Tansey - 5th Annual Pieathalon

So a few weeks ago I am checking my email and what do I find? An invitation to participate in the 5th Annual Pieathalon! I played it all casual in my response, but I immediately ran downstairs to tell Farm Boy.  Well, "ran" is probably an exaggeration, but I did go downstairs and scream, "OMG! OMG! The cool kids are talking to me!"  He was very impressed.

The rules of Pieathalon are simple:
1) You choose a vintage recipe and send it in 
2) You receive a vintage recipe submitted by someone else
3) You make the recipe
4) You post about your experience

I looked through a lot of cookbooks for my submission and while I saw a lot of really nice sounding pie recipes, the one that really, truly spoke to me did not sound nice at all.  Heh heh heh.  I hope Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers who got stuck with Sweet Onion Pie (with raisins) can find it in her heart to forgive me.  Or at least never finds out where I live.

On the other end of the spectrum from a dessert with onions and raisins, the recipe I received - courtesy of Battenburgbelle - is full of heavy cream, eggs, ladyfinger cookies and sherry.  Oooh, promising!

The recipe is from Mary and Vincent Price’s Come Into The Kitchen Cook Book (1969). 

I happen to have a copy of this book (big surprise, I know).  It only has a few actual photos, but the whole book is full of cute illustrations like these. 

A cat!  You know that gets points from me.

I meant to take one of those "here are all my ingredients" photos, but I was distracted by The Oven of Regret.

It's actually a Knapp-Monarch Redi-Baker from the 1950s.  And it ended up in my kitchen because of a (possibly winey) evening of online shopping.  It has been sitting on the kitchen counter for about a week, just daring me to straighten out that old cloth cord and plug it in.  Since I had a little leftover pie crust and Farm Boy was away for the day (and thus I wouldn't kill both of us when it burst into flames), I decided to plug that bad boy in and make:

Pie crust cookies!

No sparks erupted when I plugged it in or turned it on.  There was a slight aroma of burning dust (with a piquant hint of musty old house) while it heated, but no flames or electrical shocks and the thermostat even seemed to work.  I was afraid that the heat would be uneven, given the small size of the oven space, but it worked like a champ.  Thank you for performing so well after 60+ years, Oven of Regret! I'm still not quite over my buyer's remorse, but I'm glad to know you aren't out to kill me.

Now, back to the pie.

Step 1 of the recipe called for cooking the egg yolks, cream, sugar, sherry, ladyfingers and nutmeg until thickened.  I wasn't sure how well to break the ladyfingers down, but they ended up cooking down into very small crumbs.

Step 2 was to add some green food coloring, if desired.  Normally I wouldn't bother with food coloring, but this is for the Pieathalon.  One simply does not commit half-assery during Pieathalon!

Ta-da!  It's green(ish)!

Step 3 calls for the egg whites to be beaten very stiff, then folded into the hot custard.  That mixture is then poured into the pie shell. 

I really wish I had taken a photo of the empty pie shell.  It was one of the better ones I have ever made.  Pastry is not my forte. 

Step 4 has us bake the pie at 450F for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350F and bake for 30 more minutes. 

 

True to the description, the pie did puff up quite a bit and was nicely golden brown on top.  After cooling, it settled down to a normal pie height.

Now time for the tasting!

Farm Boy and my sister agreed to be taste testers for me, but the only one brave enough to be photographed was the queen of the house, Lily.

I am here to help

Chomp!

Blech!

How could you?

Results: Disappointing.

We all thought, based on the ingredients, that this would be really good.  But it has hardly any flavor at all.  If you use your imagination, you can almost taste the sherry, but overall it has the flavor profile of a graham cracker, but not quite as sweet.  And to add to the sadness, instead of a nice, creamy pie, the crushed ladyfingers just end up giving it the texture of cooked and then cooled/ congealed steel cut oats. 

In the end, while I'm sad to not have a pie that I want to add to my repertoire, I am thrilled to have participated in the 5th Annual Pieathalon.  Thank you to Yinzerella at Dinner is Served 1972 for organizing this event and for inviting me to join in on the fun.  And to Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers, I'm sorry about the onion and raisin pie!  Okay, not very sorry! <cue maniacal laughter here>

To read about the adventures of the other Pieathletes, visit their blogs:

