Visit the Irish Halloween past with this recipe for Barmbrack

Barmbrack

Halloween festivities are never complete without some traditional Irish treats to help you celebrate. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, homes are littered with the delicious treat known as barnbrack (Barmbrack (Irish: bairín breac), also called Barnbrack or often shortened to brack, is a yeasted bread with added sultanas and raisins), which is an Irish fruit loaf. The title comes from the Irish Gaelic 'bairín breac' which literally means 'speckled loaf.' In traditional Ireland, each member of the family would get a slice of the delicious cake. But you had to be careful when chewing the delicious treat, as there were several charms hidden inside wrapped in baking paper which signified omens for the finder's future.

Barmbrack is the center of an Irish Halloween custom. The Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence) and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed within the year.

Barmbrack recipe
Ingredients:
3 cups dried fruit
1 1/4 cup cold tea
1 cup self-raising flour
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon mixed spice
3 cups caster sugar
Honey or Golden Syrup (optional – for decoration)
Directions:
Soak the fruit in tea overnight, then drain. Mix together with the rest of the ingredients (apart from the honey/golden syrup) and stir in the charms. Don’t over knead the dough, or your delicately re-hydrated fruit will break up.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 hours before removing. Continue to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Press the objects of choice into the cake through the bottom before serving.

Barmbrack is usually sold in flattened rounds, it is often served toasted with butter along with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The dough is sweeter than sandwich bread, but not as rich as cake, and the sultanas and raisins add flavour and texture to the final product.

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!

Discover Holland's best kept secrets, Desserts!

The history of "vlaai", or flat pies. First discovered by the Germanic tribes, the legend goes that they spread out dough on a hot stone and drizzled fruit juice or honey over it to make it more palatable. Over the years, the dough was spread thinner and the amount of toppings became larger, and eventually they wound up with fruit pies.
Here is one of those for you and yours to try.
Dutch Lemon Custard Pie

Ingredients
2 tablespoons flour
1⁄2 cup sugar
2 eggs, separated
pinch of salt
1 lemon
1 1⁄2 cups milk
1 Pie Shell
Directions
Mix 2 tablespoons of flour with 1⁄2 cup sugar and a pinch of salt. Beat 2 egg yolks. Add the juice and grated rind of 1 lemon Add the flour/sugar mixture, and beat. Stir in milk and fold in egg whites, beaten stiff. Pour into the pie crust, and bake at 425 F. for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F. and bake for 15 additional minutes. Take out, let cool, and serve.

The History of the Peanut Butter Cookie

The First Peanut Butter Cookie
(Peanut Cookie) Recipe Below

As we have all heard, George Washington Carver (1864-1943), an American agricultural extension educator, from Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, was the most well known promoter of the peanut as a replacement for the cotton crop, which had been heavily damaged by the boll weevil. He compiled 105 peanut recipes from various cookbooks, agricultural bulletins and other sources. In his 1916 Research Bulletin called How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption, he included three recipes for peanut cookies calling for crushed/chopped peanuts as an ingredient. It was not until the early 1920s that peanut butter was listed as an ingredient in the cookies.

The first to patent peanut butter was Marcellus Gilmore Edson in 1884. John Harvey Kellogg later patented a "Process of Preparing Nut Meal" in 1895 and served peanut butter to the patients at his Battle Creek Sanitarium.
The first peanut butter cookies recipe, by Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book (1902, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), suggested rolled peanut butter ball. Later a recipe for patterned Peanut Butter ball, which instructs the cook to roll the dough into balls and press them down with the tines of a fork, was published in 1933 edition of Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes.
The New England Kitchen Magazine (Vol. 3 No. 4, July 1895, pp 184-185) printed an article titled “An American Delicacy”. It gave a short history of the early use of peanuts and popular uses, but peanut butter was not mentioned. The idea of nut butter, peanut butter being one of the various nuts used to make nut butter had emerged about ten years earlier but was not yet publicly available. Nut butter was used in commercial candy making. What was found in the article was a recipe that was the precursor of the Peanut Butter Cookie.

The 1895 recipe is, as follows:
Peanut Cookies
1 tablespoon of butter
Pound or chop one cupful of peanuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt.
Mix the ingredients, and bake at 350 F. until golden brown.
The ingredient list with the exception of a higher amount of peanuts is similar to the early peanut cookies which used peanut butter. The article listed a U.S. Department of Agriculture pamphlet Farmers Bulletin, No. 25 and Miss Juliet Corson as two early contributors to uses of peanuts. So it is unknown who developed the “Peanut Cookies” recipe listed in the New England Kitchen Magazine article.

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!

A Simple Little Cinnamon Cookie

This is definitely an easy cookie to make, and it is also sure to become a favorite for your cookie eaters, as it was for mine. It's a Cinnamon drop cookie, and it was truly a delight for all who tried it.

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and cinnamon together and set aside. Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla, until the egg is completely incorporated. On low speed, slowly beat in the flour mixture, then increase the speed to medium and beat the dough until thoroughly blended. Drop by small round teaspoonfuls on to foil lined cookie sheets, and bake at 350 F for 10 to 12 minutes.