RECIPES: New and Old

[thea_447]

Sweet Potato Praline

For My CWT friends from Thea 11-24-05

3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes
3 eggs, beaten
one fourth cup milk (I use CARNATION canned)
one fourth tsp. salt
1 cup sugar (I use Splenda instead, don't attempt with any other
artificial, it won't work....trust me! )
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick of oleo (it must be "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter" otherwise it won't taste right)
*******************************

TOPPING
1 cup light brown sugar
one third cup all purpose flour
one half cup chopped walnuts
one half cup chopped pecans
one third cup oleo ("I Can't Believe" brand)
******************************

Mix the first 7 ingredients, place in a casserole dish that's been sprayed with Pam.

For topping:
Mix lite brown sugar, flour, chopped nuts, melted oleo,
plus a dash of salt (using your hand).

Sprinkle this mixture over the potato casserole. Bake at 35o degrees
for 35 minutes or until firm on top.
P.S. The secret ingredient is freshly grated nutmeg sprinkled over the topping before baking.

[sockknitter]

Thank you, Thea. It sounds good. I'm past the point of Thanksgiving cooking now but will try the dish for Christmas, with at least one practice run before then. I'm philosophically opposed to all margarine except the Fleischmann's Olive Oil kind. Can you assure me that the recipe will work FINE using real cow butter instead of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter?

[lrd89]

Thanks Thea! Sweet Potatoes are my favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal.
Roger

[william42]

Thanks Thea. I would never have thought of the nutmeg. I'll bet it's tasty. I can usually do all right with a turkey or piece of meat, you know, something that just needs to be seasoned some, then heated up for the correct amount of time. When it comes to recipes that's where I run into problems. I steer clear of actually mixing stuff together. I've found the results to be pretty lame eatin' when you actually start forkin' it in. Anyway I will print out the recipe and ask my wife to take a shot at it. Thanks again.


Terry

[ole]

I'll echo Sockknitter's query. I'm assuming that real butter will work as well as the oleo (I'm of a mind that an occasional deviation from "proper" in favor of "authentic" is allowable.

If so, I'll go with real butter and, if I can find a nutmeg that isn't wood, I'll go with that. Presumably, this will be served, at the very least, warm. I'll be doing this for our Sunday alternative Thanksgiving, so if you can accommodate, I'd appreciate your advice.

Ole

[thea_447]

Dear Socknitter,
I wouldn't absolutely guarantee that the sun will come up tomorrow so I cannot vouch completely. What I meant to imply is that I have tried this dish several ways and the result will be a "burned" flavor with other oleo. Take your chances with "real" butter, just don't blame me as I know what has worked for me.

Also, with this type topping do not overcook, put your timer on because the praline crust is what is so appealing and yes, the real nutmeg that you grind on top is another "Southern secret".

I have a few dishes that are my specialty and this is one of them. I can't guarantee what will happen if you switch this and that, but if you want to give it a try, who am I to say?

Good luck and I hope you enjoy this dish. It will be one of your family's favorites, I'm sure. It surpasses sweet potato pie by a mile.

[8thvacav]

Have you ever tried this recipe with sliced apples in it? You talk about something good. Wow! My youngest daughter came up with this a few years ago.
Martin

[dawna]

DALLAS HERALD, December 26, 1860, p. 4, c. 1

Cakes for the Holidays.

A lady correspondent of the American Agriculturist gives the following receipts for making good cake for the holidays:

Welcome Cake.—Stir a cup and a half of sugar and half a cup of butter together, with three well beaten eggs. Sift a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, and half a teaspoonful of soda with three small cups of flour; this, with half a cup of milk, must be mixed with the above, and baked in a moderately quick oven. By adding raisins and currents, ½ lb. of each, a very good fruit cake may be made.

New Year's Cake.—1 cup of butter, 1 of sugar, 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, ½ teaspoonful of soda, and caraway seeds to the taste. Flour must be added till the dough is fit to roll—these require a quick oven.

Spice Cake.—1 cup of sugar, 2 of molasses, ½ cup butter, a teaspoonful of spice, and one of soda dissolved in a little milk; add flour till it is quite stiff; then roll thin and cut in cakes. Bake quick.

Wealthy Cake.—Take ½ pound of butter, ¾ pound of sugar, the same of flour, 4 eggs, 2 lb. of seeded raisins, 1 pound of currants, ¼ pound of citron, 1 gill of brandy. Spice well with nutmeg and ground cloves. Bake slowly three hours. This cake will keep six months. Icing for the cake: beat the white of two eggs to a froth, then stir in half a pound of powdered sugar. Flavor with a little essence of lemon, and spread on with a knife when the cake is cold.

"Civil War Newspapers"

[dawna]

RICH PLUM PUDDING

Stone carefully one pound of the best raisins, wash and pick one pound of currants, chop very small one pound of fresh beef suet, blanch and chop small or pound two ounces of sweet almonds and one ounce of bitter ones; mix the whole well together, with one pound of sifted flour, and the same weight of crumb of bread soaked in milk, then squeezed dry and stirred with a spoon until reduced to a mash, before it is mixed with the flour. Cut in small pieces two ounces each of preserved citron, orange, and lemon-peel, and add a quarter of mixed spice; quarter of a pound of moist sugar should be put into a basin, with eight eggs, and well beaten together with a three-pronged fork; stir this with the pudding, and make it of a proper consistency with milk. Remember that it must not be made too thin or the fruit will sink to the bottom, but be made to the consistency of good thick batter. Two wineglassfuls of brandy should be poured over the fruit and spice, mixed together in a basin, and allowed to stand for three or four hours before the pudding is made, stirring them occasionally. It must be tied in a cloth, and will take five hours of constant boiling. When done, turn it out on a dish and sift loaf-sugar over the top, and serve it with wine-sauce in a boat, and some poured round the pudding. The pudding will be of considerable size, but half the quantity of materials, used in the same proportion, will be equally good.

"Godey's Lady's Book, December, 1860"

[dawna]

PREMIUM GINGERBREAD

1 c. molasses
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. baking powder ("saleratus")
flour

One cup molasses, one-half cup butter, one-half cup buttermilk, two eggs, one table-spoonful ginger; one tea-spoonful saleratus, flour enough to make a stiff batter.


From Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agriculture Society, blue ribbon winners at the Wisconsin State Fair of 1860.