Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Week 5...

Well, we're back. We made something last Monday, but it has taken us a week to get a post going. So, without further ado, we bring you:

WASHINGTON PIE.


This recipe is the same as "Boston Cream Pie" (adding half an ounce of butter), which may be found under the head of PASTRY, PIES AND TARTS. In summer time, it is a good plan to bake the pie the day before wanted; then when cool, wrap around it a paper and place it in the ice box so to have it get very cold; then serve it with a dish of fresh strawberries or raspberries. A delicious dessert.



So there you go, just make a Boston Cream Pie and add butter. So, with even less ado than previously:

BOSTON CREAM PIE.


Cream Part.—Put on a pint of milk to boil. Break two eggs into a dish and add one cup of sugar and half a cup of flour previously mixed after beating well, stir it into the milk just as the milk commences to boil; add an ounce of butter and keep on stirring one way until it thickens; flavor with vanilla or lemon.

Crust Part.—Three eggs beaten separately, one cup of granulated sugar, one and a half cups of sifted flour, one large teaspoonful of baking powder and two tablespoonfuls of milk or water. Divide the batter in half and bake on two medium-sized pie-tins. Bake in a rather quick oven to a straw color. When done and cool, split each one in half with a sharp broad-bladed knife, and spread half the cream between each. Serve cold.

The cake part should be flavored the same as the custard.



That's better. Now, we decided that since the cookbook is over 100 years old, we should go the traditional cooking route, and not use our fancy electric mixers and such. We chose instead, where possible, to use the same technology they would have used then.

That's right, child labor.

So we busted out our spoons and bowls and all that, and we got to making our cakes.

Getting ready

The boss says, "Get to it, those eggs aren't going to beat themselves."

Overall, things went really well with this one. Better than normal, in fact. However, my sous chef did get bored while the cakes were cooking and chose not to come back for the custard, except to taste it when it was all mixed. But, things turned out alright, and we got it made.

Baking

All done!

Custardy filling, ready to go. There was about twice as much before "quality control sampling" by the assistant.

Yay!

Wrapped up to cool in the fridge.

Nestle Quik sprinkled on top.

There you have it!

Well, that's about all we have for now. Take it easy, all.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Week 4... Now with help!!!

(EDIT: This was written the same day as the last post, but due to some issues with blogger didn't get posted until now. Thank you.)

So, I guess I got back into it earlier than I thought I would be able to.

Andy and I decided that, since the baby was asleep, we would be able to make something that seemed fairly quick and easy.

My Sous Chef

So, we decided to go with some biscuits. Quick, easy, all that jazz.

BAKING POWDER BISCUIT.


Two pints of flour, butter the size of an egg, three heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder and one teaspoonful of salt; make a soft dough of sweet milk or water, knead as little as possible, cut out with the usual biscuit-cutter and bake in rather a quick oven.



So, the first thing we had to do was, of course, go and change something. We had a bunch of whole wheat flour, so we decided to use that instead of all-purpose.

So, we got everything all mixed up (I guess it was a soft dough, seemed pretty soft to me), rolled out and cut, and ready to go in the oven. Here is where we hit our first hiccup. We took a stab and figured that "rather a quick oven" would be somewhere around 400º. Why not? So, we got that set and put them in.

While they were baking (notice there is no time in the recipe -- you cook them til they are done) we took the rest of the dough and got it ready.

We admit, the M & M's weren't in the original recipe.

When we took them out, they looked much the same. They didn't grow at all, so they looked more like whole-wheat cookies. But, they did pass the true test.


They actually tasted really good. And, when we cooked the second batch, they actually got bigger. So, we got a tasty treat, and learned something for next time.

Anywho, that's about it for now. I leave you with some photos of the whole project.

Take it easy, all.

All done!

The aftermath.

Baking

We had a lot of fun.

The requisite "no depth of field" food blog shot. I really don't get these photos.

Excuses, excuses...

Well, everyone, I'm back.

You'll have to excuse my recent sabbatical, things have been a little crazy here. We've a new addition to report, though!

Hello!

Between that, and some job stresses going on, we didn't really have much time to do anything, including continuing the WHCB project. But, we are back now (sort of) and hopefully will be getting back on it soon.

So, this is just a quick post to say hey to all, that I am still around, and will be coming back soon, better than ever.

Take it easy, all.

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