No worries about artificial things here...1 cup of butter...
Old cook books are worth the price
The couple bucks I gave for them was well worth it. I am going to try the ginger cookies when it's not so fucking hot out and the AC can't keep up.
I really want to know what purpose the "few drops of hot water" serve in the chocolate chip cookies recipe. I have made many a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies in my life but never have I needed a few drops of hot water. There's not a lot of heat energy in such a small amount of water and I cannot figure out what the purpose is for such an ingredient. It won't do anything that I can think of. I must know if there is an actual purpose or if the author was just messing with their readers.
My guess would be to add just a bit of hydration to the dough. "A few drops" could mean anything from just that to a tablespoon of water, depending on your ingredients - a cook would know to keep adding water until the dough gets to a good consistency.
Try heavy cream, or replace some of the water with a tablespoon or two of cream if your recipe calls for more than a dash. That can give your cookies a more praline-like or fudge-like taste.
Stock up on lard for that really authentic flavor and texture!
I've got both grandmothers and my mom's recipes in their own handwriting on their recipe cards, they go back 100+ years. Most say "lard" vs "shortening". Then there are dozens of cookbooks mom had collected from mostly mid-century and on. I need to make an effort to make more of the old family favorites.
Yes. The old books used things you'd commonly have on hand, nothing fake about them.
![Picked up these cookbook pamphlets at an antique store yesterday. [4032x6048 - 3MB]](https://pic8.co/sh/sLPs39.jpg){kind=link}
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