I was recently lucky enough to inherit some really fun recipes from my grandmother- little postcards sent to her mother (my amazing great grandma) during World War II. The history major in me loves them just for the history, and the baker in me loves them even more for the opportunity to make something both new and strangely familiar. You’ll see what I mean when we chat about the recipe below. But trust me, these are different than the chocolate chip cookie we all know and love. I’ll be working my way through those recipe cards over time, so be on the lookout for continuing posts in this vintage series!
I’ve already shared with you guys my very favorite classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. Lots of tasty ingredients like eggs, sugars, and extracts make it a real winner; and I’ll always hold it dear to me. When I first looked hard at this recipe postcard, I realized that it seemed a lot like a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe and almost passed it over in favor of something else, but I’m so glad that I didn’t. While wartime rationing was absolutely a hardship for most people, some of the recipes adapted for that time were (and still are) definite winners. While not as sugary as a traditional cookie, there is more than enough sweetness to go around- I like to think of them as a more grown-up version of our childhood favorite!
Humor me with a three sentence detour into the past, because I cannot resist a history lesson. *Puts on professor hat.* WWII food rationing was established in spring of 1942, and the rationale was that if food was preemptively limited, it would reduce stress and anger at the grocery store when inevitable shortages occurred. Slogans to inspire patriotism like the one you can see on the postmark of my recipe card “Food Fights for Freedom” were common, and stamps were issued that could be redeemed (along with payment) for rationed goods to prevent consumers from hoarding. While most of the rationing restrictions were lifted at the end of the war, sugar actually remained rationed until 1947!
Okay, back to the recipe. These cookies use markedly less sugar, no butter, and something called “Rockwood Chocolate Bits”. When I went ahead and Googled those particular chocolates, I couldn’t discern exactly what they were, so I circled back to my grandmother and asked her what she remembered. She recalled it being very bittersweet, which makes sense because of the rationing guidelines. So I set off to find a cacao percentage that would still be palatable in a cookie while retaining that reduced sweetness. I’ve decided that the ideal cacao percentage is anywhere from 60% (usually marketed as semi-sweet) to 70%, with my favorite sitting right in the middle at 65%. If you can’t find 65%, I’d suggest bumping up to 70% for your first try rather than rounding down to semi-sweet. You can buy it in bar form and crush it to bits, or find it in chunks- I lucked into finding it bagged in chunks already, so that’s what I’ve used here.
I’ve only very slightly adapted the recipe from what Rockwood & Co. wrote in the 1940’s. I omitted the raisins/nuts because my kids would mutiny, the little stinkers. If you like those things, you should absolutely add them, and I’ve left them as an optional ingredient in the printable recipe below. I also changed the cooking time from from 10-12 minutes to 9 minutes, although you may actually want to set it to 8 minutes and then decide if your cookies need the extra 60 seconds. At 10 minutes, my cookies would have been toeing the line between golden brown and too dark, and they would have been goners by 12 minutes. I also increased the vanilla extract to 1 tsp. And finally, since I had no idea how much chocolate was in a bag of Rockwood Chocolate Bits, I used enough pieces that they filled a 1 cup measuring cup to the top.
And now, with our heads full of history and our grocery carts full of chocolate, let’s get baking!
Vintage Chocolate Bits Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup shortening (Crisco)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar tightly packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup 65% cacao (or greater) chocolate bits chopped
- 1/2 cup nuts or raisins (OPTIONAL)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening, granulated sugar, and brown sugar at medium-high speed until light and well combined.
- Continue to mix at medium-high speed while adding in the egg and vanilla. Combine well.
- Add the flour mixture to the large bowl in two parts, mixing at low speed after each addition until combined.
- Stir in chocolate pieces (and nuts/raisins if desired).
- Form balls using about 1 Tbsp of dough each time. Bake 9 minutes or until edges are golden. Allow several minutes to cool on baking sheet before removing to a rack.
Well, how did the walk down History Lane treat you? I hope you enjoyed this vintage recipe- and keep your eyes peeled for more in this series in the future! You can also search for other vintage recipes by clicking on the “vintage series” tag at the top of this post. If you have any questions or thoughts about this recipe, make sure to let me know in the comment section below. Happy baking!
