Homemade Peanut Butter Cups (on a Vintage Plate)

Ha, don't you love my title? Truth be told, not every single thing that I blog about is vintage or antique.


I guess you could say that this recipe for Peanut Butter Cups is technically vintage, since I remember my Mom making them as a kid--but at least I photographed them on an antique plate so as not to be too far out of bounds of my blog's theme.

I was at a friend's house last weekend and she had put out a great array of Christmas cookies for us all to sample. One of the cookies made me think of the Homemade Peanut Butter Cups that my mom made as a kid. Well, they weren't really cups, more like shards. They are made in a pan and they have to be broken apart. I have seen them made in cups as well, but i wanted exactly what my Mom had made, and I think this recipe is it!

Peanut Butter Cups

2 sticks margarine
1 package graham cracker crumbs
1 cup peanut butter
2 1/3 cups confectioner's sugar
12 oz bag of chocolate chips

First, melt the margarine on the stove top. I think my Mom might have used butter, in fact I don;t ever remember her using margarine, but I wanted to keep true to this recipe. The end result was great, but I might try butter next time anyway.


Add the confectioner's sugar, graham cracker crumbs and peanut butter to the pan. I had a box of grahm cracker crumbs, and I use about 3/4 of it. I thought a whole box would be a bit dry. I also added another half cup of peanut butter.


Mix it in the pot with the melted margarine and it looks like this. Try really hard at this point not to sample it. (But that was impossible for me.)


Spread the mixture in a pan.


Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. Follow the instructions on the package.


Spread the melted chocolate on to the peanut butter mixture and chill in the fridge until set.


Bust into pieces and serve.


I enjoyed this last night with a nice cup of hot coffee and watched three episodes of Mad Men. HEAVEN!

If you have made this recipe in the past and have some alterations to it, let me know. If you make it because you read the recipe on my blog, come back and leave me a comment about how it turned out.

And THANK YOU to my friend for bringing a little bit of nostalgia about my Mom back to me!

A Little Friday Love for My Mom's Baking

This blog is dedicated to my Mom--it is filled with her memory and her spirit, and I know that it us a way to connect with her now that she is no longer here. I lost her in February of 2009 and I miss her terribly.

I am my own person, but I do know that there are a number of things about me, my personality, the things I take an interest in, etc., that are so clearly her. Baking is one of them. I can't say that I am the marvelous baker that she was, but I do try. And when I make these rolls, I feel like she is standing right next to me.


Mom gave me a cookbook that had a recipe in it for one Hour Buttermilk Rolls. She had made them for Christmas dinner in 2002. Here is her own hand, marking the recipe's significance and a few small changes she made to it.


The book is called "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking."


The recipe makes two pans of rolls. And let me tell you, they are GOOD.


Especially with leftover turkey and cranberry sauce!


Now you have to go make them, don't you?


PS--Mom always buttered them a few minutes before they came out of the oven. Enjoy!

Thanks Mom, for all that you did, all that you taught me, and for helping me to become the woman that I am today. Miss you like crazy.

Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake

For today's link up party I decided to blog about my favorite baked good--Old-Fashioned Carrot Cake! My Mom made it every year for my birthday.


She used a recipe from Marjorie Standish's Keep Cooking the Maine Way. I blogged about Mrs. Standish's cookbooks here.


This is unbelievably moist. I think it's due to the fact that you separate the eggs first, whip the whites with some sugar and then fold them into the batter at the very end.


The cream cheese frosting is out of this world--and so simple to make! I could never eat it out of a can when I know how amazing this frosting is. (Oh, and I double the cream cheese and the butter but I use less sugar.)


Sometimes I make two 8 inch rounds, other times I just use a sheet pan. That's what I did this time around.


Yum! Make one--and if you do, let me know how you like it! (I think I have one piece left--breakfast, anyone?)

Please go visit these fun link parties for more great recipes and crafting ideas! And don;t forget to follow me and leave me a comment.

Thanks!

A Little Friday Love for My Vintage Girl

Isn't she beautiful? I saw her on my Mom's Ebay auction about five years ago and had to have her.


We don't know anything about her, other than that she is cast in plaster, is handpainted and is about 10 inches tall.


There are no markings on the bottom. What do you think she was for? Decoration on a dressing table? She is too small to really display a necklace.

No matter! I love her and think she is perfectly sweet. Some things are better left a mystery!

Oh, and 97 FOLLOWERS??? Are you KIDDING ME? My little blog has that many new friends? Wonderful! Welcome!

This post is a part of:

Old-Fashioned Blueberry Muffin Goodness

Baking blueberry muffins evokes many memories for me--most about my Mom and when she would bake them for my sister, my Dad and I using a recipe from an old New England standby--"Cooking Down East" by Marjorie Standish.


Printed in 1969, Marjorie Standish had a column called "Cooking Down East" in the Maine Sunday Telegram for 25 years. Having been raised in Maine, I am proud that this volume has been an integral part of my life. One of my most favorite aspects of "Cooking Down East" is that the author writes before every chapter and nearly every recipe about the Maine history attached to the food--and since she was local to the coastal area where I grew up I recognize many of the places that she mentions.


