Vintage Desserts
Made Modern

Welcome to Sentimental Sweets by Val

ABOUT US

One Hundred Flavors
in One Place.

About the Author

Valerie Simpson is a self-taught baker who turned her passion into a story worth sharing. Hailing from a peanut farm in Dixie, Georgia, where she first learned the art of baking perched on the kitchen counter watching her mother, Valerie has woven the rich tapestry of her life into every page. Her roots run deep, with a father who weathered the Great Depression on that same farm before serving in WWII.   

Sentimental Sweets The Cookbook

Now available for purchase on Amazon! Order your copy today!

It all started with a bidding war on eBay

I have been an avid baker and cake decorator since about the age of 16. An article on gingerbread houses in a women’s magazine around Christmas time started the whole thing. There have been various baking chapters in my life; sometimes I get distracted or involved in something else, but I always come back.

Sometime in 2005, I was on eBay searching for antique cookbooks; to this day I cannot remember why. It just so happens that  I ran across a listing for a handwritten cookbook from 1932. I don’t recall there being a picture to go along with the listing, but for whatever reason, I had to have it, which got me into an eBay bidding war. I think I paid somewhere around $75 for it.    

This is the Actual Description of the Listing:

“This diary of recipes was given to me as a gift because I maintain on online archive of old love letters, etc. However, I never had the time to go through the book and type up the recipes to add them to my web site (which is no longer active).I do know the book was purchased from an odd & ends bin at a used bookstore for about $3 — the person selling it had no idea how valuable it was, since they weren’t operating an antique store. They got their hands on it because it was tossed in with a box of books recovered from an attic during an estate sale somewhere in northeast Wisconsin — my guess is the Sheboygan area. Wisconsin has a rich mixture of early immigrants, which might explain some of the titles of the recipes, which I’ve never even heard of before. I’m from Alaska — I can cook a few Russian dishes.I sincerely hope it finds a good home with you. If you ever retype the recipes and want to share them with the world, I’d be happy to give them space on my website and give you credit for restoring the recipes. I do regret not having as much time to do everything I want to do!!!!”.  

But what I Received...

If I recall correctly, I was expecting something along the lines of an old Fannie Farmer cookbook, or maybe an old church fundraiser cookbook. What arrived instead was indeed a diary: literally a handwritten journal. There was no name or address inside, nothing to identify where it came from other than the date of May 13, 1932. This was written right in the middle of the Great Depression.

There were also NO instructions as to how to put the recipes together, save for one or two. This was simply a list of ingredients, some of which were:

“Lard”

“3 Sifts of Flour”

“10 cents worth” of nuts  

A Labor of Love...and failure

Oh Boy.

Thank goodness there were some actual measurements included, otherwise this would have been a lost cause for me! So, not really having a clue what I was doing (or getting myself into), I set about to restore as many recipes as I could.The first task was to retype what I had. Fortunately, the original author had very nice penmanship so that was a fairly easy process. Then, for the next several months and with much trial and error, I baked and re-baked recipe after recipe. (There were some EPIC failures, to be sure!) My poor coworkers at the hospital where I worked were my guinea pigs whether they wanted to be or not. Sometimes I showed up to work with no less than three cakes to sample. “Is it too sweet? Too dry? Too…what?” Their feedback was invaluable in the first months of my endeavor.  

Baking During Covid

But…Life got in the way, as it often does, and my project went on the “back burner” for many years. It was never far from my mind, though.  Enter 2020 and the pandemic. I was stuck working from home, as many folks were, and like many folks, I started baking again, but this time with the intent on completing my cookbook project. I dug out old notes, had my husband convert files from a floppy disc! and started the project anew. It is now almost the end of 2022; I have restored almost ALL the recipes (around 100 or so) and now I am in the process of publishing them. There is still much to do, but I hope you will share with me the journey this project has taken me on! Coming up will be more recipes, hacks and anecdotes from the Great Depression, the trials and tribulations of restoring a cookbook, and a whole lot more. Until next time, be sure and check out the recipes I have posted so far, and don’t throw out that spoiled milk… 

Popular Recipes

FEATURED

Popular Categories

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

Latest Recipes

HOME

Vintage Desserts Made Modern Explore Recipes Welcome to Sentimental Sweets by Val ABOUT US One Hundred Flavors in One Place. About the Author Valerie Simpson

Read More »
Vintage Dessert Recipes

Banana Devils Food Cake

Extra moist, light chocolate cake with a banana custard filling added in the middle before baking.  A unique cake you’ll bake again! Note: This is

Vintage Dessert Recipes

Sweet Pie Crust

Let’s admit it, a pie is only as good as the crust. And I have a terrible sweet tooth. So I added in a bit

Vintage Dessert Recipes

Cream Cookies

This is now my go-to Christmas Cookie Recipe! The addition of sour cream makes these cookies a bit moister than traditional sugar cookies. Before Baking,

Vintage Dessert Recipes

Banana Devils Food Cake

Extra moist, light chocolate cake with a banana custard filling added in the middle before baking.  A unique cake you’ll bake again! Note: This is

Vintage Dessert Recipes

Sweet Pie Crust

Let’s admit it, a pie is only as good as the crust. And I have a terrible sweet tooth. So I added in a bit

Vintage Dessert Recipes

Cream Cookies

This is now my go-to Christmas Cookie Recipe! The addition of sour cream makes these cookies a bit moister than traditional sugar cookies. Before Baking,

Get updates on newest postings!

Enter your email address to receive updates when new recipes and blog entries are posted.

Trying to restore your cherished family recipes?

Enter your email address to receive a free checklist to help you get started

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.