Apple Butter Cake

This is an old Recipe for Apple Butter Cake It is very easy to make, and very delicious.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups apple butter

Directions:
Heat oven to 375°F. Grease 15x10x1-inch pan with butter. In medium bowl, beat eggs with electric mixer on high speed about 5 minutes or until very thick and lemon colored.
Gradually beat granulated sugar into eggs. On low speed, beat in water and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and salt just until batter is smooth. Pour batter into pan; spread to corners.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Place on cooling rack; cool at least 30 minutes. Sprinkle 1/4 cup powdered sugar on top, if desired. This is a wonderful treat to end a busy fall day for you, and yours. Let me know if you tried it in the comments.

Original and Vintage Pecan Pie Recipes

Pecan pie is a pie made primarily with corn syrup and pecan nuts. So the question now is...was there a Pecan Pie before corn syrup was invented?

There have been claims made of the traditionally Southern U.S. dessert existing in the early 1800s in Alabama, but such recipes have not been found. Attempts to trace the pies origin have not found any recipes dated earlier than 1886, and well known cookbooks did not include this dessert before 1940. Another claim is that the French invented pecan pie soon after settling in New Orleans, after being introduced to the pecan nut by Native Americans.

Because wild pecans were readily available, many Native American tribes in the U.S. and Mexico used the wild pecan as a major food source during autumn, but...
It wasn't until the early 1930's that a recipe for Karo Pecan pie was published by the wife of a Karo salesman. It called for Karo syrup, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and pecans in a pie shell, and since that time most recipes for Pecan Pie follow that formula.

Even before the ready availability of commercial corn syrup cooks in the south made pies with pecans. Many of the older recipes call for a darker commercial syrup, and some used molasses. A Northern U.S. variation used maple syrup. Never the less very few recipes showed up until Karo left the gate, and here it is now.

The Original Karo® Pecan Pie Recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 recipe pastry
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Cup Karo Syrup, Blue Label
*1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter, or margarine
1 cup Pecan Meats

Directions:
Roll pastry 1/8 inch thick. Line a 9 inch pan.
Mix remaining ingredients together, adding Pecans last.
Pour into pastry shell, Bake in hot oven (400 F.)
15 minutes; reduce heat to moderate (350 F.) and
bake 30 to 35 minutes longer or until a silver knife
inserted into center of filling comes out clean.
*If salted nuts are used, omit salt. The New Classic Karo® Pecan Pie

Ingredients:
1 cup Karo® Light OR Dark Corn Syrup
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon Spice Islands® Pure Vanilla Extract
1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) pecans
1 (9-inch) unbaked OR frozen** deep-dish pie crust

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Mix corn syrup, eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla using a spoon. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into pie crust.
Bake on center rack of oven for 60 to 70 minutes (see tips for doneness, below). Cool for 2 hours on wire rack before serving.
To use prepared frozen pie crust: Place cookie sheet in oven and preheat oven as directed. Pour filling into frozen crust and bake on preheated cookie sheet. I hope you have enjoyed this little trip back to the early days of Pecan Pie.

Lets not forget the Health benefits of Pecans! Pecan nuts are rich source of energy, carry 690 calories/100 g and contain health benefiting nutrients, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins that are essential for wellness. You can add a hand full of pecan nuts in your diet to keep your diet meter complete with sufficient levels of minerals, vitamins, and protein, and they taste great! No matter which Old Pecan Recipe you choose, I am sure that you will love it. The most important thing is to just try it. You may just amaze yourself, and your friends, and family as well. Getting started is always half the battle, and please let me know if you try out any of the recipes. Feel free to share this with your baking friends...maybe they will make you a fresh Pecan Pie!

Ye Olde Pound Cake History, and Recipe

Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar.

Pound cake is usually baked in a loaf pan or a Bundt mold, and served either dusted with powdered sugar, lightly glazed, or sometimes with a coat of icing. It is believed that the pound cake is a Northern European dish, that dates back to the early 1700s. Over time the ingredients for pound cake changed. Eliza Leslie, who wrote the 1851 edition of Direction for Cookery, used 10 eggs, beat them as light as possible, mixed them with a pound of flour, and added the juice of two lemons or three large oranges. Certain countries and regions having distinctive styles. These can include the addition of flavouring agents (such as vanilla extract or almond extract) or dried fruit (such as currants or dried cranberries), as well as alterations to the original recipe to change the characteristics of the resulting pound cake. Pound cake is more commonly known in Britain as sponge cake, usually made from butter, caster sugar, self-raising flour and eggs in equal parts. Vanilla extract can be added to give a richer taste.

The following is one of those variations, this one uses less of all ingredients, but taste just as good as the traditional Pound Cake.
Ingredients:
1 Cup (2 sticks) of Butter
3 Cups of Flour
1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
3 Cups of Sugar
1/2 Cup of Vegetable Shortening
1 Cup of Milk
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
5 Eggs
1/2 Teaspoon of Almond Extract (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cooking up a Tea Party in the 1800's

Old newspapers are a great source for finding Vintage Recipes. Listed below are recipes that were taken from old Willimantic/Windham County Connecticut Newspapers. They, for the most part, are from the 1880's. A time when everyone did their own cooking, and baking. I hope you enjoy this little trip back in time, and even try a few of these on your own. You may like them!

