Be My Valentine

As my first entry to this blog, I was hoping for something knock your socks off wonderful. I've been playing with Meringues, and I promise to post all the failures and successes, once perfected. It's still unfortunately, a work in progress. I will say, Kevin's post on Ginger has the wheels of invention turning!

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Old cookbooks are the best. Today at the cabin, I thought I'd make a nostalgic loving snack for my valentine of almost 39 years.

Little did I know what was in store for me in this emotional treasure chest, better known as, Better Homes and Garden Cookbook; circa "pre-1950". (that page is missing)

Because most of the pages have long since lost the ability to stay within the ringed notebook format, it took awhile to locate the recipe I was looking for. Along the way, many reminders came into view, that I was not the only person to enjoy this book of culinary classics.

Beside notes of my own, my mother, my daughter, came the two that always make me smile. They were in my brothers elementary school hand, written to possibly a step mother, but more likely, a housekeeper/nanny/cook hired to be our caregiver after losing our mother at a very early age. Little did any of them know how we missed our normal 'chicken-fried' meat course, mashed potatoes and cream gravy, and a vegetable. The variety came in the form of Pie for dessert, which either added more to the 'fruit/vegetable' element, or something fluffy and tangy, which made us forget all about the wonderful crust.

With each new housekeeper, came a multitude of new tastes and textures. Some we lived for once a week, such as "mary's top secret dumplings", but others.... not so much. So in an effort to add his two cents to the menu planning, young Sean decided to take matters into his own hands. Looking thru the pages of the only cookbook in the house, these two caught his eye, and he made sure to modify the recipe to remove the dreaded green pepper (or tomato) from anything that was to touch his plate.

So to all of you, with younger children eager to 'decorate' to their hearts desire, here's a Valentine gift to them. I will say - lot's of freshly zested orange peel*, and Penzeys wonderful Double Strength Vanilla, will bump these up a culinary notch. And of course, Crisco, trans fat and all!

*remember not too deep, only the color part. The white pith is bitter - on any citrus.

Since this is a blog for all levels and abilities.... here's a helpful hint:

When rolling dough that needs to be chilled, rolled very thin, or just plain finicky, flouring the board lightly helps prevent sticking to the board. A layer of plastic wrap, or wax paper on top, will prevent sticking to the rolling pin.

This also works very well with pie crust, accomplishing two things; sticking, and avoids a tough crust, which comes from direct contact with your hands.

For Pie Crust, I always handle and roll it between 2 pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap.

In the case of this dough, after one rolling, it starts to become warm. The above helps prevent a sticky mess.

Prior to popping these bad boys in the oven, sprinkle lightly with regular white, granulated sugar, along with a sprinkling of coarse decorative sugar, a color, or just plain white.

And of course it goes without saying, with modern cookie sheets, the need to pre-grease is long gone.

Happy Valentines Day

especially to my little brother

and yes.... that is a bat in the middle.

It IS the cabin after all!