Mrs. Stickinthemud's Box

Ottie's Barbecue Sauce

2011-03-29T20:48:00.000-07:00

Ottie Strickland's Barbecue Sauce

Barbecue sauce! I'd never tried making this homemade, and now that I have... I'm hooked! This sauce is so easy (and cheap!) to make, it leaves me wondering why I'd ever buy bottled barbecue sauce again (except maybe to take on a camping trip).

Great Grandmother's recipe is deeply flavorful and a bit spicy too. I did adjust the amount of sugar. Rather than one teaspoon, I added about 1/2 cup. I prefer my barbecue sauce to be a little sweeter and sticky (not too sweet, but not super tart either). In fact, I half-wonder whether she meant to write "cup" rather than just dittoing the teaspoon measurement. Anyway, after boosting the sweetness a bit, this recipe was perfect. (I also decreased the water slightly)

Last night I cooked up a slightly larger amount (I made a 1 1/2 sized batch), and canned a jar before using the rest with dinner (Lil' Smokies!). The original recipe specifies that this sauce is for pork spareribs. I've made it twice, and still haven't had it with pork spareribs. Nonetheless, I can tell you that this recipe is delicious cooked as directed with beef brisket... and it's pretty fun with Lil' Smokies too! I haven't grilled with the sauce yet, and have instead used it in the oven. This summer I'll see how it grills. My mouth is watering at the mere thought of it!

Note: I don't know if this is just my area, but mace has suddenly become scarce to find! When I did find mace, it was expensive! If you run into a similar dilemma, then just use nutmeg and double the amount.

While I can say that the sauce has worked out deliciously twice, I've not yet tried the full recipe (with the spareribs). I'll transcribe Great Grandmother's instructions for the spareribs. However, please keep in mind that only the sauce has been tested.

Can you enjoy barbecue sauce without meat? Of course you can! You can make barbecue sauce baked beans, enjoy the sauce over egg noodles, grill tofu basted in barbecue sauce, make green bean casserole with barbecue sauce... etc etc etc... Barbecue sauce is versatile stuff, and welcome at any Meatless Monday dinner table!

Ottie's Barbecue Sauce

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

3/4 cup ketchup (I used Hunts, made without high fructose corn syrup. Great Grandmother also suggested using Snyder's Oyster Cocktail Sauce, which I've not yet tried)
1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
2 Tablespoons vinegar (I've used both plain white, and rice vinegar. Apple cider vinegar would also work.)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons Worcester Sauce
1 teaspoon prepared mustard (plain yellow)
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
1/8 teaspoon mace (or 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg if you do not have mace)
1 small clove of garlic, crushed or finely minced
1 large onion, chopped (if you wish to take out the onion later, then chop it in larger pieces)
Approximately 1/2 cup of water, or enough to attain the desired sauce thickness

Method:

Toss all of the ingredients into a medium-sized pot. Bring to a boil at medium-high temperature, then lower the temperature to a simmer. Simmer the sauce for about an hour, or until the onion is mostly translucent and soft.

If you wish to immediately cook meat (in the oven) with this sauce, then don't bother simmering. You may instead incorporate the sauce's cooking time with that of the meat.

For pork spareribs (or beef brisket, which I've tried and enjoyed immensely), partially cook the meat alone in a 350 degree F oven. Pour or baste out the excess fat and/or juices. Cover with the barbecue sauce and finish cooking (until the meat registers as being "done" with a thermometer). Whilst it's cooking, turn now and then and baste with the sauce.

Preserve this barbecue sauce at your own risk! I am unable to give educated canning advice. I do feel confident that my method was safe. However, if you choose to can this recipe, please research further to make sure you're doing it safely. Please do not can this recipe, and then blame me if you later suffer from food poisoning! That said, I strained out the onions, filled the jar to about 1/4 inch from the rim, and processed it for 25 minutes (which is appropriate for my altitude).

~Jenai

Corned Beef Hash 2011

2011-03-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Corned Beef Hash 2011

Why am I sharing this photo with no recipe? My tummy is full, which has left me feeling both lazy and naughty...

~Jenai

Plain Applesauce Cake

2011-03-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

Plain Applesauce Cake

Oh... wow! This is officially my new favorite breakfast spice cake recipe. I tinkered with the ingredients a smidgen. However, it's one of Great Grandmother's recipes that left a lot open to interpretation, imagination, confusion, and insinuation. I figured that my alterations were within reason to make. One might excuse my choices as self-defense. When you see the original, you'll understand.

(1 1/2 or 2 "scant" cups of flour? Really?)

My version of this tender, fine-textured, delicious cake included whole wheat, vanilla, and chopped prunes (with raisins as well). I'm picky about sweets; they must have a certain salt level or else I'm not "wowed." This cake meets my requirements and exceeds my expectations. If you like applesauce spice cakes... try this one!

Plain Applesauce Cake

From the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Shortening (I used 1/4 cup Butter with 1/4 cup Shortening)

1 1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (my addition)

1 cup thick, unsweetened applesauce

1 3/4 cups Flour (I used whole wheat flour, and it worked perfectly)

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Cloves

1 cup raisins (I used 1/2 cup raisins with 1/2 cup chopped prunes... other dried fruits would be delicious also)

Method:

Grease one medium-sized loaf pan (mine is 9 by 5 inches). This would also work for muffins. However, I don't know the baking time for that, so you'd have to babysit a little.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the shortening/butter and brown sugar (it will be thick and not creamy!). Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the applesauce.

In a separate bowl sift and combine the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Add this to the applesauce mixture. Beat with a spoon for about 30 seconds, until well-combined. Stir in the raisins (and/or other dried fruit, such as chopped prunes or dates).

Spread the batter into the pan. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling. Slice, gobble, and nom nom nom!

Quick and Tender One Egg Cake

2011-03-12T20:29:00.000-08:00

After enduring a sluggish bunch of weekly viruses that descended upon our home... I've finally begun baking again. The "Quick and Tender One Egg Cake" is the first recipe I tried of Great Grandmother's.

This recipe was popular during the Great Depression. Requiring only one egg, and modest quantities of other ingredients, it was an affordable (and simple) treat. It's a small cake (I made mine in an 8 by 8 inch square pan).

Tonight's version included a sour cream frosting with vanilla and maple flavorings. Yum! However, I kind of wish I'd gone with my first choice... which was a lemon glaze.

Little Sean said it was "the best cake ever!" Granted, he says, "the best ever!" to most things these days.

Quick and Tender One Egg Cake

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cup flour
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening (I highly suggest using equal parts butter and shortening)
2/3 cup milk - not too cold (I microwaved it for 30 seconds)
1 large unbeaten egg
1 teaspoon flavoring of your choice (or more to taste): vanilla, almond, lemon, maple, etc...

Method:
Grease and flour an 8 by 8 inch square cake pan (or 9 inch round pan). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift and combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the shortening/butter, milk, egg, and flavoring extract. Beat well for about a minute with an electric mixer (or 2 minutes by hand). Pour into the pan, and bake for about 35 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). Transfer to a rack to cool. Frost and eat!

Maple-Vanilla Frosting
(Jenai's recipe)

1/3 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Mapleline (maple flavoring)
2 (or more) cups of powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Combine the sour cream, salt, vanilla, and mapleline. Gradually stir in the powdered sugar until the frosting is smooth and of the desired thickness. I used really thick sour cream, and so I only used 2 cups of powdered sugar. If you use light sour cream, then you might need to add more sugar to thicken it up.

Dummy me, I used a whisk. If you have a Kitchen Aid, or even a hand mixer, then use that instead. Not that you can't do it by hand, but it's sure a pain!

~Jenai

Oatmeal Peanut Cookies (with Wheaties)

2011-01-30T17:45:00.000-08:00

Crispy. Chewy. Yummy. We love these cookies! They turned out even better than I hoped. Bake these, and everyone (without peanut allergies) who eats them will be happy.

I tinkered with this recipe slightly by using whole wheat flour and equal parts of both butter and shortening. If you have whole wheat flour, then use it. No one will know you did.

In the future I'll probably add raisins, dates, and lots more. However, for now I tried to stay as close as possible to the original recipe.

Oatmeal Peanut Cookies

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup shortening (I use Spectrum brand. Avoid Crisco brand due to its new, strange, goopy formula. All-butter is another option)

2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant or quick)

1 cup Wheaties cereal (I measured this pre-crunched. This can be another, similar bran flake cereal)

1 cup peanuts (roasted and salted, and either chopped or ground)

Method:

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, shortening, and brown sugar until it's smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix together well.

In a separate bowl, sift and measure the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the oats, Wheaties, and peanuts. Combine well.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix together well by hand. Unfortunately this means you're obligated to lick your fingers clean after mixing the dough. Bummer...

Cover and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. With your hands, roll the dough into Tablespoon-sized balls. Set onto an ungreased baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Lightly flatten the dough balls with the back of a spoon. Bake for about 16 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Ginger Crumb Cake

2011-01-28T12:35:00.000-08:00

After the chocolate cake failure, I had to revisit one of my favourite recipes from Great Grandmother's recipe box... "Ginger Crumb Cake." I posted this recipe last year, except it was hidden in another post. This cake deserves its own spotlight.

Ginger Crumb Cake

As you can see in the photo, this isn't a dark spice cake. That's what intrigued me about it. Ginger, nutmeg, and lemon combine to make an intensely yummy experience in the mouth. The combination is perfectly balanced. Make sure your spices aren't too old, or else the ginger or nutmeg will easily overwhelm the other. If you're not fond of ginger, then skip this cake... which can actually be spicy hot if the ginger is fresh enough.

I... Love... This... Cake...

