I mentioned recently that pears are getting close to harvest, so here is another pear recipe. I am in the dark as to what “cheese dressing” may be. This doesn’t actually sound very good to me.
Pear Salad
Pare pears, cut in halves, remove cores & fill hollows from which cores were removed with cream cheese. Put cheese side down on nests of lettuce leaves, sprinkle with paprika, put clove in each end to simulate stem & blossom & serve with cheese dressing.
As discussed on a previous post, Devil’s Food Cake is considered the yin to Angel Food Cake’s yang (or the yang to the yin, heh). Where Angel Food is light and airy, Devil’s Food is dark and rich. After reading this recipe and comparing with my previous research, I have come to the conclusion that this recipe is very close to a standard chocolate cake rather than a traditional Devil’s Food. While it does include the baking soda (adds air and fluff to the batter) it doesn’t call for cocoa powder or shredded beets. Regardless, it will taste wonderful I am certain when iced with a nice chocolate buttercream. Mmmmm!
Devil’s Food Cake
Measure 2 cups sifted Swansdown flour. Add 1 teas soda & sift together 3 times. Cream 1/2 c butter or other shortening thoroughly, add 2 c sifted brown sugar gradually & cream together until light & fluffy. Add 2 unbeated eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 3 squares (3 ounces) Baker’s chocolate, melted. Beat well. Add flour alternately with 1 c sweet milk, a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth. Add 1 teas vanilla. Bake in 2 greased 10 inch layer pans in a moderate oven (325-F) 20 minutes.
I expect you could substitute just about anything for the nuts and raisins here. Drop cookies are a staple of the kitchen cookie jar. They are easy and fast to make, and they always taste good. Of course, drop cookies are called such because you drop a dollop of the batter from a spoon onto the baking sheet.
Drop Cookies
1 c butter (cream)
1 c walnuts (chopped)
1 c seedless raisins
3 eggs (beaten)
2 c brown sugar
1 teas soda (level)
2 teas warm water
3 c flour
While at the county fair recently I saw the pumpkins were beginning to come in! Pumpkins can be harvested as early as mid-August and will store well if handled carefully so as to avoid bruising. A pumpkin is ready to be harvested if it is uniformly orange, the rind is firm and cannot be broken with a fingernail, and there is a nice “thunk” sound when you tap it. For those of us with no yard (or a brown thumb) you can buy your pumpkin for this recipe mashed and canned at the local grocery.
While here in America pumpkin pie is most often associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, pumpkin pie is a hearty treat that dates back to the 1670s and was served throughout harvest time and beyond because pumpkins store well. The first actual recipe for a pumpkin pie was most likely created by a French chef. The Pilgrims may have had some sort of pumpkin dish at that “first Thanksgiving” but they lacked ovens to bake the pie crust so, no pies. Pumpkins were originally called pumpions (from the Greek pepon, meaning large melon, Frenchified to pompon, Anglicized to pumpion) and while various recipes existed with pumpkin tarts, puddings, and other dishes that included raisins, apples and currants, the first American cook book with a pumpkin pudding similar to our pumpkin pies didn’t come along until1796.
If you make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving or for whenever, you will be enjoying a truly American dish from a squash native to this continent.
Pumpkin Pie
Slightly beat 2 eggs & add 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 teas each cloves, allspice & cinnamon. Then add 1 c pumpkin. Add 1 1/2 c milk. Mix thoroughly. Pour into a pie pan lined with pastry & bake until firm. A hot oven will be required, reducing heat after 5 minutes.
A while back I made this cake and it is delicious! It is not sweet like an iced cake, nor sweet like coffee cake. It is somewhere in between. Because the egg whites are beaten and added last the cake is airy and light of texture. Be careful to bake it long enough or the middle will fall, while being careful not to bake it too long because then the edges will burn. I baked it for about 40 minutes and it could have used a few more minutes. Check with a toothpick beginning at 40-45 minutes to ensure the center is fully done. It behaves a bit like a chiffon cake once you remove it from the oven and the edges may pull away from the pan.
Also, of course at the time I didn’t have graham crackers so I used crushed Nilla Wafers. Crush your grahams or Nilla Wafers finely. If you have a five-year-old this is an excellent job for them, heh. Secondly, the recipe lists the nuts last but I think I would add them before the egg whites so they do not flatten the beaten whites. Gently add the beaten whites and fold all the ingredients together.
Graham Cracker Cake
1 c sugar, 1/2 c butter, 2 egg yolks, 1 c milk, 1/2 lb graham crackers, 2 heaping teas flour, 2 level teas BP, 2 egg whites beaten in last. 1 c nuts. Bake in a loaf.
Gram's Recipe Box 