Cookbook #94: A Year of Holidays and Cookbook #95: Old-Fashioned Candy Recipes
A double-header! As the year winds down, I'm frantically cooking. I'm getting so close to the end of the project. I'd love to be able to finish it next year.
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays: 140 Step-by-Step Recipes for Simple, Scrumptious Celebrations, Ree Drummond. (2013).
Technically I made 2 recipes from this one. In order to make the Basic Thanksgiving Dressing, first I needed to make Skillet Cornbread.
It wasn't hard. Mix dry ingredients: corn meal, flour, salt, baking powder. Combine wet: buttermilk, milk, egg, and baking soda. Combine with dry. Add some melted shortening (I really wrestled with using butter, but went with it as writ). Then heat some shortening in a skillet (we got rid of our cast iron ones, so it wasn't totally authentic), pour in the batter and then bake.
To make the dressing I had to quarter the recipe, so I had 3/4 of a pan of cornbread left for sampling. : ) It was pretty good. new_man thought it was a bit bitter, but I didn't notice any such.
For the dressing I cubed some baguette, some ciabatta, and the cornbread and let it all get stale for a couple of days. Then sauté some chopped celery and onion in butter, add some parsley. Add chicken broth and basil, thyme, and rosemary, salt & pepper. Ladle the broth mixture over the bread cubes and bake.
Verdict: Eh. I've had better dressing.
Old-Fashioned Candy Recipes, J.S. Collester (1986).
I was saving this book to make horehound candy with the horehound from my garden, but I never had enough. I gave up and made pralines, because I had cream leftover from Thanksgiving and this was a praline recipe without corn syrup.
Cook butter, brown sugar (I used a mix of light brown and muscavado), cream, and a pinch of salt. Cook to soft ball and then let cool. The recipe said to 110F, but the last time I made a similar candy, it was 110*C*. Eventually I just got impatient and started beating it until it lost its gloss. I added the slightly toasted whole pecans and scooped spoonfuls onto a silpat.
Verdict: pretty good. I haven't had anything to compare it to in a long time.
95/115, 19 this year.
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: A Year of Holidays: 140 Step-by-Step Recipes for Simple, Scrumptious Celebrations, Ree Drummond. (2013).
Technically I made 2 recipes from this one. In order to make the Basic Thanksgiving Dressing, first I needed to make Skillet Cornbread.
It wasn't hard. Mix dry ingredients: corn meal, flour, salt, baking powder. Combine wet: buttermilk, milk, egg, and baking soda. Combine with dry. Add some melted shortening (I really wrestled with using butter, but went with it as writ). Then heat some shortening in a skillet (we got rid of our cast iron ones, so it wasn't totally authentic), pour in the batter and then bake.
To make the dressing I had to quarter the recipe, so I had 3/4 of a pan of cornbread left for sampling. : ) It was pretty good. new_man thought it was a bit bitter, but I didn't notice any such.
For the dressing I cubed some baguette, some ciabatta, and the cornbread and let it all get stale for a couple of days. Then sauté some chopped celery and onion in butter, add some parsley. Add chicken broth and basil, thyme, and rosemary, salt & pepper. Ladle the broth mixture over the bread cubes and bake.
Verdict: Eh. I've had better dressing.
Old-Fashioned Candy Recipes, J.S. Collester (1986).
I was saving this book to make horehound candy with the horehound from my garden, but I never had enough. I gave up and made pralines, because I had cream leftover from Thanksgiving and this was a praline recipe without corn syrup.
Cook butter, brown sugar (I used a mix of light brown and muscavado), cream, and a pinch of salt. Cook to soft ball and then let cool. The recipe said to 110F, but the last time I made a similar candy, it was 110*C*. Eventually I just got impatient and started beating it until it lost its gloss. I added the slightly toasted whole pecans and scooped spoonfuls onto a silpat.
Verdict: pretty good. I haven't had anything to compare it to in a long time.
95/115, 19 this year.