Now for a side-rant and warning. Crisco changed its formula recently. I've heard that the change happened about ten years ago, but my mom and I suspect there has been further alteration within the last couple years. The formula is now... goopy. It doesn't "crack" when you scoop some out of a fresh can. Instead it just... smears. Hard to explain. Anyway, it also doesn't work the same in baking. It ruins everything. I'm not fond of the stuff to begin with, yet I surrendered when the recipe relied on shortening for success. However, now I won't touch the stuff. It ruins recipes!

Spectrum makes a shortening that is working well. At first I was concerned because it's very firm. But it cuts nicely, and has so far been successful.

If you can't find (or afford!) Spectrum, then just go ahead and use all butter in this recipe. Seriously... Crisco will ruin the result, so don't bother.

Ok, here is the recipe...

Ginger Crumb Cake

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup shortening (if only Crisco is available, then use all butter)

1 1/2 teaspoons ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 egg (I used a very large farm-fresh egg... not sure what official size it translates into)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup buttermilk (I used 3/4 cup whole milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice)

1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch round baking pan (I used Pam baking spray with flour in it).

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, ginger, and nutmeg. Cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter, until the mixture is fine with only a few pea-sized lumps. Set aside 1/2 cup of this mixture. This will later be the crumb topping.

In a measuring cup, measure and combine the buttermilk (or milk and lemon juice), baking soda, egg, and lemon extract. Add the milk mixture along with salt and baking powder (sifted to make sure there are no baking powder lumps... which really are unpleasant to bite into) to the dry mixture. Mix thoroughly.

Spread the batter into the baking pan. Sprinkle 1/2 cup crumb topping mixture evenly over the batter. Bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Ginger Crumb Cake, enhanced with bunny ears from my friend, Stefanie.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

2011-01-26T18:22:00.000-08:00

This "chocolate fudge cake" left me saying, "eh..." and feeling a little woozy from the sweetness. There are 2 cups of sugar for 1 3/4 cup flour (2 cups if you have pastry flour). There isn't enough flavor for all the sugar, and the overall result was sweet blandness. And to make matters worse, the texture was pasty. I'll share the recipe. However, in my opinion it's really not worth baking. Great Grandmother had a couple similar recipes, and I wonder of she was trying to find the "perfect" one. I'm hoping/assuming this wasn't the favorite.

If I made this again (which I will not), I would omit the 1/2 cup sugar in the egg whites. I might even consider just adding the whole eggs in the beginning, rather than folding in the egg whites. Also, I'd add more butter, salt, vanilla, and chocolate.

The batter was good...

Chocolate Fudge Cake

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

2 cups of pastry flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour)

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 cup chopped and toasted nuts (I used pecans)

2 eggs (yolks and whites separated)

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 squares baking chocolate, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add 1 1/2 cups sugar (it will be very dry...). Add 2 well-beaten egg yolks and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. Stir in the melted chocolate. Set aside.

In a separate bowl measure and sift the flour, salt, and baking powder.

Alternating with the milk, gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Stir in the nuts.

In small separate bowl, beat the 2 egg whites until they are still. Then beat in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar (yes, this is an insane amount of sugar for 2 egg whites). Fold the intensely sweet egg whites into the batter. Spread the batter into the baking pan. Bake for approximately 35 minutes, or until the center springs back when touched.

The batter is quite delicious!

The cake, however, is not....

Corn Bread or Muffins

2011-01-24T17:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'll be baking last week's recipe from the poll (Chocolate Fudge Cake) either tonight or tomorrow. Promise. In the meantime, we had company over the weekend and I baked a ham... with Great Grandmother's cornbread on the side. (This is the recipe on the other side of the Corn Sticks/Cakes recipe card).

The cornbread turned out quite delicious. It's not very sweet, and I prefer it that way (it's how my mom made it too). My father-in-law said it passed the "eat it plain" test, which is how he most enjoys his cornbread. Overall, it was enjoyed by everyone at the table. Yum!

Notice the utter lack of baking instructions in the original. Thank goodness it's similar to my mom's recipe and I could figure out the method!

I'm going to show the ingredients doubled, simply because that worked perfectly for a 9x13 inch pan.

Ottie's Corn Bread or Muffins

From the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups cornmeal (Ottie used white cornmeal, as do I. Also, Albers brand seems to work best)

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups Buttermilk or Sour-milk (I used 2 cups milk soured with 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)

4 Tablespoons shortening (Crisco has changed its formula in a bad way, so I used Spectrum brand)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x14 inch baking pan.

If you're using sour-milk instead of buttermilk, then combine the milk and lemon juice now. Beat in the eggs. Set aside.

In a large-sized mixing bowl, measure and sift and combine the flour, cornflour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

With a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening until the texture is fine (there shouldn't be big lumps of shortening).

Add the sour-milk/buttermilk and egg mixture to the dry mixture, and beat with a spoon until well-combined (not too long, maybe for 15 or 20 seconds).

Spread evenly into the pan. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until golden brown and the center springs back when touched.

I've Chosen a Favourite Butterscotch Cookie

2011-01-20T09:50:00.000-08:00

If asked to choose between Tuesday's Butter Scotch Cookies... and last year's Butterscotch Pudding Cookies... the latter wins place as my favourite.

After eating several of the Butter Scotch Cookies, they've... flopped. I've determined that they're texture is too cake-like (which might be a winning point for others). Also, even though there appears to be enough salt in the recipe (even my butter was salted), they were not salty enough. Overall, they teetered too closely to "bland"...

If you're deciding which butterscotch cookies to try, I recommend the Butterscotch Pudding Cookies. However, if the others still appeal to you, I'd suggest adding more salt. Also, try using dark brown sugar instead of light (Ottie didn't specify in the recipe), and bake for the full 15 minutes.

~Jenai

Butter Scotch Cookies (minus the boxed pudding)

2011-01-18T22:03:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Stickinthemud's box is back!

Butter Scotch Cookies

We've moved houses since I last baked n'blogged. I'm gradually settling in, and the kitchen has been exciting to explore. It's much nicer (an understatement) than our previous kitchen... and makes these projects all the more fun.

Before I go any further... please take a moment to vote in the recipe poll (on the top left-hand side of this page). I'm playing with chocolate next, and need your help deciding which recipe to use.

Today I decided to play with another one of Great Grandmother's recipes... Butter Scotch Cookies. (note: these are different from the "Butterscotch Pudding Cookies" that I made last year). This recipes relies heavily upon the subtle butter and brown sugar flavours, with a hint of vanilla and toasted pecan accents. The sour cream lends a cake-like texture, whilst the edges retain a delightful crispiness. I found that baking them longer brought out the butterscotch-y-ness.

About that sour cream... I wanted REAL sour cream. Most of the sour creams on the shelf (three out of four brands at the store I visited) contained a plethora of additives, including many gums and thickeners. While most of the ingredients appear to be (hopefully) harmless health-wise, I'm left wondering how they affect baking results. Fortunately, Daisy brand sour cream really was just "grade A cultured cream"... nothing more. I didn't pay more for that either, so it's just a matter of reading labels and shopping carefully (Daisy's light sour cream was also the least adulterated). I still don't know that the... enhanced... sour creams (or buttermilk) would affect my baking. However, since I don't know... I'm playing it safe and choosing the ingredients that appear closest to what Mrs. Stickinthemud would have purchased and used.

You should know that I also discovered that a single recipe of Mrs. Stickinthemud's spaghetti sauce worked perfectly for a plain 9x13 inch pan-sized lasagna. (made with only the sauce, pasta, parmesan, and mozerella for layers... which I love and is how my mom usually made it). The cookie dough chilled in the refrigerator whilst the lasagna baked in the oven. It all worked out splendidly... and deliciously...

Ok, I've rambled on enough... Now for the recipe!

Butter Scotch Cookies

From the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar (I used light brown sugar, but might try dark in the future)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, well-beaten

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

2/3 cup toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts

Method:

Cream the butter, then add the brown sugar and cream together very well. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat well until the batter is light. In a separate bowl, combine and sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, alternating with the sour cream (I added both in thirds, trading turns). Fold in the pecans or walnuts. The dough will be soft. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour, or until the dough is stiff.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Butter a cookie sheet (I buttered parchment paper on a cookie sheet). Drop the dough onto the sheet by the spoon-ful and about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes (I opted for longer, to bring out the butterscotch flavor). Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.

Bourbon Balls (made with rum)

2010-07-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

Dear Mrs. Stickinthemud,

You were a very naughty woman... thank goodness! Your bourbon ball recipe is both divine and evil. A mere lick of the batter can render one tipsy. Since you said it was okay, I used dark rum instead of bourbon in tonight's batch. Also, I toasted the pecans, which you didn't specify to do. There was only one more difference between yours and mine; you stated it made 49 or 50 bourbon balls, whilst mine only made 36. Of course, I'm rather sloppy when measuring and rolling the balls.

I'm curious though... did you really count 49 bourbon balls? My husband would like to know if you perhaps had already consumed a few of these, prior to jotting down the recipe.

Thanks again, for yet another incredibly delicious treat. These will likely appear in holiday baskets this year, and I imagine they'll be well received!

Much love,
~Jenai, your slightly loony great granddaughter

Ok, a couple notes before sharing the recipe... Firstly, I made these on a sweltering hot day. They were probably a tad gummier than they'd be if made during chillier months. Therefore, I had to drop the batter into the powdered sugar, and form the balls in there (rather than forming the balls, and then rolling in the powdered sugar).

Also, I went ahead and tried a new (to me) brand of vanilla wafers; Country Choice Organic Vanilla Wafers. They were quite good! I'm sure regular 'Nilla Wafers would also be delicious.

Someday I'm going to try these with ginger snaps. Doesn't that sound yummy?

