Stress-free study break snacks that won't break the bank

This school year we are featuring recipes from cookbooks located in the UW-Stout Archives Special Collections. The Special Collections are older, more rare, or Stout related books that were originally located in the UW-Stout Library’s main stacks collection. This past year we added a wealth of cookbooks to the special collections, and I scoured the shelves to find new recipes to try that would make cooking from home fun, affordable, and easy.

Calling all Blue Devils! Create some easy and delicious end-of-semester study break snacks from the Better Homes and Gardens Microwave Cookbook, 1976, TX832 .M47 1976. This cookbook provides tips and tricks for cooking and baking time saving recipes with your microwave. Most recipes use just the microwave, or a combo of the microwave, oven, or stovetop. Learning to cook a variety of recipes with a microwave can be a useful skill, especially if you are a college student without ready access to a stovetop or oven. You can still find this cookbook on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Homes-Gardens-Microwave-Cook/dp/0696010356

Look for more fun recipes and cooking tips on the Better Homes and Gardens website: https://www.bhg.com/recipes/

Spiced Honeyed Cider, p. 15

In a 4-cup glass measure cup mix 3 cups apple cider or apple juice, 1 tbsp. honey, ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg. Micro-cook, uncovered, till hot, about 6-7 minutes. Serve in mugs. Dot with butter. Makes 4 (6 ounce) servings.

 

Scotch Crunchies, p. 51

1 6-ounce package butterscotch pieces (1 cup)

1 6-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate pieces or imitation

1 3-ounce can chow mien noodles

1 cup tiny marshmallows or raisins

In large glass bowl place butterscotch and chocolate pieces. Micro-cook, uncovered, till melted, about 2 ½ minutes; stir after each minute. Stir in noodles and marshmallows or raisins. Drop by teaspoon onto waxed paper. Chill, if desired. Makes about 3 dozen.

The spiced honeyed cider and scotch crunchies are just the ticket to warm you up and give you the energy boost you need to keep studying for end-of-semester exams. You can use a variety of ingredients, and cut in half or double batch, to create your own version of these treats. For the cider, I used Pepin Heights apple cider. Instead of separate cinnamon and nutmeg, I used about 1 tsp. Cinnamon Plus spice blend, by Pampered Chef, which includes a variety of spices mixed together, perfect for baking, apple treats, hot drinks, and more. I did not dot my cider with butter. I think you could use as little or as much for spices as you want, and keep or omit the honey, depending on your taste preferences.  

Cider ingredients: Apple Cider, Cinnamon Plus spice blend, honey

For the scotch crunchies, I used a ½ bag of butter scotch chips, a ½ bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup mini-marshmallows, and 1 cup straight pretzels, which I broke in half. I could not find chow mien noodles at the grocery store.  After melting and mixing the ingredients together, I used a muffin scooper to scoop onto a baking sheet layered with parchment paper. This recipe is similar to the “Haystacks” recipe by Betty Crocker. With this recipe, I think you could make as little or as much as you want, and use any combination of sweet and salty treats you like to mix together, such as cereal, Teddy Grahams, or candy, like M&M's. These treats would pair great with the Cheddar Cheesy popcorn recipe we posted last week. Bon Appetit!  

Scotch Crunchie ingredients: marshmallows, chips, pretzels

Lining up the ingredients

Mixing the ingredients and getting ready to scoop onto parchment paper

The finished scotch crunchies

The scotch crunchies pair well with a steaming cup of apple cider!

If you want to try a similar recipe to Scotch Crunchies, but using the stovetop, check out Stout’s Favorites cookbook, 1955, via the Internet Archive:

Unbaked Oatmeal Drop Cookies, p. 26: https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesFirstEdition/page/n27/mode/2up

Try Betty Crocker’s White Chocolate Haystacks, using the microwave, from bettycrocker.com: https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/white-chocolate-haystacks/d3e902da-efba-4bc6-a669-bed1742f6152

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

Easy Peasy--Cheddar Cheesy Popcorn

The end of fall semester is a rush to finish projects and prepare for final exams. At the same time, much of the outside world is celebrating the holidays with cheerful decorations and decadent treats. 

This cheddar popcorn will help you accomplish the dual purpose of fueling yourself through project stress and treating yourself to something festive.

This recipe comes from The Boy's Cook Book, which was published in 1959 as a specialty cookbook for adolescent boys. It promised its readers that "once word gets around that you can turn out really superior chow, you'll be a hero, and that's no joke!"

