Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

I knew it, Erma. I knew that some way or another you would work in the alcohol–even with the poor, teetollaling Shakers! I don’t see those quaint Shaker Sisters putting down barrels of home/village dried plums into barrels of brandy. If so, some of the Shaker brothers probably “sampled” the brew from time to time.

I have had your wonderful Brandied Prunes and they are addicting.

You mentioned your Shaker Apple Soup, and I thought of this odd Shaker Apple Curry Soup. Do you have any idea when curry powder came into use? Certainly not in the earliest years of the Shaker villages. This is a most unusual soup.

Apple Curry Soup:

2 large apples
2 onions
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon flour
½ teaspoon curry powder
2 cups chicken broth
8 ounces apple juice or white wine
3 ounces diced chicken breast

Peel, core and chop the apples and onions. In a frying pan, melt the butter and cook the apples and onions until they are soft. Add the flour and curry powder and cooking for 5 minutes more. Add everything else, except the chicken, and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain through a sieve and return to the pan. Add the chopped chicken breast just before serving.

Serves 4.

Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

Looking through my Shaker cookbooks yesterday, I saw a recipe for Apple and Prune Stuffing, and I thought, how German/Danish/Swedish. There is nothing like a good Prune Stuffing for a duck or the Christmas Goose.

Then I began to read the recipe. Cracker crumbs? No biscuits or bread?

Then I got to the end and realized that it wasn’t the goose that the Shakers were stuffing. It was squash and onions and cabbage!

Bingo! I realized that this was one of those recipes from the meatless period. What an interesting blend of flavors this must produce. And how modern.

Naturally I had to laugh at the first part of the directions of cooking the prunes. Storing your prunes in brandy, like I ALWAYS recommend, means your prunes are nice as moist to begin with. With the packaging today, you probably don’t need to cook them either, but imagine how hard prunes must have been back in Shaker days.

Shaker Apple and Prune Stuffing:

Soak 6 whole prunes in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and pit. Chop well. (If using prunes that have already been marinated in brandy as I suggest, you can omit the soaking.

Measure the prunes and add an equal amount of peeled, chopped apple. To this add 2 tablespoons cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons butter, salt and pepper to taste.

Use this to stuff squash, onions, or cabbage. If you like a sweeter stuffing, add a tablespoon sugar and a beaten egg.

Yields about a cup and a half stuffing

Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

Erma, when you sent me that Shaker Apple Omelet recipe a few days ago, I was reminded of a similar Shaker pudding recipe from the Watervliet Village in New York.

It is called Shaker Apple Cream Pudding, although I always serve it with a crust as a pie. You know my family. Anything so long as it is served as a pie.

Like your Omelet, you can begin with apple sauce and cut down considerably on the prep time. The Mennonites in our area make a version of this that they call an Applesauce Pie.

Shaker Apple Cream Pudding from Watervliet Village in New York:

1 dozen apples
6 eggs
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream

Peel, core and cook with a little bit of water the dozen apples in a heavy, large sauce pan. When soft, strain through a colander, or use a food processor. Beat in the eggs, butter, sugar, nutmeg and lemon juice. Place in a casserole or pudding dish and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Chill the pudding. Whip the cream in a mixer, and stir into the pudding just before serving.

Serves 8.

Filling can also be poured into a pie tin lined with a rich crust and baked as a pie. Omit the cream.

Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

Let me know, Max, if you ever try that Shaker Apple Catsup. When the family says, “Pass the catsup,” you give them a jar of Apple Catsup. Wonder if they would notice the difference?

This Shaker recipe I have made many times. It is just your basic Apple Jelly with a twist: Ginger. The Shakers were almost as big on lemons as they were on apples. The believed, correctly, that lemons were good for you, and they ordered wagon loads of them. Knowing the Shakers, I will bet they even tried to grow them in their orchards. Cold climate or not.

To me, this is even better made with candied ginger that is finely minced. If your apples don’t cook up a pale pink blush, a tiny drop of red food coloring helps.

I included the Shaker sister’s comment from the original recipe just for fun. Think of cooking up a big batch of this in a huge copper kettle over an open fire. We don’t know how fortunate we are to have stoves that produce steady heat.

Shaker Apple Ginger Jelly:

3 pounds apples
3 cups light brown sugar
1 ½ cups lemons
2 tablespoons powdered ginger
1 teaspoon salt

With a grater, grate off all the peel from both lemons. Peel and chop the apples. Place in a heavy sauce pan and add the sugar, spices, grated lemon rind, the juice from the lemons, the ginger and the salt. Add just enough water to keep the mixture from burning. Cover and cook on the lowest temperature for 4 hours. Uncover, stir, and add water if necessary. “Great care must be taken to keep from scorching,” wrote the Shaker sister from Shirley Village.

Turn out into small jelly jars. Seal. Makes about 2 pints jelly.

Finely chopped preserved ginger slices can also be used.

Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

Erma, I will bet that your Shaker Apple Soup dates back to England where the Shakers began. The English used to serve arriving guests with a cup of strong beef broth to take off the chill of winter travel. Not a bad idea even today, especially when you think of how cool (I called it plain cold!) most British homes are in the winter time.

Say the word Catsup today and everyone automatically thinks tomato. Of course, you and I know that catsup, or ketchsup as it is in most old cookbooks, predates the introduction of tomatoes into the everyday diet. Originally catsup was a condiment made with everything from fruit to green walnuts. No, I have never attempted Green Walnut Ketchsup, which begins with collecting green hulled walnut, but it sounds “interesting.”