Lastly, Ottie really did state that the recipe made 49 or 50 bourbon balls. I find that hilarious.

Bourbon Balls

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:
3 cups of ground vanilla wafer cookies (such as "Nilla")
1 cup of ground nuts (pecans preferred, and I toasted mine first)
1 cup powdered sugar
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
1 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup bourbon, brandy, or rum (I used Meyers' Dark Rum)
Another 1 cup powdered sugar (for rolling the dough balls in later)

Method:

Combine and sift the dry ingredients (this also helps to sort out the extra large cookie chunks). Stir in the liquid ingredients. Fold in the nuts. The cookie crumbs will gradually absorb the liquids, thickening the batter significantly over the next few minutes. Place the 1 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl or shallow pan. Depending on the stickiness, either form the dough into 1 inch balls then roll in the sugar... or drop the batter into the powdered sugar then form the balls. Coat the balls well in the sugar. I stored my in the refrigerator.

Makes between 36... 49... or 50... Depending on the day, mood, prior consumption, and size of the spoon.

Mwah!
~Jenai

Still Here... More Yummies on the Way!

2010-07-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Alas... we've been out of town, vacationing and eating... and eating. We've also been preparing for the upcoming school year; I'm attempting to homeschool Sean for the first time. Therefore, I've neglected my kitchen and Great Grandmother's recipe box.

However, I'm hoping to create and share another yummy tonight. Bourbon Balls... made with rum. Today promises to be blisteringly hot, so these no-bake cookies should be the perfect treat!

Mwah!
~Jenai

Honey Oaty-Grain Bread

2010-06-23T23:19:00.000-07:00

Prior to beginning this blog, I posted photos and descriptions of personal kitchen creations on Facebook. This lead to recipe requests. Those lead to procrastination and flightiness... which lead to total avoidance manifested as this blog. Therefore, I owe friends some recipes not originating from my great grandmother (such as the "toast pudding"), and will post them here without a care to theme or consistency. Ha!

Would sharing recipe space with wholesome homemade bread have spurred complaints from my great grandmother? Probably not, though she might relish in the opportunity to complain anyway. Either that or she'd be very kind, and hope I'd give her a loaf.

Aside from occasional sandwich rolls and sourdough baguettes, this is our household bread. I make it approximately once a week, and Sean helps punch the dough. In fact, we're due for another batch! Pardon the horrible quality of the photos... I not only took them in low light, they were also substandard loaves from before I perfected the process. Oh the embarrassment...

This is whole grain bread fulfills my Hubby's one request: it's squishy. It holds up great for sandwiches too! You'll notice that this dough rises three times. I inherited this practice from my mumsy, who believes (and I agree) that the extra rising helps bread to last longer without going stale.

Yes, I make this bread by hand. No bread machine. And yet, it's blissfully simple to make. I'm going to share the full, lengthy recipe with my method... but only to show just how easy it is. I'll try not to include too much science or terminology, and keep it approachable. Everyone should feel confident and able to make homemade bread by hand! If you've never tried it, then set aside a day to play.

Jenai's Honey Oaty-Grain Bread

Turn on your oven light. This will gently warm your oven to the perfect temperature for raising the bead dough. However, it takes a bit of time, so turn on your light now. If it's quite warm in your house (80s or warmer), then don't bother with this step. Instead you'll raise the dough on your counter.

In a small saucepan, begin gently warming 2 cups of milk (half&half or whole milk are ideal, though 2% works also. I can't speak for lesser fat varieties, so you'd have to experiment). If your milk is already pasteurized, then don't bother scalding the milk. For this step, you're just getting it hot enough to pour over oatmeal to soften the grain and melt butter.

In a heat-tolerant bowl, combine:

2 cups old fashioned oats

2 Tablespoons honey (I use raw honey, and therefore need the hot milk to melt it)

2 Tablespoons butter

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Once the milk is hot and steamy, pour it over the oat mixture. Stir, and set aside (stirring it around now and then, especially when you're bored). This is going to need to cool to less than 116 degrees, so that it doesn't kill the yeast. I aim for anywhere between 104 and 114 degrees. (My new favourite thermometer is the CDN Pro-Accurate Quick Read Thermometer. Love it!)

In a glass measuring cup, combine 4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast in warm water (I use plain Red Star, and buy it at Costco. You may also use two packets of yeast instead). Set it aside to dissolve.

In a large medium-sized bowl, combine:
2 cups whole wheat flour (NOT pastry flour. I use Bob's Red Mill, organic whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup dark rye flour (If this isn't available, you may substitute more whole wheat, or another grain such as barley flour)
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (hopefully available at your local store. If not, then go ahead and try it without)

Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of the flour mixture into a large bowl. Stir the yeast and water mixture, to make sure its fully dissolved. Pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl with the flour. Beat this with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute, then cover with a damp warm cloth.

Wait about 10 minutes. Sometimes I poke around at the oatmeal mixture, take its temperature now and then. Sometimes I check my email. And sometimes, I take longer than 10 minutes (which is technically a good thing for this stage, though I won't go into those technicalities). My point is that this is a very low stress recipe with lots of breaks.

After the 10 minutes has passed and the oatmeal mixture is between 104 and 114 degrees, add the oatmeal to the yeast-flour mixture. Beat the goop with your spoon. Once that is combined, add a couple large spoons-full (I use serving spoons) of the flour mixture. Add little by little until it's still a little sticky, and yet you can kind of maneuver the dough into a ball and knead in the bowl for about a minute. This isn't exact, so don't worry if you didn't add enough flour yet. You can add more later, while you do the Big Knead. I always have about 1/2 cup of flour left over, which I save for future batches.

Cover the bowl with a damp warm cloth, and rest for another 10 minutes (or so).

Now is an ideal time to prepare your kneading surface. I have tiny tile counters, which means I knead at the kitchen table. I lay a large Silpat smooth-side down, and knead on that (a smaller Silpat would work also). However, I've kneaded straight on the table also (until Mumsy suggested that might eventually wear away at the surface... especially since I made bread so often). Just make sure your surface is smooth and can be floured. Oh yeah... go ahead lightly flour the surface (with the bread's flour mixture).

After the 10 (or so) minutes have passed, turn the dough out onto your happy kneading surface, and knead! Try to tolerate as much stickiness as possible, knowing that it will eventually turn to silky smoothness the longer you knead. However, if it's sticking all over your fingers, then sprinkle a little more flour. Sprinkle the flour as needed, until your hands are relatively dough-free whilst you knead. The key is time and patience. Whole grains absorb a lot of moisture when given enough time. Knead for about 10 minutes (no less than 10 minutes, though a couple minutes longer won't hurt).

When you're finished kneading, cover the dough ball with a damp cloth. Clean and lightly coat the large bowl with oil (I use Safflower oil. "Veggie" or sunflower oil will probably work fine. However, do not use canola oil... it soaks in and sticks!). Move the dough ball into the bowl, smooth-side down. Then turn it smooth-side up. It should now have a nice oily sheen from the bottom of the bowl. Ta-da!

Cover the bowl with a damp warm cloth, and place the dough in your semi-warm oven (or the counter, if your house is quite warm). Let this rise for about 1 hour, or until the dough appears doubled in bulk-size. If you live at a high altitude, this might take less time. Peek at it now and then, and don't fret! The bread won't fail merely because you aren't sure if it's quite doubled, or perhaps it's slightly more than doubled.

Once the dough has risen to double, take it out and punch it. Then punch it again. And again. You're trying to beat the air out, and return the dough close to the original size. After abusing it, take the dough out of the bowl and knead it for about 1 minute. You'll notice that the kneading surface doesn't require flour this time.

Return it to the bowl (don't bother greasing it again). Cover with the damp warm cloth, set it in the semi-warm oven, and let it rise again. This time it will take about half the time (these are rough estimates, don't worry if the timing is different from what I state here).

Whilst waiting, grease two loaf pans. When the dough is ready, abuse it again. Punch it, knead it, and get that air out! Cut the dough into two equal parts. Set one half aside, and roll the other half into a medium rectangle (about 2/3 the width of your loaf pan). Beginning at the narrow end, pinch and roll the dough into a loaf shape. You'll need to pinch the ends now and then also. Pinch the seam well. Give the ends a couple pats, and place the loaf in the pan. Repeat for the second loaf.

Cover the loaves with your damp warm cloth, and let them rise again. After about 20 or 30 minutes (or nearly doubled in size), remove the loaves from the oven (still covered with the cloth).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once it's preheated, uncover the loaves, and place them in the oven. Please don't bake your bread with the towels still on them. Please.

Bake for about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven. Turn the loaves out of the pans and onto cooling racks. Cool for about 10 or 15 minutes before cutting a steamy hot slice of bread... and smothering it in butter... perhaps honey butter... and jam... Mmmmm...

Since this has no preservatives, I store the bread in the refrigerator so that it lasts longer. However, I do store it in a plastic bread box for a day or so before refrigerating.

~Jenai

Cheese Pie

2010-06-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

Cheese pie... cheese cake... Similar, though slightly different. My mouth was delighted to gobble this for my birthday. Today was a perfect day. Sun paid us a visit (thank you Summer!), Sean really enjoyed his first day at swimming lessons, and my birthday "cheese pie" turned out delicious.

I encountered a few small (though solvable) hiccups whilst whipping up this cake. The first was my uncertainty when reading "20 graham crackers." Apparently Great Grandmother meant squares, not rectangles. Thus, the recipe was doubled. Fortunately I had exactly enough ingredients to make a larger cheesecake in a springform pan.

