Think saltines are just for snack time at nursery school? This recipe, a favorite from the 1970s, adds a toffee topping and transforms an ordinary cracker into a holiday treat. I first tasted this kind of toffee at the annual holiday open house of my mother’s friends in Richmond, Virginia. The adults mingled upstairs and banished the kids to the basement with a pinata containing stale candy. I felt super grown up the year I was finally allowed upstairs to graze at the buffet table and discover this dessert. Since the recipe contains just a few basic ingredients, it’s easy to make at the last ..read more

I don’t think my mother ever made a noodle kugel for the Jewish holidays, but that didn’t stop her from clipping recipes from a variety of sources and stuffing them into a Jewish cookbook that she kept on her shelf. This gave me a wide selection for the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which we celebrated earlier this month. Most of the dairy versions of this dish call for noodles, sour cream, cottage cheese, eggs, sugar, and raisins. To do something a little different this year, I went for a recipe that calls for applesauce and apricot preserves. It appears to be from a synagogue newsletter publis ..read more

In the days before air freight, I impatiently waited for summer fruit season. First, green grapes, followed by berries, cherries, peaches, and melons. Most of the time, I simply ate the fruit plain, or enhanced it with a bit of yogurt and honey. Then I went through phases of crisps, smoothies, and even clafoutis. This summer’s series of heat waves in Boston have made turning on my oven about as tempting as drinking hot tea. In search of something easy and unfamiliar, I went back about 250 years to George Washington’s time. In the Mount Vernon Cookbook (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, 1984 ..read more

There must be as many recipes for cornbread as there are cooks who have made it. The common ingredient is corn meal, but the shortening, the sweetener, and the type of corn meal itself varies from region to region, and kitchen to kitchen. I found this recipe from Berkeley Mills in a pamphlet in my grandmother’s files. The mill’s owner, Hugh T. Harrison, seems to be connected Berkeley Plantation, where a signer of the Declaration of Independence and former Virginia governor lived. U.S. President William Henry Harrison was born there. Berkeley still operates as an historic site, telling the st ..read more

By this time of the year, I need something sunny-looking on my table because there’s no escaping the snow and day after day of below-freezing temperatures. Enter apricot pudding, a recipe I adapted from The New Thought in Cooking by Sara Treat, a booklet published by American Maize-Products Co. There is no publication date, but the company likely printed it in the 1930s to entice consumers to buy its corn oil, syrup, corn starch, and other corn-based products. The company even sponsored radio programs with Don Amaizo, a character it created who was really violinist Max Dolin, the first music ..read more

Crowd outside the White House at Andrew Jackson’s inaugural reception, 1829, by artist Robert Cruikshank, Source: Library of Congress Inaugural ceremonies of the past week inspired me to read more about the inauguration of George Washington, America’s first President, in 1789. It took place at Federal Hall in New York City, as the U.S. Capitol and the White House had yet to be built. Instead of hosting an elaborate inaugural luncheon, Washington simply ate by himself because his wife, Martha, had not yet arrived in New York. Since then, presidents have celebrated with intimate gatherings to el ..read more

Forget the glazed green cherries and other icky candied fruit. This cake relies on raisins and pecans – nothing artificial in either one. And you’ll likely have these ingredients, plus brown sugar, flour, and spices, in your pantry. You don’t have mask up and go to the store if you want to make a last-minute batch of something festive in a season that feels anything but. This recipe is slightly adapted from the Food Editors’ Favorites Cookbook, edited by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane Baker (Newspaper Food Editors and Writers Association, Inc, 1983), a collection by professionals who once set ..read more

Through the mid to late 20th century, department store tearooms gave shoppers a place to relax and regroup. Originally a clever marketing ploy to keep customers in the store, the tearooms became a beloved part of the community. Many were known for their regional specialties. That’s the case with Miller & Rhoads, one of the department stores that I frequented as a child growing up in Richmond, Virginia. My cousin and I saved our money from allowance and babysitting, then took the Westhampton 16 bus downtown. When we tired of sampling cosmetics and choosing outfits for each other to try on ..read more

As our garden yields a profusion of cucumbers, slices in salads quickly become monotonous. I’ve tried cutting spears for vegetable dips, tossing cubes into smoothies, and making batches of blender gazpacho. Too bad I don’t like pickles! Americans have grown cucumbers in their gardens since the 17th century English colonies. Only in the 19th century did people begin stewing cucumbers, as cooked vegetables were supposedly easier to digest. Chilled cucumber soup combines the best of both ideas – cooking and coolness. This recipe comes from Donna Segal of the Indianapolis Star in Food Editors’ Fa ..read more

How do you celebrate a Harvard graduation when coronavirus cancels the traditional ceremony? Turn on the livestream and bake a batch of Harvard Squares. I found this recipe, named for the crimson and white colors of the school, in The Eastern Junior League Cookbook (Ballantine, 1982). Cellist Yo Yo Ma entertained me while I mixed the ingredients. Later, I brought them to the campus, where my daughter and a small group of her fellow graduates held a gathering to celebrate. These taste a bit like Linzer torte and are so rich you may want to cut them into smaller squares. The perfect accompanime ..read more