Cranberry Pie-Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, 1950

 

 

I came home from Aldi with ten bags of fresh cranberries, most of which we're destined for the dehydrator (at .99 cents a bag, I couldn't pass them up). I made sure to hold a bag out for this pie.

I've made this before, and this time I also added a half cup of sultanas because I had them, and we like them, but you could easily leave them out. I also omitted the almond extract. The original recipe gives you the option of using 1-2 cups of sugar. Unless you are really in love with assertive tartness, I'd go ahead and use two. I did 1 1/2, and even with the sultanas, it is still pretty sour. I'm serving it with sweetened whipped cream, which should be a nice balance, but just be aware that they are very, very sour berries.

Make your filling ahead as it is best to let it cool slightly before filling the pie. I also chilled my crust for 30 minutes.

You Will Need:

Pastry for a double crust pie
1-2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1/3 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups halved cranberries (this is tedious, so I recommend getting a child to do it. If you don't have one, get a neighbour's child, or I can send you mine)
1/2 cup water
Optional 1/2 tsp almond extract (I omitted this)
Optional-1/2 cup sultanas

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large pot, combine the sugar, flour, salt, cranberries ,sultanas, and water. Mix well, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Once it boils, cook 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat, stir in extract if using. Cool slightly before filling crust.

Cut vents in top crust, brush with cream, and sprinkle with coarse sugar (or just leave it plain, your pie, your rules). Bake (on a sheet, because we don't want to be scraping burnt cranberry sugar off the oven, do we?) 30-40 minutes, or until crust is golden, and filling is bubbling up through the vents.

Apple Cake

I seem to be on some sort of Jewish cookery kick of late. The recipe for this cake comes from, Jewish Cooking Secrets From Here and Far. This was a recent purchase from a library sale, and this is the first recipe I have tried from the book. Now, everyone I grew up with ate this sort of apple cake, so I hardly think it qualifies as, secret but it makes a lovely cake nonetheless.

You Will Need:

5 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5-6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
3 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a large tube pan. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the sliced apples and set aside as you make the cake. Sift dry ingredients together-set aside. Cream oil and sugar. Add juice, vanilla, and eggs. Beat in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Pour half the batter in pan. Top with half the apples. Repeat ending with apples on top. Bake 2 hours, covering top with foil after first hour to prevent over-browning. Bake until cake tests done. Cool, upright in pan overnight.

Johnny Cake and an Apricot/Apple Cake

Both recipes are from my 1959 edition of Farm Journal's Country Cookbook. I paid .25 cents for it. At the same book sale I also scored the Farm Journal Pie Cookbook. The Farm Journal Freezing and Preserving cookbook is also worth grabbing if you find a copy.

If you happen to be looking for a lardy cake recipe, this book boasts several. There's a fair number of cooked minces moulded in aspic with olives as well. I adore aspics, but cold mince would give me pause, cooked or not. From the same era, I remember seeing a cookbook that featured a ring mould with hot dogs shimmering away in in aspic. I'm somewhat amazed my mother never tried that one.

The Johnnycake comes from the section of, "Old Fashioned" recipes. It was very simple, and for a baking powder bread, rather heavy. I'm serving it with chili, which will be a terrific match, but I don't think I'd care for it warm with butter at breakfast.

The Apple cake called for cinnamon and nuts both of which I made substitutions for. I will note these in the recipe. When a small amount of nuts are called for in a batter (in this case 1/3 cup) I often substitute quick cooking porridge oats. It provides the lightness of nuts. A few drops of oil can also be added to compensate for the fat, if you like. I skipped the cinnamon as we tend to like ginger with our apples, and I added a dash of nutmeg. I suppose most apple cakes are adaptable in that way.

For the Johnnycake:

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch pan (I used round). Sift dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs and milk together. Stir milk and eggs into dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour into pan and bake about 30 minutes or until it tests done. Makes 8 servings or two if your husband and son are on the greedy side.