Secondly, my graham crackers are slightly different from the ones I grew up eating (an organic version I tried for the first time, instead of the more familiar Honey Maid). These have the right flavor (though I added a pinch of salt), but are "low fat" and too dry. I wondered about the effect of this, because the crust wasn't forming quite right. Determined to trust the recipe, I added no more than the amount of butter specified by Ottie. I should have listened to my instincts though; instead the crust turned out a tad dry and crumbly.

The third hiccup... hiccuped... when I discovered my cream cheese (Organic Valley) was too stiff to follow Ottie's method. It refused to cream together, and remained an unappealing curdled puddle in the mixing bowl... Until I remembered the blender. I will continue using a blender for this recipe in the future; it worked perfectly and simplified matters to a level of laziness I most appreciated.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth hiccups were born from the disintegrating recipe card. For instance, the bake time was no longer in tact to guide me. Instead, my mumsy pulled out her own cheesecake recipe (a more complex, though similar, cheesecake) and we used that as a guide. Mumsy's recipe filled-in where several areas were missing from Ottie's.

Mumsy also told me of when my grandmother was dying. Grandmother begged for her mama's (Ottie) "cheese pie." It was her favourite, and my mumsy made it several times, until Grandmother couldn't eat it anymore. In fact, Grandmother had Ottie's original recipe card, which is how we received it. The rest of Ottie's recipes came from Cousin Lois. My Mumsy gifted this one to me after I began this nutty, and fattening, experiment.

Note: the two cheesecakes finished tied with votes (this version was possibly the winner, if non-internet votes are counted). I purchased the ingredients to make the German version next, and will do so within the next few days.

This version of cheesecake is pretty simple. Extremely simple, might be more accurate. As I said earlier, the filling can be whipped up in your blender. I'm going to provide the recipe that fills a small 9-inch pie pan. The version I made filled a spring-form, and only requires that you double the recipe. Simple simple simple, either way. (pardon any typos... I'm writing this past midnight!)

Cheese Pie

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

For the crust combine:
10 full (rectangle, not square) graham crackers. Either crush these with a rolling pin (in a bag) or grind in a food processor. You can also pulverize them by hand, though that will take quite a lot longer to do.
a pinch of cinnamon (optional, though recommended)
a dash of salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons sugar (optional, to taste)
1/4 cup melted salted butter (or enough to make the crumb mixture hold it's shape when pressed into a pan)

Take out 1/8 cup of the crumb mixture, and set it aside. Evenly press the rest of the crumb crust into a 9 inch pie pan.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Mix 2 Tablespoons of sugar into 4 ounces of sour cream, set aside.

In a blender, combine until smooth:

8 ounces of cream cheese

2 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pour the cheese mixture into the pie pan.

Either glob, spread, or pipe the sweetened sour cream on top of the cheese filling. I globbed it on with a spoon, and quickly learned that it would not spread. Instead it sinks a smidgen. Piping from a plastic (or pastry) bag would provide flor slightly more even distribution. However, I don't think it matters much; it turned out great blobbed haphazardly everywhere.

Sprinkle the remaining graham cracker crumbs over the top.

Bake for about 55 minutes, or until it doesn't look "soupy" in the center. It should appear somewhat firm around the edges. Cool for about 30 minutes on a rack, and then refrigerate to finish cooling. Eat. Share. :)

~Jenai

Toast Pudding

2010-06-15T23:22:00.000-07:00

Sean often begs for toast and butter. And begs. And begs. It would be lovely if I could give this to him for every meal, but alas I cannot.

When I first looked at the bread pudding recipe in Meta Given's "The Modern Family Cookbook" (1958 edition), it was an attempt to find breakfast alternatives that would thrill Sean's little mouth. Meta's recipe was more of a "bread and butter" pudding, and called for buttered toast. Perfect! Of course, I morphed her recipe quite a bit... but I still owe Meta thanks for the inspiration!

Sean watched me baking in the kitchen, and named it "toast pudding." He was extra proud seeing me use the oatmeal bread he helped Mummy bake (also a recipe I've promised to share, and will soon!). Obviously, this isn't a Mrs. Stickinthemud recipe. Instead it's my recipe, based upon an idea out of Meta Given's cookbook. (I wish they'd re-publish her works!). A few friends have been asking for this recipe, but I grew sidetracked with Great Grandmother's... Since I'm not baking again until the weekend, I may as well share a few of these other recipes!

Toast Pudding

from Jenai's kitchen

Toast and lightly butter both sides of 6 thick slices of bread (I dare you to use whole grain bread... it's delicious!). I cut these slices close to an inch thick. It's great if you can cut your own, or perhaps double up two thin slices. Take it easy on the butter, because it's really only there for flavour. Not that it isn't delicious with more butter...

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a 7x11 baking pan (I think an 8x8 would work fine as well), break up and evenly distribute three of the bread slices into hearty chunks. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of raisins (I placed these on top the first time, and burnt a few... as you can see in the photo). Then break up the remaining three slices of bread.

In a medium mixing bowl (or 4 cup liquid measuring cup), combine well:

3 cups of warm milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 Tablespoons honey (or 1/3 cup of brown or white sugar)

5 beaten eggs

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Pour the liquid mixture over the toast, whilst pressing down any bits of bread that might dare poke up and stay dry. I also like to sprinkle a little more nutmeg and cinnamon over the top. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes (don't bother with baking this in a pan of hot water, as this recipe doesn't need it), or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool and then either serve this warm or refrigerate and serve cold.

This recipe is fairly flexible. You can decrease the eggs to about 3... and I've used as many as 6 or 7 (yes, it gets a bit "eggy" when I use that many). Make it sweeter if you like, or saltier. Try using cardamom, ginger, or other spices. Perhaps you enjoy using agave nectar? Go ahead! Play with it. :)

~Jenai

Chocolate Drop Cookies

2010-06-14T21:53:00.000-07:00

Warning to cookie dough lovers: Don't eat this dough. If you begin eating the dough, you will not stop. Yes, it's that delicious...

These little cookies are bound to become a new family favourite. Despite their modest "Nilla Wafer" size, they pack a ton of yum. Ottie wrote that we could use shortening or butter. Therefore, I can officially say I made no changes to the original recipe.

Chocolate Drop Cookies

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Cream together:
1/2 cup (1 stick) of softened butter (or shortening, if you prefer)

1 cup of sugar

Add and mix well:

1 unbeaten egg

Melt 2 squares of unsweetened baker's chocolate (I used Hershey's, and followed the melting instructions on the package). Add the chocolate to the batter along with 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Tip: I was worried this step might cook the egg. To prevent that from happening, I poured the melted chocolate from high above the bowl, hoping it cooled somewhat on the way down. I'm not sure if this would have been a problem. Either way, I didn't end up with scrambled eggs in the batter... thank goodness!

In a separate bowl combine and sift together:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pour 1/2 cup of buttermilk (or homemade soured milk) into a liquid measuring cup.

Add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the batter, alternating a few times. Begin and end with the flour (for instance: add a bit of flour, then half the buttermilk, then more flour, then rest of the buttermilk, and lastly add the rest of the flour).

Once that is well combined, add 1/2 cup of either chopped nuts or coconut. (I used unsweetened coconut, and adored it in the cookie).

Drop the batter by the teaspoon-full onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (or lightly greased). I filled a quart-sized zipper plastic bag with the batter (which is fairly soft), and snipped one of the bottom corners. Then I piped the batter onto the cookie sheet. And, yes, the dough blobs look like an army of... well... never mind.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. This recipe made approximately 106 "Nilla Wafer" sized cookies! I fit about 24 on each large cookie sheet, with 10 in the final batch.

I filled this large jar to the very top... after Sean and I gobbled about 6 of the cookies

~Jenai

Phebe Haines Sharp, a story told with Honey Drop Cookies

2010-06-13T23:50:00.000-07:00

(Note: scroll down if you want the recipe and aren't fond of history)

Quaker outcast, doctor, pioneer, and my 6th great grandmother... Phebe Haines Sharp was also abundantly blessed with bees and honey...

One of our resident bees, photographed by Hubby

Phebe Haines was born in 1759 in Evesham Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. When I began prying into her history, it was her title of "doctor" that caught my eye. A woman born in 1759 was a doctor? I wondered if perhaps authors meant "midwife" instead, and yet she was indeed a doctor. However, this left me with many questions for the Logan County Genealogical Society. For instance, how did she obtain her medical education if women weren't admitted into the schools? They assumed (and I agree) that she likely earned her education and title through apprenticeship. Inspired by those who helped others through healing, Phebe wished to do the same. Phebe's parents allegedly supported their daughter's wishes, and helped to fund her education.

In 1780 Phebe married her cousin, Job Sharp. Because of this, the Society of Friends disowned her (she was readmitted later, I believe around 1811). The Evesham Meeting Monthly Minutes stated:
"5th da, 7th mo, 1781. The following were all treated:... Phebe Sharp disowned for fornication and marrying first cousin from Evesham Monthly Meeting..."
Oh my!...

It wasn't long before Phebe and Job moved from New Jersey to Philadelphia. This is where Phebe may have begun her medical apprenticeship. I can't help but wonder if they moved away partly because of the "scandal." However, they may have simply been looking for an ideal home for their family.

From Philadelphia they moved to Virginia, and witnessed slavery at its fullest. The Sharps were abolitionists, and did not wish to raise their children in that environment. Around 1798/9, Job moved his family to Chillicothe (in soon-to-be Ohio, and the first capital), where slavery was not allowed. This area held even more meaning to him.

In 1778, during the Revolutionary War, Job was taken captive by Shawnee Indians. During his captivity, he fell in love with the area where they took him (today it is Zanesfield, Ohio). He swore to come back if he escaped, which he did... though we're not sure how. He possibly escaped with fellow captive and frontiersman, Simon Kenton, whose friends came to his rescue.

