60 school recipes

School cafeteria cheese bread with American cheese rolled into soft yeast dough like a jelly roll. This scaled-down version of the classic school lunch favorite bakes golden in 30 minutes.

City school red devil's food cake made with cocoa, hot coffee, buttermilk, cake flour, and a touch of red food coloring. The nostalgic cafeteria chocolate cake from scratch.

As a matter of record, the sour cream coffee cake has been served in city school cafeterias since 1959.

Buttermilk biscuits with shortening cut into sifted flour and a tangy buttermilk dough produce flaky, tender Southern biscuits in 15 minutes. Old-school Annie Mae Jones recipe.

Old-school pecan pie with a flaky shortening crust and a creamed butter base for the filling. Christmas and Thanksgiving classic from below the Mason-Dixon line.

Classic peanut butter cookies with the iconic fork-crossed tops, soft chewy centers, and crisp edges. Made with creamy peanut butter, shortening, and both sugars for old-school texture.

Quick banana muffins ready in 45 minutes with just one bowl and pantry staples. Moist, lightly sweet, and perfect for breakfast on the go or after-school snacking.

Backpack banana bran muffins are portable, fiber-rich snacks made with ripe bananas, bran cereal, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Sturdy enough to survive a school lunch or hike, soft enough to enjoy.

Mom's chili stacks beef, kidney beans, tomatoes, and a quiet blend of cumin, oregano, and basil into a slow-simmered family-style pot. Old-school weeknight chili with a long-simmer payoff.

Slow cooker beef and beans with cubed chuck, salt pork, and pinto beans simmered in tomato paste, garlic, chili powder, and cumin. Old-school cowboy comfort food, low and slow until the beef pulls apart.

Grandma's soft molasses cookies, an old-fashioned drop cookie with dark molasses, warm ginger and cinnamon, and a splash of cold coffee for tender old-school spice cookie flavor.

Sweet and sour potato salad with hard-boiled eggs, sweet pickles, and a homemade cooked dressing of egg yolks, vinegar, and mayonnaise. Old-school Pennsylvania Dutch picnic salad.

Classic Philadelphia snapper soup made with snapping turtle meat, veal knuckles, dry sherry, and tomatoes. A rich, old-school Pennsylvania tradition simmered for hours.

Classic French Nantua sauce built from live crayfish, cognac flambé, mirepoix, tomato, and cream, reduced to a velvety finish. A masterclass in old-school French technique.

This fruity snacks are wonderful treats the kids can enjoy at school or at home.

Classic creamy potato salad with hard-boiled eggs, scallions, garlic powder, onion salt, and mayonnaise. A simple, old-school potato salad that rests 2 hours for the best flavor.