A few years ago, I purchased these 3 vintage recipe boxes from eBay and I've been eager to buy more. I recently moved in to a small, downtown condo and have little room to collect anything. I'm holding off on my urge for now and giving more love to the 3 boxes I already own.

The C.W. Post box did not include any recipes so I've used it to store my great-grandmother's recipe cards. Both the Land O'Lakes and Bisquick box contained a small collection of recipe cards for their products. Growing up in the Midwest, I am familiar with recipes requiring Bisquick and butter :-)

One of my favorite childhood treats is in the Bisquick recipe box. You'll see them in the following photo -- look in the upper left corner ... the things that look like muffins are actually 'French Breakfast Puffs'. These puffs will change your life.




My mother would make the french puffs only once or twice a year, usually around the holidays. She sometimes used the Bisquick recipe but more often would make them from scratch. I couldn't find the french puff recipe from the Bisquick site, so I guess they've done away with it. Thank goodness it's in my box.

The puffs are essentially basic nutmeg flavored muffin. You roll them in melted butter and then in a cinnamon-sugar mix. The result is a moist, buttery rich french puff. My mouth is watering just thinking of the memories!

French Breakfast Puffs

2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease 24 miniature muffin cups (or about 12 regular muffin cups). Mix baking mix, 1/4 cup sugar, nutmeg, 2 tablespoons butter, milk, and egg; beat vigorously for 30 seconds. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake 10 minutes. Quickly roll in melted butter, then in mixture of 2/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon.

Simple to make and seriously good. I haven't had these in many years and might just have to whip them up soon.

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Do you have a vintage recipe or recipe box that you cherish? If you'd like to share it on Recovered Recipes, just send me a photo to my email (allen [at] recoveredrecipes [dot] com) and I'll get it posted for others to see.

I enjoy looking at old recipes clipped from magazines and newspapers. There's something interesting about looking at the colors and design of the recipes, along with how the product is marketed. Yes, I'm a hopeless recipe nerd.

This recipe features dexo which I've never heard of. I had to research it confirm that it was a brand of shortening. Personally, I have an adverse reaction to large cans of shortening ever since I eagerly dipped my finger into a can as a kid, thinking it was frosting. You only make that mistake once. From what I could find online, the brand is no longer in existence.

"Use Perfect-Blend dexo so blendable .. so dependable"

From the image of the can, I happened to notice the key on top of the can. It's rare to find cans like this today -- well, maybe Spam still comes like this. The key affixes to the edge of the can and is turned around the edge until the top pops off. You're usually left with a very sharp edge on the top of the can. I'm curious how you would store this 3lb can of shortening once the top is removed ... hmm, I guess you'd just have to bake up a storm!

Sweetheart Cake featuring dexo
"Sweetheart cake mixed in 3 minutes with new dexo recipe!"

1/2 cup dexo
2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 1/2 cups sugar
7/8 cup milk (1 cup minus 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs and 1 yolk, unbeaten

Follow directions carefully (you've been warned) -- and keep Perfect-Blend dexo at room temperature. Put dexo in bowl. Sift in dry ingredients. Add vanilla to milk; add 2/3 liquid. Blend and beat 1 minute (count 150 strokes per minute). Add other 1/3 liquid and eggs. Beat 2 minutes. Bake in 2 greased and floured deep 8" layer pans in moderate oven, 375 F for 25-30 minutes. Frost with white icing; cut hearts from maraschino cherries (and I assume these are arranged on top of the cake).

Hmmm, it sounds ok. I must note that for a recipe which starts off warning you to follow directions carefully ... they don't seem to tell you what to do with those dang maraschino cherries. If I follow the directions, I'd just have them sitting on my cutting board in heart shapes :-)

 

Who wouldn't love a pie made with buttery Ritz crackers?  Depending on where you live, these small round crackers are made by two different brands, either Hi-Ho or Ritz.  They are lightly brown, round, and flaky crisp buttery goodness.  I've had both and think Ritz are far superior to Hi-Ho but I'm sure there are others you feel differently.

Growing up, Ritz were my favorite cracker.  You could serve them with peanut butter, jam or cheese.  They could easily be used with dips or spreads of any variety.  I liked them best when paired with something sweet.  There's nothing better than a salty-sweet combo to make my eyes roll back in my head.

I've heard of a Ritz cracker pie before but always assumed the crackers were used as the crust of the pie, like a graham cracker crust.  Apparently, that's not the case at all!

Hi-Ho or Ritz Cracker Pie

3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts
20 crackers, broken in pieces

Begin by buttering and flouring a 9" round pie plate.  I generally speed things along by grabbing a small chunk of butter and rubbing it generously around the plate.  Sprinkle with a couple teaspoons of flour, then turn the plate in a circular motion until the flour has covered the entire inside of the pan.  Dump out any excess flour.

Beat the egg whites until they become stiff.  Fold in sugar, baking powder and vanilla.  Next, fold in the crackers and nuts. 

Place the mix into the pie plate and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.  Remove from oven and cool, then top with whipped cream.  Place into refrigerator to chill before serving.

I've never tried this recipe before but it sounds simple enough to make.  I imagine it has a slight saltiness from the crackers.  The consistency though must be similar to meringue since it's pretty much egg whites and sugar.  Would love to hear from anyone who has made a similar recipe or has a variation on this recipe that they like.