Save Sugar!

Still looking at Foods That Will Win The War And How To Cook Them, by C. Houston Goudiss and Alberta M. Goudiss, 1918, this time on sugar.

"One ounce of sugar less per person, per day, is all our Government asks of us to meet the world sugar shortage. One ounce of sugar equals two scant level tablespoonfuls and represents a saving that every man, woman and child should be able to make. Giving up soft drinks and the frosting on our cakes, the use of sugarless desserts and confections, careful measuring and thorough stirring of that which we place in our cups of tea and coffee, and the use of syrup, molasses or honey on our pancakes and fritters will more than effect this saving."

"It seems but a small sacrifice, if sacrifice it can be called, when one recognizes that cutting down sugar consumption will be most beneficial to national health. The United States is the largest consumer of sugar in the world. (The more things change, the more they stay the same.) In 1916 Germany's consumption was 20 lbs. per person per year, Italy's 29 to 30 lbs., that of France 37, of England 40, while the United States averaged 85 lbs. This enormous consumption is due to the fact that we are a nation of candy-eaters. We spend annually $80,000,000 on confections. These are usually eaten between meals, causing digestive disturbances as well as unwarranted expense. Sweets are a food and should be eaten at the close of the meal, and if this custom is established during the war, not only will tons of sugar be available for our Allies, but the health of the nation improved." 

(I guess we had a post-war rebound, the hope that this would change national habits permanently did not manifest. The current estimates I find range from 150-170 lbs of sugar per person per year now.)

"The average daily consumption of sugar per person in this country is 5 ounces, and yet nutritional experts agree that not more than 3 ounces a day should be taken. The giving up of one ounce per day will, therefore, be of great value in reducing many prevalent American ailments. Flatulent dyspepsia, rheumatism, diabetes, and stomach acidity are only too frequently traced to an oversupply of sugar in our daily diet."

(I always knew it was the sugar in that broccoli that gave me issues.)

"By the use of marmalades, jams and jellies canned during the season when the sugar supply was less limited, necessity for the use of sugar can be vastly reduced. By the addition to desserts and cereals of dried fruits, raisins, dates, prunes and figs, which contain large amounts of natural sugar, the sugar consumption can be greatly lessened. By utilizing leftover syrup from canned or preserved fruits for sweetening other fruits, and by the use of honey, molasses, maple sugar, maple syrup and corn syrup, large quantities of sugar may be saved. The substitution of sweetened condensed milk for dairy milk in tea, coffee and cocoa--in fact, in all our cooking processes where milk is required--will also immeasurably aid in sugar conservation. The substitutes mentioned are all available in large amounts. Honey is especially valuable for children, as it consists of the more simple sugars which are less irritating than cane sugar, and there is no danger of acid stomach from the amounts generally consumed."

WHEATLESS, EGGLESS, BUTTERLESS, MILKLESS, SUGARLESS CAKE

1 cup corn syrup

2 cups water

2 cups raisins

2 tablespoons fat

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1-1/2 cups fine cornmeal, 2 cups rye flour; or, 3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder, or, 1/2 teaspoon soda

Cook corn syrup, water, raisins, fat, salt and spices slowly 15 minutes. When cool, add flour, soda or baking powder, thoroughly blended. Bake in slow oven 1 hour. The longer this cake is kept, the better the texture and flavor. This recipe is sufficient to fill one medium-sized bread pan.

SOUR MILK GINGER BREAD

2 tablespoons fat

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sour milk

1 teaspoon soda

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon ginger

Mix soda and molasses. Add other ingredients. Bake in muffin pans 20 minutes or loaf 40 minutes.

SPICED OATMEAL FRUIT CAKES

1-3/4 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup cooked oatmeal

2/3 cup corn syrup

1/2 cup raisins, dates, prunes or figs

1/4 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons fat

Heat the corn syrup and fat. Sift dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Add fruit last. Bake in muffin pans for 30 minutes.

SOY BEAN WAFERS

1 cup soy beans, finely chopped

1/2 cup butter or shortening

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon lemon or vanilla

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

Soak beans over night, boil for 1 hour. Drain. Cool and put through food-chopper. Cream butter and sugar, add beans, egg. Sift flour with baking powder and add to first mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls on a baking sheet and bake 8 minutes in a hot oven.

