We’ve gathered 10 intriguing dessert recipes that use unexpected ingredients—all found on Newspapers.com™! Bring one of these vintage desserts to a friend’s house, family dinner, or potluck, and you’ll likely have people guessing what the “secret ingredient” is!
READ MORE: 7 Helpful Hints for Making Vintage Recipes
(We’ve transcribed the newspaper recipes below to make them easier to follow. Click on any image to see the original recipe on Newspapers.com™.)
1. Mashed potatoes in cookies (1949)
Recipe: Molasses-Potato Cookies (1949) 17 Apr 1949, Sun The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
Molasses-Potato Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 cup warm mashed potatoes
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 cups sifted, enriched flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Cream shortening and brown sugar. Add potatoes, while creaming. Mix in molasses.
- Mix and sift flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Add.
- Drop by tablespoons on greased cookie sheets. Flatten by pressing with floured tines of fork in two directions.
- Bake in moderate oven, 350°F, 20 min. Yield: 60.
2. Sauerkraut in cake (1964)
Recipe: Sauerkraut cake (1964) 13 Nov 1964, Fri Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Newspapers.com
Home Size Kraut Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 2/3 cup shortening or butter
- 1 ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup cocoa
- 3 eggs
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup water
- ½ cup kraut (chopped and drained)
Directions
- Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.
- Cream sugar and shortening, add eggs, mix well, then add vanilla, salt, and cocoa. Mix well.
- Alternately add flour mixture and water. Add kraut.
- Bake in greased and floured pan at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Yields two 8×8-inch cakes.
3. Ice cream in banana bread (1979)
Recipe: Banana Ice Cream Bread (1979) 12 Apr 1979, Thu Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Newspapers.com
Banana Ice Cream Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed banana (about 2 medium large bananas)
- 1 cup maple nut ice cream or butter pecan ice cream
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ teaspoon soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ cup butter or margarine
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup buttermilk
Directions
- Grease and flour a 9- by 5- by 3-inch pan (standard bread pan).
- Mash bananas and measure. Measure ice cream.
- Sift dry ingredients, except sugar, together and set aside.
- Cream sugar and shortening together until fluffy. Add unbeaten eggs one at a time, beating well.
- Put buttermilk, mashed bananas, and ice cream into bowl with shortening mixture and mix.
- Add flour mixture all at once and blend just until flour disappears.
- Put dough into prepared pan and let stand about 15 minutes.
- Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour or until tester comes out clean. (In the testing, we baked bread at 350 degrees.)
4. Mayonnaise in cake (1948)
Recipe: Mayonnaise Cake (1948) 02 Mar 1948, Tue The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) Newspapers.com
Mayonnaise Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup mayonnaise (8-oz. jar)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ¾ cups flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- 1 cup dates (chopped)
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans (chopped)
- 1 teaspoon soda
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
- Mix mayonnaise and sugar well.
- Sift flour, spices, and cocoa together.
- Dissolve soda in boiling water.
- Add sifted ingredients alternately with boiling water and mayonnaise and sugar mixture.
- Add dates and nuts, stir well, and bake in greased pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees F.
- Frost with chocolate butter icing.
5. Soda pop in cake (1969)
Recipe: Soda pop cake (1969) 08 Oct 1969, Wed Cardunal Free Press (Carpentersville, Illinois) Newspapers.com
Soda Pop Cake
Ingredients
- 1 package (18 ½ oz.) Pillsbury white cake mix
- 1 ½ cups carbonated strawberry soda pop
- 2 egg whites and 1 whole egg (or 3 whole eggs)
Directions
- Blend cake mix, soda pop, and eggs until moistened.
- Beat as directed on package.
- To deepen color, add food coloring to batter as desired.
- Pour batter into greased and floured 13×9-inch pan.
- Bake at 350 deg. for 25-30 minutes or until done.
- To frost: Tint Pillsbury Fluffy White Frosting Mix with 5 drops of food coloring.
- For variety, substitute your choice of soda pop flavors.
6. Velveeta® in fudge (1979)
Recipe: Velveeta cheese fudge (1979) 18 Nov 1979, Sun The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Newspapers.com
Velveeta Cheese Fudge
Ingredients
- 1 pound Velveeta cheese (cut in pieces)
- 1 pound butter or margarine
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 pounds powdered sugar
- 1 cup cocoa
- 1 cup chopped nuts
Directions
- Heat butter and cheese in sauce pan over low heat, stirring until melted.
- Remove from heat, blend in vanilla.
- Add powdered sugar and cocoa, mix until stiff.
- Add nuts and spread on greased cookie sheet.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour and cut into squares. Store in refrigerator.
7. Wine in Jell-O® (1903)
Recipe: Wine Jelly (1903) 01 Jan 1903, Thu The Weekly Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colorado) Newspapers.com
Wine Jelly
Ingredients
- 1 package lemon Jell-O
- 1 pint boiling water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup sherry wine
- Juice of 6 oranges
Directions
- Cut each orange in two, being careful not to break the case.
- When jelly is partly congealed, fill cases and set in a cool place.
- Serve with whipped cream piled on top. May be served in sherbet cups if desired.
- A delicious wine jelly can also be made by adding one glass of good sherry or port wine to any of the Jell-O flavors.
8. Coffee in spice cake (1939)
Recipe: Spice Cake (1939) 22 Feb 1939, Wed Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) Newspapers.com
Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups of cold leftover coffee
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup lard
- 1 cup seedless raisins
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Directions
- Into a double-boiler, put coffee, brown sugar, lard, raisins, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
- Boil for 15 minutes and cool.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add boiled mixture to flour, beat well, and bake in layer cake pans in a moderate oven for 20 minutes.
- Frosting: ¼ cup butter, 2 tablespoons hot strong coffee, and enough powdered sugar to make a smooth icing. Spread between layers and on top of cake, which, of course, must be cold.
9. Pudding (and biscuit mix!) in cookies (1966)
Recipe: Pudding cookies (1966) 03 May 1966, Tue Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) Newspapers.com
Pudding Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 package instant pudding mix (any flavor)
- ¾ cup biscuit mix
- ¼ cup cooking oil
- 1 egg
Directions
- Combine all ingredients and mix until they form a ball.
- Break off small pieces (about a teaspoon), form small balls, and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten to about 2 inches.
- Bake 8 minutes in moderate oven (350 degrees). Makes 2 ½ to 3 dozen small cookies.
10. Sour cream in brownies (1967)
Recipe: Sour Cream Brownies (1967) 08 Feb 1967, Wed The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri) Newspapers.com
Sour Cream Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 package (1 pound ½ ounce) walnut brownie mix
- 1 egg
- ½ cup dairy sour cream
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease square pan, 9 by 9 by 2 inches.
- Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
- Spread batter in prepared pan.
- Bake 35 minutes. Cool.
- Cut into 1 ½-inch squares. Makes 3 dozen
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