For the Apple Cake:

2/3 cup boiling water
1 cup chopped dried apricots
2 cups sifted plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I used 1/2 teaspoon ginger and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg)
Milk
1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup finely diced, unpeeled apple
1/3 cup chopped pecans (I used porridge oats)

Pour boiling water over apricots and let sit. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 inch ring mould (I used a bundt cake pan). Combine dry ingredients. Set aside. Cream shortening and sugar. Beat in egg. Drain apricots reserving liquid. Add milk to total 2/3 cup liquid. Add dry ingredients alternating with water/ milk. Fold in apples, apricots and pecans.

Pour evenly into ring mould and bake 30-35 minutes or until it tests done. You may also bake the cake in a 9x5x3 loaf pan for 50-55 minutes. Cool ten minutes in pan on rack, then loosen and let cool completely on rack. I glazed mine with a mixture of icing sugar and water. A dusting of sugar would be nice as well. If you have apple cider, it makes a lovely glaze with icing sugar and a dash of spice.

Cranberry Orange Challah Loaf

I can't braid well, so today I gave up and baked my Friday challah in a large Pullman pan. As you can see, it turned out nicely.

This is just my standard challah with a handful of chopped cranberries, some raisins, and the zest of an orange kneaded in at the end. Nothing fancy at all, yet it really looked impressive at dinner. Anyway, something to try if you're feeling unable to fiddle about trying to braid a bread at 4 AM. Yes, I'm still waking at 3AM. This is just payback for all the years I didn't suffer jet-lag, when everyone else was stumbling around like a zombie.

Cranberry/Pear Chutney

This makes a small batch-about 1 1/2 pints. I did not bother running it through the canner as it will last several weeks in the fridge.

You Will Need:

1 cup cranberries
2 large pears, peeled and diced
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup cider vinegar
water if needed

Place all in a stock pot and cook rapidly, stirring until sugars are dissolved. Give it a stir as it reduces to prevent sticking. The entire thing should take no more than 15 minutes. If the cranberries haven't popped in the cooking, give the whole thing a good mash with a potato masher or a wooden spoon. Store in the fridge.

Mock Mincemeat and Cranberry Apple Pie

This might be the best pie I've ever baked. Oh, I know I said that when I made the blueberry rhubarb-but I'm fickle and now I love this one instead.

I tried to get the best parts of an apple pie, and mincemeat without going to the trouble of making mincemeat. The texture is much lighter than mincemeat, but the flavour is there. I used only a tablespoon of brandy to the pie, but it was enough to give the overall filling some depth against the brightness of the tart apples and cranberries. I didn't plan to make this pie, rather I used up odds and ends in the pantry and what I pulled from the oven was the best pie I've ever baked. Even the crust was unusually flaky.

You Will Need:

Crust:

2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
4-5 tablespoons ice water

Sift together flour and salt. Cut in butter. Toss in water a tablespoon at a time until you can gather dough together lightly. Roll out. Unlike many pie crusts, this does not require pre-chilling, but I often do set the bottom in the fridge as I make the filling. It certainly won't hurt it any to do so.

For The Filling:

(about) six firm apples for baking (I used Golden Delicious and Granny Smith with the odd Cameo tossed in)
1 cup raisins (half sultanas if you have them)
1 heaping cup chopped fresh cranberries
1/2 cup chopped candied peel (I had grapefruit, lemon and orange)
2 tablespoons chopped crystalised ginger
1/4 cup dried currants
1 tablespoon brandy (or rum if you prefer)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour (I used Wondra, but any finely sifted flour will do)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 tablespoons butter cut in tiny pieces

Glaze:
Heavy cream
granulated sugar
coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a 9 inch pie plate with the bottom crust. Make the filling by tossing together the apples, dried fruit, cranberries and brandy. In another bowl, combine the sugar, flour and spices. Mix well. Toss with the fruit. Pour into pie crust and dot with the pieces of butter. Seal with the top crust and then brush it generously with the cream. Sprinkle it with a mixture of fine and coarse sugar for a sparkling, crunchy topping. Pierce the top to vent in several places, or make a hole in the centre. Bake about 40 minutes, or until it looks done. It will bubble over, so remember to place the dish atop a baking sheet-unless you enjoy cleaning the oven in which case, you should come over and clean mine.

