Cookbook #81: Modern Recipes for the Modern Hostess
Brer Rabbit's Modern Recipes for the Modern Hostess, Penick & Ford, LTD. (n.d., c. 1940).
This is another one of those wonderful product recipe pamphlets, this time for Brer Rabbit molasses. As expected, it's mostly recipes for sweets -- cakes, cookies, candy. I was intrigued by the recipes for veal goulash, chop suey, and chow mein, but couldn't bring myself to make them. There were also some interesting puddings, like Indian tapioca pudding (what? tapioca & corn meal?), Harvard pudding (seems like a spiced steamed pudding with dates) and plum pudding ("hostesses in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, have used the recipe for plum pudding since the days when the faithful slave butler bore it to the festive table...")
In the end I chose Almond Meringue Gingerbread. I have a confession to make. I had no molasses, Brer Rabbit or other, so I used treacle.
First you make gingerbread by creaming butter & sugar, then beating in egg yolks, molasses, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and flour. Then stir in baking soda dissolved in boiling water. That last addition quickly turned a stiff dough into a pourable batter.
Then make meringue and spread it over the batter in the pan. Sprinkle it with slivered almonds and bake.
There was no indication of what kind of pan to use, so I made some educated guesses and put it in a 9X9 square. Seemed about right.
I knew the meringue would puff up, but this was trying to escape! It was challenging to test the doneness of the cake without cracking the topping.
Verdict: Pleasant enough. A little odd with the moist & cakey gingerbread plus the light & airy meringue. Two great tastes you never expected to taste together. Easy to whip up, with a mixer.
81/109, 5 this year. I was doing so well there for a while. February & March were basically a wash. Let's see if I can catch up.