Cooking in Community

collecting community cookbooks and modernizing the recipes

Menu
  • What is a Community Cookbook?
  • Why “Modernize” the Recipes?
  • About Me
  • My Modernized Recipes in Print
  • News & Events
  • Contact Me
Menu

Modernized Recipes

Cookbooks

Christmas Is…Good Things to Eat

Posted on December 21, 2023December 21, 2023 by Rachel Rappaport

Christmas Is…Good Things to Eat A collection of recipes compiled by TORCH Business and Professional Woman’s Club, Danville, Virginia (1976 dated from reference to the bicentennial)

This is a slim cookbook but they fit a lot of recipes on each page. I’m actually not a huge Christmas person but I love single subject cookbooks. This one has a lot of the ususual cookie, appetizer and main dish recipes but also some recipes with descriptions of how to make them even more festive by arranging the ingredients in the shape of a wreath (Elizabeth Hardy’s Christmas Snack Wreath) and the classic cornflake and marshmallow wreath cookies (Ruth Scott’s Christmas Wreath).

Some real classics I don’t see a lot like Anne Branham’s Old-Time Popcorn Balls and Dorothy Walker’s Cranberry Punch were included.

There were some “Last Minute Hostess Gifts” like Letty Shultz’s Potpourri Relish with cauliflower, pimento, olives and celery and a scary “recipe” for “Dancing Mothballs” by Marguerite Motley which was a “pretty–conversation piece not to eat” and involves a brandy snifter, mothballs and vinegar. I truly can’t imagine that.

There were a few historical recipes from the Home Comfort Range Cook Book of 1887 for things like muffins and Letty Shultz contributed a recipe for Mary Ball Washington’s Gingerbread which she says is perfect for the bicentennial (which helped me date the book) and says the recipe was found in a “old worn cookery book” and that “Many descendants of Mary Washington (mother to the president) have this recipe.”. There was also a reference to LBJ which also helped set the date for the book. A lot of these community cookbooks, like this one, have a look thanks to the text and stock illustrations that make them look older than their are so it’s nice to have a clue when they aren’t explicitly dated.

There is even a recipe for Snow Cream (no contributor listed) that calls for SNOW!

Tags: 1970s bookbookChristmas Is...Good Things to Eatcolored inkcommunity cookbookcraft recipescredits sourcesDanville Virginiaentertaining tipshistorical recipesholiday cookbooknamed contributorssingle subject cookbookspiral boundstock images onlyVirginiaVirginia Cookbookwomen’s club cookbook
Category: bookVirginia Cookbook

Post navigation

← Christmas Memories Cookbook
Delights for the Holidays →

I'm a cookbook author and recipe developer collecting community cookbooks from around the US and recreating the recipes so you can make them at home, today.

  • About Me
  • Contact Me
  • My Modernized Recipes in Print
  • News & Events
  • What is a Community Cookbook?
  • Why “Modernize” the Recipes?

Archives

  • June 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023

Categories

  • appetizers and snacks
  • Arizona Cookbook
  • Ark-La-Tex Cookbook
  • Arkansas Cookbook
  • bars
  • beef
  • biscuits
  • blondies
  • book
  • bread
  • Breakfast
  • brownies
  • cake
  • California Cookbook
  • candy
  • casserole
  • coffee cake
  • Colorado Cookbook
  • Connecticut Cookbook
  • cookies
  • crabs
  • Delaware Cookbook
  • Delmarva Cookbook
  • dessert
  • Florida Cookbook
  • Georgia Cookbook
  • Guam Cookbook
  • Hawaii Cookbook
  • ice box dessert
  • Indiana Cookbook
  • International Cookbook
  • Kentucky Cookbook
  • Louisiana Cookbook
  • main dish
  • Maryland Cookbook
  • Massachusetts Cookbook
  • Michigan Cookbook
  • Minnesota Cookbook
  • modernized recipe
  • National Cookbook
  • Nebraska Cookbook
  • New Jersey Cookbook
  • New York Cookbook
  • North Carolina Cookbook
  • Ohio Cookbook
  • Oklaholma Cookbook
  • Oklahoma Cookbook
  • Pasta
  • pasta salad
  • Pennsylvania Cookbook
  • quick bread
  • recipe
  • salad
  • sandwich
  • seafood
  • side dish
  • slow cooker
  • soup
  • Texas Cookbook
  • Unknown Location Cookbook
  • USA Cookbook
  • Virgin Islands Cookbook
  • Virginia Cookbook
  • Washington DC Cookbook
  • Washington State Cookbook
  • West Virginia Cookbook
  • Wisconsin Cookbook

Tags

1960s book 1970s book 1970s recipe 1980s book 1980s recipe 1990s book book church cookbook community cookbook community cookbook recipe contains recipe that was adapted craft recipes credits sources Delaware dessert helpful hints historical recipes illustrated local ads local histories local restaurant recipes Maryland Maryland Cookbook Maryland cookbook recipe modernized recipe mysterious recipe names named contributors no illustrations novelty recipes Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Cookbook photographs politician contributors quippy quotes recipe regional dishes religious organization cookbook spiral bound stock images only undated unnamed contributors Vashon Island Washington State Washington State wild game recipes women’s club cookbook

©2025 Cooking in Community