Vintage Eats Recipe:  1911 Sweet Milk Waffles

In honor of International Waffle Day, I’m offering you the oldest waffles you may ever eat!

Actually, it’s a recipe for the oldest waffles you’ll probably ever eat.

And they are delicious!

I have to admit, I had my doubts. Early attempts to re-create recipes of the 20^th century have not always had much taste or looked appetizing, but these did well.

They rose beautifully in my mini-waffle iron and tasted scrumptious.

I found this recipe in a 1911 cookbook -it’s more like a pamphlet– called Aristos Flour Cook Book. It has an attractive dark green cover with a picture of a little girl feeding a large red turkey.

The turkey represents the Red Turkey Wheat Flour Company that was based in Kansas City, Missouri.

The cookbook was printed by The Southwestern Milling Co, Inc. also based in that city.

On the inside cover of this 32-page, staple-bound book is printed “Aristos Recipes Kitchen Wisdom.”

The ‘wisdom’ comes from the few pages at the beginning of the book that give pastry hints, such as “Aristos Flour makes a better and more tasty filling for pies than corn starch and can be just as easily used if the flour and sugar are always well blended to insure against lumps.”

The index is full of recipes that we would expect from a flour company – bread, cake, muffins.

The Kansas City Public Library has detailed information about the Aristos Flour Company that no longer exists.

This is a sweet little book with some wear that I protect in its own plastic sleeve as I do my other very old cookbooks. They are then stored in a magazine holder for further protection. I don’t want them to get damaged by the large cookbooks on my other shelves. Any book 100+ years old deserves respect!

I have no idea where I found it, but I’m glad it’s part of my collection. You can expect to see other recipes from these century-old books in upcoming posts!

Having flipped through the Aristos volume (hardly) recently, I knew I wanted to offer you a recipe from its contents.

International Waffle Day seemed the perfect opportunity!

Note:

The recipe name uses the term “sweet milk.”

As a former dairy farmer’s wife, I might have an idea what this refers to.

Farmers in the distant past would allow their milk to sit to allow the butterfat or cream to rise to the top. It would then be skimmed off and used for butter or whipping cream.

I’m guessing the creator of this recipe wanted the cook to dip into that cream to make these waffles thicker and richer. As I only purchase skim milk, I didn’t have any cream. But I had coconut milk which I used half and half for the recipe. It was a delicious result.

The cost of this recipe is minimal — mostly the money we’re putting into eggs! With just a little effort you can make a yummy meal together in 30 minutes!

See My Notes at the end for other 21^st century tips.

Enjoy!

**

Aristos Sweet Milk Waffles

1 egg, separated

1 cup sweet milk

 1- ¼ cup Aristos flour

1- ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons melted butter (I tried plant-based butter– it was great!)

Beat egg yolk until light.

Add sweet milk.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together.

Add to egg mixture, beating hard for one minute.

Add melted butter.

Mix well.

Add stiffly beaten egg white.

Bake on well-greased waffle iron.

If waffle dough is not stiff enough, the waffles will sink after they come from irons.

My Notes:

1. I could not stiffly beat my egg white so after attempting to do so for 2 minutes, I just poured it into the mix. As you can see, they turned out fine.
2. The last comment about the waffle dough not being stiff enough baffles me. I have to think it depended more on the waffle iron used at the time.
3. Actually the waffle iron usage also confuses me. Have you seen a waffle iron from this era? How did they heat the waffle iron without electricity? I’ve not so this is something to keep an eye out for in museums.

 **

Vintage Find of the Week

If you’ve not discovered by now, I love gingham-checked material, especially on aprons! The material gives such a homey touch. The cross-stitched design on the front with a dark purple touch emphasizes the owner’s preference for wearing something pretty while preparing her meals.