The Shakers made Catsup with apples long before they were growing tomatoes. One of these years when we have tons of extra apples, I am going to try this recipe. I will bet that the Shakers served this as a condiment along with baked beef or pork.

Shaker Apple Catsup:

Pare and core 12 sour apples. Stew in a Dutch Oven with some water until the apples are soft. Press through a sieve.

For each quart of apple pulp add the following:

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon powdered cloves
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon salt
2 onions
2 cups cider vinegar

In food mill, chop the onion very fine. Add all of the above to the apple pulp in the Dutch Oven. Bring to a boil and simmer for at least one hour, or until the mixture is very thick. Pour into hot, sterilized pint jars and seal.

Makes 3 pints.

Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

Have you seen the size of the bake ovens at the Shaker villages? They are commercial sized. Of course, Max, they had to be to feel the numbers that they did. As I recall, they did not bake bread every day, but only a couple of days a week. They had immense dough trays for mixing and kneading dozens of loaves of bread at once.

Shaker Apple Soup was probably served on one of the days when the Shaker sisters were busy baking or preserving food. It is simple and filling, and could sit prepared off to the side of the fireplace while other foods were being prepared.

This could be served in a cup on a cold, winter day without the cream which would cut down on the calories and fat content. With the amount of heavy work the Shaker sisters and brothers did calories and fat content was not a concern.

Shaker Apple Soup:

2 cups beef broth
1 tart apple, quartered, cored, and unpeeled
1 onion, quartered
1 ½ teaspoons of mixed cinnamon and nutmeg
4 tablespoons apple cider
1 cup half and half

In a double boiler with a lid, combine the broth, apples, onion, and seasonings. Cover tightly and cook for several minutes until the apple is soft. Strain in a sieve. Discard the pulp. Return liquid to the double boiler and keep warm. When ready to serve, add the cider and cream. Serve hot.

Serves 4.

Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

Erma, as you know, I had never heard of the Shakers before I met you. Then I began hearing about their simple elegant furniture. We had some communal societies here in Iowa too, though not exactly like the Shakers. The big one, of course, is the Amana Colonies, and they were big on orchards and apples too.

I found this recipe in one of the Shaker cookbooks you gave me years ago and I had to try it. I used bacon instead of the salt pork and brown sugar instead of the maple. My, how times have changed. Can you imagine what this everyday dish would cost today to make if you used real maple sugar?

Can you imagine how many pies the Shaker sisters would have to bake to feed the hundreds of people who lived in their village?

Apple-Pork Pie from Mount Lebanon Village:

2 pie crusts, unbaked
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup maple sugar (may substitute light brown sugar)
½ cup white sugar
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
6 tart apples, pared and sliced
½ pound salt pork, cut into thin small pieces 1 inch long (substitute bacon)
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter

Line a medium sized casserole with half of the pastry.

Mix the flour, salt, sugars, and spices. Combine that with the apples and place half of the mixture into the casserole. Cover with half of the pieces of salt pork. Sprinkle with pepper. Repeat the layers. Dot with butter and fit on the other half of the pie crust. Cut several slashes in the top crust. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then lower the temperature to 375 degrees and continue baking for 50 minutes. Serve warm.

Serves 6 to 8.

Bacon may be substituted for the salt pork.

Antique Shaker Apple Recipes

Max, can you name a fruit that has as many uses as an apple? Think of it. You can eat them raw. You can fry them. You can bake them. You can turn them into jelly. You can preserve them as apple sauce or apple butter. You can juice them. You can let the juice turn into vinegar or go to Hard Cider or Apple Jack–which can warm up the coldest winter evenings.

Growing up near the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill here in Kentucky, I was exposed to some of their old recipes and ideas about cooking. The Shakers, who were early into the health food diet, devised hundreds of recipes for apples. All of the Shaker villages had huge fruit orchards with hundreds of different kinds of apple trees. Their cookbooks and household guides are filled with references to what kind of apples to use for what purpose, and some of them are rather unique.

Take this Shaker Apple Omelet that dates from the early part of the 19th Century. There was a period when all the Shaker villages became vegetarian, and from that period came an emphasis on herbs and unusual main dishes that were meatless. This recipe came originally from the Watervliet Village in New York. Today we would serve this as a side dish or dessert, but for a while this was a main dish served without meat.

While more of a pudding than what we today think of an omelet, this is still a fine dish. To save on cooking time, one could begin with unsweetened apple sauce. This makes a nice presentation in individual casseroles.

Shaker Apple Omelet:

6 large tart apples
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup sugar
Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
4 eggs

Peel and core the apples. Place in saucepan, cover with water and cook until very soft. Place in food processor and turn to sauce.

Add butter, sugar and spices and allow the mixture to cool. Beat the eggs with a hand whisk in a small mixing bowl. Stir into apple mixture. Pour into a medium sized buttered casserole, or two buttered pie tins.

If using 6 individual ramakins or small casseroles, reduce the baking time slightly.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes when top is lightly golden.

Serves 4 generously. Use with Roast Pork for a main side dish, or serve for dessert.

Danish Apple Dessert

Cod with apples and celery? Hummmm. Maybe.

The Scandinavians have some unusual twists to their cooking. It is sort of German, but with a Scandinavian accent. Like this recipe for Danish Apple Bars. The secret ingredient is crushed corn flakes of all things. When it cooks up, you never would guess that there are corn flakes in the filling, but it adds a different touch to a familiar apple bar recipe.

Beware, these are rich and fattening!!