This pie is good at room temperature, or slightly warmed, but hell, I'd devour it ice cold from the fridge it is so good. Mmmm, pie.

Quince

Under no circumstances am I paying $ 2.99 USD for a single quince. I am not. Still, I enjoy quince this time of year, so consider this a plea to locals with quince growing at home-give me your quince. I'll pay you back with a batch of quince paste, and ginger-quince jam. Hell, I'll even bake you a sourdough. Anyone?

In other fruit-related news:

You cannot find fresh figs in Nebraska. I've tried.

In still other fruit-related news:

I harvested a total of seven Concord grapes from my vines. We suspect pheasants, but really on this farm, it could have been anything. Imagine me looking extremely annoyed. No, really annoyed. There, I think you've got it. I suppose there won't be any bottling of grape jam this year, unless a local has some grapes as well. Anyone? Same offer of bottled and home baked goods as above applies.

Ginger and Orange Poached Quince

This year, quinces were even more difficult to get hold of. At two dollars each, I couldn't really overindulge, or afford enough for jelly making. Instead, I bought two, and poached them to serve over a rich, vanilla pudding.


You Will Need:

2 large quince, peeled, cored and cut into 8ths
1 large orange, peeled and thickly sliced
2 tablespoons stem ginger, peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 cup water

in a 325 degree F. Oven, place everything in a covered casserole dish and bake, about an hour, or until quince is tender, and has deepened in colour. Cool before serving over pudding, or yoghurt, or ice cream, or eaten from the dish standing over the sink at 3 AM (that really seems to be a theme with me, eh?) just be sure to get your fill of quince as the season is short.

Other stuff I've done with quince:

Tart with Cheese
Quince and Ginger Conserve

The Best Apple Dumplings, Ever.

Really. Just forget any other recipes I've given you over the years for dumplings, and use this one instead. I'm not kidding, they were that good. Light, yet sturdy enough to hold together, the pastry was flaky and tender. The apples cooked to soft perfection, and the filling was sweet, but not overly so. Mr. ETB described them as bite after bite of the, "best parts of an apple pie." I have to agree. In the past, I've made apple dumplings that had a sticky coating poured over them as they bake. Those were good, but they didn't really last more than an hour or so. These re-heated well with just a few seconds in the microwave. They're still full of butter, but somehow these dumplings seemed less leaden than the typical version.

Blogger is doing some sort of photo-updating, so I can't post the pictures tonight, but I'll give you the recipe before I forget.

I served these warm, with heavy whipped cream sweetened with maple syrup.

You Will Need:

Pastry (recipe follows below)

4 large apples (I used Golden Delicious), peeled and cored
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons raisins
1/4 cup chopped dates
2 tablespoons chopped, crystalised ginger
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter
Dash of salt

Cream and sugar for glazing

Pastry recipe:

2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, cut in tiny bits
3-4 tablespoons ice water


Combine flour and salt. Cut in butter. Add water, a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together. Divide into 4 pieces, and let rest while you make the filling.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet. Peel and core apples, Toss with lemon juice and let stand a few minutes. Meanwhile, mix the dried fruits, sugar, salt and butter together. Divide into 4 parts.

Drain apples and pat dry. Stuff each with 1/4 of the filling. Roll out dough into 4 equal squares. In the centre of each, place a filled apple-you may need to trim the bottom to get it to stand. Bring together sides, and pinch closed. Place on baking sheet. When all are completed, chill for 20 minutes as the oven heats.

Before baking, brush with heavy cream (or milk) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake about 45 minutes, or until deeply golden. Serve warm with cream, or whipped cream, or whatever you like. If you plan to serve them later, let them cool on a rack, then re-heat in a microwave for about half a minute.

Apple Turnovers

These apple turnovers are really quick to put together, and bake. They taste terrific as well.


You Will Need:

For the crust:

2/3 cup cold butter, cut in tiny pieces
2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
5-6 teaspoons (+/-) ice water

Toss flour and salt together. Cut in butter until fine crumbed. Toss on ice water a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together. Gather into a ball. Do not over handle.

