What Do These 1886 Cookies Taste Like? Jackson Snaps Recipe
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2024
- What Do These 1886 Cookies Taste Like? Jackson Snaps Recipe
Welcome back to the kitchen, friends! Today on the Old Cookbook Show, we're diving into a fascinating recipe from Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cookbook, published in 1886. This cookbook is a treasure trove of classic recipes, and we're trying out "Jackson Snaps," a simple cookie with a delicate lemon flavour. Follow along as we adapt this historic recipe to modern ingredients and methods. From creaming butter and sugar to adding the perfect amount of lemon zest, we navigate the challenges and surprises of vintage baking. Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon for more culinary explorations!
JACKSON SNAPS
I cup of butter
2 cups of Sugar
1 egg
5 cups of flour
I cup of water
Juice and rind of a lemon
Beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar gradually; then add the egg and water ; beat again, then add the four: mix well, roll out, cut with a round cutter, and bake in oven until a light brown
These, like ginger caxes, will keep a long while if shut in a tin box
0:00 Welcome
0:15 Who was Mrs. Rorer
1:15 the recipe
2:55 there will always be errors
4:55 rolling the dough
5:20 2024 is not 1886 - there will be differences
6:42 the tasting
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So I know this comment will pop up today over and over... I halved the recipe, yet I didn't cut the egg in half - yes this is probably the reason the dough was a little sticky and I needed to add more flour. That's part of what I was talking about when I added more flour, I just failed to call it out specifically; though the stickiness could have also been caused by a difference in flour. Also who knows what size egg was called for in the recipe? You also don't know that I used a smaller egg and a little bit less water to compensate.
I often wonder how much wheat and flour have changed over the last few hundred years.
Flour has changed - newer wheat hybrids, are one change. Differences in milling the grain to flour are also at play. You had milling companies in the 1890s touting advancements in milling techniques that produced a finer, lighter flour (SwansDown for eg) and this change continues to this day. Canadian flour is also higher in protein (harder) than it's American equivalent, where lower protein flour seems to be favoured. All of those things have an effect on how the flour soaks up liquid and the resulting dough.
@@RonOhio So many people with wheat sensitivity in the US CAN eat ancient grains. Wheat has been incredibly changed in the US, and to me, it's no longer really a whole food. I've purchased organic whole wheat from a miller who grinds the grain and does not remove anything from it, so it is truly WHOLE grain. Modern whole wheat is milled, the bran and germ are removed, and for "whole wheat flour", are added BACK into the milled product.
@@RonOhio I recently treated myself to 4 different types of small batch, ancient grain, stone milled flours. Some recipes work ok, but most are lacking in moisture, due to the properties of this specific flour. It's been a fun learning curve figuring out how to adapt.
Thanks, I've been wondering about this. It helps to be reminded that reducing other liquid can compensate, if you reduce enough!
I keep telling folks that cooking, like so many things in life, is both an art and a science. And we need a balance of both.😊
thank you it is both you can not have one with out the other
It definitely is both, and I like that.
Roll them a bit thinner and sandwich some raspberry jam between them 😊
great idea
"Tickity Boo"...haven't heard that expression in ages. :D
Had to look it up.
I still use it sometimes.
It's one of my favorite sayings
I only heard it on Call the Midwife on PBS.
These look a lot like the lemon cookies my grandmother used to make here in the UK. She would also make a little lemon curd that we'd spread on top, but boy does that take me back 30 years.
I think I shall be stealing this recipe as I was too young to even bother her about it at the time.
These remind me very much of my grandma’s sugar cookies, too. No water, more butter and sugar and they had to be chilled for an hour before rolling out. I loved the lemon flavor and found other sugar cookies to be bland.
My husband would call those "coffee dunkers". I also agree with you saying that you can play with a baking recipe, my daughters and I do it all the time for a recipe we've never made. We follow the recipe, for the most part, the first time then make our changes. I've done that a lot, especially with my cheesecake recipes.
I do the same thing. Follow the recipe the first time, then make adjustments the next time. It annoys me when people start adjusting the first time they make a recipe and complain "This recipe didn't work for me. I can't eat eggs so I left them out. My son is allergic to nuts, so I left them out."
@@maggiep3263 if you have food allergies, like to eggs and nuts, and you bake often, then you know what substitutes you can use. What would be the point of making a recipe with ingredients that you know you can't eat? How would you be able to taste it and tell how it was supposed to taste? Not to mention the fact that eggs and nuts are relatively easy to find substitutes for in most baking recipes, unless you are allergic to the usual substitutions. If an experienced baker with food allergies makes their usual substitutions (that have always worked before in similar recipes) for one or two ingredients, and the recipe turns out in a way that they didn't expect, then they can question the accuracy of the recipe.