WARTIME TAFFY

2 cups corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon water

2 tablespoons vinegar

Boil the syrup for fifteen minutes, then add the soda. Cook until a little snaps brittle when dropped in cold water. Add the vinegar when this stage is reached and pour into oiled pans. When cool enough to handle, pull until white; make into inch-thick rolls and clip off into neat mouthfuls with oiled scissors, or chill and break into irregular pieces when cold.

PEANUT BRITTLE

1 cup corn syrup

1 tablespoon fat

1 cup peanuts

Boil syrup and fat until brittle when tested in cold water. Grease a pan, sprinkle the roasted and shelled peanuts in it, making an even distribution, then turn in the syrup. When almost cold mark into squares. Cocoanut, puffed wheat or puffed rice may be used for candy instead of peanuts.

My Mom's Rolls

As far as I know, my great grandmother brought this recipe from England when she immigrated. She was a young WWI bride, leaving her family to go to the wilds of Canada to be with the young soldier she'd nursed back to health. She got to Canada before her letter saying she was en route did, consequently, my great grandfather was not there to meet her. Standing on the dock, with everything she owned and no where to go, knowing no one, she could have been prime meat for all sorts of disreputable people. Fortunately, a generous man took her home for the night, much to his wife's suspicious dismay, and then took her out by horse cart to go from farm to farm searching the countryside looking for my grandfather's family farm.

I grew up on this recipe. My mother uses it for everything from pizza dough to cinnamon rolls. Everyone who has my mother's rolls, never forgets them. I've spent many years trying to get them exactly like hers and while I've gotten close, I have come to believe that there must be some element of my mom's sweat itself that I am missing, gross as that may sound.

At any rate, since Thanksgiving is coming up and there is no gathering without these rolls, here you go, as she dictated to me many years ago. Having made at least one batch a week for the last 40 years, she doesn't use a recipe.

Hot Rolls
Dissolve one package yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add 1 1/2 cups warm water, 1 egg, 1 t salt, 1/2 cup oil, 1/3-1/2 cup sugar (depending on the final salt/sweet balance wanted). Add flour until the mixture is the consistency of cake batter. Set aside for one hour in a warm place until it doubles in size and gets all bubbly. At this stage it can be fried like pancake batter if wanted. Add more flour. Knead until the dough isn't sticky. Place it in a large bowl and smear shortening over the top. Place in the fridge, preferably overnight to let the flavor develop. One and a half hours before you want to serve them, make into rolls and let rise in a warm place. Bake approximately 15 minutes at 350.


Here's another Thanksgiving tradition at our house, one of my absolute favorites.

Three-Layer Chocolate Dessert
1 cup nuts, chopped
1 cup flour
1 cup butter
Press the above into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cool whip
Mix and spread over cooled crust.

1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk.
Mix and spread over the above. Spread more cool whip on top and sprinkle with nuts and shaved chocolate.


Just writing this is giving me cravings.

Potluck treasures

With Thanksgiving coming up, I’m looking back on various recipes collected from people at large gatherings and written into the margins of my main cookbook. Sometimes when you ask for a recipe at a potluck, you really mean it.

Penney brought this first one over for a holiday gathering for my spiritual group, it was so long ago I don’t remember which holiday, but let’s say sometime in fall or winter because its gooey and filling and would go well with a harvest theme.

Corn Casserole

1 17 oz can creamed corn

1 17 oz can whole corn with liquid

1 cup uncooked macaroni

½ cup melted butter

2 T chopped onion

2 T chopped green pepper

1 cup cubed processed cheese

Mix all the above and put in 2 quart casserole dish. Bake covered for 30 min and uncovered for 30 min at 350.

I don’t remember but I think the next one is Afghani. At least I have other Afghani soup recipes that use yogurt so it’s a safe bet. It’s also very healthy and tasty.

Yogurt Soup

1 med onion, chopped

½ stick butter

2 cup chicken broth

¼ cup pearl barley soaked overnight

¼ cup parsley

¼ cup dried mint

1 egg

2 cups yogurt

Lemon juice

Saute onion in butter. Add broth, simmer til just below boiling. Add drained barley and cook til tender, about 20 minutes. Add salt, pepper, parsley. Beat the egg and add it to the yogurt. Pour yogurt slowly into the broth, don’t boil or it will curdle. Simmer 10-15 minutes. Garnish with mint and a little lemon juice.

