An all-American classic: Baby Ruth Cookies

✯ Day 131 of Vintage 365 ✯

 

It's interesting, you know, that two countries can (proverbially) be bunkmates, sharing a massive border, and yet certain products, brands, stores, fads, and foods never quite make it over from one side of the divide to the other.

Take for example candy bars. There are many, many candy (or as we tend to call them up here on the northern side of the 49th, chocolate) bars that were never distributed in Canada (or in some cases, not widely distributed). From Abba-Zabas to 5th Avenue bars, Zagnut to Clark Bars, plenty of delicious candy treats stayed happily on home turf in the good old US-of-A.

Of course there are certain sweets produced in Canada (think multi-coloured hard candy shelled chocolate Smarites and marvellously moreish Coffee Crisp bars) that have always been trickier to come in the States, too, but it's fare to say that the US definitely had (and still has) the upper hand when it comes to the sheer volume of different candy bars that are available to sugar craving citizens of its fine lands.

While acquiring previously only-in-the-States sweets is now considerably easier these days thanks to online purveyors of candy and US specialty foods, in years gone by a Canadian with a hankering for an American candy bar would have had three main options: go without, create your own version at home, or hop across the border and satisfy your sweet tooth.

For those on either side who had access to Baby Ruth bars (a delectable combination of chocolate-drenched peanuts, gooey caramel and toothsome nougat), today's feature recipe - which hails from 1942 - took an already extremely sugary treat and morphed it into an even sweeter one in the form of Baby Ruth Cookies.

 

This recipe (which comes via Estelle and Ivy on Flickr) sounds so good, it's all I can do not to order up a case of Baby Ruth bars, preheat the oven to 375 degree, toss on a vintage apron, and set to work baking up a storm.

Though it probably goes without saying that these scrumptious cookies are anything but healthy, I get the feeling that they'd be worth every last calorie. Perfect for a birthday spread, Halloween party, hostess gift, or merely when you've got a hankering for something intensely sweet and delicious, this great vintage cookie recipe is precisely what the dentist ordered :D

(And for my fellow canuck cooks - and other intonation bakers - who are itching to try this recipe but don't have any of these US chocolate bars at their local shop, fear not, you can buy Baby Ruth bars online here from UK based seller The Stateside Candy Company.)