I have told people all my life that my idea of following a recipe is to reading a recipe, and using the listed ingredients. All my I've been told that I'm an excellent cook.
Sometimes it’s good to have a cookie you don’t want to eat multiples of. 😉
possibly instead of adding more flour to compensate, refrigerate the dough like you have to with molasses cookies?
I was thinking the same thing.
The molasses cookies were a hit and didn't last long. Unfortunately for me, it's going to be over 100°F (37.8°C) today, so no baking.
Oh, my. That’s a well-used book!
The cookie page looks like the page in my mom's cookbook for the cake that she used to make the most for our birthdays.
No happy dance for you, Jackson snaps!
I like to call baking an "artful science".. there's usually a surprising amount of leeway in measurements and room for creativity but there is also some basic chemistry and things that are very helpful to know.
It's funny that while i watched the video all i could think about was my mother's recipe for "tapas de alfajores", in Argentina we have something called "alfajores de maicena", those are made with cornstarch instead of flour, but for some reason my mom made them with flour.
As Julie said jam is a good option, here we use "dulce de leche" (i haven't found a good translation for what we have here). Maybe Jackson snaps could be something really great a.k.a the best treat in Argentina haha
dulce de leche is usually translated as... dulce de leche
I might actually give these a try - sometimes I just want a very light cookie, something that's just a little something to have with a cup of tea or coffee but doesn't feel so much like dessert, but also isn't savoury like a nice cracker would be... Very lightly sweetened and with a light lemon flavor actually sounds pretty nice, I'll have to give it a try the next time I'm in a baking mood.
"Baking is a science" always makes me roll my eyes a litte - my mom and aunties freepour a ton, and any "proper" recipes are usually measured by tea glass (the little hourglass shaped ones) and water glass. I once got a recipe that called for X tea glasses of oil, Y water glasses of water, and "flour until you have a dough."
I had a client tell me she spent a week with her mother-in-law actually measuring so she could make some of her husband's childhood favorites. Not only were there cultural differences but she spoke about as much Spanish as her mother-in-law spoke English. Her husband did a lot of translation! And apparently there had been a girlfriend that wasn't willing to do that and they broke up. Maybe that should be a question for premarital counseling?
I don't recall the recipe but i used to make something similar with my grandma when I was little. We used to put the dough into a sausage shape with the diameter being about the biscuit size and wrap in cling film and then put in the fridge. Once chilled down would slice them into biscuits and sprinkle sugar on the top before baking. Where really nice light and lemony.
I think we can all agree 1886 cookies is too many cookies.
Grabbing for another one is promising!
I would sub brown sugar for the white, add a splash of vanilla, not add extra flour, refrigerate the dough before rolling and dust with coarse sugar before baking.
Because of the lemon zest and juice, I would add a splash of lemon extract.
that was a recipe very similar to the ones my grandma would dent with a spoon and drop preserves in and bake
That would be good, we ended up eating them with a little bit of jam.
@@GlenAndFriendsCooking I loved them ❤thank you for the recipe
So this may be a good revisit recipe when you make something you need a cookie with.
Maybe the ginger snaps were why the page is so messy.
Those are interesting results. It looks like it would be fun to play with this recipe.
I was a chef for years. your content is entertaining, mouth-watering, and informative.
Perhaps the lemon rind & juice were supposed to be added to the water, hence the use of water instead of milk. Also, I would expect that the lemons available in 1886 were significantly smaller than the average grocery store lemon of today.
This was my thought too. Top up the lemon juice with water to make a specific total amount of liquid for the recipe. I've seen plenty of recipes that do something similar.
Awesome, Glen! I'll try to get Mrs. B to bake up a batch! Happy landings to you!
I want to give these a whirl! I love lemon desserts.
I don't think I've seen a ginger cookie call for cayenne so those might be interesting as well.
Love your videos Glen!
Definitely adding this concept to my list
Just curious, but when you've got a dough like that, could you put it in the fridge to firm up before trying to roll out?
I think it is a biscuit. Cross section seems to confirm it. Add just enough water to bring together. Do not overmix. This will avoid all the gluten development which is why you see the pull back rolling out.
I think mixing some lemon rind into the sugar for sprinkling on the cookies could add a little something to the cookies.
