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This was not on the family favorite recipe list...but it is now! I was looking for a quick easy dessert to serve after dinner last week to celebrate the end of mid-term exams. I pulled out a cookbook that I have had for ages Kitchen Keepsakes by Bonnie Welch & Deanna White. My husband and I used to go to Vermont every weekend to explore antique shops and would always stop in The Jelly Mill establishment while in Manchester. This is where I purchased this cookbook and have kept it handy because my favorite apple pie recipe is included, which I will share later.
This was a last minute idea, so I do not have pictures, but I will take them the next time I make this cake. And there will be a next time!
The recipe:
1 1/2 Cups boiling water
1 Cup oatmeal ( I used Quaker Oats- Quick Oats)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup shortening ( I use Crisco)
2 eggs
1 1/2 Cup Flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. cocoa ( I use Hershey's)
1 Cup chocolate chips (I use Nestle Toll House)
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional)
Pour boiling water over oatmeal in small bowl and let stand 10 minutes. Cream sugars & shortening in separate bowl; add eggs and beat until smooth. Add oatmeal and mix well. Add flour, soda, salt and cocoa. Beat 1 minute. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips ( I used the mini chips). Pour into greased and floured 8 x 12" pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup chips ( I used mini) and 1/2 cup nuts*** over top. Bake in 350` oven for 35-40 minutes.
***I have this after the nuts because I do not like chopped nuts in my cakes. So this is purely a preference thing and I just wanted to let you know that the original recipe did include them.
This cake came out warm and gooey and was very good! I believe my family invented their own favorite take on this too-
Take 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream and place in bowl with 1 piece of cake. Microwave for 15-20 seconds. Mash and stir the ice cream and cake together. Apparently, this made "THE best dessert EVER".
Showing posts with label Crisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crisco. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Cujidatta Cookie
Cujidatta (coo-ji-da-ta) Italian cookies are what is cooking in the kitchen today. I have promised my dad to make his most beloved Christmas cookie again this year, but they are a pain in the you-know-what!
My great grandparents were both from Palermo, Sicily and this is a cookie that they brought with them from the "old country". As the story goes (as told by my dad), my great grandmother and her sister would start making these cookies around Thanksgiving. My father and his cousin would plant themselves in the kitchen when they heard all the swearing. They knew what that meant. Cookies! The sisters would make batches and batches and store them in old potato chip tins. When my great grandfather would try to sneak one, his wife would slap his hand away and yell in Italian. The two boys would giggle and she would hand them each a cookie. This would make my great grandfather throw up his hands in defeat.
My father loves to tell stories; and he is a great at it. He would reminisce about this every holiday, hoping that one day he would be able to once again taste his childhood treat. See, when my great grandmother passed away, so did the making of this cookie. My father could never find the recipe. Then, one year, his cousin told him that he had the family recipe. He sent it to my father and he in turn gave it to me. We held onto it for a few years because we could not find the one ingredient needed for the cookie- sour cherry jelly.
When apple picking one fall, I was looking through the gift shop and could not believe that on the shelf among the pretty packaged jars of jams and jellies sat sour cherry! I immediately bought 2 and surprised my father with his cookie. The first year I made them they were ok...the flavor was there but the size and shape of the cookie was not quite right. The following year, I hit the jackpot and my dad has requested them ever since. When sharing a tin with his cousin, they are both brought back to the days of being young boys and the magic that happened in that Italian kitchen.
When I have pictures, I will post.
The Recipe:
3 lb. (9 cups) Flour
1-1/4 lb. (2-1/2 cups) melted Crisco
1-1/2 Cups sugar
1 Tbsp Baking powder (heaping)
1-1/2 Cups milk
On stove, melt sugar and milk together. Add to flour, crisco and baking powder. Dough should be pliable and easy to handle.
Filling:
1/2 lb. each (or 1-3/4 Cups), chopped
*Filberts
*Walnuts
*Almonds (toasted)
1lb. (2-3/4 Cups) Dark raisins
1/2 lb. Light raisins
1 small jar of Sour Cherry Jelly
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Mix all filling ingredients together and set aside.
From dough ball, pull a ping-pong ball sized piece. Shape and roll about an 1" thick disc between plastic wrap. Fill carefully with about Tablespoon of filling mixture. Fold over to one side to cover filling and seal. This should take on a crescent moon shape.
Bake in a preheated 350' oven on ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes.
Cool on rack.
Icing:
1/2 Cup powdered sugar, melted in 3/4 Cup water. Add enough water to mix to hold together, not too watery. Dip top of cookie into icing and let set.
When I saw the ingredient list, I knew why my great grandmother and her sister would swear while making these. It's like it never ends!
So when I call my dad in a few hours to let him know how much I hate making these &*@$ cookies, I'll make sure the pot of coffee is on and get a plate ready to share while waiting for him to arrive.
