So way back in 1986 I had a bridal shower. At the shower, my cousin Charlott gave me this cook book….It’s a Betty Crocker New and Revised Edition with Microwave Recipes. (aren’t you so glad they gave up on microwave recipes??)
Anyway..that book has been a staple of the Kramer family….baking powder biscuits have been made and made and made using this recipe.
But look…it’s falling apart.
Here was my first pizza crust recipe. Note the writing. One day one of our kids were cooking and didn’t understand cooking abbreviations. So I wrote T- Tablespoon, t – teaspoon and c- cup.
As an early wife, I loved all the recipes and tried MANY out on Hubby. He was so good and ate most everything.
I learned to stretch a family food budget using these been recipes.
I livened things up with the desserts….
and found a recipe we still love for Oatmeal Cookies. It’s wonderful and has been used so often when we’re out of white sugar and need a treat.
I even went beyond my mom’s baking ability and tried meringues.
I have so loved this book. It’s one of the only things I have left that was a wedding/shower present.
Well a couple days ago Hubby came home with this….He was at an auction and found me a “new” one.
Part of me is sad that the lady who owned it never discovered all the great recipes…the other part of me it thrilled as mine is in such terrible shape.
Yep…I’ll be making pancakes, French toast and waffles from this book for MANY more years to come.
I can’t thank Betty Crocker, my cousin Charlott and Hubby for furthering along my cooking. It’s been a great 32 years!!
Still have mine from 1972 – shower gift from my Mother.
Yup, still use mine. Shower gift from friend. 1974
Jo, Don’t get rid of the old one because they change recipes year to year. I bought a new one and I had my Grandmother;s from the 50’s and the recipes changed. I have to still use the old one for favorites.
I was married in 1966 and had the original white one in a ring binder. It is the only cookbook I use, simple ingredients that you actually have on hand. The pages were falling out and my daughter found a bound version to replace it, but I kept the old one with all my notes. I also have several of the smaller specialized books that came out early 70’s. My favorite is the cookie one.
MINE fell apart also. Loved that book. Wonder if I can find a new one. It was the best!
I have mine from 1978 – best cookbook. Back then I don’t think a wedding shower was complete without a Betty Crocker cookbook. My Mom bought me the “pink edition” a while back – but I still use mine from 1978.
I bought mine back when I was a young adult. I have used it many times, not as many as you! But it does have great recipes.
How fantastic to have gotten a new copy! I had a BC cookbook from the same era and had many favorite recipes. It must have gotten lost in a move and while I got a new one quite a while ago, it just doesn’t have the same recipes and a couple of my favorites are missing!
My grandmother gave one of these cookbooks to all the girls in the family when we married. My Mom’s is an older version, and we always joked that we could just about eat the cookbook pages because of all the stuff we spilled on them.
I have had mine for 61 years. It is falling apart. But still use it. The pages are on rings and some have pulled out. Sign it was used a lot.
I received one as a wedding gift in 1972 and used it all the time as a young wife to teach me to cook!
If you go to the used books web site, alibris, you find a long list of used Betty Crocker cookbooks at a reasonable price.
I have almost that cookbook. Mine is a prior version that does not have the microwave included. It looks like yours mostly, but just older. But the oatmeal cookies are not in mine! My volume is in pretty sad shape too. If I need to look up timetables for meat, etc-that’s my Bible! It is falling apart at the spine. I tried to have it spiral bound, but they could not cut it off with their tools. I use it less now that it’s just my husband and I, but it still has my favorite go to recipes. If it wasn’t in such bad shape, I’d pass it on to my Granddaughter to learn on!
Betty taught me to cook also. I bought my book in 1970 and still have it and use it! Thanks for sharing! I love going through my mom’s old cookbooks and see her dirtiest pages with her handwriting. Obviously, the dirtier the page, the better the recipe! :-)
I have that cookbook also. It’s a bit tattered but often comes to the rescue. Enjoy!
I was gifted the same book at my bridal shower in 1984. You can tell which pages are the most used by how many spills are on them. Mine is not as used as yours but used just the same. My go-to cook book.
I have the exact Betty Crocker cookbook and she is starting to show her age. If I could only keep one cookbook, I would choose Betty, even over the good old church cookbooks. I believe my family would be quit comfortable eating at your table.
Best cookbook ever!
Yep, that was my cooking bible too! I still use that stuffed pepper recipe and microwave/precook the peppers a couple minutes before they get stuffed and finish in the oven. The page with the banana cake recipe got stuck together by something, but I finally got it apart–whew! When I bought an updated version for my daughter some years later, it just wasn’t the same. I have the Betty Crocker International cookbook too from that general era, and it’s great too!
All the best cookbooks look pretty much like your original. Glad you’ve found a new copy to “break in”. Happy cooking!
