1 lb butter
1 lb sugar
4 each egg
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp soda
1 flour
Directions
Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly; add the eggs one at a time,
beating well after each addition. Dissolve the soda in the cream and
add to the mixture. Sift in flour until dough is stiff enough to
handle. Chill over night. In the morning, roll out thin on floured
board and cut with cookie cutter. Bake at 350-F about 10 minutes.
Source: Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book - Fine Old Recipes, Culinary
Arts Press, 1936.
Servings: 1 servings
Christmas Bisquits Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Christmas; Holiday
The History of Recipes
Recipes as a concept can be traced way back into history, certainly as far as the Egyptians, and quite possibly further than that. In practice though, sadly, these early cookbooks were just very simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for meal preparation.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are some clay tablets in the Sumerian language which recount the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made anyone who tried it feel exhilarated. Progressing into Roman times 25BC a roman called Apicius compiled a few documents detailing recipes prepared by wealthy Romans. He tells us how the meals of wealthy Romans were divided into hors d`oeuvre, entrees and dessert, something that is very familiar to us today. Additionally, he describes how the ancient chefs used many aromatic flavours, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens such as thyme, mint and asafoetida. Continuing our culinary historical journey, there were a couple of cookery books from the fourteenth century ; one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary named `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are a little misleading though, these are nothing to do with the indian food that appears on menues today, but instead accounts of the types of meals on the menues of the rich and wealthy people of that time. Later on, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought us a variety of foods, spices and herbs from middle-east cuisine, including spices like parsley and basil. These new culinary innovations prompted an outbreak in recipe manuscripts, some of which are now in private cookery archives. Over the succeeding few hundred years, the rich and powerful families of Europe competed to lay on the best banquets, and because of this the best chefs and their recipe collections were highly sought after. Notwithstanding that, it wasn`t until the 1800s that haute cuisine and recipe publications rose to prominence. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted their lives to collating, trying out, and recording popular recipes of the day. When we get to the twentieth century, cookery publications are highly popular due to higher levels of literacy, people having increased free time and being a little richer. |
We hope you enjoy this Christmas Bisquits recipe.
