Old Fashioned Treats with a Modern Twists – Malory Ford

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I don’t know about you, but I love a good old-fashioned treat. Give me an icebox cake or a gorgeous loaf of sourdough any day of the week. Sometimes, if I have a minute to myself to enjoy it with a cup of coffee before my children wake up, I’ll imagine what it must have been like for my great grandmother and the women who went before her. Did they have the same concerns I do? Did they relish the quiet before the chaos too?

I feel certain they did. Whether it’s a breakfast dish passed down through the generations or a slice of buttered bread enjoyed in the evening, recipes have the power to connect us to our past.

Still, I do love the modern convenience of my stand mixer and electric oven. This is where old fashioned bakes with a twist come in. Some of them are shortcuts to achieve something similar to what has been done for generations, others are simply a new way of enjoying an old favorite. Step into my kitchen with me, and let’s see what we come up with.

Shortcut Sourdough

Show of hands – who started making bread during the pandemic? It’s all right, I see you. Unfortunately, many have abandoned their starters in exchange for something a little easier. This wouldn’t be a problem except that sourdough in and of itself is an experience that should not be missed.

Enter: Shortcut Sourdough. (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/277983/mock-sourdough-bread/)

This recipe is not only delicious, but it utilizes active dry yeast and yogurt in place of that sourdough starter that died on your counter a year ago.

You can find different variations of this dish, but they all mostly follow the same format. Enjoy the flavor, tang, and texture of sourdough without babysitting your starter – I won’t tell if you won’t.

Oreo Icebox Cake

My mom talks about how delicious my great-grandmother’s lemon icebox cake was. I’m sure that’s true, but I have to admit I’m partial to a delicious chocolate cookie sandwich with cream in the middle. Icebox cakes became popular in the 1920’s, and were more or less a descendant of trifles and similar layered desserts.

This oreo icebox cake (https://chocolatechocolateandmore.com/oreo-icebox-cake/) is a modern take on the classic recipe and makes the process even easier than it would’ve been nearly a hundred years ago. You could also adapt this recipe into miniatures by utilizing a muffin tin and placing the single oreo on the bottom. If you try this, make sure you allow a little extra time for the cake to set or you’ll end up with a dozen tiny (but still delicious) messes. One of the best parts of this recipe is that any little hands you might find in your kitchen can absolutely help you with it. My three year old was delighted to help me lay down the cookies, pipe the cream, and sprinkle the oreos on top. The newborn was decidedly less help, but give him a few years.

No-Churn Ice Cream

Did you know that the earliest renditions of ice cream date back thousands of years? Granted, the versions they enjoyed weren’t the sweet, creamy goodness we enjoy today. Those are a bit more modern but still something 18th century Americans would’ve enjoyed. Still, while homemade ice cream is infinitely worth the trouble, it does take a bit of work and some bulky equipment.

 

No-churn ice cream (https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/no-churn-vanilla-ice-cream-3364776)  saves the day. With just four ingredients and some time in the freezer, this recipe would certainly make our foremothers jealous. Of course, you can add in any of your favorite toppings, and if those toppings weren’t around when the first ice cream sundaes were popularized? Well, that’ll be just fine.

 

Malory Ford is giving away one copy of her book

Do you have a favorite recipe that might’ve been made in the 1800s? Leave a comment for a chance to win.

 

The Way to Hope

Simon Carson is a self-declared lifelong bachelor interested in three things: ranching, woodworking, and staying as far from the responsibility of a family as he can. Plenty of young ladies catch his eye, but they all want something he’s just not interested in giving.

Samantha Paulson is a trick-riding, back-talking cowgirl who has made a life for herself riding in Jed Harper’s Wild West Show. She’s tough, smart, and if her fans are to be believed, a little crazy.

Samantha’s life is exactly as she wants it, thank you very much. That is, until someone starts sabotaging her act in the show and putting her in grave danger. The bosses send her out to a friend’s ranch to hide out while they find the perpetrator, but her single cowboy father didn’t exactly teach her to act like the other ladies in town. No, she knows horses better than she does people, and she’ll earn her keep if she can.

When Simon and Samantha meet, sparks fly and Simon starts to reevaluate everything he knows. That is, until Samantha’s attacker goes on the hunt and may just be closer than they think. It’ll be up to the Lord whether they have any hope for a future, or if they’re doomed before they even start.

 

Find Malory online at : Malory Ford Books – Author of Historical Christian Romance (wordpress.com)

Malory is a wife and mother, avid gardener, aspiring baker, and a voracious reader. She is a believer inspired by everyday encounters with the Lord, interactions with her friends and family, and the occasional trip into a history book.

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38 thoughts on “Old Fashioned Treats with a Modern Twists – Malory Ford”

  1. I will have to try the sourdough recipe. My husband has twice tried to get a sourdough starter going and not really been successful.
    We have done Dutch oven cooking over the fire for years. A favorite is cobbler. Most of the time, we use yellow cake mix instead of biscuits for the topping. Both work well, but the biscuit topping and whatever canned fruit they could get would be the options for chuck wagons and other early cooks.

  2. Handled down from the days of hunting and subsistence living, my mother gave me a recipe for county-style venison swimming in gravy that is delicious.