For The filling:

4 firm, tart apples (I used Granny smith, Golden Delicious, Cortland)
1/4 cup raisins
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Brush before baking with:
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Glaze after baking with 2 cups confectioner's/icing sugar
Enough water to make a pourable glaze


Peel and slice the apples 1/4 inch thick. Toss with lemon juice and raisins. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine cinnamon sugar and cornstarch. Add butter to the apple mixture. Gently mix in the sugar/cornstarch mixture.

Divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll out into 6 or 7 inch squares (it will be thin). Mound some filling in the centre of each and carefully fold over. Crimp with a fork, and with a sharp knife, cut a vent in the top. Place on a well-buttered baking sheet. When all are completed, chill 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Brush with cream, and set in the oven on the centre rack. Bake about 30 minutes, or until nicely browned. They will probably leak a bit, but hot water will scour your pans clean (it is mostly sugar). Remove to a rack over a baking sheet and glaze generously. Makes 8 large turnovers.

Caramel Apples-Nut Free

If you plan on making caramel apples for an allergic child, you can forget about using the pre-made caramels you simply melt. You probably won't be buying ready-made caramel apples either, as the facilities are full of peanuts. I used the following caramel recipe from my 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, with a few minor changes, I will note. In place of crushed peanuts, we crumbled up Hob Nobs, and jimmies instead. It worked great.

A few notes about making caramel apples:

1). Make sure your apples are completely dry, and warm-room temperature at least. I know some people suggest chilling the apples first-those are the people who have the caramel slide off their apples. I had no problem getting the caramel to stick.

2). Make your own brown sugar. The flavour is deeper, better, and you can save a ton of money making your own. Pour some granulated sugar in a bowl. Pour full flavour molasses over it, mixing with your hand as you add (it will be sticky, but it comes off as the sugar absorbs it). Keep adding until you get the deepness of flavour you want. Store in a tightly closed plastic bag. That's it.

3). You will have extra caramel-have a small buttered pan ready to hold the extra. When it cools, cut it into squares.

4). Coarse salt makes a really great caramel apple coating. Crushed pretzels do as well.

5). If making these for a youngster, be sure to have extra tooth fairy money on hand as these have a way of extracting already loose teeth.

6). Conversely, if you're over 40, your money will be going to the dentist if you try biting into one of these. I suggest cutting the apple in slices.

OK-let's make caramel apples. This recipe is for 8 medium sized apples.

You Will Need:

Butter a sheet of waxed paper and place on a baking sheet.

skewers (I used wooden sticks from the art store used for scratch pads, but popsicle sticks, or even chopsticks will work too)
8 Medium apples, washed and dried and at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white corn syrup (I've never tried golden syrup, but I'll bet it would work fine)
2/3 cup butter (I used unsalted)
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine everything except vanilla in a large, heavy pot (it will really foam up as it cooks). Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a long handled wooden spoon (to avoid splatters) until it reaches 246 degrees F. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and immediately transfer to a heat proof bowl. Stir to help it cool. As it thickens and cools, keep stirring. When it will coat a spoon pretty well (about five minutes), dip your apples. If coating with anything (cookies, jimmies, etc.) dip it quickly in a bowl of the coating, then transfer to a baking sheet to dry. Depending on the temperature and humidity where you are, they may need to set in the fridge. Mine did not.

When cool, wrap tightly in cling film.

Apple/Pear Crumble

Now, it is officially fall. Oh, I know what the calendar says, but it isn't official in this household until a crumble has been baked. So there.

Feel free to change around the spices, types of fruit, etc. I used red pears because I had them, and the combination of apples was really a matter of what I grabbed from the bin first. I did like the way some varieties of apples remained crisper giving the whole dessert a better overall texture-a little mushiness is good, but you're not aiming for applesauce (well, you may be, but I'm not). I served mine with sweetened whipped cream, but ice cream would be nice too (or if you're lucky enough to live in a place where you can get double cream-that would be delicious).

I rarely eat the things I bake here, but I did have a bowl of this, and it was really wonderful. I'm kind of a sucker for baked pears in just about any form.

Blah, blah, blah-hey look everybody, mama made a crumble! Happy Autumn.

