Sugar Plum Gang - Cowboy Desserts
Imagine...It's 2:15 at the Happy Trails Mall, your
eyes are a drooping and your boots feeling like they're made a lead and yer
walking through quicksand. You need a jolt a joe and a fix a sweet so you belly
on up to the bar at Starebacks Java Post and order a double rowdy cowboy eggnog
mochalottafrapachitco and then ya throw a look to the cowboy Christmas dessert
case. Oh no!...It's empty. "Where in tarnation be the giant cookies, pies
and tarts?", you ask Mr. Stareback. He stands shaking in silence. You look
around for a clue, then you notice them, off in the corner. The tell-tale stack
of empty dishes. Then the wild caffinited laughter, the sugar dusted lips, the
frosting covered fingers and the yum yum written on their faces. This was the
work of none other than the dreaded Sugar-Plum Gang. They got here first,
cleaned the place out, and now they're taking off for some high power sugar
induced frenzy sale shopping.
When that happens, friend, before you
resort to a life of spun sugar crime, why not try a few of these delicious
recipes instead.
Historic desserts are perfect for the
food outlaw in all of us.
(please scroll for recipes)
Hickory Pie
Mashed Potato Candy
Dried Apple Pie
Bread Pudding
Christmas Pudding
Indian Pudding
Mincemeat Pie
Vinegar Pie
Minnie Lewis Vinegar Pie
Bourbon Custard
Pork Cake
Loganberry Pie
Lemon Drops
Maple Sugar Caramels
Rice Apples
Cowboy City Pumpkin Pie
Round-Up Pecan Pie
2 Cups walnuts or pecans chopped1/2 cup whipping
cream1/2 cup corn syrup or molasses3 large eggs, beaten1 cup honey or maple
syrup1/4 cup melted butter1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 single pastry pie crust
· Preheat oven to 400. Blend cream, molasses or
corn syrup, honey or maple syrup, salt, vanilla extract and butter.
· Mix well fold in nuts and pour into the pie
crust.
Bake 10 minutes then reduce heat to 350.
Continue cooking 25-30 minutes or until a broom
straw inserted in center come
Pie will rise at first, but will settle as it
comes from oven and cools.
Pioneer recipe adapted for our times:
2 cups dried apples
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 pie crusts 8", unbaked
3 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven 350
Soak the apples in water overnight
Drain off water mix apples with sugar and spices
Add apple mixture to crust
Dot with butter and cover with second crust, make slashes in top to ventilate
Bake 1 hour, until top is golden brown
1 cup dark brown
sugar3 eggs3 slices of bread2 cups milk
1 cup raisins1/8 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons
butter softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
· Butter the bread using the
2 tablespoons of butter, then dice.
· Place sugar in top of
double boiler, put bread on top of sugar, add the raisins.
· Beat the eggs, milk, salt,
and vanilla.
· Pour over bread. Do not
stir. Place over simmering water and let cook for 1 hour.
· The brown sugar will form
a sauce.
· Turn out onto serving
dish. Serve warm or cold.
· Serves 6
8 oz (4 cups)
breadcrumbs1 tablespoon grated orange zest1 teaspoon cinnamon black raisins1
teaspoon mace yellow raisins1/2 teaspoon cardamom dried apricots1/2 teaspoon
ground cloves2 oz of crumbled almond macaroon1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 oz chopped almonds2 tablespoons orange
marmalade2 oz ground almond6 tablespoons cognac1 grated apple4 medium eggs
juice of1 orange2/3 cup port or marsala wine
Rum or Brandy for presentation.
· Put all the dry
ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroghly.
· Put the marmalade, juice,
eggs, cognac and wine in another large bowl, or in the blender or food
processor, and beat until well blended and frothy. Pour the liquid over the dry
ingredients.
· Mix until moist.
· Cover and let stand for a
couple of hours at least, or if possible overnight.
· Oil or butter the pudding
mold or casserole.
· It will not expand much
during cooking so you may fill to 1/2 inch of the rim.
· Butter a peice of waxed
paper and tie it over the top with string.
· Place the pudding mold in
large pot with a triple fold sheet of foil under it and comming up both sides.
