Minnie's Molasses Cake

Minnie's Molasses Cake

[Apropos of nothing: besides molasses, what's brown and sticky? (Answer at bottom.)]

Finished product

So last week we made some Creamy Sauce and now I've got quite a lot of it (since I didn't scale back on the recipe) and need something to put it on. But since I think I've been giving undue emphasis to Fannie Farmer, it's time to go back to my other favorite, The Sweet Home Cook Book. I went looking through the pudding section since Beta Taster said perhaps a chocolate pudding would be more to his taste than molasses. Alas, no chocolate pudding exists in there.

Slightly blurry ingredients

Remembering the texture, I thought perhaps a cake? No chocolate cake either. So back to molasses for the flavoring because I like molasses and it goes well with the sauce.  (Sorry honey, no chocolate this time.) I think Minnie's Molasses Cake might be good. I also like it because it tells me the amount of flour to add. (A good many in there don't.) But so I'm not spoiled, it gives nothing about baking it. Let's get to guessing.

Minnie's Molasses Cake
(Adapted from The Sweet Home Cook Book, unknown date)

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 t soda
2 1/2 cup flour
1/2 t nutmeg

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Mix in egg, milk, and then molasses.
3. Stir in dry ingredients.
4. Pour into a 9 inch greased cake pan.
5. Bake 350 F for about 1 1/4 hour or until test comes out clean when inserted in middle.

Results:
Oh my, that's full cake pan. Perhaps it should make two cakes. But it didn't spill over and make a mess of the oven, so there's that. Also the cake didn't rise properly. It could be that there was too much leavening. Or maybe I didn't cream the butter and sugar well enough. Either way, it's not too pretty but it taste quite good. A lot like gingerbread only much thicker. We're slowly working our way through it. It seems to last quite a while too. It's been sitting in a cake dome at room temperature for about the last four days; it has stayed moist and not spoiled yet. Overall, it's a good recipe and I'll probably make it again.

[A stick.]

Honeycomb Pudding

Honeycomb Pudding

Honeycomb pudding.

There was a time when I was younger and even stupider. I stopped by a roadside stand selling honey with its comb. I was so excited to get such a rare culinary treat as I was convinced honeycomb must be. I remember fishing out the comb and taking a bite. For a few seconds, all I tasted was honey and that was good. And then I was left with the beeswax comb and I did not like that taste at all. I don't remember what happened to that jar of honey and its comb.

What you'll need.

A quick Google search informs me that honeycomb is indeed edible. Proving that I don't learn from past experiences, I wonder if I'd like it now. Next time I find some, I'll try it.

Strangely enough, honeycomb pudding calls for neither honeycomb nor honey. So I'm not sure how the name came about. Perhaps making it will provide some insight. The ingredient list is basic which means I won't have to go hunting for the odd ingredient.

Beating cream for the sauce.

Honeycomb Pudding with Creamy Sauce
(Adapted from Fannie Farmer's What to have for Dinner, 1905 edition)

1 3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup molasses
1/2  cup butter
1/2 cup milk, warmed to lukewarm
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
5 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 T sherry

Pudding:
1. Mix flour, 1 cup sugar, and molasses in a small bowl.
2. Melt butter in milk in microwave, add soda.
3. Combine mixtures and stir thoroughly.
4. Add 4 eggs, well beaten.
5. Turn into buttered dish and bake 375 until pudding sets (~30-45 minutes).

Creamy Sauce:
1. Beat remaining egg white until stiff, adding remaining 3/4 cup sugar gradually.
2. Beat remaining yolk until thick and "lemon colored". Beat into egg white.
3. Beat cream and sherry until stiff.
4. Fold mixtures together.
5. Serve atop pudding.

Not the prettiest but certainly tasty.

Results:

First off, I quartered the pudding recipe from what is listed above because I thought it might make too much. And it would have. We got 3-4 servings out of it. I did not have the sauce because I don't know how to halve and egg.

I like it. I may have made the pudding incorrectly but the texture reminds me of a slightly heartier soufflé. But tasting like molasses. The creamy sauce is delicious and I take back every nasty thing I ever thought or said about sherry. It works lovely here and adds a nice spiciness to the otherwise very sweet creamy sauce. Beta Taster however was less impressed. He described the flavors as "midwestern" and thought perhaps there was a reason this recipe isn't a staple anymore.  I say more for me. One last thought, it's best fresh but can keep in the fridge for at least 2 days.

Emergency Soup

I've had my eye on this recipe for quite a while. As I was leafing through my Fannie Farmer's What to Have for Dinner, I came across an emergency meal section. The first question that came to mind was: what sort of emergency calls for dinner? (Dinner in this case consists of soup, salmon, fried potatoes,  peas, and dessert. Perhaps this is the sort of emergency I need in my life.)

Emergency Soup

Upon reflection, I suspect what Fannie means is unexpected guests dropping in. Nowadays, I'm more likely to suggest just going out to dinner when the guests show up, and I suspect most people are too. But perhaps then, there were fewer restaurants to go to, so people just had to cook for those unexpected guests.

