Tag: Butterprint

Double-Rich Fudge Pudding

Double-Rich Fudge Pudding

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 2 Comments

A Recipe from Cooking Magic: Elegant Desserts (1954)

About the Recipe

As it so happens, a close friend came for dinner last night. A close friend who, in addition to my husband and my son, happens to love chocolate. I was paging through my cookbooks looking for something new to try, and I kept coming back to this recipe. It looked just interesting enough to give a go. And what can I say other than – it was totally worth it.

The title of this dessert is a bit misleading. What you end up with is this kind of a brownie, chocolate cake on top with a rich, chocolate sauce on the bottom. The acidic sour milk in the recipe means that the cake bit is super crumbly and rich. Truly, this is a decadent dessert to finish off any meal.

A few quick tips and tricks:

  • Let it sit for a little while after coming out of the oven. That will allow the chocolate sauce at the bottom to soak back into the cake a little bit. It also gives it some time to thicken as it cools.
  • That little scoop of something creamy on top is critical to cut the chocolate a bit. I used vanilla ice cream, but whipped cream or even a good vanilla frozen custard would work as well.
  • The pecans are absolutely necessary in this one. You could substitute with walnuts, but that nutty surprise expands the flavor profile and elevates the dish.
  • Be patient while you’re baking and make sure the top is set. At 50 minutes in my oven (which tends to run a little cold), the top was still a bit wobbly. I ended up baking it for 60 minutes overall.

Overall, this recipe is definitely a keeper. Great for sharing, and the perfect end to any meal.

About the book

This Cooking Magic binder was one of the first things in my collection. I can’t even remember where I found it, but it’s a lovely collection of booklets from the Culinary Institute of America, all published in the 1950’s and ’60’s. When these binders were released, there was a set of two of two of them – one red with a white spine and the other white with a red spine. They sold for 99 cents, and each outlined which 12 booklets should go inside.

The booklets inside are perfect mid-century books. There are delightful illustrations, and fairly easy to follow recipes. I often see them sold separately from one another, and if you see one I highly recommend grabbing it.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 oz. chocolate
2 T butter or margarine
2 T vinegar
6 T milk (enough to 1/2 cup liquid with vinegar)
1 t vanilla extract
1 cup salted pecan halves
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 oz. chocolate

Directions:

Grease a deep 8-inch round cake pan. Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Melt and set aside 1 oz. chocolate and butter.

Measure the vinegar into a measuring cup and add the milk. Stir milk-vinegar mixture (soured milk) into melted chocolate mixture with the vanilla extract. Add chocolate-milk mixture, all at one time, to dry ingredients. Stir until thoroughly blended.

Add pecan halves. Blend just until pecan halves are evenly distributed. Turn batter into pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar over the batter and set it aside.

Combine the boiling water and chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted and thoroughly blended with water. Pour over top of batter. 

Bake pudding at 350*F 45-50 minutes. Serve warm with heavy cream, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Note:

This dessert separates into a rich cake with a creamy chocolate sauce underneath.

Frankfurter Crown Casserole

Frankfurter Crown Casserole

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Easy Ways to Delicious Meals, a Campbell’s Cookbook (1968)

About the Recipe

It’s been awhile since I’ve had an opportunity to crack open a cookbook, so I thought I’d come back with a mid-century bang! I love a recipe that strikes me as so crazy it just might work, and thankfully this one does.

It’s deceptively simple to make, and as a new mom who was worried about too much time spent in the kitchen, I was thrilled when it came together much more quickly than expected (about an hour from start to finish, and only because I had to cook the potatoes). I used frozen green beans, which worked just fine. In the future, I’ll probably use the veggie medley instead to give it a little more depth of flavor, or even just throw some fresh veggies in there. This dish would be well served with some broccoli florets or diced mushrooms thrown into the mix. Just sauté them with the onions a little bit to soften them up.

One more thing – cut the salt in half at least. The soup adds plenty of salt on its own, and combined with the frankfurters, it’s a lot.

