A cookbook with a difference, this nostalgic collection of recipes dates back to 1940 and is entirely different, but just as good as, the first Maw Broon cookbook. Funny, inventive, and full of humor and comic strips from The Broons, with witty comments from the family members throughout, this second cookbook has more balance with both sweet, traditional, recipes as well as recipes with lighter, healthier ingredients.

Set in mid-19th century Ayrshire, in the fictitious town of Barbie the novel The House with the Green Shutters (1901) describes the struggles of a proud and taciturn carrier, John Gourlay, against the spiteful comments and petty machinations of the envious and idle villagers of Barbie (the "bodies"). The sudden return after fifteen years' absence of the ambitious merchant, James Wilson, son of a mole-catcher, leads to commercial competition against which Gourlay has trouble responding.