We’d been out for a fancy lunch celebrating our friend Donna’s birthday. I’d taken small lunch bags with a few orange cookies as “party favors”
We received the gift of homemade rice pudding perfectly baked by friend Margaret L. She brought it in a bag with ice packs. What a great “party favor”. Delicious. Reminds me of childhood. Thank you for this gift.
Classic 1920s Orange Drop Cookies recipe
Here’s the Grand Concourse where we dined.
Have you ever heard the name Clementine Paddleford ?
I’d never heard the name Clementine Paddleford (b.1897-d.1967) until I found it on a recipe tucked in an old cookbook.
Turns out she was an early food writer who was a pilot, flying all around the country in her Piper Cub plane, writing about the food discovered in different regions of America.
Paddleford’s own book How America Eats (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1960) can be purchased but the least expensive price is $50
So I ordered a used book Hometown Eats written about her and learned a lot.
Hometown Appetites is a biography By Authors Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris include 55 recipes
A Paddleford quote in Saveur article (written by author Alexander)
“We all have hometown appetites,” Paddleford once said. “Every other person is a bundle of longing for the simplicities of good taste once enjoyed on the farm or in the hometown they left behind.”
Here’s a screenshot of one of her cookbooks you can still get from Abe Books (this is not a link)
Easy Cinnamon Rolls from scratch recipe
Need to keep practicing my baking skills.
My friend Jen gave me a lovely large jar of Bonne Maman jam which was perfect for the Split Second Cookies Recipe.
This morning Jen came over and we had coffee and eggs. I gave her a couple of the jam filled logs wrapped in foil. Apricot and Four Fruit Preserves were the two flavors I used.
After you bake the cookie all at once, when they are cool you slice them.
They are a dense buttery shortbread with the fruit jam in the middle.
You can make your own Speculaas spice mix at home, too. ‘Tis the season
Here’s the recipe
Here’s the history of Speculaas. In Germany they are called Spekulatius
St.Nicholas Day is coming Friday December 6th.
These are Steenstra’s Almond St. Claus Windmill Cookies from Michigan. I bought them at Weiland’s Market in Clintonville. Columbus Ohio.
You can read about the St.Nicholas legend and the significance of each shape here
Fried Green tomatoes recipe.
Is it Devilled or Deviled? Who cares?
Either way you spell it, these hard boiled, then split-in-half eggs with the yolks scooped out and mashed, are frequently devoured with enthusiasm at a party. The 1800’s Housewife spells with two Ls and has a source for this question from this link at the Grammarist It depends upon where you live!
Click the link for the Devilled Eggs 1877recipe from The 1800’s Housewife
Will the real Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding please stand up!
In 2013 I did a NYC Bakery blog post which included Magnolia Bakery.
Original Plum Torte Recipe by Marian Burros debuted in 1983. It’s an annual ritual as summer comes to a close and the Italian Plums are perfection. You need twelve, cut in half.
After an almost nine hour train ride from Pittsburgh, we arrived in NYC just before five and when we got to Mary’s she had all the ingredients prepared. Prema placed the plums on top of the batter. sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on top.
Nine years ago I posted a plum torte
Crème Brûlée means Burnt Cream.
You can make it at home with this recipe.
Crème brûlée is rich and smooth with a crust of caramelized sugar on top. The slight tartness of fresh berries are the perfect complement to the sweet vanilla custard.