 

This modded popcorn recipe starts with a popping a standard pan of popcorn. The book recommended a traditional method of cooking over hot campfire coals, or barring that, a pan on the stovetop. It noted that the popping kernels will "sound like a battery of tiny machine guns." Since we knew that our popcorn was about to receive a heavy dose of butter and cheese, we opted to airpop our batch. 

Like many twentieth century recipe books, The Boy's Cookbook did not denote how much of each ingredient to use. Instead, it gave really basic instructions. 

We made our best guesses on the amounts for melted butter and shredded cheddar, and we tossed them quickly on the hot popcorn to ensure even melting. In the end, we definitely overdid it with the butter in our quest to assist with melting the shredded cheddar. Luckily, that problem is easily resolved by adding additional hot popcorn. We ended up popping an additional batch, and then the cheese and butter toppings were balanced just right.

In the end, we were rewarded with a melty, savory treat that could easily fuel a late night study session or make the latest streaming holiday movie feel just that much more festive. If you're looking for a simple and festive pick me up, this snack will definitely do the trick.

Gear up for the holiday season with this 4-ingredient Peach Petal Pie

This school year we are featuring recipes from cookbooks located in the UW-Stout Archives Special Collections. The Special Collections are older, more rare, or Stout related books that were originally located in the UW-Stout Library’s main stacks collection. This past year we added a wealth of cookbooks to the special collections, and I scoured the shelves to find new recipes to try that would make cooking from home fun, affordable, and easy.

Have fun replicating this easy 4-ingredient Peach Petal Pie for the upcoming holiday season, from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Souvenir Edition, 1965, TX715 .B487. This cookbook features recipes from the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen from ca. 1945-1965. It is a one-stop shop for planning, prepping, cooking, and entertaining. It was designed as a binder cookbook divided into categories with helpful side tabs, for example: Meal-Planning and nutrition, desserts, canning and freezing, casseroles and one-dish meals, outdoor cooking, and table settings and entertaining.

Take a closer look at this cookbook on the In the Vintage Kitchen Shop website: https://shopinthevintagekitchen.com/products/better-home-and-gardens-new-cook-book-1965-souvenir-edition-gold-binder

Look for more fun recipes and cooking tips on the Better Homes and Gardens website: https://www.bhg.com/recipes/

Peach Petal Pie, p. 232

Heat 1 No. 2 can (2 ½ cups) peach-pie filling and pour into 8 inch pie plate. Overlap about ten ¼ inch slices refrigerated slice and bake sugar cookies around edge of pie plate. Sprinkle cookies with mixture of 1 teaspoon sugar, dash of cinnamon. Bake at 350* about 35-40 minutes or till cookie are done. Serve warm in sauce dishes with ice cream. Makes 5 servings.

 

This peach pie does not require much assembly prep. In fact, it does not even require a pre-made pie crust! All you need is a can of peach-pie filling to pour into a pie plate (or a round cake pan like I used), one tube of refrigerated bake and slice sugar cookies that you cut and place around the top edge of the pie, and mix together 1 teaspoon sugar and about ½ teaspoon cinnamon to sprinkle on top of the cookie slices. As the pie baked, the sugar cookies expanded towards the middle of the pan and created a pie crust along the top of the pie. This peach pie is delicious as dessert, but also warmed up for breakfast with granola sprinkled on top. The presentation of this pie is sure to impress this holiday season.  Bon Appetit!  

My 4 ingredients: Peach Pie filling, Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, and a sugar/cinnamon mix

The pie, ready to go in the oven

The finished pie. The cookie slices expanded toward the middle as they baked to create a top crust!

If you are looking for other pie recipes to try for the upcoming holiday season, check out these recipes from our Stout’s Favorites cookbooks, available via the Internet Archive:

Pecan Pie, Stout’s Favorites, p. 43:

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesFirstEdition/page/n45/mode/2up

Mint Dazzler, Stout’s Favorites, 2^nd ed., p. 38:

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n39/mode/2up

Honey Chocolate Cream Pie, Stout’s Favorites, 2^nd ed., p. 84:

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n89/mode/2up

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

Celebrate Autumn with 6-ingredient Soup-kettle Supper

This school year we are featuring recipes from cookbooks located in the UW-Stout Archives Special Collections. The Special Collections are older, more rare, or Stout related books that were originally located in the UW-Stout Library’s main stacks collection. This past year we added a wealth of cookbooks to the special collections, and I scoured the shelves to find new recipes to try that would make cooking from home fun, affordable, and easy.