About the book

I love these mid-century Campbell’s soup cookbooks. I’ve made a few recipes out of them before, and they never disappoint. My favorite part is this combo of full color photos and cute little illustrations. For this dish in particular, I was amused that they snuck in the full color photo of the Frankfurter Crown in the first section of the cookbook. And then (just in case that didn’t sell you), there was an illustration as well. It was truly a no-brainer to pick this particular recipe out of the lot.

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 slices bacon
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (10 1/2 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
1/2 t salt
Dash pepper
3 cups sliced cooked potatoes
1 cup cooked cut green beans
1/2 lb. frankfurters, split and cut in half

Directions:

Cook bacon. Remove and crumble. Cook onion in drippings until tender. Stir in soup, water, salt, and pepper; add potatoes and green beans. Pour into 1 1/2-quart casserole. Stand up frankfurters around edge of casserole. Bake at 350*F for 30 minutes. Garnish with bacon.

Blueberry Pancakes #2

Blueberry Pancakes #2

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from the Mary Margaret McBride Encyclopedia of Cooking (1959)

About the Recipe

I woke up yesterday with an undeniable craving for blueberry pancakes. After a quick search through the MMMB, I came across this particular recipe. I took a look around for Blueberry Pancakes #1 – and did not find it. SO! Blueberry Pancakes #2, a delightfully over-complicated pancakes recipe it is!

Separating the eggs and beating up the whites plus the slightly high amount of baking powder makes for a wonderfully fluffy pancakes. They were well balanced between sweet, savory, and fruit. I would even make them again with different fruit or sans fruit altogether! Try a little lemon rind for a special twist if you’d like, but otherwise enjoy. And know that the extra 10 minutes or so to make them are definitely going to be worth it. Bonus points to the hubby this time around for helping to fold the egg whites!

I got to pull out my favorite Pyrex Frankenset and enlist the help of the hubby to fold in the egg whites. A wonderful way to kick-off brunch, indeed!

About the Book

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I love this cookbook. Not only is it a fantastic resource for any home cook looking for literally any recipe, but the illustrations and photographs are everything you’d look for in a mid-century cookbook. They look both appetizing and disgusting, all at once!

Check out more recipes in the Mary Margaret McBride Collection here!

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups sifted enriched flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
3 T granulated sugar
3/4 t salt
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
3 T melted shortening
1 cup blueberries
Melted butter
Brown sugar

Directions:

Sift dry ingredients together. Beat egg yolks with rotary beater; combine with milk and shortening.

Add to dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir in blueberries. Then fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Bake on hot, greased griddle. Serve with melted butter, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Makes 12 3-inch pancakes.

Sesame Peanut Drops

Sesame Peanut Drops

by Andi Cohen-Rabiner ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A Recipe from Pillsbury’s BEST 11th Grand National Bake-Off Cookbook (1960)

About the Recipe

Who doesn’t love a peanut butter cookie? And this one is super nutty and delicious with the sesame seeds. YUM! I used crunchy, natural peanut butter for a really savory result. If you like a more crunchy cookie, give it a smash with the fork. If you’re into something more chewy, use a drop method and just leave it be. Either way, these are sure to please any peanut lover’s palate.

For more recipes in the Pillsbury Challenge, click here!

About the book

Another book that was gifted to me, this one had so many great recipes that it was difficult to choose just one! I’m trying for some variety though, so we landed on the cookies. That said, this is for sure one I’ll revisit when all is said and done.

About the glassware

This little Butterprint bowl is one of my favorites! It’s the perfect size for a bowl of cereal or soup, and I use it like that often. One of the few pleasures of being quarantined at the moment is getting to use that bowl on a regular basis. And it wasn’t too shabby for displaying the cookies either!

The Recipe!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sesame seed
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 t soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla

Directions:

Toast sesame seeds at 375*F for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool.

Sift together flour, soda, and salt. Cream together shortening and peanut butter. Gradually add sugar and brown sugar, creaming well. Blend in half of the dry ingredients, then the eggs, then remaining dry ingredients; mix well. Add vanilla and sesame seed.

Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets. If desired, flatten with fork, criss cross fashion. Bake at 375*F for 10-12 minutes.