The Easter holiday meal is upon us this week, and it’s a chance to incorporate the flavors of spring. There are a variety of books and manuscripts in DeGolyer Library’s cookbook collection to inspire menus this Easter season. Ten years ago, Ann Drees donated her collection of Helen Corbitt Cooking School cookbooks that featured an Easter dinner menu from the March 20, 1973 class. Helen Corbitt was a Texas chef and cookbook author who taught classes at the downtown Dallas Neiman Marcus store in the 1970s.
SMU published a cookbook in 2015 entitled Hilltop Courses Then and Now: A Collection of Recipes and History from SMU Employees, Alumni & Friends. It’s available for purchase at the SMU Bookstore. (See the carrot recipes by Fred Roberto and Linda Ludden on page 62)
The Lone Star Cook Book published in 1900 by the Dallas Free Kindergarten and Training School includes a page of recipes for ice creams, parfaits, and mousses. 
One of DeGolyer Library’s oldest cookbooks is a manuscript volume from Mexico dated 1816. This recipe for preparing artichokes [Alcachofas] instructs the cook to saute the vegetable with garlic, oil, vinegar, and pepper. Also included is a recipe for a very special pudding [Budin muy especial] with cinnamon, pine nuts, and almonds.
Sources:
Corbitt, Helen. Ann Drees Collection of Helen Corbitt Cooking School Cookbooks, 1973-1977.
Dallas Free Kindergarten and Training School. The Lone Star Cook Book. Dallas: Dallas Free Kindergarten and Training School, 1901. Part of the George W. Cook collection.
Deutsch, Hermann B. Brennan’s New Orleans Cookbook : With the Story of the Fabulous New Orleans Restaurant. New Orleans: R.L. Crager, 1964. Gift of George Anne Myers.
Luz Tapia, Maria Josefa de la. Resetas de Guisos Particulares Para el Uso de Dona Maria Josefa de la Luz Tapia. 1816.
Owen, Mrs. DeWitt. Sixteen Studies in White and Gold: Being Sixteen Recipes For Cooking Eggs. Dixon, Illinois: Tri-Weekly Star, 1900.
Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church. Food For Thee. Second Edition. Dallas: 1981. Part of the Virginia Taylor collection.
Southern Methodist University Woman’s Club. Hilltop Courses Then and Now: A Collection of Recipes and History from SMU Employees, Alumni & Friends. Kearney, NE: Morris Press Cookbooks, 2015.
Sunkist Lemons Bring Out the Flavor! Los Angeles: California Fruit Growers Exchange, 1939.