r/VintageDessertRecipes

Betty Ford's Blu'banna Bread is the perfect thing to make when you have overripe bananas, which happens a lot during the summer, right? Also the blueberries have been on sale, so we're usually stocked up.

• I made 1/2 the recipe because I only wanted one loaf, but next time I'll just go ahead and make both because it was so good. Here are my notes:
• I was concerned about the allspice flavor since we don't use it much and my family's not used to it, but you know what? My husband couldn't stop talking about the allspice flavor (in a jokey way) and he loved it! Weird, I know! He even put allspice in his pancakes yesterday.
• Anyways, it did add a nice subtle flavor to the bread.
• With recipes like this it's a little tricky with the size of bananas you use, haha. You'll see during my baking time...
• I mixed everything up, and set the loaf in the oven for 50 minutes.
• Tested it and it was still way undercooked, so I put in in for 10 minutes, covered with foil halfway through.
• It turned a nice golden brown and was finally ready.
• I think I used bananas that were a little on the big side, so it took longer to bake.
• With this kind of bread/cake/loaf it's really good right after baking, but after a day or two, it somehow the flavor becomes stronger and richer.

Overall the taste is great. The spice level is perfect and the blueberries add a bit of acidity and punch to the whole thing!

I've been going down a rabbit hole researching desserts that existed before refined sugar became the norm. I found that foods like honey cake, rice pudding, and baklava have roots that go back thousands of years. They evolved over time.

Many of the earliest versions were sweetened with honey, dates, figs, grape syrup, or carob instead of sugar. I just made an ancient honey cake with no sugar, using honey and a combination of Sorghum and Einkorn flours. I modernized it with a dash of vanilla. It was actually delicious, sweet enough.

So now:

• What's the oldest dessert you've ever eaten?
• Do you think there are ancient desserts that deserve more recognition?
• Do you have a traditional dessert that has old origins?

I put together some of the history I found if anyone's interested, but I'd love to hear about your dessert faves.

Images: 1. Is the honey cake I baked with all the nuts and dried fruit. 2. Is a sheet of baklava I photographed at a souk. 3. I have a chart with sweeteners they used to use before sugar.

Ginger Roger's Forgotten Cookies - What to do when you have leftover egg whites from making another delicious cookie recipe? Make meringues, of course!

After making Eva Gabor's "Kisses of the Officer" Cookies earlier in the week, I wasn't inspired to make an egg-white omelet with the leftover egg whites, and I remembered about this recipe for meringue cookies that I wanted to try.

^("Forgotten Cookies" is a famous vintage recipe attributed to Hollywood legend Ginger Rogers. These are light, airy meringue-based treats that get their name because they are left inside a turned-off oven overnight to slowly dry out and crisp. The residual heat slowly dries out the egg whites. This produces a nostalgic treat with a crisp exterior and a delightfully soft, chewy center.)

And they were just that! So crispy on the outside and a bit chewy on the inside. I used mini chocolate chips and toasted chopped almonds.

My husband can't get enough of these! He loves them, as do I. I shared these and Eva Gabor's cookies with a friend and she really liked them too.

Have you ever made Forgotten Cookies?

Barbra Streisand's Instant Coffee Ice Cream - As you can see from the recipe above, this is a very easy recipe to make. Here are a few tips:

As the milk is heating in a pan on the stove, add large marshmallows, a few at a time. I used scissors to cut each large marshmallow into about 4 pieces as I dropped them into the milk (for easier and quicker melting). Once all the marshmallows are pretty much melted, it will start to bubble.

Remove from stove and add the 1 teaspoon of instant coffee. I used Medaglia D'Oro Instant Espresso Coffee because that's what I always have on hand and it's great added to brownie or chocolate cake mixes. Also, my Italian grandmother always had this at her house, and it was their trusty espresso fixin's back in the day.

Once the coffee powder was mixed in, I gave it a quick taste and decided to add one more teaspoon, ssshhh, don't tell Barbra. It also darkened the color just a bit to look more like coffee ice cream.

After cooling a bit fold in the cream that's been whipped. Fold gently as to keep the mixture airy. I ended up freezing it in 2 small tupperware type containers. I gave it 24 hours in the freezer and now for the taste test:

Served in little vintage parfait glasses with a few pretzel chips on the side, here's what my family had to say... it was rich and pleasantly sweet (like Barbra) and really went well with the saltiness and flavor of the pretzels. It was like a match made in coffee heaven! Barbra knows best.

