The kitchen appears to be one of the rooms where Dickinson felt most comfortable, perhaps most at home, and her letters give frequent testimony to the pleasures of family conversation held there. The many drafts of poems written on kitchen papers tell us also that this was a space of creative ferment for her, and that the writing of poetry mixed in... See more

Emi­ly’s recipe for Coconut Cake. The image above shows the ingre­di­ents scratched out in her hand­writ­ing:

1 cup coconut

2 cups flour

1 cup sug­ar

1/2 cup but­ter

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1/2 tea­spoon soda

1 tea­spoon cream of tar­tar

On the flip side of the recipe, Dick­in­son then wrote the begin­ning of a poem, “The Things that nev­er can come back, are... See more

Rice-Cakes:Article continues after advertisement

One cup of ground rice (now you might use rice flour)

One cup of powdered sugar

Two eggs

One-half of a cup butter

One spoonful of milk with a very little soda

Flavor to suit.