Anyone Can Bake - Recipe 1...

I'm so excited to start a new feature...Anyone Can Bake Cookbook Recipes. I pulled all the ingredients together for the first recipe, so here goes!

I said I had to try this recipe first...Luncheon Rolls. I followed the recipe to the letter, and by checking through other recipes in the book, I found that Royal's "very hot oven" designation is 425º F.

I did (of course) use Royal Baking Powder for the recipe. I chose Mortons™ Coarse Sea Salt and I use King Arthur Special Patent™ bread flour in this instance. In this photograph, I've mixed all the ingredients and formed into a ball to prepare to shape rolls.

I didn't make them very large. I decided to use the "1920s" food portion (based on the difference from my mother-in-law's cookie cutters and my more modern versions). A lunch roll would definitely be smaller than something you might get today from Subway. These are about 5" long.

I sprayed Pam™ spray on the sheet pan and placed the rolls. I covered them with a cotton flour sack towel (my favorite to use in the kitchen!) and let them rest for 20 minutes. I brushed them with milk, per the recipe, but also added my "Everything Topping" mix from King Arthur over the top of each roll. Then, into the oven.

I gave them about twenty minutes before taking them out to brush with butter. Then back in the oven for ten more. My handsome taste tester said they were still a bit doughy, so back in they went for three more minutes. Here they are, fresh from the oven.

So, Handsome and I discussed this recipe after dinner. We decided to use a rating system of 0-10, with ten being the best. He scored these a 7. I scored them a 6.

Here's my our assessment: They tasted like buttermilk biscuits, but more dense and with a crispy outer crust. Perhaps they'd be more like today's lunch rolls if they were a bit larger, but at this size, I'd be more likely to use them as a side, rather than as support for sandwich (lunch meat, etc.), and I would make them again.

If you decide to save the recipe and make some for yourself, please let me know what you think. I'm also going to re-upload the Index page, as I think it turned out blurry in my first post. I'll be making a new page up in the menu bar today so you'll be able to find all the future recipes in one place. I'll let you know ahead of time when I'm planning my next cookbook post. Hope you enjoy!

Taking The Wayback Machine To 1927...

Two days ago, I was sorting through my still-boxed cookbooks in search of an old favorite that contains a favorite "no bake" recipe for dinners. It's called "No Time To Cook" and I think it was a Better Homes and Gardens publication (or something like that). I did ultimately locate it, and used one of the recipes for dinner that evening. Thanks to a regular breeze here, it was actually quite comfortable after the sun went down, but I still didn't have any plans to light up the oven.

As I was searching for that cookbook, I came across more "antique" cookbooks that belonged to various ancestors. This one belonged to my dear mother-in-law, Evelyn. I decided to bring it upstairs and look through it. She even wrote a recipe of her own on the last page, and I'm definitely going to make that one. 

As you can see from the front page, this is a compilation of recipes from the Royal Baking Powder Company™, and the copyright is 1927! I love old cookbooks, and couldn't wait to dig into it. I'm not quite sure why I hadn't done it before in all these years.

This is the Index of all the recipes in this 100 page book. You may want to pull this image onto your desktop or into your images files so you can read it better or print it out. I'm suggesting that for a reason I'll explain by the end of this post. Don't forget you can also click on the image here to enlarge it.

Just look at all those recipes! I've already chosen the first on my list to make, which is the recipe for Luncheon Rolls that can be made from start to finish in about an hour! Those homemakers didn't have all day to waste in the kitchen. They had to clean house, get the kids to school, prepare a hot meal for the family, and they had to do it dressed up and wearing makeup! (Right?)

So, check out these recipes and I'll tell you why soon.

As I was telling my sister, Di about this discovery, she did an Amazon search for Royal Baking Powder.™ Can you believe they still make it?! Yes. It's made by the same company that makes the Clabber Girl™ brand. I use Clabber Girl™, but placed an order for the Royal brand which will be here tomorrow. I'm curious to see if there's a difference.

I love the photographs with step-by-step technique instructions, and there's even a page on how to cut the shapes into the ends of piping bags to make all the different decorating shapes with icing. Homemakers didn't keep a drawer-full of metal decorating tips in their kitchens. Haven't we become spoiled?

The book is also filled with many other pages of helpful hints, but mostly there are some wonderfully intriguing recipes. That's when the idea hit me. Have you heard of the movie where a young woman decided to make every one of Julie Child's recipes? Why can't this more mature bird attempt the same? Perhaps not every recipe, but I could take a good run at more than a few, and then share those recipes with you!

You'll be able to print out the recipes, and perhaps put them into your own binder to keep and share. So, what do you think? Do you like this idea? My first attempt will be those Luncheon Rolls. It says they're perfect for sandwiches, and who knows? They may become our go-to for sub sandwiches for family gatherings?

I'm already putting sticky notes all over this cookbook and trying to decide which recipes I'll make (maybe once every two weeks), and I'm going to give you a chance to have input on the choices. That's why I want you to enlarge, print out, or save the Index above. Let me know which recipe(s) you'd like to see me make and share. I may even do videos  to go with them, or live episodes from time to time. I'll keep track of all your suggestions, and will keep doing this at least until your suggestions run out. I may even have little prize drawings along the way!

So, that's what I'm going to do. Beginning Monday, August 1st, I'm going to make and post the first of many recipes from this cookbook. I'll share photographs of my creations, tell you how they worked up, how they tasted (I'm sure Handsome will help with that part), and then share the actual recipe with you. Then, you can try the recipes in your kitchen if you like. I'll make a new tab in the menu bar so you'll be able to find all the recipe posts in one place, too!

I'm looking forward to some awesome feedback, so please don't let me down. I'm excited about this project, and hope you will be, too.