What better way is there to enjoy a crisp Autumn day than by cooking an easy and hearty soup recipe. Try 6-ingredient Soup-kettle Supper from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Souvenir Edition, 1965, TX715 .B487. This cookbook features recipes from the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen from ca. 1945-1965. It is a one-stop shop for planning, prepping, cooking, and entertaining. It was designed as a binder cookbook divided into categories with helpful side tabs, for example: Meal-Planning and nutrition, desserts, canning and freezing, casseroles and one-dish meals, outdoor cooking, and table settings and entertaining. 

Take a closer look at this cookbook on the In the Vintage Kitchen Shop website: https://shopinthevintagekitchen.com/products/better-home-and-gardens-new-cook-book-1965-souvenir-edition-gold-binder

Look for more fun recipes and cooking tips on the Better Homes and Gardens website: https://www.bhg.com/recipes/

Soup-kettle Supper, p. 224

1 can condensed cream of vegetable soup

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 can condensed onion soup

1 ½ cups milk

1 12 ounce can (1 ½ cups) whole kernel corn

1 4 ounce can Vienna sausage

Mix soups together; stir in milk and corn. Slice sausage links in coins, add. Cover and heat slowly, stirring occasionally till soup comes just to boiling. Makes 6 servings.

This soup recipe is pretty straight forward – basically dump everything into your pot, stir, and heat on the stove. I think you could make as little or as much as you want – use only half the ingredients or double the batch. I also think sizes of cans for some ingredients are made bigger now than back in the 1950s-1970s, there are more varieties to choose from, and some ingredients are not made anymore, as I have learned the past few years in my archives recipe cooking journey. For this recipe I used a 15 ounce can of corn vs. a 12 ounce can, and I did not find a can of Vienna sausage in my brief search at the grocery store. I used a 12-ounce Hillshire Farm ring of Beef Smoked Sausage that I cut up, that just needed to be heated up to serve. I also do not cook often with canned ingredients – the items mixed together looked a little random and weird together. Once the soup was mixed together and heated, it did taste pretty good. I would suggest adding a little seasoning for taste and color – the soup looks a little on the beige side – but don’t let that scare you from tasting it! Happy Cooking! 

Prepping the 6 ingredients

If you are looking for other tasty soup recipes to try, check out these Potato soup and Chili recipes from our Stout’s Favorites cookbooks, available via the Internet Archive:

Potato Soup, Stout’s Favorites, p. 34:

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesFirstEdition/page/n35/mode/2up

Country Potato Soup, Stout’s Favorites, 2^nd ed., p. 34:

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n35/mode/2up

Chili, Stout’s Favorites, 2^nd ed., p. 29:

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n29/mode/2up

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

8 minutes till cake time!

This school year we are featuring recipes from cookbooks located in the UW-Stout Archives Special Collections. The Special Collections are older, more rare, or Stout related books that were originally located in the UW-Stout Library’s main stacks collection. This past year we added a wealth of cookbooks to the special collections, and I scoured the shelves to find new recipes to try that would make cooking from home fun, affordable, and easy.

The apple season is upon us and what better way to celebrate than with a delicious Apple Spice Cake from the Better Homes and Gardens Microwave Cookbook, 1976, TX832 .M47 1976. This cookbook provides tips and tricks for cooking and baking time saving recipes with your microwave. Most recipes use just the microwave, or a combo of the microwave, oven, or stovetop. Learning to cook a variety of recipes with a microwave can be a useful skill, especially if you are a college student without ready access to a stovetop or oven. You can still find this cookbook on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Homes-Gardens-Microwave-Cook/dp/0696010356

Look for more fun recipes and cooking tips on the Better Homes and Gardens website: https://www.bhg.com/recipes/

 

Apple Spice Cake, p. 48

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup butter or margarine, softened

1 egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

2 tart medium apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (2 cups)

Crumb topping (Mix ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup all-purpose flour, and ½ tsp. ground cinnamon. Cut in 2 tbsp. butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs.)

Whipped cream

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg; beat well. Stir flour with baking powder, spices, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk; beat after each addition. Spread in greased and floured 8 x ½ inch round baking dish. Arrange apples over batter; sprinkle with Crumb Topping. Micro-cook, uncovered, about 7 minutes, giving dish a quarter turn every 2 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Cut in wedges; top with whipped cream.