Job swapped the military land he owned in Virginia with a friend. They moved to what later became Logan County, and thus became the "first white settlers" of that region.

In 1801, on Christmas Day, Phebe and Job Sharp (along with three of their children and Phebe's brother) trekked to their new home. They made the journey with a drag sled (in the mud and snow) and four horses, which carried everything they needed to build and settle in the new location. Both were from wealthy families, and were well-supplied for their first winter.

Upon arriving they found a few dead bees on the snow, which led them to a handful of trees which housed the useful fellas. The honey these bees made provided the Sharp family with sustenance, wax, and even medicine. Honey would have likely been in the medical kit Phebe carried with her whilst treating patients.

From the time the Sharps arrived until around 1809, Phebe was the only (and first!) doctor in the area. Supposedly she frequently ordered grey silk dresses out of Philadelphia, and wore these as she traveled by horse to treat her patients. She turned no one away, and treated all who needed her, including Native Americans and those who were too poor to pay.

Whilst Phebe was busy doctoring her neighbors, Job built the area's first grist mill. The locals brought their grain to be milled there. Around 1802, Job and his son Joshua planted a cider apple orchard (used primarily to supply hard cider). This they did with the help of John Chapman, also known as "Johnny Appleseed."

These apples were not the only legendary trees on their land. A year or so after the Sharps settled the area, Phebe made a trip to Chillicothe to visit their daughter, Esther Antrim (she had married and stayed behind, though they too moved near the Sharps a couple years later). Upon returning from her visit, Phebe took a small branch from her daughter's pear tree, and used it as a switch for her horse, "Old Dobbin." When we arrived home, Phebe stuck the switch in the ground outside the back door. Legend says the switch took root there and became a bountiful pear tree. An 1884 clipping from the Bellefontaine Repulican claimed that the tree still bore fruit, and the current resident had just canned 46 quarts of pears.

Between the "bee trees" (described as "Christmas trees"), the Johnny Appleseed cider orchard, and this miraculous pear tree... I'd say the Sharps had a way with trees!

In 1808, Job built the area's first log cabin (meaning permanent, rather than the rough temporary homes). Phebe's office was on the bottom floor. The cabin was still standing until the 1940s (I believe).

Photo courtesy of Bob Notestine

Phebe continued treating patients until she passed away in 1833. Her request was to be buried alongside the roadway, rather than in the cemetery. That way, "friends might see her grave in passing, and thus call to mind her beneficence." Today a memorial stands where her grave once was. Cousin Bob Notestine said that pieces of the original millstone make up part of the memorial.

Photo courtesy of findagrave.com

When I came across Great Grandmother's "Honey Drop Cookies", I immediately thought of our Great Grandmother Phebe Haines Sharp and her honeybee trees. Today I baked up half a batch of these special cookies, and dedicated them to her. They truly are special too, in flavour as well as sentiment.

Hubby said these tasted better and better as the hours passed. Usually he's a "lava hot out of the oven" fan of cookies. He's also usually at a loss for words when describing food. This time he kept remarking on how the flavours were so balanced and subtle.

The only adjustment I made was to the quantity... I halved the recipe. I'm glad I did, because it still made 20 cookies, measuring about 3 inches each! They end up high, and somewhat caky... though not spongy. They are on the sweet side, and yet appropriately so. These are ideal sharing cookies; perfect for gift baskets and holidays.

If you're a fan of honey, butter, and lemon... then make these... You'll be glad you did.

Honey Drop Cookies

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Cream together:
1/4 cup soft butter (half a stick)
1/4 cup sugar

Add and beat:
1 egg

Mix in:
Grated rind of 1/2 lemon (I use a microplane to zest)
4 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 cup honey (raw is best for flavour, but any flavourful honey will do)

In a separate bowl, combine and sift together:
1 3/4 cups flour (I used 1 cup all purpose and 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon salt (I opted for less)

Add the flour mixture to the sticky gooey honey mixture.
Stir in:
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, but am certain most nuts would be delicious in this)

Drop by the tablespoon onto a parchment-lined sheet (or lightly grease it). Approximately 10 cookies should fit on a large cookie sheet. Leave a couple inches between each blob of dough, because they will spread. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

My relationship to Phebe Haines Sharp:
(For those who are curious, or related)

my 6th great grandmother: Phebe Haines
born: 1759 in Evesham Township, Burlington County, New Jersey
married: Job Sharp, 1780
died: 1833 in Zane Township, Logan County, Ohio
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my 5th great grandfather: Joshua Sharp (Phebe and Job's only son)
born: 1785 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
died: 1849 in Logan County, Ohio
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my 4th great grandfather: Job Haines Sharp (note that they included Phebe's maiden name)
born: 1811 in Logan County, Ohio
died: 1880 in Perry Township, Logan County, Ohio
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       |
my 3rd great grandmother: Victoria Sharp (had a twin named Elloria)
born: 1839 in Dayton, Ohio
married: William Spohn
died: 1911 in Lebanon, Missouri
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my 2nd great grandmother: Myrtie Spohn
born: 1863 in East Liberty, Ohio
married: Fernando Coffman
died: 1910 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
(I have a generous clipping of her hair)
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my great grandmother: Ottie Eugenia Coffman
born: 1893 in Lebanon, Missouri
married: James Harrison Strickland
died: 1982 in Los Angeles, California
(I also have some of her hair)
       |
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my grandmother: Marjorie
born: 1914 in Loving, Texas
married: Walter May I
died: 1982 in Palm Springs, California
(and I have her hair too. Is this perhaps a somewhat morbid trend?)
   |
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my father: Walter II
born: 1945 in Los Angeles, California
       |
   |
me: Jenai
born: 1978 in Reno, Nevada

~Jenai

Poll : Birthday coming. Cheesecake wanted.

2010-06-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

Monday the 21st of June is not only Midsummer's Day; it's also my birthday. It's not a "special" birthday... just my 32nd. And yet, isn't it still worthy of a cheesecake splurge?

When I was pregnant with Sean I had gestational diabetes. After I gave birth, cheesecake was the main "food" that I craved. And I pampered this craving... often. I still have squishy sides and thighs to prove it. Cheesecake remains a favourite treat of mine, though I rarely surrender to it these days.

So you can imagine my mixed delight upon seeing that Great Grandmother provided me with two options to bake! True, cheesecake is my weakness and I really shouldn't "go there" right now. Instead I should be spending lots of quality time with my Wii Fit and garden... But how can I resist testing her cheesecake recipes? It's my birthday AND my duty, right? (please agree with me here)

With this in mind... two cheesecakes are vying for the next Stickinthemud experiment and are the focus of the current poll (on the right-hand side, below the photo of Ottie). Please vote and help me to decide. I'll describe each to make the decision process easier (or possibly more difficult, hehehe):

Cheese Cake: From what I gather, this is the same as a German "Smearkase". Not surprising when one considers Ottie's strong German heritage (her grandmother only spoke German). It has a caky pastry base, with a cheesecake-like topping. The topping/filling is made with cottage cheese, rather than cream cheese. It also includes raisins and lemon rind. I've never had smearcase, and am very intrigued and eager to try the recipe.

Cheese Pie: This was one of my grandmother's favourites, and Ottie's recipe was amongst her belongings. A lot of the card has crumbled, including the baking time (of course!). Enough of it survived so that I can probably still figure out how to make it. If classic cheesecake and diet abuse is the goal, then this is the cake. Graham crackers, butter, cream cheese, and sour cream...? Oh my....

And in other news, my folks just stopped by and tried yesterday's Butterscotch Pudding Cookies. My pa really does not care for butterscotch, and yet he LOVES these cookies. He and Mumsy finished off the batch with many praised-filled exclamations and sputtered crumbs.

Butterscotch Pudding Cookies

2010-06-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Today we visited the old Butte Creek Mill in Eagle Point, and they gave us a mini-private tour. I'd read about it beforehand, and was thrilled to see it in action. We cannot believe we've lived here so long without going there! If you live nearby, or are visiting, you really should check it out.

The mill 'round back. Photo taken by Hubby.

Sean... (photo by Hubby)

The milling of corn... (photo by Hubby)

Upon returning home, I was eager to bake Butterscotch Pudding Cookies, the winner of our last poll. I had some initial confusion about the pudding mix... and wasn't sure if it should be instant or what sized box to use! After asking around, I decided that the pudding mix in my pantry would hopefully work (and it worked quite well too!).

This batter is super thick, and I was able to roll it in my hands when placing them on the cookie sheet. Grandmother Ottie only stated "nuts" in the recipe, so I opted for macadamias. They are quite possibly my favourite nut. Again I replaced the shortening with butter, which usually means a much thinner cookie (butter melts at a lower temperature causing cookies to spread more). In this case, it didn't matter and the cookies finished high and round.

Oh, and by the way... these cookies are insanely yummy! They passed the Hubby and Sean tests... and won't last the night (though I'll rescue a couple for Mumsy to inspect as well). They are not chewy or crunchy, and are instead fine and delicate. The texture somewhat reminds me of Russian Tea Cookies.

Butterscotch Pudding Cookies

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter or shortening

1 box of "stove top" (not instant) butterscotch pudding mix, 3.5 ounces

1 egg

1 teaspoon imitation maple flavouring (sometimes known as "mapeline)
or vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup chopped nuts

pinch of salt (optional)

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and pudding mix. Add the egg and maple (or vanilla, if you prefer) flavouring. In a small separate bowl, sift and combine the flour and baking powder (and salt if you are using it). Add this to the butter mixture. Stir in the nuts. The batter is very thick!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or lightly grease it). With your hands, form balls with approximately 2 teaspoons worth of dough. The dough should make about 2 dozen cookies (my batch made 22). Because they barely spread, they can all fit on one larger cookie sheet, with about 1 inch between each dough ball.

