Sunday, May 6, 2012
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A Simple Trick Makes a Neat Treat
Caramel Candy Apple Bites
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
Sliced apples
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Pour the sugar into a non-stick 10-Inch skillet over medium high heat. Shake it frequently until dark amber, about 8 to 10 minutes. The last minute or so, just shake it and tip it--off heat--until the lumps are all dissolved in the existing heat, so it doesn’t burn.
Pour the caramel syrup onto the foil-lined sheet, and allow it to cool for about 30 minutes, until hard. Break it up into chunks and drop them into the food processor with the motor running. Process until it's powder.
Immediately put the caramel sugar powder into an airtight container. (High humidity will cause it to clump.)
Yield: about 2 cups of fluffy caramel sugar.
Dip apple slices into the caramel. Bite.
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
Sliced apples
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Pour the sugar into a non-stick 10-Inch skillet over medium high heat. Shake it frequently until dark amber, about 8 to 10 minutes. The last minute or so, just shake it and tip it--off heat--until the lumps are all dissolved in the existing heat, so it doesn’t burn.
Pour the caramel syrup onto the foil-lined sheet, and allow it to cool for about 30 minutes, until hard. Break it up into chunks and drop them into the food processor with the motor running. Process until it's powder.
Immediately put the caramel sugar powder into an airtight container. (High humidity will cause it to clump.)
Yield: about 2 cups of fluffy caramel sugar.
Dip apple slices into the caramel. Bite.
Monday, April 14, 2008
TayDee Loop Fusion
FAQs
Q. What in the world is TayDee Loop?
A. Potato Soup.
Q. Huh?
A. A corruption of Potato Soup when you are calling the little kids for supper goes like this: potato soup, tater soup, tayto soup, taytee loup, taydee loop.
Eventually it becomes a family favorite, simple plain TayDee Loop, based on the simplest Irish supper, potatoes, water, onions; and by the 20th century, celery.
TayDee Loop for the 21st Century gets punched up with an Asian influence. Warm spicy comfort food.
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
1 cup chopped celery with leaves (the dense white root gives good flavor, too-mince it finely)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large rutabaga, peeled and chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves
2 teaspoons (or lots more, to your taste) minced red jalapenos, fresh or frozen
1 quart chicken broth
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup frozen peas.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion, ginger and celery in it until the onion is wilted.
Add the potatoes, rutabaga, lime leaves, jalapeno and broth. Cook over medium heat, covered, until the vegetables are just cooked.
Add the lemon juice & peas. By the time you stir the peas in, the soup is ready to be served to 3 or 4. Saltines or fresh crusty bread, too.
Note on “serving”: At the time of the etymological evolution of TayDee Loop, the family term for serving was “lifting.” Supper was lifted, soup was lifted, individual foods were lifted. Did this come from lifting food from the pot that sat low on a fire? Hmmm. Let’s look that up.
From the Dictionary of American Regional English, 1966 vol III p. 349: lift v (2) to take up (a dish or meal) and bring it to the table; to serve (a meal); hence ppl adj lifted of a meal, prepared; served. esp Midl [Scots dial]
1912 DN 3.581 wIN, Lift...To put on the (dining room) table; to serve. “It is twelve o’clock; we had better left the dinner.” 1916 DN 4.277 NE, Lifted...Ready, prepared. “Dinner is lifted.” 1927 AmSp 2.359 cwWV, Lifted...prepared. “Supper is lifted.” 1952 Brown NC Folkl. 1.560 wNC, Lift...To take food from the stove or fireplace to be served on the table. “Janie, lift the beans while I go get some onions.” 1953 Randolph-Wilson Down in Holler 261 Ozarks, Lift...To bring forward, especially to serve food and drink. I have heard a backwoods housewife say: “The dinner’s all cooked, Paw. Are you-uns ready for me to lift it?” 1959 DARE File swPA, You hear the cook of the house say “lift the potatoes” which means take the potatoes out of the cooking well. 1963 in 1982 Barrick Coll. csPA, Lift—remove (something cooking) from the stove to serve at the table. “I’m gonna lift the potatoes now.” .... ”The potatoes is to left yet.” 1966 DARE File PA, Lift...to lift a meal from the stove. 1973 Ibid swPA, Lift...to serve a meal. “I’m just ready to lift the supper.”
Q. What in the world is TayDee Loop?
A. Potato Soup.
Q. Huh?
A. A corruption of Potato Soup when you are calling the little kids for supper goes like this: potato soup, tater soup, tayto soup, taytee loup, taydee loop.
Eventually it becomes a family favorite, simple plain TayDee Loop, based on the simplest Irish supper, potatoes, water, onions; and by the 20th century, celery.