Danish Apple Bars:

2 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup shortening
1 egg yolk
Milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup corn flakes, crushed
6 apples
1 cup sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg white

Mix as if making a pie crust the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and shortening. Mix egg yolk, milk and vanilla to equal a generous ½ cup of liquid. Add to dry ingredients and mix well to form dough.

Divide the dough in half. Roll out to fit a 12 x 15 jelly roll pan. Over top of the dough sprinkle the corn flakes. Then make a layer of the peeled and sliced apples. Over the apples sprinkle sugar-cinnamon mix.

Roll out the remaining piece of dough for a top. Cut slits in it and seal the edges. Beat the egg white with a hand whisk until frothy and then use pastry brush to spread over the top of the bars.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 and bake another 35 minutes. While still hot, drizzle on the glaze below. Let cool and cut into bars while still somewhat warm.

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup hot water–more if needed for spreading

Old Norwegian Fish and Apple Recipe

You are right, Max, we have been heavy on the apple desserts the last few weeks, and apples can be used in every course of the meal. Now here is a really old and unusual Norwegian fish and apple recipe. Tell me, Max, when was the last time you saw a recipe that included Celeriac in the ingredients? Just use some celery instead.

I know you are thinking, “Erma doesn’t really like fish, so why does she have a Norwegian cod recipe around?” Because, my dear, this is one of the few ways you can cook cod that doesn’t taste like fish. The Norwegians must tire of cod too, as my cookbook has dozens of ways to dress up the fish so it doesn’t taste like fish.

Baked Cod with Apples and Celeriac from Norway:

1 ½ pound cod fillet
½ a celeriac, or 1 stalk celery
4 apples, peeled
1 onion
4 tablespoons tomato puree
¼ pint rich milk
salt and pepper to taste

Place celeriac, apples and onion in food processor and chop finely. Spread vegetables in bottom of a shallow, buttered oven dish casserole with lid. Wash and dry the cod and place on top of the veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Mix milk and puree and pour over the fish. Bake in a hot (400 degree) oven for about 30 minutes.

Serves 4.

German Apple Dish

It can’t be fall without my making an apple cake we first had when we were living in Germany. I call it Bavarian for it was down in Bavaria at a country inn that I first had this treat. My German being what it isn’t, I couldn’t ask the innkeeper for the recipe. Which started the Great Bavarian Apple Cake Quest. I found out that there are hundreds of recipes for Apple Cake in Germany. Every cook over there has an Apple Cake recipe, but none of them were quite what I had eaten in Bavaria. I eventaully found a recipe close to the original from Bavaria in all places, a children’s cookbook from Rhode Island. The children had collected ethnic recipes from their families and published them in a little fund raising cookbook.

The German grandmother called her recipe Bavarian Apple Dapple Cake, but I don’t know what the Dapple refers too. Substitute Delicious for Dapple and you get the idea. This bakes up in a tube pan with a nice glaze that makes is so rich and fall-like.

Bavarian Apple Dapple Cake:

1 ½ cups oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 cups peeled apples
1 teaspoons vanilla

Beat oil, sugar and eggs in mixer. Stir in the flour, soda, and salt. Coarsely chop the raisins, nuts and apples in a food processor. Add to batter with the vanilla. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 ½ hours in a tube pan.

While the Apple Dapple Cake is still warm brush on with a pastry brush, the icing. ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup butter and ¼ cup milk. Boil the icing mixture for 3 minutes.

Great Apple Salad

We have traded enough apple dessert recipes for each of us to have gained a dozen pounds. Here is an older Apple Salad recipe that isn’t so calorie laden. The dressing is not sugar laden, and the salad is quite good with no dressing at all.

Apple Salad:

4 large apples–mix of colors is nice
½ cup celery
½ cup small green grapes–seedless
½ cup chopped nuts, walnuts are best

Dressing:

2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk

Whisk the egg and milk with a whisk. Pour flour and sugar in a saucepan and then stir in the milk mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for several minutes until thick. Pour in covered plastic container, and store in the fridge.

Mix the apples, celery and green grapes in a bowl. Add dressing and toss. Sprinkle nuts on top.

Serves 10.

Make Your Own Apple Pie Filling

This recipe is not going to help you Erma, in your appleless state this fall, but you should file it away for next year. You love easy and cheap recipes. Well, this one fits the bill.

It assumes that you have an over abundance of apples (which is usually the case with you in the fall), and that you like to save money. Have you priced those little cans of prepared fruit pie fillings in the store? It is outrageous!! First off, one can of their filling does not a pie make. You need at least two cans. Secondly, it isn’t all that good. And Thirdly, who knows what sort of preservatives and such have been put in it!!

Since your apples are free (and going to waste on the ground anyways), about your only cost is the sugar. And your time which is about 2 hours tops.

The result is 7 generous quart sized pie fillings already made and sitting down on your basement shelves. Viola, you have an instant homemade apple pie. If you don’t feel like rolling out a pie crust, you can simply pour a can of this filling into a casserole, and top it with the Apple Crisp topping. Pop into the oven, and dessert is ready in 20 minutes.

Home-Canned Apple Pie Filling:

8 to 9 pounds firm apples
4 ½ cups sugar
1 cup quick-cooking tapioca
10 cups water
3 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon salt

Peel and slice the apples. Place in salted water to prevent discoloration while you are peeling the remainder.

Combine remaining ingredients in a 12 quart stockpot. Cook over medium-high heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Drain apples in a colander . Add apples to syrup. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute longer.

Spoon apples into hot sterilized jars, leaving an inch headspace. Seal the jars and process in boiling water bath for 25 minutes. Use a large stockpot with lid for the waterbath.

