This holiday season Osceola History wants to share with you some tried and true recipes from our archives, many of which have been donated from the cupboards and desks of residents throughout the years. Anyone’s ear may perk up when they hear the words “Christmas Cake”, but what if it’s a White Fruit Cake? Or are you fonder of Rice Crispy Cookies and the traditional Gingerbread?
Well, Osceola History has one of each for you to try in your own kitchens this season. Recipes can be reinvented with modern twists from the frosting you choose to use or by adding just that pop of color with your favorite sprinkles. The very official looking Rice Crispy Cookies recipe came from the desk of Thomas I. Parkinson, President of The Equitable Life Assurance Society in Orlando from 1927 to 1953. The Gingerbread and White Fruit Cake recipes are from more humble homemakers.
Which of the following recipes would you like to recreate in your kitchen this season?
Rice Crispy Cookies
dissolve in double boiler
- 20 marshmallows
½ cup butter. Beat with eggbeater.
When thoroughly dissolved take off stove and cool some, then mix 1 pkg crispies in this mixture and pour in thin sheet (in biscuit pan) and cover with wax paper + place in refrigerator for several hours. When set cut in two inch squares.
White Fruit Cake
2 cups butter
4 cups white sugar. Beat well together.
2 cups milk
5 cups flour
Whites of 12 eggs (or 6 whole eggs)
4 teaspoons baking powder.
Beat all well before adding fruit. Take 2 lbs. each of raisins, currants, dates, almonds, and ¼ lb. citrus, candied pineapple and cherries. Stir the fruit in last with a sifting of flour. Bake slowly about 4 hrs.
(This recipe is four times the amount in the cake. I never bake more than half the receipt at one time).
Fun fact: This fruit cake recipe shows its age with its reversion to using the 19th and early 20th century spelling of recipe, “receipt”, in the ending note by the baker themselves.
Gingerbread
1 cup snowdrift,
1 cup sugar,
1 cup dark Karo syrup,
1 cup sour milk,
2 teaspoons soda,
1 tablespoon ginger,
½ teaspoon cloves,
½ “nutmeg,
½ teaspoon allspice,
¼ “salt, 3 eggs,
Enough flour to make a stiff batter, Raisins if liked
Sprinkle top with sugar and cinnamon.
If you are interested in viewing more of Osceola History’s Archival Recipes on display, mark your calendar for seeing some at the Hart Memorial Central Library through the month of January in their Osceola County Cuisine exhibit near the front entrance.
Happy Holidays from Osceola History!
Sources: Archive images and recipes courtesy of Osceola History’s Collections