Did you know that Iowa State University's Special Collections and University Archives has an extensive Iowa Cookbook collection? It's a wide ranging collection from different groups and magazines covering many years of Iowa's history and communities through food! Inspired by videos of B. Dylan Hollis working through his own collection of historical cookbooks, as well as my own love of baking, I thought it would be fun to try some recipes to see how they turned out.
The first recipe I chose was an apple short cake from Mrs. O. Woline from The Swedesburg Cook Book from 1927. Though it's called a cake, it really came out more like a bread. The second was a reworked chocolate chip cookie recipe from Mrs. Charles Estrem from Story County who won first place in the 1948 Iowa State Fair. This recipe can be found in Baking Blue Ribbons: Stories and Recipes from the Iowa State Fair Food Competition.
The Swedesburg Cookbook
Apple Short Cake Recipe
The Baking Blue Ribbons cookbook
Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from 1948
I really enjoyed looking through the cookbooks. The old ads were interesting to see, too. Since many of our cookbooks are locally created by community groups, they don't have a lot of ads in them, so finding some in the Swedesburg cookbook was different. Both of the recipes were fairly easy to follow. I did find the Apple Short Cake to be a little more difficult, as it didn't have a specific temperature or baking time. This was definitely where baking often and having a sense of similar recipes came in handy. I noticed the short cake batter reminded me of quick breads like banana bread or pumpkin bread, so I cooked it for a similar time and temperature; 425 for 40 minutes and an extra 10 minutes at 400. I would have kept the temperature the same the whole time, but the apples on top started to get a little too crispy! I also used 2 of my 3 apples on top of the cake.
Apple short cake ingredients, assembled, and cooked.
I thought it turned out yummy and the apples on top definitely help keep a more moist texture. I do think a royal icing glaze with a little lemon zest might be a good addition.
The cookies were pretty similar to other chocolate chip cookie recipes I've made in the past. They weren't the chewiest cookie though, and had a denser crumb than many of the chocolate chip cookies I've made (like say a certain Toll House recipe the recipe page refers to). That doesn't mean I didn't like them, though! They were tasty and their small size makes them great for a little snack.
The chocolate chip cookies ingredients, assembled, and baked.
I would definitely revisit old cook books again in the future (in fact I already found one I think would be fun to make around Valentine's day--they're called Lemon Loves) and would encourage other people to give it a try. Keep in mind some things have changed over time, including safety standards, and there are some recipes that it is better to stick to more modern recipes (like canning).
Our Iowa Cookbook Collection can be explored more on the ISU library catalog.
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