  5. my Grandmother made the best pies = crumb and raisin! Also my mom’s oatmeal cake was to die for as well!

  6. My mom has a sourdough starter from my dads mom that she got in the 80s. I have no idea what the recipe is but every time we go to my moms we have these delicious sourdough pancakes from it.

  7. I really don’t have a recipe that has been handed down. I do make chicken and dumplings like my grandmother did but there is no recipe for them because it is just flour, salt and pepper and broth off of the chicken to make the dumplings.

    • Funny story. So, my mom is a great cook, and one of her favorite foods is chicken and dumplings. The dumplings have to be handmade, the way my grandmother does them.

      Try as she might, my mom simply cannot get the recipe right. She made them once that were so dense that even the dogs wouldn’t eat them. It’s a running joke in our family that if you can’t get something to work right, it’s like chicken and dumplings. ?

  9. My grandmother didn’t use recipes so I don’t have any handed down. I do have a recipe for peanut clusters that my sister-in-law gave me before she died. They always go over well.

  10. I have recipes handed down by my Mom, who was 96 and a half when she passed in Dec 2020. I have a recipe she and my Grandmother worked out after Mom used a much condensed version with her “Easybake Oven” she had as a child in the 20’s and early 30’s. I’ve got to check out that oreo cake recipe!

  12. I don’t have a recipe from the 1800’s, but I think just basic recipes like cornbread baked in an iron skillet, or a beef stew with carrots, potatoes and onions, was probably cooked many times during that period.

  13. I don’t have any recipes from the 1800’s but I always love cooking a pot of brown beans in a cast iron pot on an open fire! Have a Blessed weekend!

  14. I have my granny’s recipe for Banana Pudding. I don’t know how she had the patience to stand at the stove stirring it for so long while it cooked. I don’t ever make it anymore. My daughter would help when she was little by layering the vanilla wafers and bananas. I don’t enjoy making it by myself.

  15. I have a recipe that’s 2000 years old! We call it Pompeii bread, and we used to make it every year for Saturnalia. (I was in Latin club in high school.)
    I don’t remember it off the top of my head, but it was super simple, like four ingredients: flour, yeast, water, and salt. You roll the dough into balls and arrange them in a round pan, and the balls rise into each other and form a flower shape, pull-apart type deal. And it’s SO GOOD. Simple yet delicious.
    Oh, and putting an egg wash on the top gives it a pretty, shiny, brown crust.

  16. My mom makes a really good Amish Wheat bread. The recipe isn’t quite as old as yours of course, but I imagine they probably made a lot wheat breads back in the 1800s.

  18. My favorite hand me down recipe was one cream pie that my grandmother got from her grandmother. I tried for years to make those pies but never was quite successful and that was my favorite pie. Grandma added the filling ingredients into her prepared pie shell then stirred it together with her finger. She tried to convince me that my pies didn’t turn out because I didn’t mix mine with my finger. Brings back wonderful memories. She passed in 1980 at the age of 88 and I miss her to this day.

  19. One of our family’s favorite pickles is a mustard pickle recipe that my dad’s aunts, born in the 1870’s, would make in a crock and store in our cellar. We put them in quart or half gallon mason jars and store them in the refrigerator. Small Cucumbers, vinegar, salt, sugar and dry/powdered mustard are the only ingredients. They are different from most mustard pickle recipes and great on burgers and pork sandwiches or just to eat.

  20. Hi, my paternal grandmother used to make us ice cream with evaporated milk and it was delicious. Thank you for sharing these recipes. Have a great weekend and stay safe.

  22. The old farmers used to do their own butchering. One thing my grandmother made following the processing of the hog was something she called grits. No – they are not the grits of today made of cornmeal. They were made from the meat on the head of the hog. You added steel cut oatmeal and raisins to it as well. As to the rest of the ingredients I do not remember. I did run across a recipe for this same mixture on the internet. It carried a different name as it is a German recipe. There is nothing like it as you make it and then fry it. I ate mine with syrup on it. So So good!

  24. I have my mother in law’s Polish Coffee Cake. I am not sure how far back in her family the recipe originated. Thank you for sharing.

  25. Love the top of the post. My mom used to always make sourdough bread and biscuits. She always had some starter that she would pass onto my sister and I. She loved to make ice cream with an old maker. Everyone who helped turn got some ice cream. That became a lot of fun when my sister and I started having children. The grand kids wanted to do all the churning. LOL At east until they got into preteens. LOL I have my mothers Cherry Carnival Cake recipe that she got from her great grandmother. This story sounds like it is a lot of fun

  26. My husband’s mother used to make her mother-in-law’s sourdough biscuits when he was young & he loved them, so after we married, I got the recipe from her so I could make them for him. They are sooo good! They also use active dry yeast… I’m not a fan of those breads that you make from a starter that “rots” on your cabinet for days or weeks or years! 😀 haha
    Now I’m hungry for sourdough biscuits… might have to remedy that in the near future. I’m sure my husband would be pleased. 🙂

  27. Thanks for sharing those yummy recipes. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything handed down from the 1800’s. My grandparents did not write down recipes. Everything was by sight knowing to add a little of this and that.

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