Yields 6 to 7 quarts.

Old Fashioned Dried Apple Pies

Since we don’t have any apples this fall, I may have to break out the tub of apples that we dried a few years ago and use them in place of fresh apples.

All right, Max, I know those dried apples have been around for a couple of years, but dried fruit does not spoil!! That’s why people dried food. It lasted forever.

Fried apple pies are an Eastern Kentucky mountain tradition that dates back to at least the days of the early settlers. Medieval housewives dried apples, and probably so did the Greek and Roman housewives. Although I don’t think the Greeks had apples. The porbably would not grow well in their climate.

In some places, a dried apple pie was a traditional dish to take to a funeral. Probably because most pioneer housewives would have some dried apples at any time of the year, and pies transported well in buggies and wagons, unlike fancy cakes.

Small Fried Pies were also a staple in kid’s lunches back in the days of metal lunch boxes or earlier with lunch pails. Sweet, and not too messy.

You can make dried apples into a regular style pie, or the way I liked them, in small, handsized half moon fried pies. In the old days the pastry was made with lard, and then the pies were deep fried in lard. No wonder life expectancy was low!!

Today, most women bake their Fried Pies, but we still call them Fried. Makes perfect sense, yes?

This recipe is based on commercial dried apples that come in the cellophane bags. For homemade, really dry apples, you start with an overnight soak in the water. And you must make sure that you cook the apple mixture until it is VERY thick. Otherwise, you will have the liquid seeping out of the pies and running all over the cookie sheet. Which, of course, then proceeds to burn on to the pan and smoke up the oven. So, Max, remember, “cook until VERY thick.”

Apple Fried Pies:

8 ounces dried apples
1 cup water
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 double pie crust pastry making

Cook dried apples in water in saucepan over low heat for about 30 minutes. Add sugar and spices. Cook 10 minutes longer. Remove from heat and add almond extract.

Roll half of the pie crust into a 12 inch circle. Spoon half of the apple mixture on to half of the circle. Fold the pastry over to enclose filling and seal the edge with a fork or a pastry crimper. Repeat with the remaining pie crust. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet that has been lined with foil to catch drips.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes until golden.

Yields 8 servings

Classic Apple Crisp Recipe

I’ve made your Apple Doughnut Muffins, Erma, and you are right, like the potato chip, “I’ll bet you can’t eat just one.” Bake up a batch of those, and you will attract the menfolk in from the yard like flies to honey.

Now for a nice “diet recipe” with apples, nothing can beat my Apple Crisp From Alabama. Wonder how an Alabama recipe ended up in this staunch Mid-Westerner’s file?

Anyways, it is “diet” because it includes that diet wonder food: Oatmeal. I say, include oatmeal in a recipe and it automatically is a diet recipe. Good for the heart and blood vessels the doctors say. You can make this without the oatmeal, but to my family, it isn’t an Apple Crisp without the oatmeal topping.

Apple Crisp From Alabama:

4 cups peeled apples
¼ cup water
¾ cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
1 cup old fashioned oats (Optional)

Place the apples in a 6 x 10 inch baking dish. Add water. Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt and oatmeal if using in a small mixing bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbley. Sprinkle over the apples. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes until apples are tender and the top is golden.

Yields 6 servings.

The oatmeal makes a more candy-like topping.

Celebrate Fall with Apples

Dearest Max, it has finally cooled down, and I am beginning to feel human again. Well, I’m never exactly human, but as human as I can be. It must be old age, but the extended heat has been a real trial for me–not to mention my poor yard and garden.

We haven’t a single apple on any of our trees, so I had to break down and buy some Jonathon Apples Saturday so I could make some apple recipes. It bothers my frugal Scotch soul to have to BUY apples, there are supposed to be free on my trees!!

I made the French Apple Pie with the Nutmeg Sauce from last week and it was delicious.

With Halloween coming, I also start thinking of pumpkins and doughnuts. As you know, I really don’t like the popular glazed doughnuts. My favorites are the cake type doughnuts. A Saturday afternoon treat would be to go to the hole-in-the wall Ward’s Bakery and buy one of their crunchy cake doughnuts dusted in powdered sugar. For Halloween, my mother could sometimes be persuaded to make up a big batch of our nutmeg flavored cake doughnuts. Alas, all the calories and fats in deep frying have made those treats a rare occasion.

Apple Doughnut Muffins are a compromise. They taste like a good cake type doughnut, but are baked. Calorie Enhanced they still are, but not quite a bad as deep fried. Problem is that they are so good, that one tends to eat more than one of them at a time. Diet Disaster.

Apple Doughnut Muffins:

2/3 cups soft butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of salt
½ cup oil
1 cup, chopped, peeled apple
Melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Cream the butter and 1 cup of sugar in the mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs. Mix the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in a small mixing bowl. Alternate blending in the flour mixture with the milk. Stir in the finely grated apple.

Spoon into greased or silicone muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. As soon as you remove the muffins from the oven, dip them into the melted butter and then roll (or shake in a paper bag) in a mixture of the remaining cup of sugar and the cinnamon. Coat well.

Scandinavian Apple Dessert

While we were talking Danish aebleskivers, I remembered another apple recipe from Denmark and Sweden: Apple Coffee Cake. Scandinavians love sweets and coffee cakes of all varieties and this one is very simple. The different touch on this one is pouring the sour cream around on the top. This Scandinavian coffee cake is served hot and is best served warm–straight from the oven. The browned sour cream topping creates an unusual spiral effect.

Apple Coffee Cake:

1 ½ cups flour
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup walnuts
1 large apple
1 egg
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons oil
½ cup sour cream
½ cup sugar

Peel and grate the apple in a food processor. Chop the nuts in processor coarsely.

Mix and flour, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in large mixing bowl. Add the nuts, saving out a couple tablespoons for topping. Stir in the grated apple.

With hand whisk beat the egg. Then add the milk and oil. Blend and then fold into the apple mixture. Turn into a greased or silicone 9 inch round cake pan.

Spoon the sour cream over the top in a spiral fashion, leaving the center uncovered. Sprinkle the remaining ½ cup sugar over the top and scatter on the remaining nuts.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Serve in wedges.

Makes 6 large servings.

Like most coffee cakes this one is best straight out of the oven. Now that we all have microwaves reheating a coffee cake is a breeze.

German Heritage Red Cabbage and Apples

Since we are in such an apple mood (Great since apples are not very juicy this year), I thought of one of my grandmother’s special dishes: Cooked Red Cabbage and Apples.

Now, Max, this wasn’t the “alcohol enhanced” grandmother, but the one who learned to cook from her German mother-in-law. She spent the first year of her marriage living with the mother-in-law (not me, baby) and learning how to fix all my grandfather’s favorite dishes. This was one of them. Most Germans around home only used the red cabbage, but Grandmother insisted that her mother-in-law “insisted” (read demanded) that this dish must have the sweetness of apples. Note that this recipe is for 12 servings. Grandmother only cooked in large quantities.

This is a staple winter dish in homes of German heritage. Usually served with mashed potatoes or dumplings, and a beef roast that has lots of rich, brown gravy.

Red Cabbage with Apples:

1 head red cabbage
2 apples
½ cup onion
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Using the slicing attachment of your food processor, but the cabbage in to 1/8 inch strips. Peel and core the apple and also cut into 1/8 inch slices. Chop the onion in the processor.

In a large skillet or a Dutch oven, cook the cabbage, apples, and onion in the butter for bout 5 minutes.

Add vinegar, bay leaf, sugar and salt. Cover. Bring mixture to a boil; then reduce the heat and simmer 35 minutes until the cabbage is tender. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

Makes 12 servings.

Washington State Apple Brownies

I LOVE Aebleskivers!! I loved Solvang too. It is one of the cute little villages that still retains its charm.

Yes, Erma, I remember our first visit with the Republican Women’s Club. We both wanted to buy so much, and we couldn’t afford hardly anything. So we bought aebleskiver pans which were a lot more practical than silver and linens when you come down to it.

You might want to try this Apple Brownies recipe I picked up in Washington State a few years ago. Being the Apple Capital of the World, cooks there put apples in everything.

I’m not sure that this is really a Brownie. Borwnies have CHOCOLATE. I would call this more of a apple bread, but it is very good. These are really moist so you have to store them in a air tight container. Of course, usually there aren’t enough left to worry about storing them.

Apple Brownies:

½ cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons hot water
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup nuts
6 medium apples, coarsely chopped

Cream the butter, sugar and eggs with a mixer. Add soda dissolved in hot water. Mix the dry ingredients in small mixing bowl. Fold into the creamed mixture. Fold in the nuts and apples.

Spray a large cookie sheet with sides (same pan you would use for a jelly roll). Spoon in the dough and smooth the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

Makes 30 brownies.

Keep in a tight container like the as these are very moist.

Danish Aebleskivers

Max, dear, we have been talking about apple recipes and that brought to mind Danish Aebleskivers.

Remember the first time we had them in Solvang in California? We were on a day trip to the Danish village and we saw them in every pastry shop in town? I ws looking for hand made linens and you were hunting for their famous china.

As I recall the only thing we came away with (so, we were so poor we couldn’t afford all the lovely imported items in the shops) was a Aebleskiver Pan for each of us.

I don’t know about you, but I had a few disasters–raw in the middle–aebleskivers before I mastered the trick of flipping them over with a wooden skewer. The first few kind of half turned and ran all over the pan. Now, that was back in my very novice cooking days, and everything was a potential cooking disaster.

We were back in Solvang a couple of years ago and I hesitated to order aebleskivers as I remembered how wonderful they were. I was afraid that they would not be a good as I remembered them, but they were.

What a shame that so few people have every eaten them. Everyone is always so impressed when I serve them. They think that I picked up this recipe when we lived in Europe. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them, so I let them think my pan and recipe came directly from Denmark.

Danish Aebleskiver:

Baked in a special pan, these light pancake balls are often served on Christmas Eve. This recipe came from Denmark in the 1890s.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

In medium bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; set aside. In large bowl beat egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Add all remaining ingredients except egg whites. Beat until smooth. Fold in egg whites until well blended.

Heat aebleskiver pan over medium heat until drops of water sizzle. Using about 1 tablespoon batter fill greased cups in aebleskiver pan about half full. Cook until lightly browned on bottom (2 to 3 minutes); turn with fork or knitting needle. Continue cooking until browned on bottom (2 to 3 minutes). Balls are done when wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Roll in sugar; serve hot. 35 pancake balls

Can add a dab of jam or fruit just before turning the aebleskiver over.

Unusual Apple Pie for Calorie Counters

Since all of us seasoned senior citizens seem to be counting our calories, I came across this slightly lower than usual caloried apple pie. It’s for calorie counters because you can make it with out the crust which saves a couple of calories. But in that case, Erma, I think it is not really a pie, but more of a pudding?