Ottie never specified a baking time. I kept lifting and peeking underneath the cookies until they were the shade of brown I prefer. These baked for about 25 minutes.

Cool, gobble, and gift!

~Jenai

Surprise Cherry Cake

2010-06-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

Around 10 o'clock last night, I decided to bake the Surprise Cherry Cake. The first step is to cook the cherry juice with sugar and cornstarch until it's this. 30 minutes into stirring and stirring, I finally looked at the recipe and saw that I'd used teaspoons instead of tablespoons of cornstarch. No wonder it wasn't thickening!

So I started over with a fresh batch of cherry juice, and this time it worked. However, the cake didn't make it into the oven until about fifteen minutes before midnight! This cake bakes for 45 minutes, then rests for about 5 minutes before turning it out onto a plate.

The best part was when I noticed that Grandmother Ottie wanted this served WARM!... (I'd intended to make it for a breakfast cake). This meant Hubby and I were taste testing the cake at around 1 o'clock in the morning. Aside from the false start, no major errors ruined the project, even though I baked it so late!

Fortunately, the cake turned out delicious! The topping is a pretty basic cherry pie filling, made with canned sour cherries. The cake itself, though, is tender orange scrumptiousness! It took much self-control not to add vanilla to the cake. However, this is another instance where I know Ottie used plenty of vanilla when she wanted it... So, I was brave and allowed the lone orange rind to replace my favourite cake flavouring. Part of the "surprise", for me, was that I could indeed do without the vanilla. The delicate orange played with the butter and bran, and didn't bicker one bit.

Perhaps even more surprising?... I didn't change a thing in this recipe. I used the white flour (it helped that she used bran as well). And since she specified butter instead of shortening (for once!) I most happily obliged.

I would use the cake part again, in other recipes as well. It would work with an apple or cranberry topping... or even as a blueberry muffin (my mumsy's idea). If you can't find canned sour cherries, then go ahead and use some other canned fruit. Just be sure there is enough liquid, and if it's already sweetened, then omit the sugar (or at least use less of it). If you use dried fruit, such as cranberries, then consider using pure cranberry juice as your liquid (again, make sure you don't over sweeten it).

Surprise Cherry Cake

from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud

Drain well and save the juice of 1 can of pitted sour cherries (14.5 ounces). Set the cherries aside. The juice should measure close to 3/4 cup. If it does not, then add water until the liquid measures 3/4 cup. If your fortunate and have home-canned cherries, then use 2 cups of the cherries and 3/4 cup of juice.

In a medium-low saucepan, combine the cherry juice with 2/3 cup sugar and 2 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch. Cook slowly, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick and bubbly. Take the pan off the heat. Stir in the cherries, and set the mixture aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease either an 8x8 square baking pan, or a 9 inch round pan.

Spread the cherries evenly in the bottom of the pan (not that the top of the pan is even an option at this point...). Set the pan aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream 1/3 cup of soft butter with 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon grated orange rind (I use a microplane, and didn't bother measuring the rind. I simply used the rind of one whole orange). Beat one egg well, then add to the sugar mixture.

In a separate bowl, sift together: 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Then add 1/2 cup of bran (look for it in your store's bulk section, otherwise you might need to look in the cereal aisle).

In a liquid measuring cup, combine 1/2 cup of evaporated milk with 1/4 cup of water (I'm sure 3/4 cup of plain milk would work just fine).

Now you'll add the milk mixture and the flour, alternating between the two, and ending with the flour. I added a third of each at a time. (example: pour a little milk, sprinkle in some flour mixture, pour more milk, sprinkle more flour, then the last of the milk, and finally the last of the flour).

This mixture is thick! Nevertheless, you now get to glob and spread the batter evenly (or as evenly as possible) over the cherry mixture.

Bake for about 45 minutes. Let the cake cool for about 5 or 10 minutes, then turn the cake out (upside-down) onto a serving plate. My cherries oozed all over the plate, so I'd wait longer than 5 minutes next time. Great Grandmother said to serve this warm, though a friend was quick to point out that we now have microwave ovens for that...

Cherries and sticky juice all over!

A sloppy repair job...

~Jenai

Gingerbread

2010-06-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today Lois and Don are heading North again... We had a great visit! :)

I must confess to some naughtiness on my part... And first I PROMISE to make it up to you. But... I couldn't make the cakes we voted for, because they violated diets in every imaginable way. Instead I made the gingerbread because I was able to adjust it to be less calorically criminal. The gingerbread was good... and yet it left me craving the coffee cake and surprise cherry cake. I think it was the intense molasses... there was way too much of that stuff in there.

Anyway, it was indeed good, and different from other gingerbread recipes I've tasted. I replaced 3/4 of the butter with plum puree, and used whole wheat pastry flour. Between the plum/prune puree and huge quantities of molasses... well... you can imagine. All I can say now is, "I'm so sorry, everyone."

I would try this recipe again, without the prune and perhaps with less molasses. The flavour was really delightful, though just a bit strong. Next up... the cakes we voted for, which I should have made anyway!

Gingerbread

(the original "Mrs. Stickinthemud" recipe from 1935)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 shortening or butter (I use butter)

1 cup molasses (reconsider this... that's a lot!)

1 egg

2 1/2 cups sifted flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

1 teaspoon allspice or cloves (I used 1/2 teaspoon allspice)

1 cup hot water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a smallish shallow pan (a 7x11 would work).

Cream the shortening/butter and sugar. Mix in the the egg and molasses. In a separate bowl, sift the dry ingredients. Then combine the dry and wet mixtures. Add the hot water, and beat until the batter is smooth. Pour into the baking dish, and bake for about 35 minutes. Cool and serve with whipped cream.

~Jenai

Cookies n'Candy Poll

2010-06-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

While I'm busy baking cakes this week, I'll leave you to vote for the next project. Here are the descriptions of the yummy options:

Butterscotch Pudding Cookies: starring boxed butterscotch pudding, nuts, and vanilla.

Chocolate Drop Cookies: Chocolate... yup. Also made with Buttermilk, chocolate, nuts, chocolate, coconut, chocolate, and vanilla.

Coffee Penoche: The classic brown sugar awesomeness, with some coffee added to the mix.

Honey Drop Cookies: Lots of honey, butter, lemon, and some nuts. This one would also have to include an story of one of my ancestors (on Ottie's side).

A tie, in effect

2010-06-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

You are a clever bunch of readers... and for a while Coffee Cake and Surprise Cherry Cake were tied for votes, 14 to 14 (out of 31 votes). Then, about 30 minutes before the poll closed, someone changed their vote and allowed for Surprise Cherry Cake to claim victory.

It was a close race between those two, and Kimberly convinced me to go ahead and bake both. She made a very valid point; one is clearly a breakfast item and one is clearly a dessert item. I'm excited to try them, and hope they're as good as they promise to be!

However... all this baking does mean that I'll be neglecting the internet for the next few days. I'll try my best to post updates, especially of the Stickinthemud sort. The posts might be brief though... like this one!

Thanks again for all your votes and input. You've helped to make this project great fun!

Lemon Sponge

2010-06-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

It turns out that "Lemon Sponge" isn't anything like spongecake, as I'd expected. Instead it's more like a lemon custard. I was disappointed when it first came out of the oven, because it was SO far from a spongecake I feared something went horribly wrong. It was somewhat dark, and very thin.

However, after researching, I found recipes similar to this one called "lemon sponge pudding cake." Someone even posted a photo that looked almost identical to my "cake."

The rather dark spongeless sponge... perhaps better known as "custard" or "pudding"

Relieved, I was eager to try it with the strawberries and whipping cream that I prepared earlier today. The whipping cream was my own experiment, and had honey and lemon in it (to compliment the honey in the strawberries and lemon in the sponge). Hubby overindulged. In other words, this was quite good! The sponge's lemon flavour was perfect, and its thin appearance veiled a richness that begged for the strawberries. Or, would have left us begging for them had there been none in the house!

I sweetened 2 pounds of strawberries with about 2 Tablespoons of raw honey, and 1/4 cup organic sugar. I also included the juice from one squeezed lemon.

Lemon Sponge

(from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud)

Mix together:

3 Tablespoons flour

3/4 cups fine sugar

3/4 teaspoons salt

Add to 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten.

Stir in 3/4 cup evaporated milk and 3/4 cup water.

Slowly stir in 1 Tablespoon grated lemon grind (I use a microplane) and 3 Tablespoons lemon juice

Fold in 3 stiffly beaten egg whites.

Pour into a well-greased 8x8 baking dish. Place in the oven in a pan of hot water (I use a 9x13), with the water reaching about 1/2 up the 8x8 dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until brown. Be gentle with it while it cools on a rack.

Jenai's Honey-Lemon Whipping Cream

In a mixing bowl, combine:

1 pint heavy cream

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

5 teaspoons lemon juice

Mix until the whipping cream is the stiffness you prefer. Keep refrigerated.

~Jenai

Planning for a Special Visit!

2010-06-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

The votes were overwhelming, and 90 percent of you chose lemon sponge for this weekend's Stickinthemud experiment. I bought some nice fresh strawberries today, and cream... because I intend to use the lemon sponge as a strawberry shortcake base. Yum yum yum... I hope it works out as well as I'm imagining!

On Tuesday Cousins Lois and Don will be visiting (they'll be here a few days)! I simply must bake a goody from the recipe box, and need your help deciding. There are four choices, and I'll roughly describe each so that you can choose wisely. When you're ready, please vote in the poll which can be found on the right-hand side of this page. The poll will close on Tuesday morning!