Yinzerella from Dinner is Served 1972 with Kate's Pie
Surly at Vintage Recipe Cards with Dutch Peaches and Cream Pie
Kelli at Kelli's Kitchen with Chocolate Mousse Pie
Dr. Bobb of Dr. Bobb's Kitschen with Ritz Cracker Mock Apple Pie
Kelly from Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en with Marguerite Patten's Cheese Pie
Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers with Sweet Onion Pie
Poppy Crocker at Grannie Pantries makes Strawberry Ginger Pie
The Battenburg Belle from Battenburg Belle serves up Frosty Vanilla Pie
Sally over at Mycustardpie.com with Mock Pecan Pie
Taryn from RetroFoodForModerntimes makes Vincent Price Pineapple Meringue
Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla with Peaches and Cream Tart
Peter Fuller, Curator of the Vincent Price Legacy UK makes Puddin n'Pie
Renee Quintana from Tortillas and Honey dishes up French Raspberry Pie
The Unofficial Mad Men CookBook presents Aloha Meringue Pie
Retro Mimi of Once Upon a Salad gives us The Millionaire
Sue of Vintage Cookbookery makes Yul Brenner's Walnut Pie
Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm presents Tyler Pie
Clara Silverstein of Heritagerecipebox.com makes Olde English Egg Nog Pie
S.S. of A Book of Cookrye makes Cool Mint Cookie Pie
Debra of Eliot's Eats with Apricot Meringue Pie
Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp from BookClub CookBook serve up Weight Watcher's "Almost a Pie"
Greg Swenson of Recipes4Rebels makes Seafoam Cantaloupe Pie
Kaci of Homicidal Homemaker creates Lemon Beer Sponge Pie

Boiled Custard for Two

Last week I happened upon a great deal on really nice looking berries.  I grow some fruits here, but by August there isn't much happening in the fruit department in Texas, except melons.  So when I saw fantastic looking blueberries, strawberries and raspberries (oh my!) at prices that didn't make my cheapskate heart seize up, I pounced!

After eating a few bowls of plain berries, I started thinking about how good they were with zabaglione.  But when I whipped out The Boston Cooking School Cook Book (1942 edition), boiled custard caught my eye.  And if boiled custard is good with sherry, it would (obviously) be good with marsala. 

We didn't want or need leftovers of this, so I reduced the recipe, more or less thirding it (is that a word?).  I used a tablespoon of the wine (which was spot on) and 2 tablespoons of raw sugar.  I think it could have used a touch more sugar, though, or slightly sweeter berries.  I think I will try 3 tablespoons of sugar next time. I also didn't catch the "scalded" bit in the milk measurement, so mine was straight out of the refrigerator.  It worked just fine.

Since I wanted to serve it as individual servings, I chose to go ahead and pour it into little dishes to chill.  For some unknown reason, a few years ago I started compulsively buying old Big Top Peanut Butter glasses at garage and estate sales.  In order to justify all the room they take up, whenever I make make a dessert that would be served in a bowl, I have to use the Big Top glasses. I can't let Farm Boy have any excuse to disappear them!

Hmmm.  I just realized that I have about 20 of the short ones, but only one of the tall ones.  I might need to add to the collection.  One more can't hurt, right?  I mean, Farm Boy and I should each have one.  It's only fair. 

Look at those cute peanut butter glasses!

Boiled Custard for Two (Printable recipe)

Modified from The Boston Cooking School Cook Book (1942)

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons raw sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 Tablespoon marsala wine (I used dry marsala)
• Slightly sweetened berries and crushed amaretti cookies, for topping

Directions
Beat eggs with a whisk, then add sugar and salt.  Add milk gradually, stirring constantly.  Cook and stir in double boiler over hot (not boiling) water, until mixture coats a spoon (about 7 minutes).  Remove from heat, stir in marsala wine.  Strain, if desired, pour into serving dishes, and chill.

When ready to serve, top with berries and crushed cookies.

Baconized Corn

A few weeks ago I was thumbing through some cookbooks looking for recipes for fresh corn when I stumbled upon this gem:

Baconized?  I didn't realize it was a thing to baconize foods, but I have to think almost anything could be made better by the baconizing process!

The recipe was found in the Mennonite Community Cookbook by Mary Emma Showalter (1950). 

I didn't have any bacon that particular day, but I did make a note to try some baconized corn in the near future. The future is here.

I followed the recipe exactly as written (crazy, right?).  I cut the corn off the cobs and mixed it with sugar, salt and pepper.  Placed it in a buttered casserole dish and topped it with diced bacon.  Easy peasy.  I did have to bake it slightly longer than the recipe called for, but my bacon was probably not "finely" diced.

Before baking

After baking.  The bacon is crispier than it looks, I promise!

For such a simple process, this was really good.  I think the key is the fresh corn, which came out very tender and corn-y.  I think the skin on frozen corn would be a touch on the leathery side.  Canned might work, but it's not something I usually have on hand.  We had a little bit leftover, which I mixed into some cornmeal pancakes the next day.  Which sounds odd, but it worked. 

