Boo!

Consider this your early Halloween present. These cupcakes are a white cake called Snow Cake and they are topped with orange icing (orange flavor, not just color). The Snow Cake recipe is very light and airy thanks to whipped egg whites, and would do really well layered with raspberry preserves and fluffy white icing, or maybe a milk chocolate frosting.

The icing is very simple and has a more subtle orange flavor than I wanted, but is still very good. Now look away Mom, because I am going to let you in on a little secret about this icing...it has egg white in it. Ack! If you are willing to risk salmonella you will find it sets up quite nicely.

I had big plans for this little cupcake. It was supposed to be topped with candied orange dipped in chocolate for a grown up Halloween look. We have dozens of mandarin oranges on our counter but there they will sit as school work interfered with my plans. Priorities, people. So these cupcakes just got a little sprinkle of black sugar and I called it a day.

Snow Cake
Adapted from the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, 1948.

3 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Beat egg whites until stiff. Add 1/2 the sugar and set aside. Cream butter and add remaining sugar gradually, beating constantly. Mix and sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk. Add vanilla. Fold in egg whites. For cupcakes, bake about 30 minutes.

Orange Frosting
Grated rind 1 orange
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbs orange juice
1 egg white
confectioner's sugar

Add rind to fruit juice and let stand 15 minutes. Strain. Add gradually to egg yolk while beating it. Stir in sugar until right consistency to spread. Beat until very smooth.

Yuppies Playing Farm

Our CSA had a harvest festival last weekend. The weather was perfect, we listened to live bluegrass, played soccer and frisbee, watched kids and dogs run around, shared a potluck lunch, learned more about the farm, talked biodiesel, walked through fields, bid on auction items and, as always, went home with a gorgeous array of fresh vegetables. We couldn't have asked for a better day.

There is part of me that feels a little fake, like we're yuppies playing farm and it's nice and fun and we feel good but there aren't any benefits to hanging out for on the farm for the day. But there is. We get to know the people growing the vegetables and learn about their other efforts to minimize their environmental impact. We meet like-minded people and here about other ways to eat locally and organically. We walk around the fields and become more connected and concerned about the drought and encroaching McMansion subdivisions leading to more and more deer and other animals being pushed onto the farm (this year it meant no sweet potatoes and no pumpkins and other failed or diminished crops).

Before joining the farm, I wasn't nearly as aware of fluctuating food prices based on weather and other conditions, except for the occasional note posted at a grocery store about early frost ruining orange groves in Florida or something like that. It also means from May to November most of our vegetables, a large part of our diet, aren't trucked in from across the country or flown in from halfway around the world which saves energy. It also means we get the freshest produce possible and it doesn't have to be grown from genetically altered seeds so the vegetables can withstand longer times between picking and eating, or that they have to be picked unripe and treated with chemicals, or anything else unnatural.

If you're interested in joining a CSA or buying more local food, you can find out more about it here. I highly recommend it.

Christmas in a Bowl

Now normally I'm not one to rush into Christmas and I cringe when I walk into stores and see Christmas stuff now. But, come on, it can't hurt to be reminded of sitting around on cold nights stringing popcorn and cranberries for the tree, can it? I remember my parents popping loads of popcorn and leaving it in brown paper bags to go stale so they could string it. My husband and I did this for a couple years and hung it out for the birds after Christmas was over, but, dang, it was a lot of work.

You may not be able to find this recipe in any classic cook book but what's more classic than popcorn? Ok, maybe popcorn with dried cranberries, covered with soymilk and eaten for breakfast isn't something grandma ate but stick with me for a minute. This is good stuff. Alton Brown said you can eat popcorn with milk and that's good enough for me. (I can't find a link to this recommendation but I'm sure I saw on it one of this shows. I wouldn't lie to you.)

Now don't go using microwave popcorn from one of those illness causing bags. Stick to an air popper or a pot on the stove or a brown paper bag or, my favorite, a microwave popcorn bowl. I made it without oil or butter or salt, but I think fat and salt wouldn't hurt this breakfast. Pour a handful into a bowl, top with a few dried cranberries, and pour on soymilk or milk or whatever you like on your cereal. Yum.

Talk to Me

If you've been here before you've read my blabbering about this recipe or that cookbook, but I'm wondering what you think about all of this classic cookery stuff. Do you have a favorite classic recipe or cookbook? Are you not inclined to cook but would like me to try a recipe? Or do you just want to chat about food you remember eating at your grandparents house?

I've gotten all fancy-like and set up a new e-mail account just for this site so drop me a line sometime: classiccook@gmail.com. It's easier than using a party line!

Not Quite Healthy

If you're looking for a classic, quick, no-bake sweet to make, here it is. This one has a slight advantage over some other sweets in that you can make it with different cereals; depending on the cereal you choose, you may be able to boost your vitamin and fiber intake a bit. Still, this is a sweet through and through so you may just want to keep it simple and stick to the original recipe which calls for cornflakes.

Cornflake Chewies

Adapted from Festive Foods, a Wisconsin Gas Company cookbooklet promoting gas ranges published in 1971. You can see from the picture that I made one major change: I used Trader Joe's High Fiber O's cereal in place of cornflakes. This was less a decision about nutrition and more about using up cereal that was sitting in the pantry. If the corn syrup can be replaced with honey this could be a good base for granola bars, but I'm not sure if that's possible. No surprises here--these are as simple as you remember.

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
6 cups cornflakes

Mix together the sugar, salt and corn syrup in a 1 quart saucepan. Heat over medium until the sugar has melted. Remove from heat and mix in peanut butter. Pour over cornflakes and mix together. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper.