Cranberry & Raisin Pie

by Mrs Marvel

I’m very curious about the section below this recipe: The Housewife’s Idea Box. I wish we could have seen what was in it! Cleaning with vinegar? Tips on frugality? Oh, the advice that has been lost to the ages.

Cranberry and Raisin Pie

Three and one-half cupfuls cranberries, one-half cupful raisins, one cupful sugar, two tablespoonfuls flour, one tablespoonful butter.

Line pie pan with pastry. Chop the cranberries with the raisins and mix with the remaining ingredients. Put into pastry lined pan and bake for 15 minutes in a hot oven (450 degrees). Reduce heat to moderate (350 degrees) and bake 15 minutes longer.

 

Cranberry and Raisin Pie

3 1/2 cups cranberries (fresh)

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup sugar

2 T flour

1 T butter, melted & cooled

Pastry for single crust pie

Line pie pan with pastry. Chop the cranberries with the raisins. Mix well with all remaining ingredients. Pour into pastry and bake for 15 minutes at 450º, then reduce heat to 350º and bake another 15 minutes.

Cheese Rolls

by Mrs Marvel

This recipe for cheese rolls sounds yummy and has a lovely technique for attractive rolls at the end. But first, let’s talk yeast. We have learned previously that yeast was a byproduct of beer making, and has been around for hundreds of years. Prior to the use of yeast, most bread was either a sourdough type or unleavened. The chemical reaction of the yeast rising in the proofing dough adds air to the dough, making it more soft and adding loft. In the past, yeast was available in cake form as well as dry. Today we can purchase dry yeast, cake yeast on occasion, packets of yeast, and even yeast formulated for your bread machine that is fast acting. Cake yeast, which this recipe calls for, is also called fresh yeast, or compressed yeast, and can still be purchased. It stays good for up to 10 days in the fridge, but it can be impacted by temperature fluctuation and that is why many people have moved to using dry yeast. Because this recipe calls for so much flour, I suspect the cake of yeast intended was a 2 oz cake. That would be equivalent to 2 1/4 tsp of dry yeast. I have linked to a wonderful website after the recipe that has a yeast conversion table to help you determine the right amount of dry yeast needed for your recipes.

I will write out the recipe as printed and then convert it to our modern style.

Cheese Rolls

Mix 1 cup hot water with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Let stand until lukewarm. Soften 1 yeast cake in 2 tablespoons lukewarm water. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and combine with the first mixture. Add 1 well beaten egg and 2 1/4 cups grated cheese. Gradually beat in 3 1/2 or 4 cups sifted flour. Turn out on a lightly floured board. Knead until elastic and smooth. Shape in a loaf and place in a buttered loaf-cake pan or form into tiny balls. Place three of the little buttered balls in buttered muffin pans, cover and let rolls or loaf rise in a warm place until nearly double in bulk. Bake the rolls in a hot oven, or at about 425 degrees F for 12 or 15 minutes. The loaf is baked at a lower temperature at about 350 degrees F.

Cheese Rolls

1 cup hot water

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 yeast cake (or 2 1/4 tsp dry yeast)

2 T lukewarm water

1 tsp sugar

1 egg well beaten

2 1/4 cups grated cheese, any kind

3 1/2 – 4 cups flour

Butter as needed

Mix together the hot water, 1/4 cup sugar and salt in a bowl. Let stand until lukewarm. In another bowl, soften the yeast with 2 T lukewarm water. Add 1 tsp sugar, stir, then combine with the first mixture. Add the egg and cheese, stir. Gradually beat in the flour. On a lightly floured board knead until elastic and smooth (10 minutes?).

For a loaf – butter a loaf pan and shape the dough nicely. Cover and allow to rise until nearly double. Bake at 350 until golden brown.

For rolls – roll the dough into small balls. Butter a muffin tin and place three balls in each hole. Cover and allow to rise until nearly double. Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes.

 

Additional Information

Yeast Conversion Table via Red Star Yeast

 

PS Happy Father’s Day to my wonderful husband, my father, and all the great dads out there!

NRA Refrigerator Pudding

by Mrs Marvel

From Mrs J. F. Frehler Jr in West Allison, we have NRA Refrigerator Pudding. I don’t think “NRA” in this context means National Rifle Association. It is more likely to mean National Recovery Agency aka the New Deal, passed under President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. It was designed to help normalize prices and wages during the Great Depression so the nation could recover and move into prosperity again. Although it was only in effect for two years, the concepts of fair labor practices, fair competition and minimum wage + maximum work hours was popular with the nation and helped guide the political landscape for many years after it ended.

Being as many of these recipes seem to date from around the 1930s and later, this makes some sense to me. The concept of frugality was crucial to surviving and recovering from the Depression. If all these ingredients were fairly easy to obtain, this could be a simple dessert to make for a hungry family.

NRA Refrigerator Pudding

1 cup dates cut fine

1/3 cup cooked sweetened cranberry sauce chopped (meaning the cranberries should be fine, not whole)

1/4 pound marshmallows, cut in fourths

1/2 pound graham crackers

1/2 cup nuts chopped

1/2 cup cream or evaporated milk

Use one-fourth of the graham crackers and roll fine. Mix in order given.

Put the rest of the graham crackers on top (sifting this) then put in refrigerator for 12 hours. Serve with whipped cream or whole cream. Will keep indefinitely.

What I think she means: of the 1/2 pound graham crackers, set aside 1/4 of this to be crushed fine. Mix this with all the other ingredients. Put the rest of the graham crackers on top of this mixture (crumbled? whole? it’s a mystery), then refrigerate for 12 hours.

Bayrische Knoedel

by Mrs Marvel

This recipe could alternately be titled Bavarian Dumplings. Bayrische or Bayerische is how you say Bavarian in German apparently. Knoedel are a hugely popular dish throughout Europe, including Bavaria, Germany, Austria, Eastern European countries such as Czechoslovakia, into Ukraine and Belaruse, and even into the Scandinavian countries. Most often made with bread and/or potato, these dumplings form the basis of some meals with meat in them, and can become a dessert dish with a sweet topping. This particular recipe calls for chopped ham, and so would be part of a main dish. You will note that there are virtually no quantities mentioned for the ingredients.

Bayrische Knoedel (Bavarian Dumplings)

Cook potatoes, put through ricer, have potatoes cold before mixing with the rest. Cut bread in very fine cubes, about half a loaf, put lots of grease in a frying pan and fry bread til a golden brown, not too brown.

Mix bread cubes with potatoes and enough flour to make a soft ball and not sticky when formed. Chopped, boiled ham is very good mixed in the center. It will take about 5 1/2 to 6 cups flour. Drop balls in boiling salted water and cook for 1/2 hour or until they come to the surface. Serve with spareribs and sauerkraut on the side, using the gravy from the spareribs over the balls when serving.

Angel Lemon Pie

by Mrs Marvel

We are going to look a a number of newspaper clippings next. This particular recipe reminds me of Gram’s Angel Pie recipe. Gram’s is a bit more detailed if you like and slightly different. Angel Pie is delicious, like a cloud of lemon and baked merengue, a bit like a pavlova. This recipe seems more like the meringue and lemon custard are combined before baking, and then turned into a pie shell, like a lemon merengue.

Angel Lemon Pie

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 T cornstarch

Juice and grated rind of large lemon

Separate eggs and mix yolks slightly beaten with sugar, cornstarch and grated lemon rind. Add the lemon juice, and if the lemon is not a large juicy one add also 1 or 2 tablespoons of water. Cook together in the top of a double boiler, stirring constantly until thick. Beat the egg whites stiff, add 1/4 cup of sugar, and fold the lemon custard into the whites.

Turn into baked pie shell and brown in a slow oven (275 degrees).