Best Ever Lemon Meringue Pie

This recipe comes from a lady from Sunburst, Montana who has gone from this earth.  I found it in a cookbook called Recipes From the Aschim Family Ancestry.

My husband and a number of his friends, who had the privilege to grow up in her community and experience her baking, all swear this is the best lemon pie they have ever eaten.

Since my husband is in his mid-seventies and remembers this from early childhood, when they had community gatherings, I have no idea how old the recipe really is, but if you like Lemon Pie, he and his friends swear this is the best ever.


Kate Aschim’s Lemon Pie

2 cups water
1 ¼ cups sugar
4 Tblsp corn starch
Rind of lemon
6 Tblsp Lemon juice
Butter (size of walnut)
pinch of salt
3 egg yolks

Stir sugar and cornstarch together; add water and cook in a double boiler. Add beaten egg yolk and cook until clear. Pour into baked crust.

Never Fail Meringue:

2 Tblsp sugar
1 Tblsp cornstarch
½ cup water
Put in a saucepan and cook until clear. Set in cold water to cool.

Beat to a soft mound:

3 egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
vanilla

Add 6 Tblsp sugar and beat well. Add cooled cornstarch mixture. Continue beating until meringue stands in stiff peaks. Spread over custard. Bake at 350 degrees for 17 minutes or until light brown.

Recipes: Antique and Modern

I just got back from the Pacific Northwest and spending a couple of week with Mac. It is good to keep in touch, but especially good to touch. It was a little cool, but all in all, very nice weather.

I shared a recipe with Mac and would like to share it with the blog. I think it is a lot of fun to know how our ancestors cooked and equal fun to convert those recipes.

This is simple recipe for a simple, inexpensive dessert. Indian pudding, then and now.

INDIAN PUDDING (1828 recipe)

1 cup (not quite full) molasses, 1 cup (not quite full) cornmeal, 1 egg, 1 heaping spoonful of butter or fat, salt, ginger or cinnamon to taste, all beaten together. Full quart of sweet milk put on to boil and the ingredients stirred in. Take from fire and add not quite a full cup of cold milk. Pour into pan onto lumps of butter. Bake one hour. Extra good.

This is the way they did it. I tried it like this.

INDIAN PUDDING (today's recipe)

4 cups plus 2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cups molasses (a New England friend uses Maple syrup, yummy)
2 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger or cinnamon (I tried using both together, taste similar to pumpkin pie)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Heat 3 cups of milk in top of double boiler (can use microwave). Mix 1 cup of milk and cornmeal. Stir into hot milk. Combine the molasses, beaten eggs, butter salt and spice and add to cornmeal mixture. Cook over low heat intil mixture thickens slightly. Remove from heat and add remaining 2/3 cup milk. Pour into a buttered 2 quart casserole and bake 2 hours. Serve warm or cool with whipped cream

*NOTE FROM MAC:
This is the sort of thing Mom would do with us, when I was little. We'd look at old recipes for pies, cakes, pancakes, bread -- anything you can think of, really, that people have eaten for generations. Then we'd make the recipe together, and experiment with ingredients and amounts.  So it was extra fun and a little like time traveling to make Indian Pudding together in my mom's RV kitchen.*

Chocoholic Brownies

This is a great recipe for all of us chocolate lovers (what's not to love about chocolate?)

CHOCOHOLIC BROWNIES
Melt 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (real chocolate, not chocolate flavored chips) with 1 stick of butter or margarine (not the soft spread). I use the microwave, but it can be done on the stove over low heat.

Stir in, mixing well after each addition:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)

Spread on a sprayed or greased 8x8 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
To test for doneness, an inserted toothpick will come out crumble-moist. Do Not overbake. Cool before cutting.

Now you're ready to enjoy a chocolate delight.

Dessert Again

The weather has warmed back up here in Texas, 72 degrees on the 10th of December, WOW!! So, I'm not thinking hot drinks, today. I do have a wonderful recipe for a cake that is great for the holidays when you're having friends over. Don't want to do this for just a few people. It is super rich and about a thousand calories per bite, but double yummy. it really easy and pretty impressive tasting. Company raves about it. As a matter of fact, the recipe is called "Better Than Sex Chocolate Cake", but I'm not sure about that claim. You be the judge.