I was hoping these would be similar to Jackson's Lemon Jumbles. You cousin in Arkansas probably would remember them.
As an Arkansan, I really miss the Jackson Cookie Company.
The Lemon Jumble cookies were 3 cents each or 4 for a dime when I was a kid back in the early 70's.
Their vanilla wafers were the best ever, damn shame they went out of business.
@@roberthunter5059check Stauffer Cookie Lemon Snaps, they have been around a while
Maybe these cookies would make good sandwich cookies. I could see them filled with all sorts of different things. Thanks, Glen.
Thank you….
Love your videos. Many thanks from me in Australia
Always a good thing here when Glen uploads a new video on Sunday night our time.
@@Your.Uncle.AngMoh right!? Perfect bed time viewing!
You’re a wonderful educator, I love all the history lessons.
Cookies are right up my alley. 👍🏼
I'm curious about the Cream Puffs on the next page.
that book has seen a murder or two
"tickity boo" LOVE that phrase :)
Perhaps make jam sandwiche cookies with these ...put some really sweet jam or marmalade in between them....
ooh marmalade would be great!
@@puggirl415 yum!
The way flour was processed was changed. My grandma made the best biscuits, but when they changed the process her biscuits were never the same. Now they've changed the way they process milk. Braums milk now taste like water and several other brands. It would be nice if they would leave processing alone. If its not broke they shouldn't fix it.
In Chile we have a traditional kind of cookie called "mantecado" (which means made from lard ) very simillar to this one , but coated in powder sugar , Id like to think Mrs. Rorer was a celebrity here hahaha
OMG HIII I HAVEN'T SEEN YOUR VIDEOS IN FOREVER I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU 💓💓💓
Maybe the whole egg used in a half batch was the reason why you needed more flour? Haven’t read all of the comments so I might not be the only one to question this. Gonna have to try these this weekend. 😊
I bet they would be delicious used as a base for strawberry shortcake too
No wonder poor Jackson snapped…
Milk always crosses my mind, as well.
To underline the baking point, I would love to see you try and improvise a baking recipe from scratch. It would be fun to see your logic on how you're adding and adjusting things going completely off the top of your head
The lemon juice and rind may have been used for a light glaze for the cookies. Just a thought!
In a recipe like this it would be cool if you did a second version the way you would do it and compaire.
Looks like a pie crust “cookie”. I wonder if her cup maybe meant a teacup of water instead of an actual 8oz cup. Might make a good base for topping like jam or fig or something.
I understand what you're saying - but 'cup' is just a proportion, and the same cup would / should be used throughout the recipe for the butter, flour and sugar. So the proportion would work out. The same recipe could be expressed in 'parts' with no mention of the actual volume.
that would actually make things worse, since the "teacup" measures of water + flour would be proportionally smaller than the size of the egg - you'd wind up with an even wetter dough.
I liked the recipe in that it could be tweaked into something nice. I wonder what changing to milk would do? Thanks for a lovely vid for my Sunday coffee.
Looks like a lower calorie cookie we could enjoy with less guilt. Everything now contains so much sugar. Read the labels. I enjoy your work.
Roll them on confectioners sugar instead of flour?
My guess is the holes in the center are due to little chunks of butter.
Steam on the inside that couldn't escape. He didn't roll them thin enough. Snaps are usually very thin. That's why they "snap". They didn't brown on the top, either, like the recipe said they should. Glen should know by now that when a recipe in an old cookbook lacks directions, you look for the recipe it's a variant of to fill in the blanks. That, and sometimes it was assumed back then that the cook already had some knowledge about certain types of recipes and only specific changes to method would be explained in detail. It saved on printing space. Common sense was more common back in the good ol' days.
Maybe beat the egg and save half for the wash. Swapping milk for water would also help with the browning. Overall, these look like a nice, basic cookie. Thanks!
All of my recipes for 'snaps' either call for rolling thin 1/8 inch, or having a thin dough that spreads in the oven to become thin and crispy. I have a recipe for ginger chips that I should probably slice on a mandolin...
What beater attachment is that for the kitchen aid? Seems way better than the standard one..
It's a flex head beater. There are 2 types, a single rubber down one side for the tilt head machine and dual sided rubbers for the other type.
Glen's using one with a double scraper on a tilt head mixer, and in a glass bowl. But it would be an off-brand since KA only makes the double edge ones only for their stainless steel bowls on their lift bowl mixers which are geared more toward commercial kitchens. The single edge ones leave bigger gaps between contact points that you might still have to scrape by hand.
