Michael in PHX. I made your peanut butter cookies yesterday. It wasn't until I was pressing them

M

Marg CDN

Well-known member
with a fork (the same way that my mom did) that I wondered how similar the recipe was, to my hers. So I compared them. Exactly the same. My mom probably started using that recipe in the early 50's and it was the household favourite cookie. Of course, we didn't have Cusinarts back in the olden days so peanut chopping was done by hand.

Good ones. That was breakfast.

 
I had 3 (stupid shopping) unopened jars of p butter. So I did a taste comparison

of 2 of them.

I had Kraft all natural, which was much tastier than a noname crunchy brand. I used the noname. I'm sure the finished product reflects the inferior flavour; I can taste a bit of a difference in the cookie, now that I know what it was to start with.

For peanuts, I bought a bag of chopped roasted peanuts. I did no chopping to them and they worked perfectly.

 
Ain't it just! I saw a recipe for red velvet cake that I used to make from the age of 8 and which

a chef put a copyright credit on, 50 years later. It was exactly the same old recipe.

Maybe it's like the music industry. Songs get so old that the copyright expires....or maybe people figure there's just no harm in trying.

 
Technically you can -- copyright protects the *expression* of information (the exact wording

of a recipe), not the information or ideas. A recipe for apple pie published in print or on the Web is copyrighted, but nothing stops you from changing "1/4 tsp cinnamon" to "1/2 tsp cinnamon" or "1/4 tsp ground cinnamon" and safely publishing it on your own.

 
My understanding is that this only applies if there is "substantial literary expression"

in the recipe. So you can even copy it word-for-word if it's just a straightforward explanation of procedures. This is for US copyright law though. I've honestly never been able to find this information for Canada.

 
PS. I'm not saying you *should* do that, just that this is the law as I understand it.

Credit ALWAYS goes where credit is due!

 
"Literary expression" is a legal term meaning expressing something in writing. It doesn't have to be

inspired creativity as in novels and poems. Nevertheless, intellectual property law has never really decided how it wants to treat recipes, hence the continuing confusion.

 
Yup, my recipe is almost the same - these cookies are SO good, Michael! Used blister p'nuts...mmmmmm

 
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