Plain Applesauce Cake. This isn't exactly what I call "plain"... Butter, brown sugar, applesauce, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves... and I'd use a white and whole wheat flour mix.

Surprise Cherry Cake. Essentially, this is a cherry upside-down cake. Made with sour cherries (sweetened, of course). The cake is predominantly white with some bran added, and flavoured with grated orange rind.

Coffee Cake De Luxe. A simple and somewhat plain-looking coffee cake (deliciously plain). I would probably sneak in half whole wheat flour. It has what promises to be a delicious "strisel" topping with nuts and vanilla.

Gingerbread. This is the very recipe that Great Grandmother signed as "Mrs. Stickinthemud." Molasses, Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves, and Allspice are the main flavours. I'd make with with either part or entire whole wheat flour. Heavy, spicy cakes like these welcome whole grains.

Thanks for your help whilst voting. It's not an easy choice, and I appreciate your input!

Ottie's Spaghetti Sauce

2010-06-02T21:11:00.000-07:00

Through my mumsy's side I have quite a lot of Sicilian heritage... and recipes to go with it. Italian food, and pride, wasn't in short supply in our home.

You might imagine my curiosity when I came across Ottie's recipe for "Real Spaghetti Sauce". I looked over the ingredients, determined that it looked quite yummy, and decided to try it. Tonight I cooked it up, and... well... Ottie made a quite good sauce! While it was simmering, my pa said it smelled very familiar. He wonders if perhaps his mother make it a few times when he was a kid.

When it came time to remove the carrots and bell peppers, we hovered over the plate and devoured them. They were way to delicious to dump in the trash. Next time, I would probably slice the carrots and leave them in the sauce.

The only part of the recipe I changed was the mushrooms; I don't trust them canned, so I replaced each can with six fresh mushrooms. Yes yes yes... I'm a rather paranoid cook at times.

That reminds me... I cannot share a meat recipe without first begging that everyone watch Food Inc. Buy it, rent it, whatever... just be sure to watch it! It won't stop you from eating food that you love... it will just inspire you to make better choices. For instance, I cannot give up meat. I found it helpful to learn what sort of meat was safest to purchase and eat... and the reasons why.

Ok, after viewing that short documentary, you'll likely agree to buy grass-fed beef... Which means I'll stop babbling and share the recipe.

Real Spaghetti Sauce

(from the kitchen of Mrs. Stickinthemud)

Ingredients and Method:
1 ¼ pounds ground beef (please try to buy grass-fed beef)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper
Brown in 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
Drain or baste out some of the excess grease. Then add:

1 medium chopped onion

6 cloves of garlic (I chopped them, but crushed would be fine)
Saute for about five minutes, until the onions are semi-translucent. Then add:

2 cans of tomato paste

2 cans of tomato sauce

6 mushrooms, chopped

½ green bell pepper, halved

1 carrot, cut into thirds

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon dried crushed thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried crushed basil

In either cheesecloth or a small spice bag, insert:

3 whole cloves

1 bay leaf, halved
Place the spice baggie in the pot, along with 2 cups of water.
Simmer for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove the green pepper, carrot, bay leaf, and whole cloves when the simmer is complete. Serve over cooked pasta of your choice. However, is it still spaghetti sauce if it's served over linguine? Hmmm...

~Jenai

Introducing Ottie

2010-06-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

How rude of me to not properly introduce my great grandmother, the creatress of these recipes! Ok, gather 'round and I'll tell you what I know about her...

Ottie Eugenia Coffman was born the 22nd of December, 1893 in Lebanon, Missouri. She was the fourth of eight children born to Fernando Coffman and Myrtie Spohn. Her parents had strong German and Quaker backgrounds, which reflects through some of her recipes. One such recipe was "Strisel" which calls for 8 pounds of flour, 5 pounds of sugar, 4 pounds of shortening, etc... I haven't yet figured how why the quantity is so... daunting... Was she baking for the entire family, extended and all?

Ottie is the young blond girl standing in the center

Ottie Coffman as a student

Around 1905 Ottie's family moved to Paoli, Oklahoma. At the age of (nearly) 18, Ottie married my great grandfather, James Harrison Strickland, better known as "Harry." In 1912, Ottie and Harry welcomed their first child, Mildred. From then until 1929, they had six children. One child, Donald, died in infancy during a flu epidemic.

Ottie,"Harry", and baby Mildred. Circa 1912

And the kiddos kept coming...

Left to right: Helen, Marjorie (my grandmother), and Jack. Oklahoma, circa 1923

"Harry," as everyone knew him, worked in carpentry and was a master plasterer. His job moved them around a bit early in their marriage... from Oklahoma, to Texas, back to Oklahoma, and then finally to Los Angeles in the late 1920s. They built their house at Mt. Washington, and temporarily lived in a tent house.

The Mt. Washington tent house, circa 1928/9

Ottie's brother, Paul, also moved to Los Angeles and it was in his home where she gave birth to her youngest child in 1929. I assume (and could very well be wrong) that her own house wasn't yet finished being built when she went into labor.

Ottie and her youngest baby, Rex. Circa 1929

Ottie should not be confused with a warm, chuckling granny! Yes, she baked cookies for children. However, she didn't extend chumminess much further than that. Several people (including herself) considered Ottie... well... mean. "Outspoken" might be a more appropriate term, and I believe she was proud of that. Hehehe. Anyway, by the time my parents married, a sweet frail woman replaced the brazen matriarch who always spoke her mind. Or, at least, that's the version of Ottie that my mom met and I remember.

Alas, Ottie and Harry's marriage did not last. They divorced in 1942, after being together for 30 years. Here is the entire family at Mt. Washington in the early to mid 1940s:

Left to right: Jack, Mildred, Ottie, Helen, Rex, Harry, and Marjorie (my grandmother)

I was 3 1/2 years old when I last knew Ottie. My hazy memory is of a sweet elderly woman in the hospital. It's possible that Ottie pitied Mumsy. You see... the first day they met she advised Mumsy not to have children! That was all. No reasons or further explanation. She simply said, "don't have children."

Mildred and Ottie cooking, circa 1966/7

Many of my pa's memories of Ottie revolve around food (this is characteristic of most of Pa's memories... in general). He recalls Ottie meeting with the other ladies and spending a day making butter. Through him I was able to figure out whether Ottie used yellow or white cornmeal (he says she used white), because he always studied her cupboards as a boy. However, by the time he was born (1945) Ottie wasn't cooking quite as much, or at least not while my finicky pa was visiting. Not that she gave up cooking entirely... yet.

My pa and Ottie, circa 1970

According to my parent, when Ottie moved into a nursing home (in the late 1970s), she was quite pleased to no longer be cooking. She didn't wallow in self-pity, and instead enjoyed watching soaps all day and being served by others!

On the 8th of January 1982, Ottie passed away... shortly after her 88th birthday.

~Jenai

Corn Cakes

2010-05-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Stickinthemud's corn stick (similar to muffins, for those of you who are not familiar with them), does indeed make perfect corn cakes on the griddle. Hubby was still at work and Pa grows squeamish in the presence of buttermilk. Therefore, the dinner table (which was actually breakfast) seated my mumsy, Sean, and me. Many proclamations of "mmmm" and "yummy" filled the ears of a very proud cook. Sean, who is only five, gobbled four of these. Of course, it helped to have homemade strawberry syrup oozing over the tops of the cakes.

Fortunately I doubled the recipe, or else there wouldn't have been any left for hubby after he returned home from work! Also, I decided not to tinker too much with this one. In other words, whole wheat flour dared not come near it. The only change I made was an increase of buttermilk so that the batter would work better on a griddle.

These corn cakes didn't taste much like cornbread. Instead, their flavour more closely resembled that of a pancake. These had the advantage of an awesome cornmeal crunch. And, also unlike pancakes, these do not have grease within the batter. Aided with a nonstick pan, I used perhaps one teaspoon of safflower oil to cook the entire batch of 30 corn cakes (I doubled the recipe).

P.S... I sent Mumsy home with a couple corn cakes for my Pa. He boldly tasted and loved them! One can't actually taste the buttermilk after the chemical changes it undergoes. However, it's sometimes difficult to convince people of that.

Corn Cakes

(based on Mrs. Stickinthemud's "Corn Stick" recipe)

In a large bowl, sift together:

3 cups cornmeal (Ottie used white, as do I, though yellow would be yummy too)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

6 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

In a measuring cup:
Beat 2 Eggs until they are light
Then add 4 cups (one quart) of Buttermilk

Add egg and buttermilk mixture to the cornmeal mixture, and stir it well with a spoon. Lightly grease a pancake skillet, and warm at medium heat. Spoon the batter onto the skillet, and turn when the raw side loses its shine. Serve them hot with butter, syrup, jam, and/or honey.

Makes approximately 30 corn cakes, measuring 4 inches each. You can easily halve this recipe (which is Mrs. Stickinthemud's original recipe size).

~Jenai

While You Decide

2010-05-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Since you are all deciding what I create in the kitchen on Friday (or Saturday)... I will continue playing in the meantime. Tonight I'm going to see how GG Ottie's "Corn Stick" recipe works for griddle corn cakes. We no longer own a corn stick pan, so I will find out if treating this like a pancake recipe will work. My mumsy assures me that it will.

Anyway, be sure to vote for this weekend's kitchen experiment... My family is depending upon you to choose wisely...

Applesauce Cake (with cocoa)

2010-05-30T21:16:00.000-07:00

Here is another one of GG Ottie's recipes that struck me as unusual and tantalizing. However, I use the term "recipe" loosely, because this more closely resembles a shopping list...