GOOD COFFEE (1882) – Put a sufficient quantity of coffee in the pot and pour boiling water on it; stir and place it on the fire. As soon as four or five bubbles have risen take it off the fire and pour out a teacupful and return it; set it down for one minute, then pour gently over the top one teacupful of cold water; let it stand one minute longer and it is ready for use.

Now that we have made our coffee, we can get conjurer up something to go with it.
APPLE JAM (1880) - Peel and core the apples, cut in thin slices and put them in a preserving kettle with three-quarters of a pound of white sugar to every pound of fruit; add (tied up in a piece of muslin) a few cloves, a small piece of ginger and a thin rind of lemon; stir with a wooden spoon on a quick fire for half an hour Now we need something to put the Apple Jam on.

JOHNNY CAKE (1881) - Take one quart of buttermilk, one teacup of flour, two-thirds of a cupful of molasses, a little salt, one tablespoonful of saleratus, one egg (beaten of course). Then stir in Indian meal, but be sure and not put in too much. Leave it thin--so thin that it will almost run. Bake in a tin in any oven, and tolerably quick. If it is not first-rate and light, it will be because you make it too thick with Indian meal. Some people prepare it without the molasses.

Or we could get adventurous.

A GOOD PLAIN CAKE (1881) - Take six ounces of ground rice, the same of flour, the yolks and whites of nine eggs beat separately, one pound of loaf sugar well pounded. Whisk the sugar and eggs for nearly an hour, then add the rice and flour. Butter well some white paper and put round it and over the bottom of the tin it is to be baked in, and bake in a slow oven. Run a knife into it; if it comes out clean it is baked enough.

LEMON JELLY CAKE (1881) - A delicious lemon jelly cake which will keep well, and which is in fact better after having been kept for a week, is an easily obtained luxury. Take two cups of sugar, half a cup of butter, one cup of milk, three eggs, two and one-half teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and three cups of flour. This makes five layers. For the jelly use the grated rind of two large lemons and the juice also, one cup of sugar, one egg, half a cup of water, one teaspoonful of butter, one tablespoonful flour mixed with a little water; boil until it thickens and then place between the layers of cake.
Or maybe you would like something a little lighter?

LADIES' FINGERS (1881) - The following recipe for ladies' fingers is an excellent one: Take one pound of pulverized sugar, one dozen eggs, three-quarters of a pound of flour. Beat the yolks and sugar to a cream, then beat the whites, and lastly stir in the flour; flavor with lemon. Bake in long, small tins made expressly for these little cakes, or you may drop them on white writing paper; they are likely in this case, however, to look irregular about the edge. Be careful not to put too much dough in the tin as it will rise a good deal. Have the oven hot and success is certain.
I hope you enjoy these recipes, and your 1800's Tea Party!

The History of Shortbread, and a very old Recipe

Shortbread is a type of cookie with a high butter content: The traditional recipe is one part sugar, two parts butter and three parts flour. It has been called the ancestor of all butter cookies. The original shortbreads were made with oatmeal, white flour came later and lightened the cookie. The addition of rice flour gives shortbread a grainy, crumbly texture, while cornstarch (corn flour) gives it a more dense texture.

Shortbread originated in Scotland in medieval times. Scottish shortbread evolved from medieval biscuit bread, a twice-baked, enriched bread roll dusted with sugar and spices and hardened into a rusk. Eventually, butter was substituted for yeast, and shortbread was born. Shortbread may have been made as early as the 12th century, but its invention is often attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587) in the 16th century. She had a team of French chefs who had the time, labor and ingredients to perfect the recipes. Shortbread recipes first appear in cookbooks of the time, although origination often precedes the first reference in print by a significant number of years. The following is an early 18th Century for traditional Shortbread
Ingredients:
2 1/4 Cups of Flour
1 Cup (2 sticks) of Butter
1/2 Cup of Sugar

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350 F Cream butter, and sugar. Slowly add the flour, and knead on floured surface, Form into a roll, and chill for 2 hours. Remove, and roll out on to a floured surface. If you are using a springerle rolling pin as pictured, you will spread out the dough before rolling with this pin. After rolling, and transferring the imprinted mages into the dough, cut and place upon a foil lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F. for 12 to 18 minutes, until the edges are light brown.

As you can tell by the list of ingredients, this is a very easy recipe to make, and I can tell you it has been enjoyed by many. Let me know how it turns out for you.

Original 1963 Lemon Bar Recipe

Lemon Squares Just a little history... Citrus curds have been popular for about 125 years and shortbread for much more than that, but it was none other than Betty Crocker that invented the lemon bar, They published the first known printed recipe in 1963.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1/2 cup (1 stick) of Butter
1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Confectioners' Sugar
Topping:
2 large eggs
1 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tablespoons of Lemon Juice, Fresh is best.
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder
2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Cut the butter into the flour and confectioners' sugar and press into a 9-inch square pan. Bake 20 minutes or until light brown. Combine the topping ingredients. When the bottom is done, and still hot, pour the topping over it and continue baking for about 25 minutes. Let cool, and sprinkle top with confectioners' sugar.

It's a wonderful treat that brings back so many memories for all of us. Please let me know if you try it out. I think you will be as pleased as I was.