And another thing…

We have a couple of great places around here that makes the best apple fritters. If you time it just right, you can get them still warm, with that goopy, oozy glaze drippin’ all over your fingers. One day, I’ll make them from scratch, but it’s just so darned convenient to buy them…

From the Arm & Hammer 1933 Booklet:

2 cups sifted flour
3/4 teaspoon Arm & Hammer or Cow Brand Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1//3 cups sour milk
2 tablespoons shortening, melted
2 cups diced apples

Sift flour once, measure, add baking soda, salt, sugar and nutmeg. Sift again. Combine eggs, milk and shortening. Add to flour mixture. Beat until smooth. Add apples. Drop by spoonsful into deep hot fat (375 degrees F.) and cook to a rich brown, turning frequently. Serve hot with syrup. Serves 8.

I love scones. I don’t make them too often because I just don’t think about doing it. They are really not much more work than muffins and way quicker than doughnuts. I think the trick to scones is like the trick to biscuits. Don’t overwork the dough.

Note to those who haven’t had a fresh scone: Do not be confused by those scones you find in the coffee shop (hello Starbucks!) or wrapped in plastic wrap at the bakery counter. Sconces should not be hard as a brick. They should not break a tooth when bitten into. They should be soft on the inside with just a bit of crunch on the outside. Like a nice loaf of fresh Italian or French bread, crunchy crust, tender crumb. Excellent fresh out of the oven - warm with butter or honey or a nice fruit curd. Out of this world with a glob of Devonshire Cream.

This recipe is from a 1933 booklet from Arm & Hammer. I don’t know when “Cow Brand Baking Soda” went out of business, but I would love to find an old package of it for my kitchen (no, not to use in cooking). Here’s a copy of the box from the Package Museum website:

From “Good Things to Eat” made with Arm & Hammer Baking Soda; 105th Edition booklet, copyright 1933.

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Technorati Tags: Arm & Hammer, Baking Soda, Cow Brand Baking Soda, Food, Raisins, recipe, Scone, Scones, Sultana

A photocopied recipe, probably exchanged with the girls at work.

I love homemade doughnuts. I worked in a grocery store after I graduated from high school. I was in the bakery/deli department. I left work every day with the smell of the deep-fryer everywhere and an oily film covering my hair, clothes, and face. I frosted, glazed and filled a lot of doughnuts. On rare occasions, I even got to fry them. Generally, Betty was the doughnut lady, it was her domain and we were not allowed in it. It was probably four or five years after I left that job before I could eat doughnuts again.

We’ve made a couple of batches of cream-filled long johns and a batch of cake doughnuts recently. There’s nothing better on a cold winter day than a warm fry-cake and hot cup of coffee.

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Technorati Tags: Breakfast, buttermilk, doughnuts, recipe