TayDee Loop for the 21st Century gets punched up with an Asian influence. Warm spicy comfort food.
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
1 cup chopped celery with leaves (the dense white root gives good flavor, too-mince it finely)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large rutabaga, peeled and chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves
2 teaspoons (or lots more, to your taste) minced red jalapenos, fresh or frozen
1 quart chicken broth
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup frozen peas.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion, ginger and celery in it until the onion is wilted.
Add the potatoes, rutabaga, lime leaves, jalapeno and broth. Cook over medium heat, covered, until the vegetables are just cooked.
Add the lemon juice & peas. By the time you stir the peas in, the soup is ready to be served to 3 or 4. Saltines or fresh crusty bread, too.
Note on “serving”: At the time of the etymological evolution of TayDee Loop, the family term for serving was “lifting.” Supper was lifted, soup was lifted, individual foods were lifted. Did this come from lifting food from the pot that sat low on a fire? Hmmm. Let’s look that up.
From the Dictionary of American Regional English, 1966 vol III p. 349: lift v (2) to take up (a dish or meal) and bring it to the table; to serve (a meal); hence ppl adj lifted of a meal, prepared; served. esp Midl [Scots dial]
1912 DN 3.581 wIN, Lift...To put on the (dining room) table; to serve. “It is twelve o’clock; we had better left the dinner.” 1916 DN 4.277 NE, Lifted...Ready, prepared. “Dinner is lifted.” 1927 AmSp 2.359 cwWV, Lifted...prepared. “Supper is lifted.” 1952 Brown NC Folkl. 1.560 wNC, Lift...To take food from the stove or fireplace to be served on the table. “Janie, lift the beans while I go get some onions.” 1953 Randolph-Wilson Down in Holler 261 Ozarks, Lift...To bring forward, especially to serve food and drink. I have heard a backwoods housewife say: “The dinner’s all cooked, Paw. Are you-uns ready for me to lift it?” 1959 DARE File swPA, You hear the cook of the house say “lift the potatoes” which means take the potatoes out of the cooking well. 1963 in 1982 Barrick Coll. csPA, Lift—remove (something cooking) from the stove to serve at the table. “I’m gonna lift the potatoes now.” .... ”The potatoes is to left yet.” 1966 DARE File PA, Lift...to lift a meal from the stove. 1973 Ibid swPA, Lift...to serve a meal. “I’m just ready to lift the supper.”
Monday, September 3, 2007
Pear Anise Pie
Searching for the Pearfect spice? The Barefoot Baker got a box of great pears a week ago, & the coffee cakes are fine with cloves, nutmeg, mixed English spice or a little cinnamon. A Spartan lunch of fresh pears& saltines is quite satisfying with no spice. But the perfect aromatic was discovered today in an unlikely tome: Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook, Edited by Nell B. Nichols, Field Food Editor, with the assistance of the Food Staff of Farm Journal; Photography supervised by Al J. Reagan, Art Director of The Farmer’s Wife. Doubleday & Co., Inc. 1965. Unlikely, because anise seed is not a typically American spice—is it?
We grew up with the Farm Journal, a monthly magazine, but never heard of The Farmer’s Wife. Maybe because the farmer’s wife in our house never subscribed to a lady’s magazine, but rather she took US News.
This book is hands down the Authority on pies savory and sweet, simple and special. The chapter “Pioneer Pies—Why Were They Round?” begins with “The history of pies fascinates most women.” That’s news to us! It’s typical of the text in this little book that often repeats the mid 20th Century notion “Remember that pies please men.” It's best to skip this drivel and get to the recipes.
It is more interesting to us that a pie in older England was baked in a coffin, the word for the crust. Or that aniseseed is only one of the aromatics in Itallyon Bisketts, used alongside ambergrese and muske...! These tidbits are more fascinating to us—from the recipes of Gulielma Maria Springett, the first wife of Wm Penn, who never left England. Guli Penn (1644-1694).
Until our further researches into the different sorts of torts, tarts, tortes and tortas, we enter here a delicious pie.
Pear Anise Pie
Serve with thin slices of Parmesan cheese.
Pastry for 2-crust pie
5 cups sliced peeled pears
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1+1/2 teaspoons whole anise seed
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Combine pears, sugar, cornstarch, anise seed and lemon peel. Mix gently. Place in pastry-lined 9” pie pan.
Sprinkle pie filling with 1+1/2 teaspoons lemon juice. Dot with butter. Add top crust and flute edges (of the coffin!); cut vents.
Bake in hot oven (400F) until pears are tender and crust is lightly browned, about 40 minutes.
While pie is hot, brush with glaze made by mixing powdered sugar with enough lemon juice for spreading consistency (about 2+1/2 teaspoons). Cool.