Strangely enough, this bakes up stiff enough that you don’t have to have a crust, and it cuts in nice wedges. Of course, to me, a perfect apple pie is one that when you cut it, the liquid runs all over the place and you have to spoon the extra over the cut pie.

That kind of runny, sweet mess also means that you had ALWAYS better put an old cookie sheet with foil under the baking pie to catch the spill overs. Nothing like trying to clean up burned-on apple pie liquid!!

Grated Apple Pie:

2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons butter
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup cream or evaporated milk
5 large juicy apples
9 inch pie shell, unbaked (optional)

Blend all ingredients except apples in a blender for a few seconds. Slice the apples and blend again. When apples are cut fine, pour into an unbaked pie shell in a 9 inch pie pan, or into a 9 inch tart pan that has been lightly sprayed with Pam.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until ingredients are set.

This will hold its shape without a crust.

Unusual Fall Apple Salad

Max, dear, you are so right about the fresh apples and fresh spices. I could not live without my nutmeg grater.

If you are looking for an unusual salad for the ladies, try this one. It is easy and blends some of my favorite foods: apples, peanut butter, and cream cheese. You can dress this up with a lettuce leaf as the base for the salad, or you can place a few purple, seedless grapes on the side, or some mandarin orange segments. Just about any fruit will work.

The Bretton Woods Dressing (wasn’t that a World War I battle? Or was it one of those arms reductions treaties that lead to WWII?) is good on most fruit salads and very nice on tossed lettuce ones too.

The leftover cream cheese-peanut butter bland makes a nice dip for apples and other fresh fruit.

Apple, Peanut Butter, and Cheese Salad:

2 Red Delicious Apples
6 ounces of cream cheese–room temp
½ cup chunky peanut butter

Blend peanut butter and cream cheese well, and form into small balls.

Polish and core the apples and slice into ½ inch thick slices just before serving.

Place apple slices on salad plate (lettuce leaf underneath is optional). Place peanut butter balls in center of apple slices. Drizzle Bretton Wood Dressing over.

Bretton Woods Dressing:

1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
½ cup apple juice (or another other fruit juice. If very sweet cut out sugar)
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons sugar

Place all in a small mixing bowl. Chill and let set for several hours. Just before serving, beat dressing hard with a hand whisk.

Dressing is good on most fresh fruit salads and lettuce salads. The dressing helps keep the apple slices from turning dark.

Serves 4 generously

Celebrate Fall Apples

Erma, you are right. It certainly doesn’t feel like fall yet. And unfortunately, there is not a lot of fall produce to work with either. Usually by now there are bushels of apples and piles of pumpkins everywhere you look. But not this year. That late freeze did a big number on all the fruit trees, and especially the apples. The few apples showing up in the grocery appear to be left over from last year as they just don’t have that fresh snap and juiciness.

My daughter has been begging for my French Apple Pie With Nutmeg Sauce, and it really needs tart and juicy apples to be any good. This is a recipe from the 1920’s and the addition of graham cracker crumbs and the nutmeg sauce make it a welcome change from the more traditional apple pie.

As always, the fresher the fruit, and the fresher the spices, the better the pie. Rome Beauties or MacIntosh apples are good here, and nothing tops fresh grated nutmeg that you grate right there with a spice mill or a hand nutmeg grater.

French Apple Pie With Nutmeg Sauce:

8 cups of tart apples
½ cup water
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 unbaked pie crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
¼ teaspoon vanilla

Peel and slice apples and place in a saucepan with water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender which will be about 5 minutes. Stir in the sugar gently so apples hold their shape. Using a large slotted spoon, arrange the apples in the crust.

In small mixing bowl, stir in the graham cracker crumbs, flour, and sugar. Add room temperature butter and vanilla and mix with a fork until you have coarse crumbs. Sprinkle this topping evenly over the apples.

Place in a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes and then reduce temperature to 350 and continue baking for another 30 minutes until pastry turns light brown.

Nutmeg Sauce:

1 egg yolk
½ cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon nutmeg

In small saucepan, beat the egg yolk, sugar, and milk together with a hand whisk. Heat to just boiling and remove from heat immediately. Add the nutmeg and stir thoroughly.

Serve the pie warm with hot Nutmeg Sauce.

Fall Pumpkin Cake

After all I said Max about my lack of cake decorating skills, I hesitate to pass on this great Fall Pumpkin Cake recipe. It came originally with directions for that Seven Minute Frosting which I can not make. When I make it in layers, I use a brown sugar carmel type frosting which is good and anyone can make. It is also nice baked in a big cake pan and topped with a frosting with coconuts and walnuts like what goes on a German Chocolate Cake.

Can anything be more Fall than Pumpkin?

Fall Pumpkin Cake:

½ cup solid shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin or winter squash
3 cups cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup milk
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon maple flavoring

Cream the shortening in a mixer and slowly add the sugars, eggs, and pumpkin.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add alternately with the milk. Finally with a spatula, fold in the walnuts and maple flavoring.

Pour into 3 8” round cake pans that have been greased. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack. Frost with your favorite frosting, but a caramel brown sugar seems to be best.

Fall Breakfast Casserole for Tailgating

I had not thought of mulling Apricot Nectar before, but it sounds rather interesting. I like the fact that you make it up ahead of time and can store it in the refrigerator. If you were serving this is a punch bowl, or chafing dish, you could stick a few whole cloves in the other half of the lemon sliced as a decoration.