My great grandparents were both from Palermo, Sicily and this is a cookie that they brought with them from the "old country". As the story goes (as told by my dad), my great grandmother and her sister would start making these cookies around Thanksgiving. My father and his cousin would plant themselves in the kitchen when they heard all the swearing. They knew what that meant. Cookies! The sisters would make batches and batches and store them in old potato chip tins. When my great grandfather would try to sneak one, his wife would slap his hand away and yell in Italian. The two boys would giggle and she would hand them each a cookie. This would make my great grandfather throw up his hands in defeat.
My father loves to tell stories; and he is a great at it. He would reminisce about this every holiday, hoping that one day he would be able to once again taste his childhood treat. See, when my great grandmother passed away, so did the making of this cookie. My father could never find the recipe. Then, one year, his cousin told him that he had the family recipe. He sent it to my father and he in turn gave it to me. We held onto it for a few years because we could not find the one ingredient needed for the cookie- sour cherry jelly.
When apple picking one fall, I was looking through the gift shop and could not believe that on the shelf among the pretty packaged jars of jams and jellies sat sour cherry! I immediately bought 2 and surprised my father with his cookie. The first year I made them they were ok...the flavor was there but the size and shape of the cookie was not quite right. The following year, I hit the jackpot and my dad has requested them ever since. When sharing a tin with his cousin, they are both brought back to the days of being young boys and the magic that happened in that Italian kitchen.
When I have pictures, I will post.
The Recipe:
3 lb. (9 cups) Flour
1-1/4 lb. (2-1/2 cups) melted Crisco
1-1/2 Cups sugar
1 Tbsp Baking powder (heaping)
1-1/2 Cups milk
On stove, melt sugar and milk together. Add to flour, crisco and baking powder. Dough should be pliable and easy to handle.
Filling:
1/2 lb. each (or 1-3/4 Cups), chopped
*Filberts
*Walnuts
*Almonds (toasted)
1lb. (2-3/4 Cups) Dark raisins
1/2 lb. Light raisins
1 small jar of Sour Cherry Jelly
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Mix all filling ingredients together and set aside.
From dough ball, pull a ping-pong ball sized piece. Shape and roll about an 1" thick disc between plastic wrap. Fill carefully with about Tablespoon of filling mixture. Fold over to one side to cover filling and seal. This should take on a crescent moon shape.
Bake in a preheated 350' oven on ungreased cookie sheet for 15 minutes.
Cool on rack.
Icing:
1/2 Cup powdered sugar, melted in 3/4 Cup water. Add enough water to mix to hold together, not too watery. Dip top of cookie into icing and let set.
When I saw the ingredient list, I knew why my great grandmother and her sister would swear while making these. It's like it never ends!
So when I call my dad in a few hours to let him know how much I hate making these &*@$ cookies, I'll make sure the pot of coffee is on and get a plate ready to share while waiting for him to arrive.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Dressing, Filling or Stuffing
Is kind of like soda to pop, pizza to pie or sub to hoagie.
All describe the same thing, it just depends what part of the country you live in that determines what you call this Thanksgiving Day staple.
This is the recipe I grew up with- straight from Pennsylvania Dutch country!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Recipe:
This makes (2) 9x13" pans
1 stick butter
1 TBSP Crisco
1 Onion, chopped
2 Ribs celery, chopped
Fresh Parsley, handful, chopped
3 eggs to 1 loaf of bread/ 6 eggs to 2 loaves bread
salt & pepper
1 ladle stock
1 tsp. Chicken base
Grease pans with Crisco. Preheat oven to 375'.
Cut or tear bread into bite-sized pieces. Put in large bowl. Meanwhile, saute`onion, celery, salt & pepper in butter and crisco until onion is translucent. Add parsley, stir and turn off heat. Pour into bread pieces. Add eggs, chicken base and stock. (if not enough stuffing mixture, add another loaf bread and 3 more eggs)
Place into greased prepared pans and cover with foil. Cook in heated oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil for last 10 minutes of baking to form crust on top.
All describe the same thing, it just depends what part of the country you live in that determines what you call this Thanksgiving Day staple.
This is the recipe I grew up with- straight from Pennsylvania Dutch country!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Recipe:
This makes (2) 9x13" pans
1 stick butter
1 TBSP Crisco
1 Onion, chopped
2 Ribs celery, chopped
Fresh Parsley, handful, chopped
3 eggs to 1 loaf of bread/ 6 eggs to 2 loaves bread
salt & pepper
1 ladle stock
1 tsp. Chicken base
Grease pans with Crisco. Preheat oven to 375'.
Cut or tear bread into bite-sized pieces. Put in large bowl. Meanwhile, saute`onion, celery, salt & pepper in butter and crisco until onion is translucent. Add parsley, stir and turn off heat. Pour into bread pieces. Add eggs, chicken base and stock. (if not enough stuffing mixture, add another loaf bread and 3 more eggs)
Place into greased prepared pans and cover with foil. Cook in heated oven for 45 minutes. Remove foil for last 10 minutes of baking to form crust on top.
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