I love mine! It is also falling apart and since I live in Sweden I don’t think I will find a new one but that is ok! I especially use it for the typical American recipes…. at Thanksgiving for example. I think I will look for another one on our next trip to California though. You never what you find when visiting thrift stores!
I’ll keep my eyes open. If I find one, I’ll send it your way. My grandparents came from Sweden. I’d love to send something back to Sweden!!
I still use mine and it is also falling apart! I keep it in a plastic bag. I have many notes throughout the book. Mine was also a shower gift and hubs and I just celebrated our 50th anniversary!
I have the 1956 edition, and the 1961 edition, and neither has those particular oatmeal cookies. Both are bound as ring-binders, the covers are falling off and there are lots of loose pages. But they’re the ones I saved when I downsized this year.
My mom had the 50’s version and we used it all the time (5 girls). We were taught to put gallon plastic bags around the book when we cooked to keep the pages clean. She still has and still uses the book. And she found us all copies so we have one too.
I have a cookbook holder with a shield now so don’t have to use the plastic bag trick.
Mine’s the binder-style 1974 printing cookbook. The big thing I always made from it was the Snickerdoodles. My husband loved those and I made them at Christmastime for him while baking other cookies. Your oatmeal cookie recipe is not in mine. Mine has an oatmeal cookie recipe with spices, raisins and nuts.
I have the 1956 version of this cookbook. Some how several pages have been removed from it at an unknown time. They were the ones with favorite lasagna and sugar cookie recipes. I have an idea that one of my children snitched them to take to their new homes after they married. Mine is loose leaf bound so it made it easy to remove those without anyone being the wiser, that is until I went to use those recipes. My oldest daughter found another one at a second hand store, but it was a later edition and didn’t have those recipes in it. So, yes they do make changes to what is available in each edition.
I have the 1952 addition. It was a bridal shower gift to my mother. I use it regularly too.
Ha Ha! My BC cookbook looks pretty close to that. I have my grandma’s books and they are also in “well used condition”! Love a good cookbook.
Read your post this morning about the cookbook. Out for the day to a quilt show and some yard sales. Found the cookbook and bought it for
$ .25 cents. Cannot wait to make the recipies you talked about.
Sheila
NS, Canada
I used the Pancake recipe in my old Betty Crocker cookbook just last night for supper. Got mine as either a shower or wedding gift in 1970 and some of the pages look pretty bad.
I learned how to cook with Betty Crocker and when I got married, my mother gave me my own copy. Mine is well loved and used also!
Still have mine and it is also falling apart. I will not ever give it up as it was a special gift from my dad who never shopped for anyone but for some reason he bought me this because he said I would need it some day. (He is also the person who taught me how to cook as he was a cook in the Navy and he did most of our cooking because he was home from work everyday before my mom was home)
I received the same cookbook but in a binder as a wedding gift from my first marriage in 1991. Still have some of those recipes memorized. Also found a copy of the same Betty Crocker cookbook my mom used while I was growing up.
I also got one as a wedding or shower gift. Loved that book, but I lost it in the divorce (he didn’t cook so I guess he needed it really badly). The one recipe I can’t remember, and desperately want to, is the recipe for BBQ sauce used in the recipe for meatloaf. I know it was 1 c. ketchup, 1 t each: lemon juice, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce…and there are two ingredients I don’t remember. I have looked in every Betty Crocker cookbook I have found anywhere, but can’t find it. It made wonderful BBQ sauce!
I got my 1950 Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book as a young bride in 1978 from my husband’s grandmother. She had the book in an old blanket chest and it hadn’t been used. I love so many recipes from that book; the meatballs from the spaghetti recipe, the gingerbread boys I always make for Christmas, but I think what I loved the most about the book is all the little stories that go along with some of the recipes. My favorite one is how Anadama Bread got its name. I laughed out loud, all by myself when I read it the first time and it still makes me smile.
I grew up with the earlier version, with the red and white cover. My mom’s copy was very beat up, and looked like your copy. I was thrilled to find a barely used copy at a tag sale when I was in nursing school. Of course my favorite recipes are the pancakes and quick breads.
Still refer to my original edition that my parents gave me for Christmas of 1967. It’s marked and the cover and spine are falling off but I would not trade it for a new one!
I have my mom’s from 1955. She got it as a bridal shower gift. It is a second edition. She was going retire it, so I took it for memories and for my cookbook collection. It was very loved. I learned to cook with this cookbook. Love Russian Tea Cakes and Snickerdoodles. It is sad that not everyone know about Snerdoodles. Enjoy a cookie with your family.
Got mine in 1960. The chocolate pie receipt I use
came from it,, and everyone says my is the best they have ever tasted. I have a whole shelf of cook books but my Betty Crocker is the best.
I have the 1978 version. You can tell by the west and tear in the lager hat the biscuit recipe is the one I’ve used most.