Salt not needed but I forgot to show the flour and water.

The preparation looks quite straightforward and so does the ingredient list with the exception of "beef extract." It's evidently still a thing you can buy. But since I didn't see any in the grocery store, I bought beef bouillon cubes and will use those here and I'll have to guess how many to use.

Milk and flour

Emergency Soup
(Adapted from Fannie Farmer's What to Have for Dinner, 1905 edition)

3 cups boiling water
4 beef bouillon cubes
1 1/2 T flour
3 T milk
2/3 cup cream
1 sprinkle of cayenne pepper
1 sprinkle of black pepper

Pour water in sauce pan. Bring to boil, pour over bouillon cubes and stir to dissolve. Place flour in now empty sauce pan. Add milk and stir to mix. Try to make perfectly smooth. Pour beefy water back into pan and stir. Bring to boil. Stir in cream and peppers. Bring to boil.

Results:
What a strange soup. It's creamy and a little spicy. (Thanks, cayenne!) I quite like the creamy and spicy contrast. But the soup is only faintly beefy.  I was expecting, well I have no idea, but perhaps a bit more beef flavor. Perhaps I should have used beef extract. Also it really didn't need any salt but that may be the brand of bouillon cubes I used.  Feeds about 4 in smallish proportions. I probably won't make this again but I don't regret trying it.

Cat helper.

Onion Soufflé

It's been nearly a year and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Faithful Reader. I'll try to do better this time around for you.

All cooked and ready to eat

I have a confession, Faithful Reader: I've never tried making a soufflé. My impression is that they are persnickety. And I've never eaten one so I have no idea what it's supposed to taste like. But I'm not going to let either of these things deter me. I'm intrigued by an onion soufflé I came across in Fannie Farmer's What to Have for Dinner so let's try making it.

Ingredients needed

The directions start off a bit vague: boil onions, rub through a sieve to get 1 1/4 cup onion pulp. This evidently takes about 2-3 medium onions. I boiled 3 onions and now have extra onion pulp which I have no idea what to do with. (Suggestions welcome!) But other than the onion amount, the ingredient list was detailed enough to.

Onion Soufflé:
(Adapted from Fannie Farmer's What to Have for Dinner, 1905 edition)

Ingredients:
2-3 medium onions
4 T butter
4 T flour
1/3 cup cream
3 eggs, separated

Instructions:
1. Heat a medium saucepan full of salted water to boiling.
2. Peel and slice into thick rounds 2 to 3 medium onions. Boil onions until soft. Reserve cooking liquid.
3. Puree onions in food processor until pureed.
4. Melt butter in medium sauce pan, add flour and cook until pale brown.
5. Pour in 1/3 cup cooking water, cream, and onion puree. Stir.
7. Stir in egg yolks.
8. Beat egg whites until stiff.
9. Fold whites into onion mixture.
10. Turn into buttered dish and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes. (N.B. My oven runs cold and it took 50 minutes for me.)
11. Serve immediately.

A texture I like and cannot describe.

Results:
It's good. Texture-wise: sorta like really fluffy scrambled eggs but with a nice onion-y flavor. Or as I told Beta Taster, "it's a bit like grits but without the grain." And serves about 3 to 4 people. Also, soufflés are not as persnickety as I imagined. In fact, it was a bit of a let down. I'd braced myself for a difficult recipe and instead found something well within my cooking capabilities. I'm sure there's a life lesson in here somewhere. Probably about facing down things that you think are intimidating. Thanks for tuning in.

Pudding!!!

Oh, squee! It's here! My pudding mold! It's so cute! I can't wait to use it! I feel so properly Dickensian. Truth be told, I'm not fond of Dickens. But Agatha Christie, whose work I am fond of, wrote a short story about Hercule Poirot called "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding." It's quite worth the read; a cute little story about English Christmas traditions, with midnight Mass, Christmas dinner (complete with pudding), playing in the snow... Right, I've gotten sidetracked (as usual).

Pudding mold.

I'm going to make a steamed pudding and it's going to be pudding-y. Well not pudding, as in the custardy dessert. Hmm, actually I'm not sure what this will be like. Judging from  my Boston brown bread, it'll be, um, cake-y? Perhaps I should lower my expectations and hope for edible? Besides what sort of pudding should I make? Plum pudding? Figgie pudding? Perhaps I should play it safe(r) and go with a chocolate pudding?

A soft dough.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Meh, I should stop dithering and look at recipes.

Dough rolled out.

Cranberry pudding! I admit I'm choosing this one because the Beta Taster found some cranberries that have been sitting in the freezer for nearly a year. Perhaps I ought to do something with them. Besides I hate seeing food go to waste. (They've been in the freezer so they're still good, right?<Pause, while I go try one.> Tastes ok to me. Onward!)

Pudding rolled up.

As usual, we going to have to scale back on the recipe. I got a baby mold that only holds 2 cups. So scaling will be pretty drastic. The recipe starts with a quart of flour or 4 cups. Perhaps I'll try one-eighth-ing the recipe. Let's see what happens.

