Merry Kitschmas!

If you're more Martha than Betty, this site is not for you. But if you, like me, cannot get enough of Kitschmas, consider this an early Kitschmas gift. 

Will the real Betty Crocker please stand up?

So many people have told me about this episode of Antique Roadshow.  This is a very rare 1st edition/gift edition of The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook - probably 1949 rather than 1950.

Christmas Baking with Betty Crocker (Vintage)

From Betty Crocker's (Ring-Bound) Picture Cookbook - Christmas Cooking section. 

Every year my sister and I get together in early December for a tradition we like to call "Fudge Fest". Our recipe is not a Betty Crocker recipe - it's better. It's a family secret recipe that is simply amazing. People who don't normally like fudge, like our fudge. I've seen grown men cry over our fudge. So that leaves my sister and I to figure out, each year, who exactly is fudge-worthy. It's truly that special. I hope every family has a recipe like that. Nothing you could find in a cookbook nor online. But a tried and true, past down through the generations, perfected family recipe.

A sneak peak behind the scenes of Fudge Fest 2012. 

Part of what makes our fudge so special is the methodology. It's not just your ingredients, but they way you go about preparing them. (And it helps to know just a touch of chemistry)

While we were waiting for the magic, we thumbed through some of our vintage Betty Crocker cookbooks, lingering on the Christmas baking sections. The photo at the top of this post reminds us of our childhood. Our mother, a true Betty, make almost all those cookies.

As you can imagine, when I was researching my book on Betty, I interviewed many home economists or "Crockettes" who worked for the Betty Crocker Kitchens.  I often asked them about Gingerbread men because they factor so heavily into Betty's recipes over the years. No one knew why, but they all remarked that Gingerbread men were so thoroughly ingrained into the Betty Crocker culture that no one questioned it. Gingerbread men, like so many of Betty's recipes are like a cultural singalong, we all know these tunes.

Vintage Betty Crocker and Holiday Baking

Have you started your holiday baking yet? Take a look at this vintage recipe from Betty Crocker. Christmas cake recipes are usually eclipsed by Christmas cookie recipes - at least North America. I love this ad of Betty. Not that she is not wearing her traditional red and white! Do you know what the secret ingredient in Chiffon is? If you read Finding Betty Crocker you do.

I was interviewed recently about holiday baking. Read here and here.

Happy Baking this holiday season!

All things Betty

If you love all-thing Betty and the quintessential housewife, you must know about killing hours and hours on pinterest: http://pinterest.com/beelori/vintage-housewife/

You can find me there too: http://pinterest.com/ohsolazysusan/books-i-wrote/

From my Betty Crocker Archives

Betty goes Hollywood in the 1930s with a series of recipe booklets, radio broadcasts and magazine ads.