Five-Cup Dessert

Remember this ad from last month?

See that coupon in the lower left-hand corner? You could send away for a walnut recipe book. I found a copy and that’s what today’s recipe is from.

The ad was from January 1941. The cook book doesn’t have a date in it, but I think we can safely assume it is from around 1940.

Five-Cup Dessert

• 1 c cooked rice
• 1 c drained canned crushed pineapple
• 1 c quartered marshmallows
• 1 c chopped Diamond Walnut kernels
• 1 c heavy cream, whipped

Blend together all the ingredients. Serve in sherbet glasses topped with additional whipped cream. Serves 8 to 10. (To serve this many the servings would need to be small.)

Results

I liked the idea of having a cup each of just five ingredients. It would be quick and easy, something that I like on busy weekends. There are only a few of my taste testers that like pineapples, but those of us who tried this felt that it was lacking something. I think adding another fruit–maybe diced apples, sliced bananas, or mandarin oranges–would help with the flavor. I also would cut the number of walnuts to about half unless you really, truly love them. They were the dominant flavor here. I wouldn’t skip the walnuts entirely on this one, though. The dish definitely benefited from them. Without, it would have been all mushy foods–marshmallows, crushed pineapple, whipped cream. The walnuts were there to add some flavor and crunch to an otherwise fairly bland dish.

I’ll definitely try more recipes from this book. It’s got a nice variety of things from salads to main course dishes to candies. Let me know if there is a particular walnut dish category you’d like me to try.