It's made by: www.beaterblade.com/
@@darnstewart I have both, but they don't scrape the sides very effectively. That's why I am so interested in this one. It seems to do a far better job.
@@GlenAndFriendsCooking thank you very much. Is it as good as it looks? Getting it shipped to Europe will be a bit expensive, but if it really works well, I'll go for it.
Atmospheric moisture absorption of the flower , Modern sizes of eggs and Lemons are huge compared to the past. I can't imagine the clutching of the pearls of you put 'floof" powder in these.
I wonder if cutting back on the water to compensate for the whole egg would have been an option?
Glen.. Would using milk instead of water in the mixing would made a difference in texture and/or flavor? Thanks for the video..
I love your "everything is going to be fine", and adjusting the recipe on the fly because the batter didin't look right. Most of successful kitchen ventures work well because the cook made them work well, sometimes in spite of the recipe. But for this occasion, I suspect all the splatters on the page were there because of anothe recipe on the page and perhaps not this one.
I was thinking brown sugar, vanilla, and orange juice instead of water? Maybe some cinnamon sugar on top? Definitely tea cookies not coffee cookies.
It's possible that milk wasn't used in the original recipe due to risk of mixing acid and dairy together and having the milk curdle. I know that if I don't have fresh milk the risk of it curdling goes way up when I incorporate acid of any sort.
Out curiosity can you make it like ginger snap and do that way? 🤔
This has possibilities...
Did they have while flour in the 1880's? Maybe the flour was more like whole wheat?
'White Flour' has been around / in use since about 3000 BC, limited use and mostly just by the upper classes until the early 1700s when improvements in milling made it more affordable. By the 1870s most mills had moved to a newer milling process making white flour the standard.
I imagine a pinch of salt, as a flavor enhancer, would have made the lemon and the sweetness a bit more pronounced.
Milk in the late 19th century might not have been all that safe without scalding. Maybe these are more of a tea biscuit?
Tickety-boo? 😊
They resemble plain welsh cakes?
They kind of remind me of Welsh cakes
So glad that not every one is a winner!!! Like your prequel in the comment section.
just before serving, top each with a dab of preserves; strawberry or raspberry would be just right for tea
Of course my dumb ass actually thought you'd be munching on 138-year-old cookies you found.
I wonder what the 190th century palate thought of them?
Were this put out in a brick oven?
More likely in an iron wood-fired cook stove.
19th Century cookies tended to be less sweet than our modern cookies. Usually they were served at tea.
It's funny since Glen's wife is always saying to put jam on it. I didn't hear the boom box, I think she was jamming too loud. Just being silly
Written in blood!
I'm relieved to have the confidence to make adjustments on the fly and not expect a disaster because I'm being imprecise. Rigid adherence to recipes actually caused me some avoidable subpar outcomes when I was first learning to bake.
"Snaps" suggests very thin dough.
Maybe the 5 cups of flour included the possibility of having to add more flour to make the dough stiff enough to roll, since she didn't include any instructions.
that's a common way for recipes in this time period to be written - add enough flour to make a stiff dough.
"Tikkity Boo"????
We're curious about the gingersnaps with cayenne!
I put a pinch of cayenne in anything with that warm spice profile. It adds a lovely something. (think carrot cake, molassas cookies, etc)
@@ChurchladyHmm Thanks for the tip -- sounds delicious!
Curious because they're called "snaps" but don't look crispy at all.
First!
You need to get some old fashioned kitchen gadgets if you want it to come out authentically as they would’ve had them. More work but, wow! that be a you tube channel game changer.
I'm really not interested in playing that game; there are plenty of channels where people dress up in period costume, use period tools and there are even some that try to imitate 'Ye Olde Tyme' accents. It's not who I am, and it's all for naught - none of the ingredients available in 2024 are remotely the same as what was available 100 or 200 years ago. About the only ingredient in this recipe that's close is the water... and even that's different.
That splatter on the book looks like mouse blood from a poisoned mouse. I use kill traps for this reason in my library, as well as carpentry to eliminate access. I would use live traps but the several I have tried do not work.
No, no, no! Tweaking and adapting recipes is VERBOTEN! That way we can all go back to eating nuts, berries and raw grass seed!
Feedback for Glen… I watch your channel less each time you make a recipe that doesn’t turn out and you brainstorm next steps that may or may not work.
Perhaps you could indicate this genre in the title? Conversely, run the recipe with the changes and show the improvements. These videos feel unfinished, like a waste of time tbh.