Betty Crocker’s Cooky Carnival is a collection of cooky (cookies) perfect for the holiday season.
Betty’s story began with a promotion run by Gold Medal Flour back in 1921. Home cooks could win a pincushion resembling a flour sack if they correctly completed a jigsaw puzzle of a milling scene. The Washburn Crosby Company, a flour milling concern and largest predecessor of General Mills, Inc., received thousands of responses and a flood of questions about baking. The name Betty Crocker was created to personalize responses to consumer inquires.
The surname Crocker was chosen to honor a popular, recently retired director of the company, William G. Crocker. Betty was chosen simply as a friendly-sounding name. Women employees were invited to submit sample Betty Crocker signatures; the one judged most distinctive is the basis for the one in use today.
You can read the entire story at GeneralMills.com.
Interestingly enough, it wasn’t just the face of Betty that changed over time, but the recipes. Things in my more updated Betty Crocker cookbook are much simpler to make than those in my mother’s version.
One thing that hasn’t changed: the cookies! Always a favorite.
Betty Crocker’s Cooky Carnival was published in 1957. Inside you’ll find everything from a very complicated cookie house to very simple bar cookies. But most of these are not your average everyday cookies.
The recipes are classified by cookie type:
- Drop.
- Refrigerated.
- Bar.
- Rolled.
- Molded.
- Pressed.
At Christmastime each year, the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book would be pulled out. Christmas cookies selected. Icing made. Noses at the counter. You knew it was Christmas.
A few favorites include:
- Holiday fruit cookies (pg. 8).
- Jeweled cookies (pg. 8).
- Butterscotch cookies (pg. 10).
- Pineapple cookies (pg. 13).
- Date bars (pg. 20).
- Snickerdoodles (pg. 21).
Betty Crocker’s Cooky Carnival provides a great way for families to get into the kitchen and cook up some Christmas cheer!
Free eBook
Additional Resources
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