This next one took major arm twisting to get ahold of. I’ve never understood the idea of keeping a recipe a secret unless you’re like Colonel Sanders or something. So here I go, blowing all opportunities of becoming a franchise billionaire by posting the recipe for simply the best homemade ice cream EVER.

Liz’s Ice Cream

3 cups sugar

3 T cocoa

8 beaten eggs

As much milk as there is eggs

Mix the above and make into a custard on the stove over med heat, stirring constantly. Make sure you beat the eggs into it well or you will end up with scrambled eggs in your ice cream. It may curdle, and that’s okay.

Pour into ice cream freezer while still warm and add:

4 cups half and half

4 cups heavy cream

1 T vanilla

Freeze as directed.

I’ve also left out the cocoa and doubled the vanilla to make a vanilla version that was deadly good. Mexican vanilla. There’s nothing like Mexican vanilla in the world. And yet it’s illegal to sell it here, so get someone to sneak some across the border for you. It’s heavenly.

Shortnin' Bread Redux

I don’t know why I didn’t realize when I was typing the recipe up, that the shortnin’ bread recipe in the Lincoln Heritage Trail Cookbook, by Marian French, 1971, was a shortbread recipe. Have I really been so dense my whole life, wondering what shortnin’ bread was and never equating it to my favorite kind of cookie? *Whacks self in head so hard birds twitter around it* I didn’t make the connection until I was actually making it.

Here’s my favorite regular shortbread recipe, my own combination of several others for the ratio of sweetness to crispness that I like best.

Scottish Shortbread

2 ½ sticks of butter (for best results, use European style)

¾ cup powdered sugar

2 ½ cups flour (for best results, use pastry flour)

½ t vanilla (optional)

Mix, press into two 9” round pans, score, cook at 325 for 30 minutes. Let cool ten minutes, turn out of pan, cut. Alternatively, can be spread thin on a cookie sheet to bake.

To add insult to injury in my not recognizing shortnin’ bread as shortbread, here’s a favorite brown sugar shortbread recipe given to me by a friend and coworker over a decade ago. These are scrumptious, hence too dangerous to my diet to make outside of the holidays.

Brown Sugar Shortbread

Cookie:

1 cup butter

¾ cup light brown sugar

2 t vanilla

2 cups flour

Topping:

1 T butter

1 c chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

Cream butter and sugar, and vanilla, beat, then flour. Shape into 1 inch balls, then form into logs. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 17 minutes at 325. Cool.

Dip one end of the logs in the chocolate and butter which have been melted together, then dip into chopped pecans. Refrigerate until set.

This is the Lincoln recipe again. I don’t keep brown sugar around. It just gets hard. All brown sugar is, is white sugar that has been sprayed with the molasses removed in processing. So that’s what I do, just add a healthy blob of molasses when I add white sugar. It’s rich in minerals. In making this Lincoln version, I also replaced a third of the flour with whole wheat pastry flour. It was fabulous. And quickly gone.

Shortnin’ Bread

1 stick butter

¼ cup brown sugar

1 ½ cup flour

Mix butter with sugar. Add flour and mix well. Roll about ½ inch thick on a floured board and shape with a biscuit cutter. Bake on lightly greased and floured pan at 350 for about 20 minutes.

I doubled the next batch and tried replacing 3 T of butter with 9 T of ground toasted flax seed, but it was too crumbly, so I ended up adding the butter back in. I replaced a third of the white flour with wheat pastry flour again, and tossed in a handful of wheat germ on top of it. No rolling this out, I had to mold it into shape like wet sand, but the end result is quite tasty, kind of like a Hob Nob. (I would increase the wheat germ and decrease the flax next time, to create a better texture.) Healthy short bread? Who would have guessed? 

Scary Candy

Halloween is busy and the whole weekend raced by. I was planning on posting some Halloween recipes but that will have to wait til next year. However, I have made a discovery that I could still say was Halloween-ish: Candy Making Revolutionized, Confectionary from Vegetables by Mary Elizabeth Hall, 1912. I don’t actually have the book, but I ran across the website Manybooks.net during my internet surfing. It’s full of free downloadable public domain ebooks, including a wealth of interesting old cookbooks. Thank you Project Gutenberg!