I was skeptical at first about baking a cake in the microwave, and wondering if the cake would bake all the way through, but it really worked. This recipe is pretty straight forward. I used Honey Crisp apples, and I did cut 2 apples, but it was a little over 2 cups. You can judge how many apple slices you want to put on your cake. My apple slices were layered 2 or 3 high. To save money on spices, I used McCormick’s Ground Allspice, which I already had, versus buying ground ginger and cloves. When making the crumb topping, I suggest using cold and not softened butter, or you will have a big, goopy mess on your hands (I literally did). The recipe says to cook the cake about 7 minutes, but I did 8 minutes total. I suggest cooking the cake 8-9 minutes, or by judgement on how it looks. My baking dish fit on the microwave turn plate, so I didn’t turn my dish every 2 minutes, like it says in the recipe. I give this recipe 2 thumbs up, and highly recommend topping it with whip cream or ice cream. As Mr. Food would say, "Ooh! It's so good!"

The batter is ready

The apple slices and crumb topping

Into the microwave it goes

Finished dessert, hot out of the microwave

It's delicious with whip cream. "Ooh! It's so good!"

If you want to try similar apple cake recipes, but baked in the oven, check out Stout’s Favorites 2^nd Edition cookbook, 1958, via the Internet Archive:

Raw Apple Cake, p. 58: https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n61/mode/2up

Apple Crumble, p. 65: https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n69/mode/2up

Spice Cake (without the apples), p. 62: https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n65/mode/2up

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

Roadtrip your way through History: Rock Falls Raceway Edition

 

Many of you may watch the Daytona 500 or the Indy 500, but does anyone watch the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals? Discover the fun of Drag Racing, where two competitors drive down a straight 1/8th or 1/4 mile track and balance speed, force, and reaction times to see who will be the winner. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) has drag strips all over the U.S. that people can race at, and some are close to home in Brainerd, MN; Cedar Falls, Iowa; and Rock Falls, WI. Rock Falls Raceway, a short 30 minute drive from Menomonie, has operated as a race track since 1969, when it was originally called Amber Green Dragways and owned by Dr. Frank. In 1979, the track was sold to drag racer Al Corda and renamed Rock Falls Raceway. In 2015, Corda sold the track to Jim Greenheck, owner of CTech Manufacturing.

Amber Green Tower and Starting line, ca. 1970s

      

       

Amber Green staging lanes, ca. 1970s

Rock Falls Raceway is a Division 5 track in NHRA’s West Central Division. The track is also part of the Midwest Drag Racing Association (MDRA), and individual racers can sign up to be MDRA members. Racing at the track usually occurs on the weekends from the end of April to the end of October, with a variety of races for everyone: Test Days for anyone to see what their vehicle can do, racing to win money or trophies, Muscle Cars, trucks, Sport Compact, Motorcycles, High School Racing, Jr. Dragsters, Bracket Racing, etc. Discover a schedule and racing info. Here: https://www.rockfallsraceway.com/ 

Rock Falls Raceway Flyer, 1987

There are a few ways to reach the racetrack from Menomonie: Drive South out of town on UW-12 E towards HWY 29, turn Right onto HWY E, turn right onto Hwy H, cross the Chippewa River and turn right onto State Hwy 85 at Caryville. In Caryville turn left onto 190^th Ave, drive about a mile and turn right onto 1000^th St. and the track is at the top of the hill. You can also get to the racetrack via Cty Rd J, to Cty Rd C, and turn right onto Cty Rd H to Caryville. Or take Hwy WI-25 S towards Downsville, to Cty Rd C, to Cty Rd H to Caryville.

My dad, John Hatfield, has been spectating and racing at the racetrack since the 1970s. Growing up, I spent many summer weekends spectating and being pit crew for my dad, and I have worked at Rock Falls Raceway since 2005. My dad, along with many other racers who race at the track, have a great knowledge and passion for racing, working on cars, and perfecting their craft. The racetrack has gone through many physical and operational changes over the past 50 years, as technology and racing standards have changed. Below are racing time cards, ca. 1970s-1980s. Currently, they are computer print outs that print out at the end of the racetrack.

                    

Staging lanes, only one black top lane, ca. 1970s-1980s

Front of staging lanes, all blacktop surface, 2015

Starting line, with new concrete barriers, photo taken from previous spectator side, 2019

John Hatfield sitting in burnout box, next in line to stage at the Christmas tree

There are also car enthusiasts and car clubs at UW-Stout that love to work on and drive cars, and that have raced at Rock Falls Raceway in the past. From 1969-1979, the Northern Pine Corvettes was a club for people interested in corvettes and cars in general. Around 1977, it was renamed Stout Street Machines and in September 1979 it merged with the Stout Antique Auto Club. The archives has a small collection for the Northern Pine Corvettes, Stout Series 38, with Articles of Incorporation, membership lists, their newsletter “Around the Corner,” event information, and newsletters received from other area corvette clubs.