We grew up with the Farm Journal, a monthly magazine, but never heard of The Farmer’s Wife. Maybe because the farmer’s wife in our house never subscribed to a lady’s magazine, but rather she took US News.
This book is hands down the Authority on pies savory and sweet, simple and special. The chapter “Pioneer Pies—Why Were They Round?” begins with “The history of pies fascinates most women.” That’s news to us! It’s typical of the text in this little book that often repeats the mid 20th Century notion “Remember that pies please men.” It's best to skip this drivel and get to the recipes.
It is more interesting to us that a pie in older England was baked in a coffin, the word for the crust. Or that aniseseed is only one of the aromatics in Itallyon Bisketts, used alongside ambergrese and muske...! These tidbits are more fascinating to us—from the recipes of Gulielma Maria Springett, the first wife of Wm Penn, who never left England. Guli Penn (1644-1694).
Until our further researches into the different sorts of torts, tarts, tortes and tortas, we enter here a delicious pie.
Pear Anise Pie
Serve with thin slices of Parmesan cheese.
Pastry for 2-crust pie
5 cups sliced peeled pears
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1+1/2 teaspoons whole anise seed
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
Lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Combine pears, sugar, cornstarch, anise seed and lemon peel. Mix gently. Place in pastry-lined 9” pie pan.
Sprinkle pie filling with 1+1/2 teaspoons lemon juice. Dot with butter. Add top crust and flute edges (of the coffin!); cut vents.
Bake in hot oven (400F) until pears are tender and crust is lightly browned, about 40 minutes.
While pie is hot, brush with glaze made by mixing powdered sugar with enough lemon juice for spreading consistency (about 2+1/2 teaspoons). Cool.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Better Bun Bottoms
Less sticky. More flavor. “And gone-to-heaven” cinnamon sticky buns.
In the bottom of a 9” x 13” pan:
2 tablespoons liquid coffee
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
or
In the bottom of an 11" x 17" pan:
1/4 cup liquid coffee
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Make a sweet egg-rich dough with some sourdough starter, plus lots of yeast. (We use the old Betty Crocker recipe using about 5 cups of flour. This has 2 tablespoons yeast, & we add a cup of starter.)
Roll up sweet roll dough with soft butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon; slice very thin, about 1/2 inch wide. Lay the rolls in the pans of that muddy looking goo. Rise. Bake as usual. Turn out upside down.
Note: Flavor goes a step farther if you use Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon. Yum yum.
In the bottom of a 9” x 13” pan:
2 tablespoons liquid coffee
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
or
In the bottom of an 11" x 17" pan:
1/4 cup liquid coffee
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
Make a sweet egg-rich dough with some sourdough starter, plus lots of yeast. (We use the old Betty Crocker recipe using about 5 cups of flour. This has 2 tablespoons yeast, & we add a cup of starter.)
Roll up sweet roll dough with soft butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon; slice very thin, about 1/2 inch wide. Lay the rolls in the pans of that muddy looking goo. Rise. Bake as usual. Turn out upside down.
Note: Flavor goes a step farther if you use Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon. Yum yum.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Yeast Cookies. An Exception
The Barefoot Baker is dedicated to discovering new flavors. Don’t want to repeat—that’s a part of the policy for avoiding embarrassing memory lapses: never say the same thing twice, never tell the same story, in case you already related it. To anybody. Ever.
But we’ve discovered something new in an old southern recipe book. New to us, and it is yummy.
Yeast Cookie Butterfingers
1 pound butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cake (or one tablespoon dry) yeast
2 eggs, separated
4 cups sifted flour
Choice of topping: 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts, or chocolate shots, or toasted coconut
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Add with egg yolks to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Gradually beat in the flour. Chill the dough.
Roll about one tablespoonful of dough into a finger shape. Dip in well-beaten egg whites, and roll in the topping of your choice. (Roll the cookie.)
Bake on a greased (or silpat lined) baking sheet at 3750 about 10 minutes.
Our flour of choice for this old southern cookie is White Lily, but any all-purpose will work; and topping of choice is toasted coconut. (Always toast more coconut than you will need, because it will find its way to a taste test.) If your “finger shapes” look more like little turdlets, don’t worry, they will spread a bit in the oven and emerge oval.
But we’ve discovered something new in an old southern recipe book. New to us, and it is yummy.
Yeast Cookie Butterfingers
1 pound butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cake (or one tablespoon dry) yeast
2 eggs, separated
4 cups sifted flour
Choice of topping: 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts, or chocolate shots, or toasted coconut
Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Add with egg yolks to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Gradually beat in the flour. Chill the dough.
Roll about one tablespoonful of dough into a finger shape. Dip in well-beaten egg whites, and roll in the topping of your choice. (Roll the cookie.)