Aside from the addition of 4 tablespoons of hot water, applesauce is the only liquid in this cake. Speaking of the hot water, can anyone think of another time or place in the recipe to use this? I wasn't sure what its purpose was, so I added it on top of the applesauce, just in case it tried cooking the eggs! However, I'm wondering if it belonged before the eggs... or right after ( and therefore disregarding my fear of creating scrambled egg applesauce cake). Any ideas?

Anyway, I declared this cake "whole wheat friendly" and used butter instead of shortening. Also, where it says "spice to taste" I used her plain applesauce cake as reference. The spices listed there are: cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I threw a splash of vanilla into the mix. GG Ottie said to use either raisins or dates, and I opted for both. Where she said "nuts"... I agreed! (bad joke, yes yes yes...) And I, um, used toasted chopped pecans.

The results are a dense yet tender cake. "Tasty apply goodness..." said Hubby. He loved the raisins, and I enjoyed the addition of cocoa.

That said, I very possibly added four tablespoons of cocoa instead of two. Hubby and I are trying to match recollections... He knows I added at least two, and I have a nagging suspicion that I went on to four (how or why, I'm not sure). Oh well... I'll just have to make it again and compare!

Applesauce Cake
(a Mrs. Stickinthemud original)

Ingredients:

½ cup (1 stick) of butter, softened

1 cup sugar
1 egg
4 Tablespoons hot water
2 ½ cups flour (whole wheat works)
1 ½ cups thick applesauce
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup dates or raisins (or 1/2 cup of each)
½ toasted chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of cloves

dash of salt (optional)

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Add the applesauce and hot water. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and spices. Stir the flour mixture into the liquid mixture. Fold in the nuts, raisins, and dates. Spread into a greased and floured 10x7 pan, and bake at 350 degrees for about 50 to 60 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean).

~Jenai

Oatmeal Cookies (with peanut butter)

2010-05-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

While oatmeal cookies were one of my favourites growing up, peanut butter cookies were (and still are) my ultimate favourites. For that reason, I was droolingly eager to try this recipe. Oatmeal... peanut butter... the best of both worlds! And they lived up to my expectations. Chewy, peanuty, oaty amazing wonderfulness. The recipe calls for dark corn syrup, which I did use in the test run. However, I wonder how honey or maple syrup might taste instead, and will try one of those next time.

If you look at the scan of Ottie's original (below), you'll notice this is one of the recipes where she provided little more than a list of ingredients. Some of her recipes, including both versions of applesauce cake, had nothing more than the ingredients. They even state "spice to taste" with no guidance for which spices. In those, she specified no oven temperature, no baking time, and no pan size. In comparison, I suppose this recipe is quite detailed!

Again, I apologize for the absence of photos. From now on, I promise to keep a camera ready.

Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups oatmeal
1 cup flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup soft shortening (I used butter)
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup dark corn syrup
½ cup peanuts

Method:
Cream the shortening/butter with brown sugar. Add corn syrup, egg, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift Flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the sugar mixture and mix it well. (Ottie would say to sift the flour, then measure it, re-sift it, and finally add the baking powder and salt whilst sifting a third time. I... don't do that). Stir in the oats and peanuts. With a spoon, drop tablespoons of the batter onto a cookie sheet.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

~Jenai

Oat Meal Drop Cookies

2010-05-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

I adore rich oatmeal raisin cookies and was eager to try Great Grandmother's version; Oat Meal Drop Cookies. The presence of buttermilk caught my attention when I first came across this recipe, and I knew these would be different. Again the end product intrigued me. Hers bare little resemblance to the dense cookies I grew up enjoying. These are airy and delicate with a flavour oddly reminiscent of snickerdoodles (I'm still not sure why).

The cookies were a huge hit amongst my family. I baked these and Mrs. Stickinthemud's other oatmeal cookies (which included peanut butter) to taste them side by side. I'm a huge fan of peanut butter, and expected everyone to prefer those. Instead, these were declared the winner. However, I'm equally fond of both versions, and will share the peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe as well.

My mumsy pointed out that I had no photos of the finished Ginger Crumb Cake. Alas, I don't have photos of these cookies yet either. I apologize. Silly me, I forgot to photograph what I've baked! Being a lover of visuals, I'm ashamed... and promise to photographically document everything in the future. However, I cannot bake it all again right away without committing mass arterial abuse. When I do, I will edit the photos into the recipes and announce it.

To those of you who are grammatically sensitive... You have probably noticed the misspelling of "oatmeal" in the title. That's Mrs. Stickinthemud's original spelling. Since this version of oatmeal cookies doesn't often appear at school bake sales, I'm sticking (pun intended) with her changed spelling.

Oat Meal Drop Cookies

(From the kitchen of Mrs. Ottie “Stickinthemud” Strickland)

Ingredients:

1 cup shortening, part butter for flavor (I use all butter, which means my cookies turn out flatter than the original and yet very tasty)

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (part, or even all, whole wheat works fine for this recipe)

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk (I challenge you to find buttermilk without any starches, gums, or both! I prefer Organic Valley. Albertson’s and Safeway brands appear unadulterated also)

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

½ cup raisins

½ cup nuts (I usually omit the nuts. However, I recommend toasted pecans.)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or to taste)

Method:

Cream the shortening while slowly adding the sugar. Add well-beaten eggs and vanilla.

Sift flour once before measuring. Sift the flour a second time while measuring. Sift the flour a third time with the salt and baking soda (Mrs. Stickinthemud might haunt those who do not sift thricely!). Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in the raisins, nuts, and oats.

If you used butter, then chill the batter for about 30 minutes.

Drop the batter in tablespoon dollops on a well-greased cookie sheet (or lay down a sheet of parchment paper on the pan). Bake for about 15 minutes in a moderately hot oven (Ottie specified 400 or 350 degrees, so I settled in the middle with 375 degrees). Move immediately to racks for cooling. This recipe makes a few dozen cookies… I think.

~Jenai

Dear Great Grandmother,

2010-05-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Cousin Lois gifted your recipe box into my care. The index cards have browned and grown brittle over the last 80 or so years, and until recently I hesitated to browse through them. At last I started nosing through your creations, and saw an immediate need to experiment. While some of your recipes were classic and well-known, others were unique and tantalizing. I couldn't wait to try them all! So far I've only recreated about ten dishes from your box. I'm impressed that only one hasn't met with raving family reviews. (that one failure was likely my own error, and I will attempt it again). My personal favourite is your Ginger Crumb Cake. Delicious!!!

Alas, this project hasn't lacked drama. My father can't recall you cooking or baking most of these dishes. He's downright sullen for having missed out on one of your barbecues as a kid, and issued a tirade to thin air whilst discovering the perfection of your baked beans for the first time. I imagine you had your reasons for not cooking and baking as much once the grandchildren came into the picture. You'd been cooking for fifty years by then and were likely tired of it!

You passed away when I was a small child, and my memory of that time is hazy. I'm thankful to Cousin Lois for gifting me this special opportunity to "meet" you through food. It's been enjoyable thus far, and I look forward to the months to come.

In this blog I will share many of your recipes... with my notes and alterations as well. It's not always easy when faced with a list of ingredients for a cake, and no method to follow! Fortunately I've cooked and baked for a number of years, and have been able to sort out the missing pieces... so far.

Please don't be too cross with me, for I have made some changes. As a mother and health-conscious woman, I am picky about my ingredients. I don't cook with shortening anymore, and it's never to be found in my cabinets. In my versions of your recipes, butter takes its place. Since you often indicate that mixing shortening and butter helps the flavour, I figured this was an acceptable change. Also, I incorporate whole wheat flour (even if just in part) when possible. My cookies are probably not as high as yours were, and my cakes are likely denser. A few of the brands you used are either gone now or have changed/devolved, so I have switched brands in those cases. If you could see what some dairy companies have done to buttermilk, you'd be stunned!!!

I promise to share your original recipes along with my altered versions. And the first I shall share is your Ginger Crumb Cake. I've been promising this recipe to people for quite some time, so it's long overdue. Since you had this recipe written at least twice in your box, I assume it was a favourite of yours as well.

Ginger Crumb Cake is a light, tender cake with the flavours of ginger, nutmeg, and lemon combining in an intense yet balanced way. When you cut in the butter, the result will look a lot like dry boxed cake mix. Crumbly yet fine. I pondered the idea of using lemon rind instead of extract, but then decided against it. Grandmother used lemon in her baking quite often. Lemon rind. Lemon juice. Lemon extract. If she chose one over another, then I assume she knew what she was doing. And in this case, the final taste test proved that lemon extract was the perfect flavour to compliment the other spices. The end result was unusual, unlike anything I've had before, and super delicious. My husband doesn't care for strong ginger flavour, and this cake is almost HOT with ginger. Nevertheless, he kept returning to the pan and finished off half of the cake within minutes (in his defense, it is a wee cake).

Ginger Crumb Cake

From the Oven of Mrs. Ottie “Stickinthemud” Strickland

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease one 7 by 11inch rectangle or 9 inch round pan.

In a medium bowl sift and combine:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar (fine baker’s sugar is best, but regular sugar will work)

1 ½ teaspoons ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Cut in:

½ cup shortening or butter

The crumb mixture should be fine, with only a few pea-sized lumps.

Measure and set aside 1/2 cup of the mixture.

Sift and add:

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

In a liquid measuring cup, beat together:

¾ cup of buttermilk

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 egg

½ teaspoon lemon extract

Pour the liquid into the crumb mixture, and mix together well. The batter will be thick.

Spoon the batter into the pan. Sprinkle the ½ cup of crumb mixture (set aside earlier) evenly over top of the batter to make “frosting” when cooked. The topping mixture should be moist enough to be crumbly and stick together a little if you pinch it.

Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool at least 30 minutes before cutting into the cake. Double the recipe for a 9 by 13 inch pan.

~Jenai