I followed Betty Crocker on Twitter only because Hussie did; it was 3 am and it seemed like a good idea at the time, because who doesn't need delicious baking tips delivered to a social network they rarely use?
I guess I didn't realize just how active Crocker's Twitter team is. I also didn't realize how subservient my family is to the Crocker franchise.
There are a few of my mom's things that I've always hoped to have of my own someday, either handed down or simply my own equally awesome and functional versions of them. One is a huge glass bowl we use for baking, its perfect size and familiar shape are things I don't think I'll find in another bowl. The same can be said of the worn set of wooden spoons, and her cookbooks.
The cookbooks are the best part though. I guess I never invested much thought into the author of the book we've always used for baking, which is naturally Betty Crocker.
The thing about the book I had always noticed was that it wasn't a "Cookie Book" containing all of these cookie recipes we know and loved, but a "Cooky Book". It blew my mom's mind when I asked her at a young age why "cookie" was misspelled on the book... I don't think she'd ever noticed.
Blowing her mind is an overstatement, it was more of a curious acknowledgment.
It's a great book and I highly recommend it if you enjoy baked goods. We make Ethel's Sugar Cookies (p.18) and Gingerbread Boys (p.79) every year for Christmas.
The other cook book, the one that has actual meals in it and not our beloved baked goods recipes, is probably one of, if not the most, treasured heirloom this family has to offer. If there was a fire and it was a choice between that book and the home movies there wouldn't really be a contest - who's going to watch those movies again anyway?
The "book" is a 3" thick black binder full of assorted print-outs over the years for recipes. Some pages are nearly as old as I am (if not older, I'm not very aware of the chronology of the printing process but I believe some were typed up on typewriters). The perforated page edges and yellowing paper on some of the recipes is what interests me. Then there are the more recent entries, added in the last 10 years or so. These are generally printed on recycled paper, something my mom has imposed on us since I knew what a printer was. All paper is recycled. All of it.
This is why many of our recipes can be found on the back of pages that read "CONFIDENTIAL" and document various test results for the manufacturing process of some of my mom's old R&D work. Others are printed opposite of legal documents and the drama that followed my grandmother's death. Some have doodles my sister and I drew, I know there is a crudely drawn Sailor Moon opposite of my favorite Snickerdoodle recipe.
No matter what you're making, there is always something documenting our family's history to look at while you're waiting for the oven to pre-heat. It is our family scrap book.
I do love food and I love that book and I love baking and cooking. I should probably do more of it instead of sitting at the computer all day, but it usually involves going out and buying ingredients.
Don't really want to go outside... goldfish crackers it is.
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