I like the way you still get a few swirls of the marshmallow coming through the ice cream, and yes, it is very ice cream like in texture too. I really liked it a lot. It is sweet but you get a nice balance with the coffee flavor.

Who's willing to try this recipe this summer? It might be a fun 4th of July treat! Your friends and family will be the luckiest people in the world!

This recipe made enough for probably 6 people or more.

Katharine Hepburn’s Brownies - Easy to make and when they come out of the oven the have a nice crinkly, crispy top. Inside they're very ooey gooey and delicious!

The secret to the success of these brownies is to get them out of the pan without sticking. You must have patience and let them completely cool, which is really challenging considering the air is filled with a rich chocolate aroma and you just want to dive right in!

Even though the pans were buttered liberally and floured, they were still sticking. (Still too warm). Next time I'll use buttered parchment paper with 2 inches of the paper overhanging on each side so they'll be easier to lift out.

I've never had brownies like this before! Probably because we always use a box mix, which we do add special ingredients to to boost their flavor, but this is out of this world. SO good! The walnuts are really needed in this, but you can make them nut-free.

You've got to make them!

Carol Channing's HELLO DOLLY Cookie Bars are one of the easiest things to make and so yummy! They're on the sweet side, but you get a nice crunch from the nuts, chewiness from the coconut, and the much-needed chocolate, all on a buttery graham cracker crust! The sweetened condensed milk gives these a "dulce de leche" taste and I'm there for that!

I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips which I'd recommend, because it's a nice balance to the very sweet base.

Hello Dolly Bars or Cookies became a cultural sensation in the mid-1960s, coinciding with the Broadway debut of Hello, Dolly!. These rich, no-fuss treats rely on a foolproof method: simply layering ingredients in a pan before pouring a can of sweetened condensed milk over the top and baking.

Also known as Magic Bars and popularized by companies like Eagle Brand, because you simply layer the ingredients in a pan without mixing, and they "magically" bake into a cohesive bar.

How long has it been since you made these?

Richard Arlen's Bread Pudding with Lemon Sauce - This is a great recipe to make when you have any kind of leftover stale French or Italian bread loaves sitting around. Sourdough and brioche also work brilliantly.

I sliced the bread buttered it and then cut it into small cubes. It took about 4 -5 cups of bread cubes to fill my 8 x 8 casserole dish.

This is a very straightforward recipe and I followed the instructions exactly. Everything turned out as planned.

The lemon sauce is easy to make while the bread pudding is baking in the oven. I did an 1 more tablespoon of cornstarch to make it a little thicker. That's the only change to the sauce.

It came out oven the oven slightly souffled like the recipe says. This is good either hot or cold and the taste is so good. The texture is nice and light and the addition of walnuts adds a nice little crunch here and there.

The lemon sauce is quite good too. Not too sweet or tart, it adds a nice flavor to the dish. This sauce would also be good on crepes, pound cake, cheese cake or French toast.

Family approved, and I'd make this again and again!

Now a little bit about Richard Arlen. He was born Sylvanus Richard Mattimore and was a prominent American actor of film and television best known for starring in the legendary 1927 silent film Wings. The movie made cinema history by winning the very first Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Virginian (1929): He starred as "Steve" alongside Gary Cooper in this early, highly successful talkie western.

World War I*: Although an American citizen, Arlen crossed the border into Canada during the First World War to join the Royal Canadian Flying Corps, training as a pilot in England.*

World War II*: Keeping up with his real-world passion for flight, Arlen took a break from his lucrative acting career to serve as a U.S. Army Air Forces flight instructor, teaching young pilots how to fly combat aircraft.*

TV and Western Revivals*: In the 1950s and 1960s, he transitioned heavily into television guest spots on shows like Wagon Train and Playhouse 90. He also became a favorite star for producer A.C. Lyles, appearing in 15 nostalgia-fueled B-western movies.*

Eva Gabor's "Kisses of the Officer" Cookies filled with homemade orange marmalade from Bette Davis' own recipe. It's funny how one recipe leads to another...

I wanted to make some cookies that were nut-free for a friend, so Eva's recipe seemed perfect! Not only that we had the marmalade (jelly) all made earlier that morning.

These were kind of fun and easy to make.