Now the first question on perusing this book is: are these actually edible? Are they even worse than receiving actual apples when trick-or-treating? Or is it possible that they could be a so-horrid-they-are-cool Halloween option? I’ll let you decide. But first, the advantages of these recipes:

“Mothers who formerly were all too often required to gratify their children's longing for candies that told a story--candies modeled or otherwise decorative--by giving them boughten confectionery that contained plaster of Paris, aniline dyes and other ingredients equally harmful, can now in

their own kitchen from nourishing and harmless vegetables fashion sweets that are just as beguiling to childish eyes.

Nor is this all. Children invariably have a craving for sweets that if allowed to run its course is almost sure to lead to indigestion and worse. On the other hand, if this craving is not satisfied, the children will be deprived of a food of the utmost value--a food element, indeed, that it is indispensable. Vegetable candy offers an ideal solution of this difficulty. Sugar it of course contains, but the vegetable base supplies no small part of the bulk; consequently children may eat their fill of it and satisfy their natural longing for candy without having gorged themselves with sugar.  Moreover, the vegetable base has virtues that are positive as well as negative; it itself supplies valuable food elements and equally valuable vegetable salts.”

Acquiring some of the equipment might prove challenging to modern cooks.

“A molasses-candy or taffy pull without a hook may be good fun, but it is hard on the candy as well as on the hands. A blacksmith can easily make the hook of round iron, about a half-inch in diameter and eighteen or twenty inches long. The rod should be bent until it forms roughly a letter J, with the tip about seven inches from the horizontal line. The top--the upper part of the horizontal line of the J--should be pounded flat, and two holes bored for screws. Be sure to attach the hook to the wall firmly, and about level with the shoulders. Hooks may be purchased for about fifty cents apiece, but those made by the blacksmith will do as well. Even with the hook, it is well to wear canvas gloves, so that the mass can be handled hotter, and in a more hygienic fashion than with bare hands. Canvas gloves are easily laundered--something which cannot be said of the expensive buckskin gloves recommended for this purpose.”

Time for some actual recipes!

"As the foundation for one sort of decorative confectionery, potato paste must be made. Steam or boil Irish potatoes, drain them, and force them through a fine sieve,--the finer the better. With one-half cupful of Irish potato, so prepared, mix one tablespoonful of corn starch. Gradually and carefully work in enough confectioner's sugar so that the mixture can be rolled. The "fine sieve," be it noted, plays a conspicuous and important part in the making of candy from vegetables. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that no vegetable particle will either soften in or cook up into syrup. While cooking, the vegetable particles are just as individual as though they were in separate vessels; consequently they must be kept circulating as uniformly as is possible through the syrup in order to prevent the accumulation of masses of vegetable matter of sufficient bulk and weight to sink to the bottom of the sauce pan and cause the mixture to burn. Moreover, should the mixture escape burning, it would develop gluey spots that would make the finished product lacking in the smoothness that is the ideal of the candy-cook. Flavor and color this paste to suit, place it on a surface well dusted with confectioner's sugar and roll it to the desired thinness. Cut it in shapes to suit. Cooky cutters or any other tin cutters may be used. More often, however, the amateur confectioner will prefer her own design.”

“Potato Caramel No. 1.

Stir well one pound of sugar, one cupful of milk, one cupful of Irish potato--boiled and sifted as directed before--two tablespoonfuls of butter and one-half teaspoonful of salt. Boil until thick, and thin with one-half cupful of milk, and again cook until thick; again thin with one-half cupful of milk and cook until the mass is of caramel consistency, tested in cold water. Stir as little as possible, but be careful that the mass does not stick to the bottom of the kettle. Pour on a well oiled marble between candy bars. Dry two days, cut in strips and dry again before finally cutting in squares. Place them in a cold place for several hours and then wrap them in parchment paper. They keep well. This is the kind of potato caramel that is especially good for chocolate coating, although all of the potato caramels can be chocolate coated. Make the caramels as above and allow them to dry in the open air for several hours and then cover with chocolate. The process is fully as laborious as it sounds, but the results are more than worth the trouble. The repeated cookings give the characteristic caramel taste and color.”