Steaming.

Cranberry Pudding
(Adapted from The Sweet Home Cook Book, date unknown)
Serves 2-3

1/2 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cranberries
~1 tablespoon sugar

1. Sift together first 3 ingredients.
2. Add milk to make soft dough.
3. Roll out to a thin oblong.
4. Sprinkle with cranberries and sugar. Roll up like a cinnamon roll.
5. Place in well greased mold.
6. Steam 1 1/2 hours.

Cranberry pudding.

Results: Well, hmm. It tastes a bit like a biscuit with cranberries. It's good though. And now I want to make another. It may need more cranberries next time. Also, it tasted a bit bread-like. I may have gotten too much flour in the dough when I was rolling it out since I didn't want it to stick to the counter. Perhaps I should have simply stirred in the cranberries and foregone the rolling out of the dough. I'll do that next time. The Beta Taster wasn't too impressed. He said it's a bit bland. But I had no trouble eating it.

Finished product.

Brandy Snaps

Hello again, faithful reader.  I managed to get a cold and spent the past week either sleeping or working, but now that I'm better... Let's continue playing with desserts. Cookies this time, now that our heat wave has snapped. At least, I think they'll be cookies. Or cookie-like. Or perhaps not at all cookie-esque.

Brandy snaps!

These brandy snaps have no leavening so they won't rise but otherwise the recipe looks cookie-ish. Also, no brandy. I'm not sure why they're called brandy snaps then. Should one eat them while drinking brandy? And there is plenty of molasses and ginger. Do ginger snaps taste good with brandy? Alas, no brandy in the pantry. It's up to you, Faithful Reader, to let me know.

They don't require many ingredients.

Brandy Snaps
(adapted from Fannie Farmer's What to Have for Dinner, 1905 edition)

1/4 c molasses
2 1/2 T butter
1/2 c flour, scant
1/3 c sugar
2 1/4 t ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350 (or whatever your definition is of a moderate oven) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix flour, sugar, and ginger together in a bowl.
3. Place molasses in a small saucepan and bring to just below a boil.
4. Add butter, stir until melted.
5. Stir in dry ingredients.
6. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheets 3 inches apart. (about 1 tablespoon makes a cookie about 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter.)
7. Bake 9 to 10 minutes.
8. Let cool on sheet.

Brandy snap dough.

Results: I made lace cookies! I've never tried making them before. These're good, especially if you like ginger. They're also a bit buttery. Next time, I'll cut down on the butter, perhaps to 1 1/2 tablespoons. And of course, I halved the recipe. The next day they have a sort of candy/crunchy consistency, which I like. Yield = 18 3-inch cookies.

Peach Cream

My calendar informs me that it is fall. But the weather is awfully hot today. So I'll consult my recipes for something that doesn't involve the use of the oven or stove. And of course, since we had our greens last time, we can now move on to dessert. (Yay!)

Peach cream.

According to Fannie Farmer, Peach Cream is to be served for company and formal dinners. The recipe doesn't look particularly fussy, so I'm downgrading it to serve whenever I feel like. And I feel that today, a hot day in early October, is its day in the sun, metaphorically speaking, although you could eat this in the sunshine, if you so wished.

Peach puree.

But I did make several changes. First off, we're halving this. Next, I'm supposed to rub a can of peaches through a sieve. I'm going to use my food processor instead. While I'm not quite up on my history of kitchen appliances, I suspect the purpose of rubbing things through sieves is to make a puree and using my food processor is quicker and easier. Also of note, I'm assuming can sizes haven't changed (about 15 ounces or so).

Peach puree with lemon juice, sugar, and wine.

Last major change, I'm not using the sherry called for. I'm substituting a semi-sweet white wine because the sherry I have is old and cheap and tastes a little off. Besides I've never managed to acquire a taste for it and I don't want it in my peach cream. (I can't believe people willingly drank it.)

Peach Cream
(modified from Fannie Farmer's What to Have for Dinner, 1905)

1/2 can peaches with syrup
1/2 cup sugar
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup semi-sweet white wine
1 cup cream
dash salt

1. Puree peaches with syrup in food processor, place puree in bowl.
2. Add sugar, lemon juice, and wine, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved, about 15 minutes.
3. Place in freezer and "freeze to a mush." This takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Whip cream.
5. Add cream and salt to peach mixture. Stir.
6. Freeze, stirring occasionally, until desired consistency.

About ready to freeze.

Results: I think I made peach sherbet and it's delicious. The Beta Taster won't get much of this. The whole process went smoothly but made a lot of dishes. (The food processor for the peaches and the stand mixer for the cream. OK, not that many dishes, but I'm feeling lazy.) I'm glad I substituted wine for the sherry. The wine flavor was subtle but agreed well with peaches. For the second freezing, at an hour and a half, the consistency was about that of half melted ice cream and that was where I thought it best. But not being able to eat all of it, I let it keep freezing and by 4 hours, it was pretty well frozen but still scoop-able. In case you're wondering, there are 4 to 6 servings in this.