Last year, I made Ruth Wakefield’s original recipe for Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies. Invented in the 1930s, these cookies became so popular that by 1939 Nestlé developed chocolate chips specifically for use in the cookies. Nestlé continued to promote chocolate chips and chocolate chip cookies during World War II, such as in this poster suggesting that a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies would be the perfect gift to send a soldier.
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This is the original recipe for Toll House chocolate crunch cookies, invented in the 1930s by Ruth Wakefield for her restaurant the Toll House Inn.
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This recipe comes from the Kitchen Army Nutrition and Receipt Book, a World War II-era book published by the Sydney Nutrition Committee of Sydney, Nova Scotia. The cookbook was written “to improve nutrition of Canadians and to emphasize its importance in the national war effort.”
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This punch recipe comes from Henrietta Nesbitt’s The Presidential Cookbook: Feeding the Roosevelts and Their Guests. Mrs. Nesbitt served as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s housekeeper in the White House for 13 years. She writes in her chapter on teas and punches that two hundred guests would be considered a small tea party for Eleanor Roosevelt – many White House teas would include over a thousand guests. “When the guest list reaches the thousand mark…the only solution is fruit punch, and plenty of it.”
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This coffee cake recipe comes from Sunkist Orange Recipes for Year-Round Freshness, a 1940 advertising pamphlet for Sunkist oranges. Every single recipe in the booklet contains oranges in some shape or form – and every page contains eye-popping bright orange illustrations.
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The confusingly-named Welsh rarebit or Welsh rabbit contains no rabbit whatsoever and may not have originated in Wales. It usually consists of cheese melted and poured over toast, although there are many variations in the other toppings. The first recorded use of the term “Welsh rabbit” dates back to 1725, but similar toasted cheese dishes were popular as early as the 14th century. Lexicographer John Ayto suggests that the name “Welsh rabbit” came about in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, when calling something “Welsh” was a derogatory epithet meaning “inferior” or “of poor quality.” Thus, the name “Welsh rabbit” was a joke – “Welsh rabbit” was inferior because the dish did not actually contain any rabbits.
Alternatively, the dish might have been attributed to the Welsh simply because they had a reputation for loving cheese.
Despite the debates over its name and origins, Welsh rabbit or rarebit remained popular for centuries. This particular recipe comes from 20th century media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who was passionately fond of Welsh rarebit. Various family members, friends, and guests of Hearst’s recalled that he frequently served Welsh rarebit as a late-night snack. Although he employed a large kitchen staff, he took great pride in always making the Welsh rarebit himself.
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History in the Making 