The UW-Stout Auto Club, previously the Stout Antique Auto Club, founded in 1966-1967, is a current club on campus. They sponsor a car show every school year, attend car shows and swap meets, work on their cars, and raise money for charity.

                           

Stoutonia, Oct. 22, 1987, p. 15

                                                                                   

Stoutonia, Sept. 22, 2005, p. 6

Check out UW-Stout Auto Club’s Annual car show on October 3^rd, 9am-2:30pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/513573972639153/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22search_results%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22search%22%7D]%7D

Drag racing + Area History. What could be better? Check out Rock Falls Raceway. 

A little slice of racing action: John Hatfield making a pass down the track, Oct. 2019

Photographs and fliers courtesy of John Hatfield, long-time spectator and drag racer at Amber Green Dragways/Rock Falls Raceway

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

Additional Sources:

NHRA: https://www.nhra.com/nhra ;  https://www.nhra.com/about-nhra 

NHRA’s Racing 101 article: https://www.nhra.com/nhra-101

Al Corda April 22, 2020, podcast interview (previous Rock Falls track owner and long time drag racer) by The Class Racing Podcast with Aaron and Chuck: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/classracing/episodes/2020-04-22T11_37_21-07_00

Rock Falls Raceway Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/RockFallsRaceway  

Amber Green Dragways – Eau Claire, WI Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/651525141556117

UW-Stout Auto Club Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/12924095789

Stoutonia articles via the Internet Archive:

Sept. 22, 2005, p. 6: https://archive.org/details/StoutoniaVolume96/page/n25/mode/2up?q=auto+club

Oct. 20, 2005, p. 6: https://archive.org/details/StoutoniaVolume96/page/n85/mode/2up?q=auto+club

April 5, 1984, p. 5: https://archive.org/details/StoutoniaVolume74/page/n571/mode/2up?q=auto+club

Oct. 22, 1987, p. 15 (Stout Auto Club racing at Rock Falls Raceway): https://archive.org/details/StoutoniaVolume78/page/n169/mode/2up?q=auto+club

Aril 21, 1988, p. 4: https://archive.org/details/StoutoniaVolume78/page/n591/mode/2up?q=auto+club

 

Dunn County News Articles (via the Menomonie Public Library):

April 13, 1988, p. 4, UW-Stout Antique Auto Club auto show and swap meet at Dunn County Rec Park, featuring Al Corda’s NHRA Winston Stock world champion drag car (owner of Rock Falls Raceway): https://menomoniepubliclibrary.newspapers.com/image/542953960/?terms=rock%2Bfalls%2Braceway

Oct. 25, 1995, front page, “New Program lets kids ‘beat the heat’: https://menomoniepubliclibrary.newspapers.com/image/542411791/?terms=rock%2Bfalls%2Braceway

Bake Coffee Cake like Betty Crocker!

This school year we are featuring recipes from cookbooks located in the UW-Stout Archives Special Collections. The Special Collections are older, more rare, or Stout related books that were originally located in the UW-Stout Library’s main stacks collection. This past year we added a wealth of cookbooks to the special collections, and I scoured the shelves to find new recipes to try that would make cooking from home fun, affordable, and easy.

I recreated an easy 5-ingredient coffee cake from Betty Crocker’s Guide to Easy Entertaining, 1959, TX731 .B47x. This cookbook provides easy tips and tricks about hospitality, hosting a party, and recipes to make and how to prepare for different occasions such as brunches, dinners, and parties. You can still find this cookbook and other vintage Betty Crocker cookbooks on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crockers-Guide-Entertaining-Facsimile/dp/0470386266

Learn more about the history of Betty Crocker on the Betty Crocker website: https://www.bettycrocker.com/betty-crocker-kitchens

Butter-Ball Coffee Cake, p. 158, from the Brunch Section

2 cans Betty Crocker Bisquick Refrigerated Biscuits

¼ cup butter, melted

¾ cup sugar

1 tbsp. cinnamon

¼ cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 375*. Grease a 9” round layer pan. Separate biscuits and dip in melted butter, then coat each entirely with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Place 15 biscuits around the outer part of the pan, overlapping to make a circle. Overlap remaining 5 biscuits to fill center. Pour remaining butter over. Sprinkle with chopped nuts. Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to stand 5 minutes before serving. The rich, buttery biscuits break apart easily.