Bake on a greased (or silpat lined) baking sheet at 3750 about 10 minutes.
Our flour of choice for this old southern cookie is White Lily, but any all-purpose will work; and topping of choice is toasted coconut. (Always toast more coconut than you will need, because it will find its way to a taste test.) If your “finger shapes” look more like little turdlets, don’t worry, they will spread a bit in the oven and emerge oval.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
What? New Wheat? Why?
Dateline: the Twenty-First Century
The newest whole wheat flour from the American prairie looks more sophisticated than the old dark brown stuff—it is a lovely golden color. A couple of Hard White Wheat varieties are gaining ground (or fields) because of an initiative to produce better quality flours. I’m testing the whole wheat flour from Montana. Mixed with white bread flour made from hard red wheat, it makes a chewy hearth loaf that is prettier (golden) than the loaf I used to bake with the same bread flour and old fashioned whole wheat flour (brown).
The U.S. produces six classes of wheat: Hard Red Winter, Hard Red Spring, Soft Red Winter, Durum, Soft White, and Hard White. The newest class of U.S. wheat, Hard White receives enthusiastic reviews when used for Asian noodles, whole wheat or high extraction applications, pan breads and flat breads.
Here’s my first test of Hard White in crackers.
Graham Crackers
These are not too sweet, and go great with cheese, peanut butter, marshmallows,
or just as is with cold milk or hot tea.
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups whole wheat (hard white) flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
In a mixer, beat together butter, honey, brown sugar and vanilla until fluffy. In another bowl, stir together flour, wheat germ, salt and baking powder. With mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with 3/4 cup water. Blend well after each addition. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.
Divide dough in half. Wrap one half & keep it refrigerated. On a lightly floured surface, pat out one portion into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Place it onto a lightly greased baking sheet that has no lip on at least 2 sides. You will be rolling out the dough very thinly, directly on this sheet, and you don’t want to run into sides with the rolling pin! My pan has a lip on only one side.
Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to an even 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares. If you have a pastry wheel, that would look nice, but I just use a bench scraper, with a straight down motion so the pan doesn’t get scratched and the dough doesn’t pull. Then prick each square with a fork 3 or 4 times. Can’t show a photo here, but this can be quite attractive: 4 stabs in an X shape, or make your initial—get
points with a personalized graham cracker!
Bake at 3250 until lightly browned, about 30 minutes. (If the crackers on the outer edge brown more quickly than those in the center, remove them early!) Cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough on a cooled baking sheet. Store airtight.
Makes about 40.
The newest whole wheat flour from the American prairie looks more sophisticated than the old dark brown stuff—it is a lovely golden color. A couple of Hard White Wheat varieties are gaining ground (or fields) because of an initiative to produce better quality flours. I’m testing the whole wheat flour from Montana. Mixed with white bread flour made from hard red wheat, it makes a chewy hearth loaf that is prettier (golden) than the loaf I used to bake with the same bread flour and old fashioned whole wheat flour (brown).
The U.S. produces six classes of wheat: Hard Red Winter, Hard Red Spring, Soft Red Winter, Durum, Soft White, and Hard White. The newest class of U.S. wheat, Hard White receives enthusiastic reviews when used for Asian noodles, whole wheat or high extraction applications, pan breads and flat breads.
Here’s my first test of Hard White in crackers.
Graham Crackers
These are not too sweet, and go great with cheese, peanut butter, marshmallows,
or just as is with cold milk or hot tea.
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups whole wheat (hard white) flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
In a mixer, beat together butter, honey, brown sugar and vanilla until fluffy. In another bowl, stir together flour, wheat germ, salt and baking powder. With mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with 3/4 cup water. Blend well after each addition. Cover and chill at least 1 hour or overnight.
Divide dough in half. Wrap one half & keep it refrigerated. On a lightly floured surface, pat out one portion into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Place it onto a lightly greased baking sheet that has no lip on at least 2 sides. You will be rolling out the dough very thinly, directly on this sheet, and you don’t want to run into sides with the rolling pin! My pan has a lip on only one side.
Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to an even 1/8-inch thickness. Cut the dough into 3-inch squares. If you have a pastry wheel, that would look nice, but I just use a bench scraper, with a straight down motion so the pan doesn’t get scratched and the dough doesn’t pull. Then prick each square with a fork 3 or 4 times. Can’t show a photo here, but this can be quite attractive: 4 stabs in an X shape, or make your initial—get
points with a personalized graham cracker!
Bake at 3250 until lightly browned, about 30 minutes. (If the crackers on the outer edge brown more quickly than those in the center, remove them early!) Cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough on a cooled baking sheet. Store airtight.
Makes about 40.
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