Marguerites Cookbook

A cooking blog all about making vintage recipes from a cookbook we inherited from our grandmother

Fruit Bread

Fruit Bread header

I don’t know about you, but sometimes it definitely makes me feel better to bake. And eat the thing I’ve baked, but that’s besides the point. However, I really enjoyed making this “Fruit Bread” while we are in the depths of winter here in Chicago. It was also a great way to use up any extra candied cherries you might have leftover from making a delicious batch of Christmas cake cookies.

Here’s what Marguerite had to say:

Fruit Bread Recipe

I was really looking forward to making this bread, since our other bread recipes here at Marguerite’s Cookbook have been very successful. I was happy with how the bread turned out, but it sure was a process to get there! First of all, it took quite a while to chop up the candied cherries and they were extremely sticky of course. Then, as you may imagine, four cups of flour and a bunch of nuts and fruits make for a very thick batter. I was exhausted by the time the bread was all mixed together.

Fruit Bread

I did have a little trouble baking this bread. It seemed that when the time was up, the insides where just barely done but the bottom crust got burned a little bit. I suppose I may have put the bread too close to the bottom of the oven. That little issue aside, the fruit bread turned out to be quite tasty. The combination of candied fruit, nuts (we used walnuts), and orange juice added vibrant flavors to an already sweet tasting bread.

Fruit Bread

We both really enjoyed this bread. I’ll probably have some with my morning coffee, but its so sweet this may be more of a dessert bread. This might not be my favorite bread so far, but it is definitely close. I’m looking forward to sharing this with my coworkers, and I’m sure they’ll be happy to see some more delicious food coming into work with me.

Fruit Bread

Fruit Bread
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Fruit Bread
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 loaves 40 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: loaves
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Beat together eggs and sugar.
  3. Sift together dry ingredients and add to eggs and sugar.
  4. Add the oil and orange juice.
  5. Chop the candied fruit and nuts (if not already done).
  6. Fold into batter.
  7. Grease and flour two loaf pans and fill with batter. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.
Share this Recipe
 
Powered byWP Ultimate Recipe

Fourth of July Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint Cookies

Happy Fourth of July Weekend! We hope you’re having a safe and fun one. We happen to be hanging out with our family in Pittsburgh all weekend and maybe sharing a few of these delicious thumbprint cookies with them. Or keeping them all to ourselves…

This recipe happened to be a Christmas staple of Marguerite’s, but there are only so many desserts we can share with you in December. So, we adapted the decor of these thumbprint cookies to be a little more seasonally appropriate.

Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

Aaron and I decided to make the thumbprint cookies with nuts on the outside like Marguerite described, as well as a way we were more familiar with: substituting the nuts for sprinkles (or “jimmies” as we Pittsburghers call them.)

Thumbprint Cookies Prep

We made these cookies twice, both times about 6 with nuts and 8 with sprinkles. The first time we made them, they were so dry! They crumbled in our hands and were not pleasant to eat. The second time, we cut back by about two tablespoons on flour and we used only softened butter instead of a butter/Crisco combo (noted below.) This would have been much better if one of us (we’re not sure whom) hadn’t bumped the oven during the thumbprinting step! Somehow it got turned up to 425 and our cookies had burned bottoms when we removed them. The third time is the charm I suppose?

Thumbprint Cookies with nuts

The nut version of the cookies were good. I’m not a huge fan of nuts, but the sugar off-set them nicely. I wish we had put an almond in the center of the nut cookies, but I was sort of on a roll with the piping bag…

Thumbprint Cookies

The sprinkle versions were amazing! Aaron, his cousin Kiersten, and myself all have fond memories of our childhood in a Pittsburgh grocery store called Giant Eagle. Whenever your parents dragged you in with them, you could always count on the friendly people behind the bakery and deli counters to give your adorable self a free slice of American cheese and a free thumbprint cookie, just for being a cute kid. This recipe definitely got me nostalgic for those days, especially with the substitution of sprinkles for nuts.