“=Carrot Rings.=--To make them, peel medium sized carrots and let them stand several hours in cold water. Cut cross-wise into slices about one-quarter of an inch thick and with a small round cutter or sharp knife remove the center pith. Drop the rings into boiling water and cook until tender. After they have thoroughly drained, drop them into a syrup made by boiling one part of water and three parts of sugar to two hundred and twenty degrees. Boil until the rings become translucent--probably about ten minutes. Dry on a wire rack, taking care that the rings do not touch. The next day, heat the syrup to two hundred and twenty-five degrees and again dip the rings and dry as before. If desired, when they are dry, fill the centers with bon-bon cream or marzipan. When this center has become firm, dip the candy into a syrup cooked to two hundred and twenty-eight degrees. Even if the centers are not filled, it is well to make this third dipping; the thermometer should, however, register two hundred and thirty degrees instead of merely two hundred and twenty-eight.”

“=Bean Taffy.=--Bean taffy easily takes first rank among all taffies--vegetable or otherwise. The taste is good beyond words, and the consistency is pleasingly "chewy" without being tenacious to the point of teeth pulling! Lima beans are the best to use as the basis because the skins can easily be removed, but ordinary dried beans may be substituted if care is taken. Cover the beans with cold water, let them stand over night, and the next morning boil them until soft, and force through a fine sieve to remove all the skins. Boil together two cupsful of granulated sugar, one-half cupful of water, a tablespoonful of butter, and one-half cupful of the beans, prepared as above. After the mixture has boiled thoroughly, add one cupful of milk. Add the cupful of milk, one-third at a time. Stir the mixture and let it boil a few minutes after each addition of milk. When the thermometer registers two hundred and forty-two degrees, pour the mass onto an oiled marble between oiled candy bars so that it will set about one-quarter inch thick. As with ordinary taffy, cut into pieces

of the desired size.”

Okay, definitely the trick not the treat.

Cabbage paste

In our last round of Italian cooking versus French cooking from the Culinary Institutes' two 1954 books of the same, Italy had definitely pulled ahead with a simple crusty bread recipe and hearty polenta. Last night, France came back hard with the versatile and, at least in this neck of the woods, beloved cream puff filled with Chantilly cream and topped with a smear of chocolate ganache. Cream puffs are more than just those little addictive bites that come in a tub from the freezer at Sam's Club. The pastry can be used for almost anything and is so easy to make. Pipe it into long blobs and fill them to make eclairs, or slit them and make a strawberry shortcake. Pipe them in big rounds and fill them with chicken salad for lunch. Or add some herbs and a little hard cheese to the mix and make savory appetitzers for your next horse diverse tray. There is no actual cabbage in it unless you choose to put it there. I think the name comes from the roughly cabbage head shape that it puffs up into while it cooks. But hey, fill it with cole slaw? Sounds like another idea.

Pate a choux (direct translation: cabbage paste)
Bring to a rolling boil:
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup butter
1 T sugar
1/2 t salt

Add, all at once: 1 c flour

Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the sides of the pan and forms a smooth ball. Remove from heat.

Quickly beat in, one at a time, beating until smooth after each one:
4 eggs.

Continue beating until mixture is thick and smooth. Dough may be shaped and baked at once or wrapped in waxed paper and store in refrigerator overnight.

Force dough through a pastry bag or drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in apart onto a lightly greased baking sheet. bake large puffs at 450 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 and bake 20-25 minutes longer or until golden in color. bake small puffs at 450 ten minutes. Lower heat to 350 and bake 5 minutes longer. Remove to rack and cool.

Cut off tops and fill shells with chantilly cream, custard, any hot creamed mixture, or salad mixture.

As for the cream filling in this case: I whipped up heavy cream and added just a hint of sugar and real vanilla bean paste. Good vanilla is everything. And the ganache? That's melted dark chocolate with even more cream in it. I didn't have one left after band rehearsal.

Cookie Redo

If you don’t think the order of things matters, just try working at McDonald’s and not following the prescribed pattern of mustard, ketchup, then pickles, and onions on a simple hamburger. It’s not just branding. The mustard doesn’t soak into the bun as readily as the ketchup so it’s less squashy and more juicy in terms of mouth-feel if the condiments are applied in that order, especially if they sit for any period of time. So I feel perfectly justified in saying there is a difference in taste between a frosted cookie and a sandwich cookie made out of the same frosting. There’s the cookie to frosting ratio, but there’s also a difference in what hits your palate first.