We joined the old gang Saturday morning for a Tailgate Party before the game. At first we would bring a cold picnic lunch, and then people started bringing in hot dishes, and soon the guys were barbequeing, and now that everybody comes early to the games we have to arrive so early that we begin with breakfast. Some fans stay and have a late night dinner after the game!

So now, it’s not just fix a couple of dishes to share, it is fix TWO meals to take.

There are all kinds of versions of this Breakfast Casserole around, but this one is easy and transports well. When I fixed it Friday night, I chopped in a bright red pepper for color.

Hearty Breakfast Casserole:

8 eggs
7 slices of bread
1 pound mild cheddar cheese
4 cups milk
1 package sage breakfast sausage crumbled
2 teaspoons dry mustard
Dash Worcestershire sauce

Use a firm bread, such as French or Italian or Whole Wheat. Trim off the crusts and save for another use. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes. Place the break on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan. Beat the eggs with a hand whisk in a large mixing bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Cook at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Serves 4 to 8 depending on the size of the servings and what else is on the menu.

Unusual Fall Hot Apricot Drink

Guess who HAD to buy a jug of cider Saturday at the store? Max, dear, it would not be Fall without real cider. Not that pasteurized apple juice that people try to pass off as cider. We sometimes buy up some at the end of the season and let it turn into Hard Cider. Now that is a drink! It is what our ancestors drank all winter.

All right, Max, I can hear you now. “There goes Erma with her alcohol enhanced recipes.” So? Hard Cider has to be full of vitamins, minerals, and other such necessary stuff. Remember, that it is All Natural–which must count for something.

If you tire of Cider, and I never do, try this unusual Fall drink. Mulled Apricot Nectar is a nice change from the more usual hot Mulled Cider.

Mulled Apricot Nectar:

1 can (46 ounces) apricot nectar
½ lemon, sliced
2 sticks cinnamon
15 whole cloves
8 whole allspice berries
Sugar or honey (optional)

In a heavy saucepan bring everything to a boil and then simmer gently for 5 minutes. Taste after a minutes or so and see if you want to add a bit on sugar or honey for a sweeter nectar.

Remove pan from heat, cover and let stand 30 minutes. Strain. Reheat when you are ready to serve. Makes about 5 cups.

Quick and easy Fresh Coffeecake from the Midwest

Yep, Erma, it definitely is Fall gingerbread weather.

Here is another quick and fool proof “cake” recipe that you, the clueless cake decorator, can use. No frosting, or decorating at all.

Coffeecakes like this were a staple of every household when I was growing up. We used to make them up in the morning and as soon as they came out of the oven, we drove them out to the fields for a midmorning coffee break where the men were harvesting the corn or soybeans.

Like a lot of my other favorite foods, this kind of coffee cake seems to have gone out of style, and I can’t understand why. They are so easy to make. And, heaven knows, fresher and better than the bear claws on the grocery shelves. Thirty minutes, thirty-five tops, and you have a fresh from the oven, home made coffeecake!

As this cake bakes, some of the crumb topping “flops” down into the coffee cake, giving it a great flavor and a marbleized look. I think Flops were a New England thing.

Midwest Cinnamon Flop Coffeecake:

1 cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup butter
2 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons solid shortening
1 ½ cups sugar, white
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk

In small mixing bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon; cut in the butter with a fork until you have crumbs.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Cream the shortening in a mixer, and gradually beat in the white sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. On low speed alternate mixing in the flour and milk. Pour into an 8” square greased baking pan. Sprinkle on the brown sugar crumbs. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

Yields 8 servings. And yes, you can dress it up with a few chopped nuts.

Real New England Gingerbread for Fall

A school Fall Festival. Now, doesn’t that bring back some memories? Seems like we baked for days. I always brought in cookies, or brownies, or your Rice Crispy Squares, and I am sure you know why. I just couldn’t compete with the fancy cakes. Yes, I know that I make some really excellent homemade cakes. It’s that whole decorating thing that eludes me.

I keep saying that I should take a Cake Decorating Course and learn to pipe on little flowers, and names, and such. But, let’s face it, I would probably fail Cake Decorating I. I have illegible handwriting, does anyone think that I could do better with a pastry bag? The poor instructor would not doubt take me aside after a few disasters and offer to refund my money.

It was little consolutation that my cakes tasted great, and that I knew some of those beautifully decorated things were really straight out of a box. Mine just were not eye catching. Okay, they were eye catching, but for all the wrong reasons. So I stayed with safe cookies.

Which sort of brings me to one of my all time favorite cake recipes: Old New England Gingerbread. “Old New”? Anyway, Max, you know what I mean.

The first cool fall days and I begin to think of making Gingerbread. I loved it as a kid, AND you don’t ever decorate it with frosting!!

This has to be one of my oldest recipes. It dates back to our early days when all I had was one of those weak little Portable Electric Hand Mixers that would barely beat eggs. I remember distinctly that it struggled to even mix a box cake.

Somewhere in those first years, I came across this recipe, and I wrote down in my Cooking Notebook that, “This authentic New England recipe came from the “Boston Post Newspaper.” It was first published in the 1930’s and is still there most requested recipe.” Of course, that was in the 1960’s. Who knows if New England ladies are still making Gingerbread?

My notes go on to say that, “There is NO ginger in this recipe, and that all the early Gingerbread recipes did not include ginger.” Wonder if that is true?

Anyway, I made this a lot in those pre-decent mixer years as you can mix it all by hand. It is at its best served warm (Bless you, Oh microwave) and with a hot Lemon Sauce.