• I used a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar and then egg yolks, but maybe a stand mixer would be easier, as the mixture gets harder to mix when adding the flour. It's a very dry batter.
• The hand mixer was great up until the first cup of flour, and then I used a silicon spatula to mix. I ended up really mixing it well with my hands, which is fine, because you have to form these cookies into little balls.
• I used a 1 /14" scoop to measure out the cookie and then formed it in my hand. Like I said, this is a very dry batter, so be patient.
• My thimble had gone MIA, so I improvised and used the top of my Chapstick to create the little divots in the cookie ball. Worked great!
• I baked these for about 17 minutes and then they were slightly browned on the bottom.
• Using a small demitasse/espresso spoon, I filled each cookie with a little dollop of orange marmalade.
• Raspberry jam would be my first choice for these cookies and I wanted to make 1/2 orange and 1/2 raspberry, but no one told me we were out of raspberry jam, so orange it is for them all!
• Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a rack.

These crumbly, butter cookies are lovely and tender. The taste is delicate and not overly sweet, which I love. The orange marmalade adds a little sweetness, but you also get a tangy and good bitter note from the citrus. Any other kind of jelly or jam would make the cookies a touch sweeter.

As I said earlier, it's funny how one recipe leads to another because after making this recipe I was left with 3 egg whites... so the search was on for a cookie recipe that used 3 egg whites.

Meringue was the answer and that recipe is coming your way soon!

Mary Philbin's BROWN BETTY - I love apple desserts and I love trying things I've never had, so this one was selected to go with the Clark Gable Burgers and Joan Crawford Potato Salad for our 4th of July family gathering.

An Apple Brown Betty is a classic and very easy dessert to make because you just layer spiced apples and buttery breadcrumbs and bake them into a rich homey dessert. It's got all the flavors of an apple pie or apple crisp but takes much less effort because there is no pie crust to roll out or batter to mix.

I used a pie plate to assemble this and it came together nicely. I did use a few extra really small apples from our tree, just to round things out. I did add a touch of lemon juice and as you can see in the 2nd photo, I did add sliced butter to the top before baking.

I made my own bread crumbs by toasting 3 slices of white bread, leaving them out a few hours and then pulsing them in my food processor until they were small but still chunky and not fine. I would not recommend using store bought breadcrumbs, because from previous experience they're too dry and grainy. I had to throw away the dish I made when I used store bought. I do use store bought breadcrumbs for breading chicken, etc.

I baked this at 350 for 45 minutes, but keep an eye on it, since baking times vary with the size of dish used or quantity of apples. Do cover it with foil towards the end to prevent burning.

We enjoyed this dessert a lot! It was sweet and a little crunchy and so good warmed up with vanilla ice cream! The apples really were the star of the show and you can't beat a warm cinnamon-apple dessert topped with ice cream for the 4th of July!

Georgia Engel's Oatmeal Icebox Cookies are now one of my favorite cookies of all time! They remind me of the Yankee Oatmeal Cookies that my mother-in-law made for many years and that we now make, only those have sliced almonds in them and Georgia's have chocolate chips! A nice upgrade!

What's also great about these cookies besides the taste, is you can make them ahead of time and keep them in the fridge or freezer and use as needed. They store easily as a roll. I cooked the first batch yesterday and today I'm ready to cook the second batch. Here are my notes:

• The order of the recipe is unconventional. Usually there are wet and dry ingredients and then you mix those. This recipe mixes the whole kit and kaboodle in one bowl.
• It's possible the recipe isn't detailed and should mention adding shorting/butter, sugar, egg and vanilla together before adding to the flour mixture. I might have read it wrong, but I wanted to make it true to the recipe.
• I ended up using my hands to mix this in this manner! Had to incorporate the egg well.
• Next time I'll cream the butter and sugar, add egg, and so forth first.
• Once combined, you divide the dough in 2, and wrap them in wax paper. Stick them in the fridge.
• After at least 4-5 hours, we're ready for the fun part! Slice and bake! Cold cookies into a hot oven.
• I baked them at 375 for about 11 minutes and they come out crunchy and delicious! Much more interesting than the traditional Toll House Cookies.

They have a delicate but crispy texture and the oats add a nice extra crunch. I used semi-sweet mini chocolate chips and they just make every thing better! These cookies could be called the Disappearing Oatmeal Icebox Cookies, because the first batch of 18 disappeared in a flash!

I love old cookbooks! In 1968 for .39¢ you could get yourself delish dessert recipes!

This light, airy dessert reflects the glamorous, sophisticated image of the Hollywood star.

In the 1930s, fans were fascinated by the domestic lives of stars. Mae West's persona was built on luxury and indulgence, making a sophisticated dessert like a soufflé the perfect "signature dish" for her to endorse in press releases and fan magazines. While she likely had staff to do the actual cooking, the recipe became a staple for home cooks wanting a taste of Hollywood glamour.