I believe this coffee cake could be a good addition for the upcoming holiday season, at home as a side dish or dessert with dinner, or as a special sweet treat. The recipe calls for 2 cans of Betty Crocker Bisquick Refrigerated Biscuits. I don’t know if these are manufactured anymore, but try Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits, or I used Food Club Buttermilk refrigerated biscuits, 10 in each tube. To prep the coffee cake, I created an assembly line, like you would to coat fish or chicken with breading to fry or cook it. I used a pair of tongs to dip the biscuits in a glass measuring cup of melted butter, coated the biscuits in a bowl of the sugar/cinnamon mixture, and then placed the biscuits in a 9-inch round cake pan (I think any baking dish could work) starting on the outer circle and finishing in the middle, and sprinkled with pecan pieces at the end. This recipe is delicious, easy to make, and sure to impress. Bon Appetit!

Ingredients: 2 cans biscuits, pecan pieces, butter, and cinnamon/sugar mixture

Setting up my prep. assembly line

The finished coffee cake. The presentation is sure to impress anyone!

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives

Celebrate National Strawberry Month with a sweet UW-Stout inspired recipe

Happy National Strawberry Month! I am kicking off May with recreating an easy 5 ingredient sweet treat that is sure to please, Strawberry Pie, which I first made last April 2019, from Stout’s Favorites 2^nd edition cookbook, p. 81, via the Internet Archive at

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n87/mode/2up

Strawberry Pie, Stout's Favorites 2nd ed., p. 81

The cookbook was published by the Home Economics Club of Stout State College, 1958, featuring favorite recipes of faculty and students, and "dedicated to all those people who enjoy preparing and eating good food.” The recipe was submitted by Darlene Anderson, a freshman during the 1958-59 school year and a member of the Tower Yearbook staff.

Cooking tips: I used a premade 10-inch Food Club graham cracker pie crust (versus making a pie crust) to make this a 5-ingredient pie! To make this recipe really simple you could use a pre-made 9 or 10-inch pie crust vs. making your own, thaw frozen pre-sliced strawberries vs. washing and cutting fresh strawberries, and use ready-made Cool whip vs. whipping cream. Even with using a 10-inch pie crust I had strawberry pie filling left over, which tastes great on its own.

The ingredients: 10 inch pie crust; frozen, pre-sliced unsweetened strawberries; milk; whipping cream; marshmallows

Cooking in action: measuring strawberries, whipping the cream, getting marshmallows ready to melt in my double boiler on the stove

What the melted milk and marshmallows look like

The finished pie. Bon Appetit! 

My biggest obstacle with this recipe, as with a lot of recipes I have made from the two Stout’s Favorites cookbooks over the years, is making sure to convert my measurements from the recipe before I go shopping, to match how ingredients are measured and sold in the present day. For this recipe, a ½ pound of marshmallows equals 8 ounces, so I used ½ of my 16 oz. bag of Kraft Jet Puffed marshmallows. 1 quart of strawberries = 4 cups or about 28 ounces. I bought two 14 oz. bags of frozen pre-sliced strawberries, which equals 28 ounces. I used about 1 ¾ bags of strawberries. With the amount of pie filling this recipe makes, you could make two 9-inch pie crusts, or put the leftover mix into cups and top with whip cream like I did. If you buy whipping cream and whip it yourself, they come in ½ pint containers, or you can use ready-made Cool Whip. For some recipes, it depends on how much you want to make so you could use more or less of some ingredients if you wanted. Some recipes are more open to interpretation, because the person who provided the recipe didn’t provide step-by-step instructions, which many recipes have today.

If you want to try similar strawberry recipes I have made in the past, try Mile High Dessert, p. 83 of Stout’s Favorites 2^nd ed., made in April 2016: 

https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesSecondEdition/page/n89/mode/2up

 and Virginia Strawberry Supreme, p. 31 of Stout’s Favorites, made in April 2018:  https://archive.org/details/StoutsFavoritesFirstEdition/page/n33/mode/2up

If you want to try whipping your own whip cream, I really like using my Pampered Chef Whipped Cream Maker:  https://www.pamperedchef.com/shop/Bakeware/Pastry+%26+Baking+Tools/Whipped+Cream+Maker/1461

This is the perfect treat to eat on a warm spring day. Bon Appetit!

By: Julie Hatfield, Archives Assistant, UW-Stout Archives