Old New England Gingerbread:

1 cup sugar
½ cup solid shortening
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup real molasses
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
1 cup boiling water

Beat the eggs slightly in a large mixing bowl with a hand whisk. Add everything else but the boiling water and stir until shortening is in small lumps. Pour on the boiling water and stir by hand until the shortening is completely blended in the batter.

Pour into a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan that has been well buttered. Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. Test as for any cake.

Serve with a hot Lemon Sauce.

Fall Treat Recipes

Erma, I never fail to be amazed at how our minds seem to focus on the same thing at the same time. There you were celebrating the beginning of fall with a fragrant pot roast, and I was busy making batches of Rice Crispy Squares to the Fall Festival at the grandchildren’s school. And I thought that the days of baking for school carnivals was over when the kids graduated? Ha! Since it is only us grandmothers who have the time (and lack of brains) to spend hours in the kitchen baking, here we are years later still cranking out the baked goodies.

One of the things Cate specifically requested for the Bake Sale was that old 1950’s standard Rice Crispy Squares. “No problem,” I said. Guess what? They no longer print the recipe on the cereal box anymore. I actually had to spend quite a while hunting through old cookbooks to find the recipe. I found lots of “improvements” like adding M & M’s, candy bars, nuts and such. Frankly, the original is still the best. It must be, as the things sold like hotcakes at the Home Baked Treats Booth.

By the way, don’t ever, ever buy the already made Rice Crispy Squares. They are dreadful!

Rice Crispy Squares:

¼ cup butter
36 regular sized marshmallows (about half of a standard 16 oz package)
½ teaspoon vanilla
5 ½ cups Rice Crispies

In a large saucepan melt the butter over low heat and then add marshmallows. Cook and stir until all marshmallows are melted. Remove from heat and pour in the cereal. Stir well and stir in the vanilla.

Pour at once into a well buttered 13 x 9 x 2 pan. Press down lightly so cereal sticks together. Use the back of a large cooking spoon that has been buttered to press down the cereal. Cool and then cut into bars with a serrated knife.

Fall Meat Recipes-Pot Roast

Max, look at the calendar. It says October, and that means that FALL is here!! The heat is over (okay, so it is still unusually hot here) and now we can think of cooking hearty recipes with things like pumpkin and apples. I have become more than a little tired of summer salads, and so, even though it is still quite warm, I made Classic Fall Pot Roast Sunday.

Is there a man alive who does not love Pot Roast? Such a homey dish, and easy, and cheap. Usually I put carrots and potatoes in to cook with the roast, but this version with its rich gravy is supposed to be served over noodles which says to me that it had its origins in Germany or Austria. The long marinade soak says, to me, that this is supposed to be a pretty tough cut of meat–which is good as the selection of beef roasts, at a reasonable price, lately seems to be poor.

This is a recipe that also works well in a Slow Cooker like the CorningWare Slow Cooker. Just use the low setting for about 6 hours.

Classic Fall Pot Roast:

3 to 4 pound beef roast (with or without bone)
Meat tenderizer (optional)
2 large onions
2 tablespoon sugar
1 lemon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon salt
12 black peppercorns
1 ½ cup red wine (can substitute apple juice)
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons flour

If using, sprinkle roast with a little meat tendizer and then place in a casserole dish with a cover. Slice the onion and lemon and mix with all the seasonings. Then add the wine or apple juice. Pour over the roast. Marinade should half cover the roast.

Marinade, covered, in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Turn the meat several times. Next day drain the roast and save the marinade.

Brown the roast on all sides in shortening in skillet or heavy kettle with lid. Simmer with the saved marinade, covered, for 3 to 4 hours, adding additional wine or liquid if necessary.

Remove the meat and keep hot. Blend the flour with a small amount of water and stir into the remaining marinade in the skillet. Bring marinade to a boil and scrape all bits of meat off the bottom of the skillet. Add the flour/water and cook until thickened.

Slice the roast and serve the marinade gravy over the top.

Serves 4 to 6 depending on how many males you are serving.

Unique Apricot Spread

Erma, Erma, Erma. What am I to do with you? Exactly how much Brandy and Bourbon do you really put in that Mincemeat?

“The scent of mincemeat cooking is heavenly” you said. Well, it should be. The kitchen would be like a brewery. And I know you, dear. The stuff would be simmering along and Erma would be stirring and tasting. “Hummmm, not enough Brandy yet” and in would go another cup full. If the bottle were less than half full, you would probably dump in the whole thing.

And yes, I have had your Brandy Sauce. It would cure anything that ails you. In case the turkey meal hadn’t mellowed your family, that Brandy Sauce would polish them off.

The National Association of Spirits and Alcohol Manufacturers ought to award you a medal for, “Your Selfless Promotion of Food With Spirits.”

Here I was going to send you a nice appetizer that someway found its way into my Canning and Preserving Section–okay, so it was the name Jam that sent it there–and as I was writing it out, and thinking of your mincemeat, I thought, Erma would not use apple juice to marinade the dried apricots. Erma would soak the apricots and raisins in Apricot Brandy. Erma would say soak this stuff for at least a week. Erma’s guests would ignore the cream cheese and sweet breads, and eat this Jam straight out of the bowl.

You know, it just might be an improvement on the original recipe!

Apricot-Almond Raw Jam:

½ cup dried apricots
6 to 8 whole almonds
½ cup raisinsGrated peel from 1 lemon
Apple juice to cover

Place apricots, almonds and raisins in a large jar. Cover with apple juice. Let stand at least 24 hours in the fridge. Place in blender, add the lemon peel and process until smooth. This makes a great spread with cream cheese on bread or crackers.