Introducing The Community Cookbook Club
Celebrating the cookbooks and people who make them special.

If you’ve been around Random Sweets for a while, you already know I am quite fond of community cookbooks—the softcover (sometimes hardcover), spiral-bound treasures from church basement ladies, fire halls, community associations, Air Force Officers’ Spouses’ Clubs, neighborhood fundraisers, and countless other organizations. They’re filled with tried-and-true recipes that are comforting and approachable. 

Over the years, I’ve collected a few dozen of them—some gifted, some thrifted, some purchased from the organization, and a few passed down from family members. To me, they’re not just cookbooks; they’re snapshots of a time and place.

You can tell a lot about a community and time period by the ingredients and methods home cooks and bakers used—oleo, lard, nutmeats, and hotdishes and now air fryers, immersion blenders, and electric ice cream makers. The book binding, paper, fonts, hand drawn illustrations, and handy tips scattered throughout the books tell a story about the era it was published.

Every page feels like an invitation into someone’s kitchen, traditions, and way of life. Especially family cookbooks like this one Darla Bakker and her daughters published in 2025.

Why I Started The Community Cookbook Club

I wanted a place where we could celebrate the comfort and charm of community cookbooks together—share the stories, the smudged and stained pages, handwritten notes, and the recipes that bring us back to the table. Of course, those include new recipes we adopt into our families. Just like I did with Kim’s Mom’s Chicken and Broccoli Casserole.

So, I started The Community Cookbook Club.

It’s more that just a Facebook group (though that’s where we are hanging out for now while we build the community). It’s a free, open, welcoming space for anyone who loves flipping through community cookbooks—vintage or new—and sharing stories, recipes, and memories that connect us to home and to one another.

I’d love for you to join the club on Facebook here and follow along on Instagram at @thecommunitycookbookclub.

You may also enjoy reading about and listening to Cooking Up History: The Evolution of Kitchens and Cookbooks with Jill Van Veldhuizen, Education Assistant, Molly Engquist, Curator of Exhibits, and Jessie Nesseim, Curator of Collections at Old Courthouse Museum in Sioux Falls, SD.

What You Can Expect

This club isn’t about fancy food photography or trendy ingredients—it’s about celebrating the joy of recipes that work and the stories behind them.

Community cookbook recipes are typically uncomplicated, not fussy, and designed to feed your family or a crowd in a delicious and memorable way. They are the kind of dishes that show up at every potluck, funeral, or family reunion—the signature recipes people are known for.

We’ll Be:

• Sharing our favorite community cookbooks and recipes
• Posting photos of well-loved pages and handwritten notes in the margins
• Hosting in-person events (coming soon!) like “bring-a-dish” gatherings where your shared dish comes from a community cookbook recipe and you bring the book with you. How fun!?!?!
• Sharing stories behind your most treasured community cookbooks

And someday, I’d love to see The Community Cookbook Events pop up all over—hosted by people like you. 

Recipe Spotlight: Quick Little Devil’s

Recently, my friend Kathy Lesnar gifted me a community cookbook that she found two copies of while she was helping her mom, Mary, move. Inside was a recipe for Quick Little Devil’s, and not only are they the quickest bars I’ve ever made, I’ve made them four times already at the request of my husband because they are a chocolate and peanut butter lover’s delight.

I’ve read a lot of recipes in my lifetime, as I’m sure you have as well. And after a while, they all become some variation of what we’ve already seen. Occasionally, we come across a recipe that is “new” to us. These bars are exactly that. 

Watch this KELOLAND Living segment to see Ashley, Sophie, and I make Quick Little Devil’s. Get a sneak peek below and watch the full segment here: https://www.keloland.com/keloland-living/quick-little-devils-bars/.

Since these bars only use a few ingredients, ones that I typically have in my baking pantry, I made them the first time exactly as the recipe is written. Jason liked them but I thought they were a little too dry and crumbly so the next time I made them, I added a little milk to the chocolate batter and they are perfect.

Baking took longer than 15 minutes for me. I’ve been baking them about 20-25 minutes and I use Devil’s Food cake mix instead of German Chocolate cake mix.

And the funny thing is that a few weeks later, I was reading the Plum Creek Library System’s Cook ‘n Book community cookbook and found a similar recipe called Speedy Little Devils. This one calls for 1 egg and only 1/2 cup peanut butter.

Quick Little Devil’s

Cooking from the Heart of Hospice, Brookings Hospital Hospice (Brookings, SD) Submitted by Dianne Becker

All you need:

• 1 chocolate cake mix
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup milk (or cream or evaporated milk)
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (you could substitute any kind of nut or seed butter)
• 1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow crème or marshmallow fluff (the recipe calls for 8 ounces but most jars are 7 or 13 ounces now)

Pin and print the full recipe card at the end of this post.

Join The Community Cookbook Club

If you love community cookbooks—whether you own one or one hundred—I’d love for you to join The Community Cookbook Club. Join the group on Facebook and share a photo of your collection, post photos of your favorite recipes, swap stories about the people behind the pages, or simply enjoy and engage in what others are sharing in the community. 

It’s free and open to anyone—because good food, recipes, and stories are meant to be shared.

Join us on Facebook here and follow along on Instagram @thecommunitycookbookclub.

If you have a favorite recipe from a community cookbook, tell me about it in the comments below—I just might make it next!

Sweet wishes,