Vintage Recipe Friday: Fudge Cupcakes

Just in time for spring: cute flowerpot fudge cupcakes.

Fudge Cupcakes
from Woman's Home Companion, February 1954

Heat oven to 350

You will need:
1/4 cup shortening
Two squares (two ounces) unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup water
One cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
One cup cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
One egg
1/4 cup sour milk or buttermilk

Melt shortening and chocolate in 1 1/2-quart saucepan over low heat; blend in water and sugar; cool to room temperature; add vanilla. Sift flour, measure; add salt, baking powder and soda; sift again. Add egg to chocolate mixture in saucepan; beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with milk; blend well after each addition; beat until smooth. Fill muffin pans (greased or lined with paper baking cups) 2/3 full. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) about 18 minutes. Cool slightly; removed from pans, cool thoroughly. Makes about one dozen medium-size or 1 1/2 dozen small cupcakes.

Flowerpot:
Cover cupcake with coffee frosting; lightly sprinkle top with instant coffee to resemble soil. Pipe border of frosting around top edge and base. Cut flowers and leaves from gumdrops; stick on separate toothpicks.

Vintage Recipe Friday: Easy Mix Muffins

Rich! Tender! Quick!

These look delicious - and not only are they easy, but muffins are perfect for the first delicious early berries and fruits of spring! Hit up your local Farmer's Market this weekend and enjoy these nibblies.

Easy Mix Muffins 

From McCall's, July 1953

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

You need:

Two cups sifted flour

Three teaspoons baking powder

One teaspoon salt

Two tablespoons sugar

One egg, well-beaten

1 1/4 cups milk

1/2 cup cooking oil

Mix and sift first flour ingredients into a bowl. Make a well and add remaining ingredients. Stir only enough to dampen flour; batter should be lumpy. Fill greased muffins pans 2/3 full. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees) 25 to 30 minutes. Makes 12 muffins. 

Blueberry Muffins: Increase sugar to 1/3 cup and add one cup fresh berries to sifted dry ingredients.

Peanut Butter Muffins: Cut 1/2 cup peanut butter into mixed and sifted dry ingredients.

Vintage Recipe Friday: Corn Tamale Loaf

I feel like the last Vintage Recipe Friday was pretty gross, and this one might be too. Sorry. But it cracks me up the weird and disgusting stuff that people used to (and still do) eat.

Corn Tamale Loaf
From Ladies' Home Journal, March 1967 

Heat oven to 375

You will need:
1 medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 3/4 cups hot chicken broth
1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 eggs, beaten
1 can (17 oz.) cream style corn
1 tbsp. butter
Green onion for garnish
Olive slices for garnish

Saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Mix with next eight ingredients and blend well. Pour mixture into well-greased 9" loaf pan; set in pan of hot water. Bake at 375 for one hour or until firm and brown. Heat corn with butter. Turn out loaf on platter; top with corn. Garnish with green onion and olive slices, if desired.

Serves six.

Vintage Recipe Friday: Barbeque Salad

Are you in the mood for "tomato aspic with personality"?

Yeah, I don't really know what that means either. But I love these old weird recipes featured in so many advertisements from womens' magazines in the 1950s.

 Barbeque Salad
From Woman's Home Companion, February 1954

1 package Lemon or Orange Jell-O
1 1/4 cups hot water
1 can (eight ounces) tomato sauce
1 1/2 tablespoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
dash of pepper

Dissolve Jell-O in hot water. Add tomato sauce and other ingredients. Blend. Pour into individual molds. Chill until firm. You can serve four to six people for about a nickel each.

NOTE: For extra spiciness, add any of the following before chilling: onion juice, seasoning or celery salt, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, or horseradish.

If you actually eat this, let me know and I will send you a prize. I'm serious. You deserve props for eating spicy, tomato-y Jello. God knows I never would.

Vintage Recipe Friday: Caramel Surprise Upside-Down Cake

From McCall's, July 1953

Caramel Surprise Upside-Down Cake
1 cup caramel sauce*
6 slices pineapple
1 pkg. yellow or white cake mix

Pour the caramel sauce in a grease 10-inch skillet. Place one slice of pineapple in the center of the skillet. Cut the remaining pineapple slices in halves and arrange around the center slice. Prepare the cake mix according to directions on the package and pour the batter over the pineapple slices. Bake in a moderate oven, 350 degrees, for 55 to 60 minutes. Turn out of the skillet onto a plate to cool.

*Caramel Sauce
1/2 lb. caramels (about 28 caramels)
1/2 cup hot water

Place the caramels and hot water in the top of a double boiler. Heat, stirring frequently, until the caramels are melted and the sauce is smooth. Makes 1 cup sauce.