I only point this out so I can say I tried 3 ways to save the Jamboree cookies I wrote about previously from sitting around growing stale and slowly being fed to the dog. Frosting them (cream cheese, in case you’re wondering) made for a too sweet yet still bland Not Worth The Calories cookie.

Spreading that same frosting on top and smooshing another cookie upside down on top of it made for a better level of sweetness but still nothing to write home about. I just don’t like the texture. I think it’s the egg in it.

However, frosting them and adding some walnuts on top (also known as Menu Magic!) made the experience of the texture different enough and added an overtone to the taste that rendered them not so bad after all. Okay, that’s not stunning praise. But I could feed them to people without apologizing and I feel smug about my ability to salvage rather than throw away. WW II rationing: bring it on!

My partner was my guinea pig, and completely concurred with my verdict!

Cookie Fail

Bland-bore--ees

I had higher expectations of the "Jamborees" (above) from 100 Grand National Recipes Collected for You at Pillsbury’s Best 8^th Grand National, 1956, especially since I used a jar of really good homemade peach jam in them. They should be right up my alley, but they came out bland, without the melt in your mouth texture and flavor of shortbread. What I should have made with that jam was these:

Jam Dandy Muffins

Sift together and make a well in the center:

1 2/3 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

2/3 cup sugar

Add:

1 egg

½ cup oil

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup drained crushed pineapple

Mix until all flour is moistened. Drop batter into 12 well-greased large muffin cups. Fill half full. Combine ¼ cup apricot jam and 2 T chopped nuts. Place a teaspoonful on top of each muffin. Bake 400° F for 20-25 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from pans immediately. Serve hot.

Now my quandry is, what do I do with a batch of yucky cookies. I could try filling them with something and turn them into sandwich cookies. I could frost them. I could glue some Menu Magic walnuts to the tops and hope for the best. What seems to be impossible for me is to just throw them away. I hate wasting food and the challenge of salvaging them goes straight to my stubborn streak. Stay tuned.

I’ve still got apples to use up, which means I’m also eyeing this from the same Bake Off:

Apple Skillet Cake

Melt 3 T butter in heavy skillet measuring 10 inches across top. Remove from heat and add 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar.

Add 3 cups peeled apples, sliced very thin and 1/3 cup raisins.

Sift together:

1 1/3 cup flour

2 t baking powder

½ t salt

Cream:

1/3 cup shortening

¼ sugar

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Blend in 2 egg yolks and 1 t vanilla.

Add dry ingredients alternately with 2/3 c undiluted evaporated milk, beginning and ending with dry. Blend thoroughly after each addition.

Beat 2 egg whites until stiff but not dry and fold in.

Pour batter over apples in skillet.

Bake at 350°, 35-40 minutes. Turn out of skillet upside down immediately. Serve warm, plain or with whipped cream.

Maple-less Cake

It’s band practice tonight and I usually provide food, but I’m not feeling so well, so I simplified things. I made a big pot of chili in the crockpot, bought some chips and nacho cheese, and made the following cake to go with it. This is thanks to the Antioch women again. I adapted the recipe by adding chopped apples into it, but I didn’t have to adapt it to get in some “Menu Magic”, also known as walnuts. The recipe lied about the time, it was closer to 45 minutes baking at 350.

Maple Nut Cake

Cream 1/3 c shortening with 1 c light brown sugar; add two egg yolks; mix well and add ¾ c milk; sift together 1 ½ c flour, ½ t salt, and 2 t baking powder. Mix in 1 c finely chopped nuts and 1 t vanilla. Bake in greased loaf pan in moderate oven 35 minutes.

--Dorothy Reagan

I took it all over to my partner’s house, set things out on the table and tried a slice of the cake before heading back home to go to bed early. Uh, oh, can’t say I liked it. I didn’t know why it was called maple when there is no actual maple in it, so I substituted maple flavoring for the vanilla. It’s kind of weird with the apple. The Menu Magic didn't do the trick this time. It seems like an old fashioned fruit cake, but without the benefit of being awash in bourbon.

Maybe I should call and suggest they pour beer on it.

Two thumbs up on this morning's baking excursion though. I picked up some homemade peach jam at Sunday's market gig. That called for making some scones and, since I happened to have some leftover mashed potatoes, the chance to try a totally different scone recipe. Mashed potatoes appear as an ingredient in breads a lot in these old books. This time from the Household Searchlight Recipe Book, 1936. (I really like this book.)

