Prunestravaganza!

Today's post is a bit of a celebration, as this little blog got a shout out on last night's episode of my favorite YouTube show, VCR Party Live! (It's about minute 46-- right after a bit about Joe's ear wax, so you've been warned.) I sent them my favorite cookbook inscription of all time.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

It's Sunsweet Recipes (California Prune & Apricot Growers Assn., 1950)! See what I did there? Regularly? Prunes?

Okay, I probably deserved that contemptuous stare.

Even if the cover seems to suggest the booklet will mostly suggest beverage choices to go with a big, exciting platter of plain old dried fruit, a good chunk of the contents suggest that if you like any kind of fruit in a dessert, you will like prunes in it even more.

Do you like pineapple?

Even better than pineapple upside down cake is prune!

Do you love the contrast of tart lemon pudding against sweet, feather-light meringue?

Then you'll flip for prune meringue pie! No more tartness from lemons-- just gummy sweet prunes beneath that meringue cloud. Yum! The lady in the '50s futuristic top bets her pointy shoulders that you'll love it. 

And if you like apple dumplings, well, you're in for a real treat. 

If you're hoping that these are actual apple dumplings and the prunes are only represented in the "eyes" on the bowl of lemon sauce, then clearly you don't know how this works. 

Yep-- prune dumplings. 

Now you might guess that the only way to escape the all-prune dessert regimen is to have a birthday-- ask for a nice scoop of ice cream and a slice of birthday cake. 

Guess what!

Prune caramel ice cream!

And you know 1950 was waaay before Funfetti was the go-to flavor for birthday cakes, right?

You can have a Sunsweet birthday! 

We'll stick the candles right through the extra prunes! Won't that be fun?

Then we'll shove all the guests out the doors as soon as the cake and ice cream are eaten. It's the fifties, and the house only has one bathroom.