Here is the recipe, complete with a little spill of muffin batter. If you click on the photo you can enlarge it to read the recipe. If you can't read it, e-mail me and I will give you the recipe. The only part missing from this page is that you heat the oven to 425 and bake them for 25 minutes.


I used a Salmon Falls Stoneware muffin plate made in Dover, NH. Though not vintage (it was made in 1999) it always reminds me of New England.


I mixed the ingredients in two of my three favorite stoneware bowls (the third is a mustard yellow and the largest). These were a gift from a friend a few years ago who knew the look I like in my kitchen. They aren't old--I actually think they came from Costco, but they look perfect in my kitchen!


And of course I was wearing my sweet apron!


Here is the batter in the pan before going into the oven. (I used Picnik's Orton effect for all of these photos).


Here they are fresh from the oven! They didn't rise like I thought they would and I am not sure why (they have always risen before.) Thank goodness they tasted as delicious as always!


Mmm . . . and of course they are topped with Kate's Butter from Maine.


Here they are cut open and you can see all of that yummy blueberry goodness!!


They were a hit for breakfast yesterday. James had two! (So did my husband!)


The plate tells the story!


I hope you enjoyed this little recipe today, that takes me back in time to when I was a kid!

Mom, my sister Amy (on the right) and me in our kitchen in 1979.

And if you make them, please come back and tell me how they were!

This post is a part of the following link parties:

Let's Begin at the Beginning

My parents, Chuck and Judy Ferguson opened a little antique shop in Bath Maine on Front Street 20 years ago. The shop was an eclectic mix of Victorian textiles, jewelry and glassware, with some vintage and retro kitchenware and Civil War and vintage sports memorabilia thrown in for good measure. The shop was loved by many, and well known for its cheery yellow facade and stunning window displays, which my mother took great pride in designing. I often relate my love of theatrical stage design with her displays.

Mom in front of the store, 2004

As a child I remember my younger sister, Amy and I being dragged to flea markets nearly every Saturday morning. While most children were watching The Smurfs or Scooby Doo, I was picking through copies of Cherry Ames, Student Nurse or Nancy Drew mysteries. While I can't say that I loved these Saturday morning outings, I can say that I was unknowingly developing an appreciation and an eye for everything from Fiesta Ware to Homespun to pretty much vintage anything. I am now so, so, SO THANKFUL for being afforded the opportunity to grow up alongside my parents' affection for antiques.

Mom and Amy before a Civil War re-enactment

In addition to the shop, my parents really LIVED a vintage lifestyle. When I was six we moved to a small farm in Brunswick on 24 acres. The house was a white cape, 100+ years old, which my parents renovated, period style, room by room themselves. We raised chickens, turkeys and geese, had rabbits as pets and were known for always having a few dogs and farm cats around the place. My sister and I were the lucky little girls that when we said "Can I have a pony?" while other little girls were playing with their Breyer horse models, we were racing around the neighborhood on our REAL horses.

Our New England cape.

In my thirties I really began to understand that my affection for vintage ran deep. My relationship with my mother grew stronger after I gave birth to my son in 2006, as relationships with mothers and their daughters often do after the birth of a child. I spoke with her nearly every day and we shared recipes, links to fun vintage websites and blogs and photos over e-mail regularly.

Mom & Dad with James, 2007

Sadly, I lost my Mom quite suddenly due to complications from a prolonged illness resulting from heart problems in 2009. I am sure that her passing made me grasp on to my love for vintage items even more strongly, as a way in fact to hold her memory even more tightly in my heart. Nevertheless, the gift that she and my father gave me, this appreciation for things that are careworn, with chipping paint or bright patina or unusually delicate handiwork is just that--a gift. And I treasure it.

Mom & her Friend Sue clowning around, 2008

My Dad closed down Pollyanna's Antiques in the later part of 2009. He still maintains the Pollyanna's Ebay store, which he estimates has had over 10,000 sales since it went live nearly 12 years ago. Although my Mom managed the Ebay store and my father only took the item photos, now he runs the store from soup to nuts and I am so proud of him, as that is quite an achievement for someone who a few years ago barely knew how to turn on a computer.

Mom and Dad, 2008

Now I am 36 and have two small children, James, 4 and Ella 2. We head back to Maine every six weeks or so to visit with my Dad and my sister. We always head home with a car load of vintage items--be it fabrics from the 40s for my latest sewing project, car parts from the 50s for my husband's collection, storybooks from the 30s for James or Victorian dolls for Ella. I know that we live our love for vintage as a family--and hopefully when my children are older they will come to appreciate these precious gifts just as I do.

James admiring his new vintage bat and glove on a recent visit with Dad

This blog is meant to open a window onto our little world--and the small vintage part of it that we hold dear. You will find here stories of our latest finds, kitchen escapades out of vintage cookbooks, sewing, crafts, collecting and highlights of items found online in the Pollyanna's Ebay store. Who knows--as you follow along with me, you just may find yourself itching for a little piece of the past yourself.

Me, in a retro-inspired Mexican embroidered shirt.
Mom wore a number of authentic versions of this when I was a kid.

Welcome to Vintage Pollyanna.