You Will Need:

4 cups thickly sliced apples (I peel them, but that's just me) I used Granny Smith, Cortland, and Gala
2 large pears, sliced
1 teaspoon lemon juice to sprinkle over fruit
1/4 cup water
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup AP flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup quick cooking oats (you can use regular old fashioned oats-it will be chewier)
1/3 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a large baking dish (2 quart is good, or a 9x13)

In a bowl, combine the apples and pears with the lemon juice and water. Pour into prepared pan once all fruit is cut-up, and sprinkle with the ginger and nutmeg. In another bowl, combine flour, sugar, oats and salt. Cut-in the butter and then spread over the apples. Place dish on a baking sheet to catch any spills and bake 40 minutes to an hour, or until bubbling and nicely browned on top. Serve warm.

Pumpkin Raisin Bread

Why yes, they ARE terrible photos. Nice bread though. I swear, the light has been dreadful in here lately.

This is a yeast bread, sweet, but not too sweet and still prefect for toast or a cheese sandwich. Or cheese on toast or...well you get the idea.

I made a number of changes from the original recipe by using fresh pumpkin rather than tinned, and crystalised ginger instead of ground, but the main change I made was with flour. The original called for all AP flour which I thought would make a very light bread without a substantial crust. That is fine, mind you, but for my use here, the bread flour made more sense-I also think it tends to keep the loaf fresh longer (not that I have any scientific proof of this other than casual observation). Tinned pumpkin would have given the overall loaf a better colour, but it is hardly unattractive. It was the perfect use for that one last tiny sugar pumpkin sitting on my kitchen counter.

Adapted (quite a bit) from the Better Homes and Gardens Homemade Bread Book

You Will Need:

1 1/2 cups AP flour
3-4 cups Bread (strong) flour
4 1/2 teaspoons granulated (not instant) yeast
1 tablespoon crystalised ginger, chopped
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup cooked, mashed and well-drained fresh pumpkin
1 cup raisins

Optional Glaze:
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons heavy cream

In a large bowl, mix the Ap flour, yeast, and spices together. In a small saucepan, combine the milk, brown sugar, butter and salt just until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cool to lukewarm.

Beat with mixer on low until moistened-about 1 minute. Then, beat three minutes on high speed. With a wooden spoon, add the pumpkin and raisins and mix well. By hand, mix in bread flour a cup at a time until you have a fairly stiff but workable dough. Knead well until smooth-about ten minutes. Place in a buttered bowl, turn once to coat and cover with cling film. Let rise until doubled-roughly an hour and a half. Punch down, let rest ten minutes. Butter a large bread pan generously and shape dough to fit. Cover, and let rise another 35-45 minutes or until nearly doubled. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

brush with glaze if desired and bake 35-45 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when rapped with knuckles or registers between 195-200 degrees F. on an instant read thermometer. Cool on rack before slicing Makes 1 large loaf.

Fresh Apple Sorbet

Don't let the awful photo mislead you-this is wonderful sorbet. The colour is the loveliest pink, and the flavour is delicate, yet unmistakably apple. It does not taste like frozen apple juice.

You Will Need:

2 quarts cut-up apples. You need not peel or core, but cut off the blossom and stem ends.
2 cups water
Confectioner's sugar to taste

In a large pot, bring the apples to a simmer and cover. Let cook until fruit is soft. Strain through a jelly bag into a bowl (or layers of cheesecloth in a sieve) and chill.
Remove a small amount of juice (about 1/4 cup) and mix in confectioner's sugar until smooth. Then, add back to the juice. Process in an ice cream maker, or freeze in a metal or glass tray, breaking up with a food processor before serving.

German Apple Cake

I made my own brown sugar for this by mixing full-flavoured molasses into cane sugar because I wanted a stronger flavour. If you haven't tried doing this before, add the molasses slowly until you get the strength you are comfortable with. We really like strong molasses, so over-doing it would take considerable effort. I used butter instead of the shortening called for in the recipe and I used coconut instead of chopped nuts for the topping.