Thumbprint Cookies

Not only are thumbprint cookies a classic, but they’re so adaptable for any time of the year. Halloween? Black and orange sprinkles! Valentines day? Pink and red icing! The possibilities are endless.

Thumbprint Cookies

Tell us, are you making anything fun for the holiday weekend?

Fourth of July Thumbprint Cookies
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1-2 dozen 15 minutes
Cook Time
10-12 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1-2 dozen 15 minutes
Cook Time
10-12 minutes
Fourth of July Thumbprint Cookies
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
1-2 dozen 15 minutes
Cook Time
10-12 minutes
Servings Prep Time
1-2 dozen 15 minutes
Cook Time
10-12 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: dozen
Instructions
  1. Mix butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg yolk thoroughly.
  2. Sift flour and salt together and stir in. Stir in a little at a time to ensure cookies don't get too dry.
  3. Roll into one inch balls.
  4. Dip in slightly beaten egg white. Roll in finely chopped nuts.
  5. Place about one inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for five minutes. Remove from oven.
  6. Quickly place thumb gently on top of each cookie. Return to oven and bake 5-8 more minutes. Cool.
  7. Place in thumbprints a bit of candied fruit, jelly, or tinted powdered sugar icing.
Share this Recipe
 
Powered byWP Ultimate Recipe

Sunburst Gelatin Dessert

Gelatin Dessert

In Marguerite’s cookbook, this Sunburst Gelatin Dessert is titled “Sunburst Salad.” In fact, there are a lot of recipes titled “salad” in her cookbook, none of which ever include anything close to lettuce. I’d say 99% of the recipes with the word “salad” in the title involve gelatin and a trove of other bad-for-your-waistline-good-for-your-soul ingredients. After flipping through the book many times, only one salad actually involving lettuce was found.

That being said, this “salad” was delicious.

Here is what Marguerite had to say:Sunburst Recipe

An entire pint of ice cream that I didn’t get to eat on it’s own is a tragedy, but this gelatin dessert was so delicious, so I’ll cope. The fruit made it feel healthy and the ice cream gave the gelatin a very mousse-y texture. Very summery, very yum.

Sunburst Gelatin Dessert

According to Aaron’s mother (Marguerite’s daughter), this was a popular bridge club snack. Aaron remembers seeing this and similar desserts at many family affairs as well. According to him, she would make this gelatin dessert for the adults and then make plain Jello for the kids. Because a 7 year old Aaron only wanted plain cherry Jello and LEGOs. Actually, that’s all 28 year old Aaron wants…

Gelatin Dessert

We couldn’t find any apricot gelatin, so we subbed peach flavored instead. Aaron’s not a fan of peach, but he didn’t really mind it with all the other fun stuff thrown in.

This was one of those recipes that had a lot of variations in her book, many of which we’ll be trying some other time on this blog. By “variations” I mean “other salads.” It also was something I could actually see us making and enjoying on a regular basis and would be a great thing to bring to a party. Seriously, I’m shocked none of our friends invite us over just to make them all the delicious things we share on this blog.

Sunburst Gelatin

Sunburst Gelatin Dessert
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6-8 10 minutes
Passive Time
2 hours
Servings Prep Time
6-8 10 minutes
Passive Time
2 hours
Sunburst Gelatin Dessert
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
6-8 10 minutes
Passive Time
2 hours
Servings Prep Time
6-8 10 minutes
Passive Time
2 hours
Ingredients
Servings:
Instructions
  1. Use apricot juice and orange juice to make 1 cup of juice.
  2. Dissolve gelatin in 1 cup of boiling water.
  3. Quarter the apricots. Then add apricots, oranges, nuts, and fruit juice.
  4. Fold in ice cream.
  5. Pour in mold (or individual cups) and refrigerate until firm.
Share this Recipe
 
Powered byWP Ultimate Recipe