BETTER THAN SEX CHOCOLATE CAKE

One box of German chocolate cake mix (mix & bake according to the package
directions,in a 9"x13" pan.)
1 can of Eagle Brand condensed milk
1 jar of caramel ice cream topping
1 bag toffee chips
1 tub of Cool Chip (can use low fat and sugar free)

When the cake is baked and cooled, poke holes in it over the entire surface about 1 inch apart. You can use a wooden spoon handle or use your fingers. Nobody will know.

Pour the can of Eagle Brand over the entire surface and allow to soak in.

Top that with the caramel topping and sprinkle with toffee bits to your preference.

Frost that with the Cool Whip and sprinkle on more toffee bits.

Chill in refrigerator for a couple of hours before cutting.

Be prepared for it to disappear quickly.


This one is okay for Kids, except for a possible sugar high.

Warm Bread Pudding w/Bourbon Sauce

Since I confessed to the world that I like bourbon, I probably should share another favorite recipe. This is a New Orleans Style Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce. YUM!!
After typing this out, I'm going to make a batch, just for me, cause I can.

BREAD PUDDING

1 pound of French Bread (the firmer,the better)
3-1/4 cups milk
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup raisins (raisins and pecans are optional)

Tear the bread into medium pieces (about 1 inch cubes). Add cinnamon and sugar, toss lightly. Mix milk and lightly beaten eggs and vanilla and add to bread mixture. Place 1/2 of mixture in buttered casserole dish. Layer pecans and raisins, if used. Top with rest of mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes of until lightly browned. Serve warm with warm Bourbon sauce. (If you have leftovers, it microwaves great for re-warming).

BOURBON SAUCE

1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon white corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablspoon Bourbon (I must confess, I find a tablespoon rather insipid. I use a good 1/4 of a cup).
What can I say, I like the taste of Bourbon, Also, I usually double the recipe, because the sauce is wonderful. The bread pudding is good, but, just something to pour the sauce on.

This is also not necessarily recommended or suitable for children. While the alcohol boils away, it still has the wonderful bourbon flavor.

In a sauce pan, mix all the ingredients. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Serve warm over warm bread pudding.

Never Fail Chocolate Cake

Wow! Where did summer go? It's canning season for those of us who do that. I don't do as much as I used to when my children were at home, but there's always something I like home canned. This year, we gathered buffalo berries. They've been in short supply for the last couple of years due to lack of moisture in our area. Buffalo Berry Jelly is always a treat. We did make jelly and will be sending to the girls. I also made Wild Huckleberry Jam, yum, my favorite. Our tomatoes are producing, so I've been canning tomato juice cocktail. Now it 's time for my 30 day friendship cake. Doing all this doesn't leave a lot of energy or time for actual cooking of meals and desserts.

One of my favorite recipes that doesn't take a lot of energy or time, while I'm being productive, is the Never Fail Chocolate Cake. Super easy. Just dump all the ingredients in a bowl and mix and cook. No extra sifting or blending needed.

It truly is never-fail. I remember once in my younger years, I had mixed it up and put it in the oven and about ten minutes later suddenly remembered I had forgotten to put in the soda. I quickly dumped the batter back into a bowl , added the soda and put it back in to bake. It baked just fine with no problems, raised nicely and tasted wonderful. Being chocolate, what more could a chocoholic ask for. Of course, this is not the recommended method for baking. This is also a good recipe to start kids out on for guaranteed success. Try it and enjoy.

NEVER FAIL CHOCOLATE CAKE

1 cup hot water
1 cup sour milk (if you don't have sour milk, add 1 tablespoon vinegar OR lemon juice to sweet milk, stir and let sit a minute)
1cup butter or shortening
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 or 3 eggs (3 if you have them, but 2 will work, so don't run to the store for an egg.)

Mix all ingredients together and bake in a greased, floured 9x13 pan at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until tooth pick comes out clean.
If you turn out while hot, onto waxed paper, it makes good brownies, too. I usually just go for cake and frost with the following frosting. (my husband doesn't like brownies, but really goes for cake with frosting.)

FROSTING FOR NEVER FAIL CAKE

1/2 cup shortening or oil
1/3 c milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt

Sift dry ingredients into moist ingredients and mix well. Add more powdered sugar or milk, if needed, to make spreading consistency.

Joyeux Noel!

Especially for the season, Springerle cookies:



There's an absolutely lovely article about these very old traditions around these cookies, at Intute:

Springerle cookies, like other time-honoured recipes, reveal through their ingredients and methods of preparation their times and places of origin. These cookies are additionally notable because they depict visual motifs with cultural messages and historical meanings that have changed with the centuries and are still recognized and preserved today by mold carvers and cooks.