The recipe comes from Amish and Mennonite Kitchens, by Pellman and Good


You Will Need:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups AP flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups raw apples peeled and diced

Topping:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 pan

Beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the sugars and beat until light. beat in the eggs. Mix the flour and cinnamon together and mix the baking soda into the buttermilk. Add the ingredients alternating until well combined. Fold in the chopped apples.

Pour into pan and sprinkle with topping. Bake 45-50 minutes or until it tests done. It gets quite dark, so don't be fooled into thinking it is burnt-test it with a toothpick.

Cool in pan.

Apple Raisin Pies

What could be better than two apple pies made with local, unsprayed apples? Not much.

The recipe is simple:

2 crust pie crusts
6-7 cups sliced apples
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons butter
cream and sugar for brushing

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line pie plate and fill with apples and raisins. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, flour and salt together. Stir in the water. Spread mixture over the fruit. Dot with butter, cover with top crust and brush with heavy cream. Sprinkle with sugar. Vent, and bake about 1 hour or until done. Be sure to use a pan beneath to catch the drips as this is a very moist pie.

Applesauce Spice Cake With Caramel Fudge Frosting

It almost looks like a grotesquely large iced maple doughnut. I think we've already established that cake decorating isn't my thing.

Today. Oh my goodness, I'm so incredibly glad it is nearly over. Short version-Pullman pan leaked, butter on heating element, smoke, mess, dough stuck in leaking pan, etc. In between I managed to mess up my wrist, burn my thumb (didn't even feel that one-just happened to see it blister) and I must have dropped twenty-five things before nine AM. A reasonable person would have called it a day and gone back to bed, or at the very least, skipped the cake. As with my lack of decorating skills we've also established early on that I am, most days, a completely unreasonable person. I have relatives that will back me up on this claim-I'm not just bragging.

Is there anything nicer on a cool September day than a spice cake baking? The recipe claims the cake will keep for "several weeks." I really have to wonder, who are those freaks that keep a cake for "several weeks?" I'm pretty sure this will be demolished by Monday. It is somewhat fruitcake-like in the density (no eggs) but not so heavy that you couldn't pack away a couple slices at a time. OK, I couldn't, but someone could. As they say here in Nebraska (and they do say this, and it drives me bananas every time I hear it) "A guy could eat a couple slices of that cake without getting too full." Similarly, "Why, a guy could go over to the hardware store and hammer together a couple lengths of board to make a good cake stand." I'm not sure how they handle this if the "guy" is actually named Guy? What the hell was I talking about anyway? Cake? Right then, cake.

Spread the frosting fast as it hardens quickly (candy! Bonus!) which makes eating the excess from the bowl and beaters much neater. I like neat, particularly on Friday afternoon when I've cleaned the entire house. It is probably further evidence that I am in fact my mother's daughter, but I find it really satisfying to look at a freshly Hoovered carpet and be able to see all the lines going in the same direction. I'm not going to make a cultural generalisation because that isn't considered appropriate for anthropologists to do, but if I were going to make a crack about national character, finding satisfaction in housekeeping wouldn't seem too far out there. Obviously, the Scottish do not share this love of orderly surroundings as Mr. Eat The Blog happily leaves his worn socks on the floor beneath his desk along with gum wrappers, popsicle sticks and pretty much anything that seems like too much of a bother to walk to the dustbin. If he's representative of the rest of 'em, Scotland must be a foetid dump. A few wee drams later (some beer, a plate of chicken tikki masalla and some heroin), and no one cares if maggots have taken up residence in your keyboard. So much for not making cultural generalisations. Look, it isn't like I said they lack any redeeming social qualities...they just don't get excited about housekeeping. Hey, I saw Trainspotting. Getting back to the cake...

Adapted from The New York Times Heritage Cookbook

You Will Need:

For the cake:

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups thick applesauce (see previous post for recipe)
3 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these and doubled the raisins instead)
1 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla
Fudge frosting (recipe follows)]

Preheat oven to 325 degrees f. Grease and flour a 9 inch tube pan. Cream butter and sugar until very light. Fold in the applesauce. Sift dry ingredients together and remove 1/4 cup of mixture. Toss nuts and raisins in it and set aside. Fold the bulk of the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Fold in vanilla and fruit. Pour into pan and place on baking sheet. Bake 1 hour and thirty minutes or until it tests done. Cool in pan 30 minutes, then finish cooling on rack. Don't worry if the top is uneven as the frosting covers it (it even mentions this in the original recipe).