Potato Scones

1 1/2 c flour

3/4 t salt

1 egg, well beaten

1/4 c shortening

4 t baking powder

1 c mashed potatoes

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Add mashed potatoes and shortening which have been creamed together. Add egg and sufficient milk to make a roll dough. Very little milk is necessary. Turn onto lightly floured board. Pat into sheet 1/2 thick, or divide into 3 parts, roll into rounds 1/2 inch thick, cut each of these into pie-shaped sections, and bake in hot oven (450) 12-15 minutes. Serve hot. 

--Mrs. T.M. Purdon, Santa Ana, CA

I actually followed this recipe without additions. Unless you count potato skins. I leave them on my mashed potatoes because I'm either a) health conscious and want the additional vitamins and fiber or b) lazy. I thought potato skins in the scones would seem weird but they weren't noticeable at all, and the scones themselves were tender as could be. I think I might have to switch to this as my go to recipe for scones--but I don't usually have mashed potatoes hanging around.

Speaking of scones, soon I'll have to do a lengthy post about baking powder. I couldn't figure out why my scones sometimes had a nasty bitter undertone...never again now that I am baking powder wise.

The cockatiel and the dog liked them too.

Police Bait

In the Antioch Cook Book, doughnuts are listed among the cookies, which is probably a more accurate reflection of their nutritional value than serving them as the main course for breakfast. There's four different versions too, and 2 versions of crullers for good measure. Sounds like it's time for a bake-off or rather a deep fat fry-off. Based on the splatters on the page, it wouldn't be the first either. I didn't realize how frequently potatoes were used in doughnuts. I wish these were for those eggy French crullers that are sorta like creampuffs. Those are my favs!

Doughnuts
2 c sugar, 2 c cold mashed potatoes, 1 c sweet milk, 3 eggs, 4 T melted butter, 5 level t baking powder, flour enough to make a stiff dough. Fry in very hot lard.
--Mrs. Jessie Culbertson

Doughnuts
1 c sugar, 4 T melted butter, 2 eggs, 1 c sour milk, 1 t baking powder, 1 t soda, 2 large potatoes (mashed), and flour enough to work well.
--Mrs. J. M. Snyder

Doughnuts
Beat 2 eggs thoroughly, add 1 t salt, 1 c sugar, 1 t flavoring, 4 T melted butter. Beat well then add 1 c milk, 4 c flour sifted with 3 t baking powder. Roll and let stand one-half hour, then mix lightly.Roll and cut all before frying. Turn constantly while frying.
--Mrs. Ray Boyer

Doughnuts
2 c sugar, 3 eggs, butter size of an egg, 6 spoonsful of mashed potatoes, 6 c flour, 1 c milk, 3 level t baking powder. Add flavoring.
--Mrs. George Trobaugh

The cruller recipe below. Excellent hot, kinda bland and yucky once they'd sat around.

Crullers
3 eggs beaten lightly, 2 1/4 c sugar, 1 1/2 T melted butter, 1 t salt, 1 pint milk, 1 t vanilla, 6 level t baking powder, which has been sifted with 4 c of flour. Add more flour to make a soft dough. Fry in smoking hot fat.
--Mrs. Henry Wade

Crullers with Mashed Potatoes
2 eggs, 2 c sugar, 1 T melted butter, 1/2 t salt, 1 c mashed potatoes, 1 c milk, and 1 c water, 1/2 t vanilla, 2 c flour with 2 heaping t baking powder, sift together. Beat eggs until light then add sugar, the melted butter. Sift flour, add salt and baking powder and sift again, add this to above mixture to which milk, water, and mashed potatoes have already been added. Roll out 1/4 inch thick. Cut and fry in deep fat, drain, and dust with powdered sugar.
--Mrs. R.L. Wiggins

Recipe for Cooking Husbands

From my undated Antioch Cook Book, and it really is titled "Recipe for Cooking Husbands":