Baconized Corn (Printable recipe)

from the Mennonite Community Cookbook by Mary Emma Showalter (1950)

Ingredients

• 4 cups fresh corn
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup finely diced bacon

Directions

Place corn in a greased baking dish.  Season with salt, sugar and pepper.  Cover entire top of dish with finely diced bacon.  Bake at 350F for 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp.  Serves 6.

Scalloped Eggplant

I'm baaa-aack! My garden luck this year has been pretty spotty, some issues due to weather, some to the local varmint population (I curse you, pocket gophers and squirrels!), but the thing that is doing awesomely is a single Japanese eggplant. It is huge and loaded with long, skinny fruits. I can only justify frying them so often and I've already got enough roasted and frozen to make baba ganoush all winter long. Time to find something else to do with eggplant... enter the Mennonite Community Cookbook by Mary Emma Showalter.

I picked this little gem up a few years ago and while I haven't explored a lot of it, I do appreciate all the great vegetable dishes it contains.  There is one for "Baconized Corn" that I haven't tried yet, but it's on my to-try list.  I need more baconized foods in my life.

The eggplant: not just a vegetable, also a good book flattener!

As usual, I took a few liberties with the recipe so I could use what I had on hand, starting with about 8 long skinny eggplants instead of one large.  I'm guessing that my skinny eggplants did not add up to a large one, but I liked the end result. For my second variance, I replaced the tablespoon of green pepper with some fresh minced basil and then added some cubed marinated mozzarella that needed to be used up.  And in one final act of rebellion, I diced the bacon instead of just laying the strips across the top. 

Baconized eggplant!

Farm Boy and I really liked this.  The whole eggplant/tomato/basil combo really works and is complimented by the mild cheese and the bacon. The original recipe claims 5 servings, but we got 4 side-sized servings out of this.


Scalloped Eggplant (Printable recipe)
based on a recipe from The Mennonite Community Cookbook by Mary Emma Showalter, 1950

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• 1 Tablespoon minced fresh basil
• 4 ounces Italian-marinated fresh mozzarella, cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup soft breadcrumbs
• 2 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 strips bacon, diced

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F.

Peel eggplant and cut into 3/4" cubes.  Cook in salted water until tender and almost dry.  Add tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, salt and pepper and stir well.  Pour into a greased baking dish.  Combine the bread crumbs and melted butter and spread over top of eggplant mixture.  Top with diced bacon.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bacon is cripsy and breadcrumbs are golden.

Nobby Apple Cake

One of Farm Boy's friends gifted us with some home grown apples a few weeks ago, which is not something we see a lot of here in Texas. (Thanks John Boy!)  He doesn't know what kind they are - the tree was there when he bought the house - but he said they were good for both fresh eating and baking.  So, being good gift receivers, we did a little of both!

Since I hadn't posted anything from this book yet, I decided to see what it had to offer for apple recipes.

As an aside, this book is a reminder of The Chambers that Got Away.  It was at an estate sale, in pristine condition and had all the do-dads for the Thermowell.  I put a bid on it, but didn't win.  <insert dramatic sigh here>  In the end, I found my Betty, but she needed a lot more work than TCtGA would have required.

Favorite Eastern Star Recipes, Olde Family Favorites, no date, but I'm guessing maybe late 1950s

Despite the fact that I'm pretty sure it should be Knobby, I settled on Nobby Apple Cake, because it looked easy.  The lack of the K really bothers me, though.  Obsess much?  Yes, yes I do.

As I guessed, it was easy to make.  The hardest part was spreading the batter around the baking dish.  "Pour the batter" is a very optimistic phrase for this batter.  It's very stiff and just barely enough to coat the apples.

Just before baking

However, it puffs up quite a bit during baking.  Ta da!

All done!

I hated anything with cooked apples as a kid and now I can't get enough of them.  We ate this dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon, but a nice dollop of whipped cream would have been perfect with it, too.  

Nobby Apple Cake (Printable recipe)
from Favorite Eastern Star Recipes Olde Family Favorites

Ingredients

    1/4 cup butter
    1 cup sugar
    1 egg
    3 cups pared, cubed apples
    1/4 cup chopped nuts
    1 teaspoon vanilla
    1/2 teaspoon baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon soda
    1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
    1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
    1 cup flour


Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter with sugar; add egg, apples, nuts, vanilla and sifted dry ingredients.  Pour into greased 8-inch square pan.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.  Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Praline Cookies

It's been almost a year since my last post and a lot of life has happened around here in the meantime.  As usual with life, it has been a mix of good and bad.  I'm not sure I want to dwell on the bad, but on the good side of things, we started volunteering for a local animal rescue group and have fostered six kittens so far.  Our own pets aren't really into sharing their home with the interlopers, but it makes us feel good when we look at the "before" pictures and know that we have made a difference, at least in a small way.

For example, here is one of our current boarders:

Penn, day 1

Penn, now.  What a handsome devil!