For the frosting:

2 cups brown sugar
6 tablespoons heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Heat the sugar, cream and butter over medium heat, stirring. Bring to a full rolling boil. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and quickly beat in the confectioner's sugar. Keep beating until it thickens and reaches a spreading consistency. It will harden immediately as it hits the cool cake, so spread quickly and as accurately as possible.

Bad Photo, Good Raspberry Applesauce

The first Jonathans are in the stores, so I bought a bag. I had some raspberries on hand, so in they went. The light in here is awful today-gloomy, rainy day, but trust me, the colour of this applesauce is much nicer than the photo would have you believe.

I put mine through a food mill to help get rid of some seeds, but if you don't mind them and like a chunkier sauce, just use a potato masher. Jonathan apples cook down quickly, so you shouldn't be more than half an hour away from homemade applesauce.

You Will Need:

2 quarts peeled, cored and sliced apples (measured after trimming)
2 cups water
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup-1 cup granulated sugar (I prefer less, if any at all, but Jonathans are kind of tart and do better with a bit of sugar)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large pot, combine apples, raspberries, lemon juice, and water. Simmer until soft. Add the sugar and spices and cook down until thickened, using a potato masher to break up larger chunks of apples. At this point you can call it a day, or put it through a food mill for a smoother texture.

Cool, then refrigerate in a tightly closed container. Makes roughly 3 pints.

Spicy Apple Cake

I may have a new favourite apple cake. I purchased a copy of Country Cakes, a Homestyle Treasury by, Lisa Yockelson, 1989 for a buck at the thrift store. I liked the fact that the cakes weren't terribly fussy. While some of the techniques sound unnecessary (like sifting onto a sheet of waxed paper) I followed the directions the first time baking the cake. The result is quite good-a very moist cake that made the whole house smell good baking. I hesitate to call anything "foolproof" but this is pretty close.

You Will Need:

1 1/2 cups unsifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg (I used already ground)
1/4 teaspoon allspice (this I had to grind as I don't keep the ground on hand)
1/4 teasppon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 extra large egg (room temp)
2 extra large egg yolks(room temp)
1/4 cup milk blended with 2 teaspoons vanilla extract at room temp
1 1/2 cups peeled, grated, tart cooking apples (I used Granny Smith)

Lightly butter and flour a 9-inch spring form pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves onto a large piece of waxed paper. Cream the butter on high speed for 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat for 2 minutes. beat in the egg. Beat in the egg yolks. Blend in the milk/vanilla mixture, and beat for 1 minute. With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the flour mixture and beat until all has been absorbed before adding the rest. Fold in the shredded apples. Spoon into pan and with a small spatula push about 1/4 inch of batter up on the sides of the pan to keep the batter level as it rises and bakes.

Bake the cake on the lower 1/3 of the oven (I goofed this, but it still baked fine) for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the centre clean. Cake will begin to pull away from sides when done. Note-I put the cake on a baking sheet to catch any drips-do as you think best.

Cool cake 10 minutes in pan, then remove ring and cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving in wedges.

Cranberry Sauce

I needed the freezer space (for the tamales) so my bags of bargain cranberries got canned for the holidays. This was super-easy. The recipe said I'd get six pints, I got four. Always best to have extra jars ready.

You Will Need:

8 cups cranberries, rinsed and drained
4 cups water
4 cups sugar

Prepare jars and have them heated and waiting.

In a large pot, combine sugar and water and boil for five minutes. Add the cranberries and cook without stirring until skins burst. Ladle hot cranberries into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace (it sucked down quite a bit in processing). Remove air bubbles, close and process in a boiling water canner for fifteen minutes. Turn off heat, remove lid and let cool five minutes in canner. Let stand 12-24 hours before checking for seals.

I told you it was easy.