied that I was. She was very generous in photographing the entire cookbook and sending it to me. You can see the cookbook in its entirety here. There isn't a huge selection of canned foods in my little Japanese town, so I settled on this fairly simple recipe for baked peach halves.

(By the way, Kitchen Historic's 4th birthday was on February 6th! I can't believe it's been this long. Many thanks to you, my lovely readers!)


Original Recipe:


 BAKED CRISPY PEACHES

1/2  No. 21/2 can Peach Halves     3  tablespoons Brown Sugar
3/4   cup Cornflakes                       1  tablespoon Butter or Margarine

Drain peach halves. Crush cornflakes. Roll peach halves in cornflakes.
Place peaches, hollow side up, in baking dish. Fill centers with sugar;
dot with butter or margarine. Pour 1/4 cup juice around peaches. Bake
in moderately hot oven at 375 F. for about 25 minutes until browned.
Serve hot with cream or evaporated milk.                             4 servings.


The Verdict:

Well, at first I didn't think much of this dessert. But then I was surprised to find myself wanting more, even after eating two. However, there is no mistaking - this is a cheap recipe. It's certainly not surprising to find this in a wartime cookbook. But, it's a tasty and simple recipe to make, and I can see it being a fun treat during wartime.

Some notes:
The majority of the cornflakes were kind of soggy.
The syrup from the peaches mostly just burned to the bottom of the pan. Not sure what the point of that was, other than to just prevent the peaches from burning to the bottom, I guess.
After 25 minutes, the peaches were still very firm; not inedible at all, but definitely firm.
I drizzled my peaches with some sweetened condensed milk sauce I already had on hand. I couldn't really taste it, and the peaches would be just as good without it.


Modernized Recipe:

(Adapted from Wartime Recipes From Canned Foods)

The original recipe is easy to follow.
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Banana Drop Cookies (1941) ★★



A little while ago I bought some bananas on a whim (I usually don't buy them) and to my surprise Little Y was very excited about eating bananas....for two days. And then she refused to eat bananas and I had a bunch of very ripe bananas with no one to eat them. I had discovered this fun little banana pamphlet a while ago and saved it, so I thought this would be the perfect way to use up my ripe bananas.

This pamphlet was published in 1941 by the Home Economics Department of New York. There are some interesting recipes included, such as Ham Banana Rolls, Broiled Bananas and Bacon, and Banana Rice Savory. The illustrations are quite amusing, and I love how they include menus using each recipe.


Original Recipe:


The Verdict:
I was a bit disappointed by these cookies. The taste of the shortening is really prominent - too much so. If the recipe used butter instead I would probably give the recipe 4 stars, but like this it only gets 2. The texture is not like a cookie at all. These are basically like little banana breads - very light and fluffy (not a bad thing, just not like a  typical cookie). They are not very sweet either, even though I used extra ripe bananas. They are not bad, however. I think these would also be delicious with some chocolate chips mixed in - you can never go wrong with chocolate!


Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from Bananas..how to serve them found at Curly Wurly)

The original recipe is very easy to follow. The only change I would make is to use at least half butter in place of half of the shortening. I haven't tested this, but I think it should work and would make the recipe quite edible.
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Rickety Uncle (1940) ★★★

I love the name of this recipe!
Internet sleuthing didn't turn up much information about these simple bars. They seem to be one of those "hand-me-down" recipes that people remember their grandmothers making. There seems to be a few different versions, but it always includes brown sugar and oats, with very little fat. Some versions include flour, but this one doesn't - but I love that there are only 4 ingredients.

Original Recipe:


The Verdict:
This turned out basically like crisp topping. Some pieces held together alright once it had cooled completely, but most of it either crumbled as I cut it or crumbled when I took a bite. It was just too dry to stick together like a bar. It needed just a bit of milk or flour or something in there. Regardless, Mr. Man said these were "amazing" and "delicious" and I agree. I would advocate making these, just add a little something more to help them keep together or perhaps just use a little less oats. Also, don't worry if they do fall apart - they are supposed to be "rickety", after all. Plus we used the crumbs for a delicious parfait! I gave the recipe itself three stars, but the taste was definitely worth four.

Modernized Recipe:
(Adapted from United Farmers of Canada, Saskatchewan Section Limited Cook Book)

This is easy to follow from the original recipe. A hot oven is 400 - 450F, so I went with 425F for the suggested 10 minutes.
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Spiced Apple Roll (1945) ★★★★

Apologies for the complete lack of posts recently. With a mobile baby on top of my already busy days I have found myself completely swamped. I was flipping through my cookbooks in search of interesting recipes a few days ago and I found this recipe for a spiced apple roll from Kate Aitken's Canadian Cook Book. I have a modern copy, but the original was printed in 1945. Mrs. Aitken was apparently a huge role mole for everyday women in their kitchens and was immensely popular in her time.

Spiced Apple Roll
Temperature: 350F. Time: 40 minutes

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon mace
¼ cup shortening
1 egg
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 cups apples, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons white sugar
¼ cup raisins, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
¾ cup molasses
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup hot water

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and mace; cut in the shortening until the mixture is crumbly. Beat the egg lightly; add the milk. Add to the flour mixture and stir quickly; turn on a floured board and knead gently till smooth. Roll in an oblong ¼” thick and brush with the melted butter. Mix together the chopped apples, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, and cloves. Spread on the batter; roll up like a jelly roll. Place in an oiled baking dish, shaped into a circle. Mix together the molasses, nutmeg, butter and hot water. Pour over roll; bake in a moderate oven till done. Serves 6.
NOTE TO BRIDES: Here's a dessert with a sauce ready-made.
The Verdict:
I gave this roll four stars because it was really good! The only thing I would've done differently was rolled my dough a little bit thinner and added more apples. Otherwise this is definitely edible and sort of reminds me of cinnamon raisin bread. I ate one piece to test and then another and found myself wanting more!

Modernized Recipe:
You can easily follow the original recipe in a modern kitchen. I baked my roll for about 35 minutes. Additionally, I found the sauce to be quite a lot and it was really watery when I added the hot water, so I used maybe a quarter of it. Because it was so watery it soaked into the roll. It wasn't bad, but I was hoping for more of a glaze.
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