"A good many husbands are utterly spoiled by mismanagement. Some women go about it as if their husbands were bladders and blow them up. Others let them freeze by their indifference and carelessness. Some keep them in a stew by their irritating ways and words, other roast them. Some keep them in a pickle all their lives. It can not be supposed that any husband will be tender and good if managed in this way. But they are really delicious when properly treated. In selecting a husband you should not be guided by the silvery appearance as if buying a macherel [sic], nor by the golden tint as if you wanted a salmon. Be sure to select him yourself, as tastes differ. Do not go to market for him as the best are always brought to your door. It is far better to have none unless you will patiently learn how to cook him. A preserving kettle of the finest porcelain is the best but if you have nothing but an earthenware pipkin, it will do with care. See that the linen in which you wrap him is nicely washed and mended with the required number of buttons and strings sewed on. Tie him in the kettle by a strong silk cord called "comfort" as the one "duty" is apt to be weak. Make a clear strong fire out of love, neatness, and cheerfulness. Add a little sugar in the form of what confectioners call kisses, but no vinegar or pepper on any account, and little spice improves him, but must be used with judgement. Do not stick a sharp instrument into him to see if he is becoming tender. Stir him gently. You can not fail to know when he is done. If thus treated you will find him very relishable, agreeing nicely with you. He will keep as long as you want unless you are careless and set him in too cool a place."

Let's follow up with a recipe or two. They are definitely short and sweet. I've read the following recipe but I still am not sure what it is--a giant scone? I may have to try it just to solve the mystery.

Cinnamon Flop
1 c sugar, 2 c flour, 2 t baking powder, 1 c milk, 2 T butter, melted
Sift dry ingredients, stir in milk, add butter lastly. Spread top with brown sugar and cinnamon. Use medium oven. Serve hot with butter for breakfast. Is fine also as shortcake recipe.
--Esther McKinney


This sounds  like something appropriate with a cinnamon flop.

Ricktim Ditty

1 c grated cheese, 1 t salt, 2 T butter, 2 eggs, 1 chopped green pepper, 1 can tomatoes, 1/2 grated onion and a dash of red pepper. Mix tomatoes, cheese, onion, and pepper. Melt butter in chafing dish. Add mixture and when heated add the eggs well beaten and seasoning. Cook until eggs are of creamy consistency, stirring all the time.
--Mable Wilson


Or maybe this, which, in case you can't figure it out, is listed in the dessert section.

Pork Cake
One lb. fresh fat pork; grind fine and pour over this 1/2 pint boiling water; 2 c sugar; 1 c dark molasses; 1 t soda in molasses; 3 t cinnamon; 2 t cloves; 2 t ginger; 4 1/2 c of flour; 1 lb. seedless raisins; 1 lb. currants; 1/4 lb citron. Bake in slow oven.

More apples

How about some more apple ideas for those of us regretting how many we schlepped home from the orchard. It's like planting ten zucchini plants...what was I thinking?

This time from the Antioch Cook Book, no date, but I'm guessing 1920s. It appears to me to be a community church project. I love how very succinct the recipes are; most of merely a list of ingredients. Clearly the woman reading is supposed to have ample knowledge of what to do with them.

Here's an apple recipe written in pencil on the back flyleaf, it comes with a few more instructions:

Spiced Apple Salad
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup cinnamon drops
1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (get your Menu Magic every day)
mayonnaise

Heat sugar, water, and cinnamon drops slowly until candy is dissolved. Put peeled and cored apple in syrup and cook until tender. remove and chill. Fill centers with cheese and nuts mixed with mayonnaise. Serve on lettuce.

Mrs. Pearl McDonald supplies a recipe for Apple Dumplings:

1 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 T shortening
1/2 c milk
4 apples
4 T sugar
2 t butter

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, add shortening, and just enough milk to make a dough. Divide into four parts, roll, place one apple in each part after paring and slicing, add 1 t sugar, 1/4 t butter in each apple, fold dough around apple. Place in pan, sprinkle remainder of sugar and butter on each dumpling, also remainder of milk. Bake 20 minutes in hot oven in a covered pan. Serve with hard sauce or rich cream.

I've seen other dumpling recipes in which you mix up the ingredients for the sauce and pour it in the pan, then the apples and sauce bake together so I was surprised to see this dry version. I think I'd like it better, I always imagined the bottom half would be squishy otherwise.


Mrs Clarence Tompkins is no-nonsense with her recipe for Apple Salad:

3 c apples, 1 c white grapes, 1 c nuts, 1 c marshmallows, 2 c celery, mayonnaise dressing.

That's it, just the list.

People ate a helluva lot of mayonnaise in the past.