Need help figuring out ingredient

[Wendy DeBord]

I had a person ask me for help and I don't know the answer..... I told her I'd post this and see if we could help. This women inherited a cookbook from her grandmother, she thinks it's 80 years old. It's all hand written. She was very sweet and I know she would be very appreciative if we could figure this out for her.

In looking thru other examples of how this women wrote her recipes I noticed she does write baking powder and baking soda so the ingredient in question is most likely neither.

Here's the recipe, I'll write it exactly as she did with spelling and words. It's

Ma's Cream Cookies:

1 pd butter

2 pd sugar

6 eggs

1 pt sour cream

1 tes. soda

1 tablespoon cardamon

6 tes. B.B. (this is the ingredient we can't figure out-whats B.B stand for?)

10 cups of sifted flour.

Chill dough and put thru cookie press or roll dough out and cut with cookie cutter bake on greased tins.

Heres another recipe that uses this mysterous B.B., perhaps it will give us more clues.

Upside Down Cake

Melt in a frying pan 3 tab butter & 3/4 cup of brown sugar add drained apricots.

Batter

2 cups flour

salt pinch

3 tea B.B.

1 tea vanilla

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

Bake 30 min on moderate oven.

So any idea what the B.B. is?

[sparrowgrass]

edited to remove dumbness.

I don't have a clue.

Edited April 12, 2004 by sparrowgrass (log)

[PopsicleToze]

Baking soda is sometimes called bicarbonate of soda.

Maybe BB = Baker's Bicarbonate.

Just a guess.

[Mayhaw Man]

I'm thinking baking powder, but it would seem like the amount might be a bit excessive-(but I've never made this, obviously, so what do I know?)

edited to say that I should probably remove the dumbness, but I will just leave it as it is no secret about me and dumbness.

[Mabelline]

NolaFoodie, I think you nailed it! I went Yahooing and Googling for old Baking Powder names, but it was some real screwed up stuff. Baker's, of course! And a person would use an abbreviation of a long, but everyday name.

Sure enough, Sherlock!

But seeing as there is already soda in the recipes, it might be Baker's Baking Powder.

Edited April 12, 2004 by Mabelline (log)

[tryska]

but she already calls for soda in the recipe - only a teaspoon, tho.

i'm wondering if BB stands for some other sweetener or flavoring.

i mean the basics are accounted for - eggs, butter, flour, sugar.

maybe baking powder? are there any that go by the initials BB?

Edited April 12, 2004 by tryska (log)

[tryska]

doh. mabelline's got it, i think.

[FistFullaRoux]

NolaFoodie, I think you nailed it! I went Yahooing and Googling for old Baking Powder names, but it was some real screwed up stuff. Baker's, of course! And a person would use an abbreviation of a long,  but everyday name.

Sure enough, Sherlock!

But that would mean baking soda is added twice in the first recipe.

I'm leaning more toward it being baking Powder. Soda and powder are used together and seperately. Baking SODA lowers the Ph of the mixture it's in. Baking POWDER needs a low Ph to work, but has some baking soda as an ingredient.

Baking soda is a single chemical.

Baking powder is a mixture of chemicals, inculding baking soda.

(I put this here in case a beginner searches for this down the road, so there is an explaniation of the difference. No offense to the current readers and responders.)

edited to add - I was in the throes of writing this reply when the last few responses were posted. Apologies for the repeated information

Edited April 12, 2004 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[Mabelline]

Although the amounts seem excessive, I've a very old frybread recipe where 10 cups of flour require 5 Tablespoons of baking powder. In adjusting for quantity, the note says two cups of flour to one Tablespoon of baking powder. And it is a very good desert native recipe from the Tahono O'odam (Papago). They are among the best I've ever tasted.

[Swisskaese]

If it is baking powder, then you make have cookies that overtake your oven. That is too much baking powder!

I just saw Mabeline's posting, give it a try. If anything, it is not an expensive recipe.

Edited April 12, 2004 by Swisskaese (log)

[FistFullaRoux]

If it is baking powder, then you make have cookies that overtake your oven. That is too much baking powder!

That is a pretty dense cookie dough there. It would take that much fuel just to get them to heave themselves up.

[alanamoana]

that's only 2 tablespoons to 10 cups of flour...not too much baking powder in my opinion.

i have a biscuit recipe (granted, biscuits are meant to rise more than cookies), that calls for 4 tablespoons of baking powder to 5 cups of flour.

yeah, give it a try.

i wish it stood for "browned butter" just like bacon, everything's better with a little browned butter, b.b. affectionately.

[woodburner]

My investigative instincts lead me to believe it is an ingredient that had a long name, hence the only abbreviation in the recipe (s).

Also, I believe the first letter to belong to a brand.

I feel the second letter lends itself to the word "buttermilk".

woodburner

[FWED]

I would have to vote for baking powder. In the second recipe for Upside Down Cake there is no leavening agent if the BB is not baking powder or is left out and buttermilk has little or no leavening to it. The first B could indeed stand for a brand name though. I can't imagine her making an upside down cake that is dense and flat.

[sparrowgrass]

WELL, I edited my first post because I thought it might be a case of hard to decipher hand writing--BP (baking powder) instead of BB--but after I posted, I read the beginning of the post, where it says she spelled out baking powder in other recipes.

I would try it with baking powder--could be a brand name that doesn't exist any more.

[Wendy DeBord]

O.k. so there was a brand of baking powder that was made by Bakers? Can anyone confirm that brand existed?

[Swisskaese]

There is a brand of baking powder by Baker's, but it is called Calumet.

[Swisskaese]

Baker's used to have a brand called Baker's Baking Powder. Check out Lot 185 on this following site:

http://www.icollectorlive.com/viewCatalogL...3&page=8&rec=25

BTW - It is now called Calumet.

[PopsicleToze]

Brilliant! Nice job, Swiss

[tryska]

geez swisskaese. excellent work.

[Mabelline]

Wow, I love that link! Now I want some oldtimey cans and bottles.

Looking at those baking powder lots, she may also have meant Bob White Baking Powder. Oldtimey folks usually thought of Bobwhite as one word.

[chefette]

Anyone wonder about the significance of the pheasant or whatever bird that is on the Bob White Baking Powder?

[tryska]

Anyone wonder about the significance of the pheasant or whatever bird that is on the Bob White Baking Powder?

i believe it may be a bobwhite. I haven't looked closely enough at the can tho.

[Mabelline]

Yep, that's a Bob White quail. Real cute little guys that love wheat and sorghum fields. The babies are the cutest little critters, following their mama in a little line.

[Wendy DeBord]

EXCELLENT! I printed out the photo, thanks to you SwissKaese........I can't wait to send this off to her. I know she'll be delighted.

Thank-you to all that helped!!