Caramel Sauce

by Mrs Marvel

I don’t recall if we ever had this caramel sauce on ice cream when we visited Gram. The one very special dessert I do remember at her house was spent with my cousins George and Margie, my mother, sister, Gram and Grandpa. We had blueberries and cream and George found a little worm in his blueberries. He held it up on his finger to look more closely at it, and being a smart alec cousin, I smacked his hand toward his mouth and he ate the worm!

Caramel Sauce for Ice Cream

1 pound brown sugar

1/2 pt cream

1/4 lb butter

Cook in double boiler for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Will serve 12.

Chocolate Syrup

by Mrs Marvel

I absolutely love this “recipe card” because it’s so Gram. She was frugal and I have seen numerous examples of her reusing paper to jot down recipes, ideas, or notes. She was the original “green” housewife, lol. This particular recipe is on the corner of an envelope – and on the back was part of her shopping list!

Chocolate Syrup

1 cup white Karo

1 heaping tbsp cocoa

1/4 tsp saccharine

3/8 (possibly 3/4) c water

UPDATE My friend Cat asked what would happen if the saccharine was left out. Since I’d never made this before, and just so happened to have some light Karo on hand, I decided to find out. A jar of Karo has exactly 2 cups in it and I had to turn mine upside down to get the very last smidge (I must have been channeling Gram, ha ha). I put it in a small saucepan and at first tried it at room temperature. I combined the Karo and the cocoa, but they would not blend well. I then added about 1/4 cup water, which helped thin down the Karo. It still didn’t blend satisfactorily, so I put on a low heat. I ended up whisking it to break up the little clumps of cocoa. I had a packet of Sweet N Low on hand just in case but the syrup tasted fine to me without it. If you warmed the Karo to loosen it, then added the cocoa and maybe even sifted the cocoa into the mix to break up the clumps, this could probably be made without the water as well. I hope you try it sometime and let me know how it goes. Yield is 1 cup.

Oatmeal Squares

by Mrs Marvel

Gram had some fantastic cookie recipes and I’ll finish cookie week with one of my favorites. Not only are Oatmeal Squares ridiculously easy to make, with barely any effort they can be made gluten free for those who need it. A colleague of mine has Celiac Disease and I make these with certified gluten free oats from Bob’s Red Mill. Seems like when a person gives up certain foods for their health, they have to give up flavor and enjoyment, but like I said, with a little effort, those with gluten concerns can make these and enjoy! Substitute certified gluten free oats 1:1.

Oatmeal Squares

1/2 c butter or vitaminized margerine

1 c brown sugar, firmly packed

2 c quick-cooking oats

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

Melt butter in skillet; stir in brown sugar, then remaining ingredients. Mix well. Pack into greased & floured 8x8x2 pan. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. While still hot cut into squares; remove from pan when fully cool. Makes 16 2″ squares.

Since tomorrow is my friend’s birthday, I made a batch of oatmeal squares to take her.

I made a double recipe because we will have to share with the others in our office. One thing I like to tell people when I give out this recipe is that when you mix the butter and brown sugar together, stir it well and until the sugar is fairly dissolved, but not so long that it turns to caramel.

Also, the recipe says to cut these while they are hot. If you try to cut them right out of the oven, they are very soft and mushy. Wait about 10 minutes and then cut them, as your cuts will be more precise and won’t mush up the rest of the cookies.

I hope you will try them and enjoy!  They are very simple to make but so delicious. They are a favorite at my home and my office.

Mrs. Owen’s Caramel Cookies

by Mrs Marvel

Sometimes when I read through these recipes, I have to laugh at the simplicity of the notes. Sometimes the cards don’t have even a hint of what temperature or how long to cook something, because of course all women just knew! Take this card for example. “Mix and drop.” It’s like she is saying “even though you should know, I’m going to tell you for your own good…”

Mrs. Owen’s Caramel Cookies

2 cp brown sugar

1 c butter

2 eggs

With the line here on the card, I suspect these three should be creamed together

3 1/2 c flour

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1 c nuts

Mix and drop

I haven’t made these yet, so I will probably go with 350 for 8 minutes to start. I’ll let you know how that goes.

Recipes, the original social networking

by Mrs Marvel

When I was working on a new look for this blog, I realized I could add a “tag line,” some kind of catchy description of the blog and what it’s about. As I was thinking about this I tried to put myself into the kitchens of previous generations. They didn’t have computers and the internet to search for recipes. They didn’t have cooking shows on TV. Before a certain point in time, they didn’t even have the telephone to call up a sister or friend to check on how to make a favorite dish.

Shared recipe cards almost always have the name of the person who shared it. Here we have seen Mrs. Cleveland (Gram’s brother’s mother in law), Mernie, Jessie Beck, and there are more to come, and I know the cookbook my mother put together with all her own favorite recipes has lots more names. Look into your recipe box and see how many of those cards or notes came from other people. Seems like we all have a favorite dish that someone else makes. I know my spinach artichoke dip is a huge hit with the Kirk family in South Africa because I have emailed it to my friend who lives there.

So, where I’m going with this is that back in the day, before we had 140 character status updates, text, IM, email, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, how did women network? They networked at church, at their child’s school, with the neighbors, and with family and friends. Part of that was sharing recipes. A recipe from one mother to another may find its way into the hands of a friend of one of the daughters, all while toting along that name in parenthesis. Part of the enjoyment is knowing the source, after all these years, was Aunt Mernie or Mrs. Cleveland, or Gram’s Mother, whomever. It ties us to the past, to our family members, to our friends and neighbors and community. They give us a window into how a person thought in how the recipe is organized, and whether the recipe was well loved based on how messy and spattered it is. The changes in food products over time and the availability of certain items also gives us an idea of what was important or known about certain foods. The notes on them tell us how the cook adapted the recipe over time to meet family needs.

I hope you are enjoying these recipes, what I consider to be the original social networking.