But now, back to food!

This copy of the Watkins Hearthside Cookbook (1952) followed me home about a year ago.  I know my grandmother had an earlier Watkins book and liked it, so I decided to give it a whirl.

Oh, who am I kidding?  I really bought it because I thought the illustrations inside were adorable.  Sure, newer cookbooks have some drool-worthy photos in them, but how many are this cute?

While looking for something to entertain my sweet tooth, the recipe for Dream Bars initially caught my eye, but then I noticed the Praline Cookies next to it and thought they sounded like they had potential and would be a lot quicker to make.

When I make cookies (which isn't often because I cannot keep my #$%^ hands out of them!), I have to locate the Break-Up Spatula, which is the best cookie lifter ever.  I was told by Farm Boy when we married that if we divorced, I am morally obligated to steal this from him.  Legend has it that he stole it from his ex, who stole it from a former roommate.  And while I can't prove that it was stolen before then, I feel certain that the roommate wasn't the original owner.  If only this thing could talk, I'm sure it would have some tales to tell.

The Break-Up Spatula, ready to work

This recipe was pretty easy to make.  I wasn't sure if the baking sheet should be buttered or not, so I went ahead and used parchment paper.  I could have sworn that the recipe stated to flatten the cookies "using a drinking glass", but I would have sworn wrong.  I did, though, use a drinking glass, which I dipped in sugar before each flattening.

The cookies spread more than I expected, turning into thin, very crunchy/crispy, caramelized brown sugar discs.  My taste testers gave them rave reviews and I had to fight to bring home the last few cookies for myself.  And because I can't keep my %$#@ hands out of them, they were all gone within a day. 

Mmmm, I can almost smell them now!

Praline Cookies (Printable version)

From the Watkins Hearthside Cookbook (1952)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups sifted flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon Watkins vanilla
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F. 

Sift the flour once, measure and resift with the salt.  Cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and beat thoroughly.  Stir in the dry ingredients, then add the nuts.

Form into small balls the size of small walnuts and flatten on the baking sheet to 1/4" thickness.  They should be about 2 inches apart.  Bake at 375F for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on baking pans about 2 minutes, then remove to wire cake racks to cool.  This recipe will make about 3 dozen cookies. 

Chocolate Toffee Bars

Several years ago I stumbled on a book sale at the local library on the last day of the sale.  You could buy an entire bag full of books for something like two dollars, but the only thing I found that looked interesting to me was a battered 1970s edition of The Settlement Cookbook.  I think it might have been a book club edition because it was very compact with extremely small print.  Some of the recipes looked interesting, but it was so tedious to read that I never used it.

A few months back, I came across a much nicer 1965 edition.  It is also a book club edition, but it is much easier to read (and has much less tape holding it together).  Since the librarian had made me a good deal (twenty-five cents) on the original book sale copy, I felt like I could justify spending one whole dollar on this much nicer copy. (Have I ever mentioned that I am cheap??)

After buying this copy, my sister lent me the book, A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove, which is a history of how women have cooked and lived in North America from the time of the Native Americans through the early 2000s.  The Settlement Cookbook was mentioned as having been originally published in the early 1900s as a cooking textbook for new Jewish immigrants at Milwaukee's Settlement House and it still remains the best-selling charitable cookbook of all time.  Fun fact! 

Now, on to the food...

I wanted to make something for a potluck dessert last week.  After flipping through several books, I noticed this recipe for Chocolate Toffee Bars and thought it met my requirements of 1) chocolate and 2) easy.

Since I didn't want a 9x13" pan of bars to tempt me for the rest of the week, I decided to halve the recipe, using another recipe on the same page for baking guidance.  Melting the chocolate also seemed like too much work, so I baked the bars partially, then sprinkled chocolate chips on top and returned them to the oven for a few more minutes, then used a spoon to spread the melted chocolate around.  Melting the chocolate first would have resulted in a smoother chocolate topping, but once the walnuts were sprinkled on top, you couldn't really see the texture of the chocolate anyway.  Laziness for the win! 

These were very tasty, although softer than I expected.  They are also very rich, so I suggest cutting them into tiny bars.  One made it home with me and I had it for second breakfast the next day.  I thought it was even better then, which made me sad that I had given the rest away!

Chocolate Toffee Bars (Printable recipe)

Adapted from The Settlement Cook Book, 1965

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg, beaten well
• 1 cup flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toasted chopped nuts

Directions

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla, well-beaten egg, flour and salt.  Mix well.  Spread in greased 8" square pan (or equivalent).  Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Return to oven and bake for 5 more minutes or until chocolate chips are soft.  Smooth the chocolate chips with a knife or the back of a spoon, then sprinkle with chopped nuts.  Cut at once into bars, then cool.