This will help you lift out the hot mold when it is done.
· Pour boiling water into
pot to come 1/2 way up the side of the pudding mold, cover and bring back to a
boil, reduce the heat and keep at a steady simmer for 5 hours, replacing boilig
water as needed.
· When the time is up remove
the pudding from pot and allow to cool completely.
· While still in mold, cover
tightly with foil and keep in cool dark place.
· On Christmas day, steam
the pudding (as before) for another 2 hours.
· Remove and turn onto
platter.
· Warm do not boil, brandy
or rum drizzle onto pudding and ignite.
1 pint cornmeal
salt
1 quart milk
1/2 cup sugar
cinnamon
Mix all ingredients and put into a strong cloth. Put this into a
brass or bell metal vessel, stone or earthen pot secure from wet and boil 12
hours.
For those of us lacking a bell metal vessel here is a later
version of this classic recipe:
1 quart milk
1 1/4 cups cornmeal
2 teaspoons ginger
3/4 cup molassas
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 quart cold milk
Bring the quart of milk to a boil, then sprinkle in little by
little, about 1 1/4 cups cornmeal, letting the meal drop through the fingers of
your left hand while stirring vigorously with your right hand. When the mixture
has thickened, remove from the stove to cool. Then add the ginger, molassas and
salt. Stir in and beat until smooth. Heavily grease a pudding pan, pour in the
batter, and pour the quart of cold milk on top. Do not stir in. Bake 5 hours in
a very slow oven. The slower the cooking, the smoother and creamier the pudding.
Four pounds of
lean boiled beef, chopped fine,twice as much of chopped green tart apples,1
pound of chopped suet,3 pounds of raisins,seeded;2 pounds of currants,picked
over,washed and dried,1/2 pound citron, cut up fine,1 pound of brown sugar,1
quart cooking molasses,2 quarts sweet cider,1 pint of boiled cider,1 tablespoon
salt,1 tablespoon black pepper,1 tablespoon mace,1 tablespoon allspice,and 4
tablespoons cinnamon,2 grated nutmegs,1 tablespoon cloves;
· Mix throughly and warm on
the range until heated through.
· Remove from the fire and
when nearly cool stir in a pint of good brandy, and a pint of Maderia wine.
· Put in a crock, cover it
tightly, and set in a cold place where it will not freeze, but keep perfectly
cold.
· Mix throughly and warm on
the range until heated through.
· Remove from the fire and
when nearly cool stir in a pint of good brandy, and a pint of Maderia wine.
· Put in a crock, cover it
tightly, and set in a cold place where it will not freeze, but keep perfectly
cold.
· Will keep all winter.
1800's
"Make a
good quantity of paper hanging paste.Season with vinegar and sugar. Place in
pie crust and bake."
(Only kidding. But I really did find that in an old cookbook.
Here's another 2 to make up for that. By the way vinegar pie is actually quite
good and probably served as a substitute for those early settlers who craved
lemon pie) )
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/3 cup vinegar
1/3 cup cornstarch
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon butter
Dash nutmeg
1 baked pie shell
Stir all ingredients and cook until clear and thick. Stir 1/2 the
mixture into the yolks. Place on back of the stove for one minute (I think this
means let set, it's an old recipe) add the butter and pour into baked shell.
· Put 1 pint of diluted vinegar into a skillet.
· Add butter 1/2 the size of an egg;
· 2/3 cup of sugar,
· 1 tablespoon of corn starch wet in a little
water, and the beaten yolk of 1 egg.
· Flavor with lemon, and cook until thick.
· Line a pie pan with pastry, and put in the
mixture.
· Bake till almost done; then remove from oven
and spread the beaten white of the egg over the top;sprinkle with sugar, and
return to the oven; let it remain until golden brown.
mid 1800's at
least
(Very good recipe-two sugarplum thumbs up!)
4 cups whipping cream1 cup sugar12 very large
egg yolks slightly beaten1/2 cup bourbon
· Preheat oven to 325
· Butter a 2 quart
casserole.
· Bring cream and sugar to a
simmer in heavy large saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves.
· Beat yolks in small bowl
to blend.
· Wisk into the egg yolks 1
cup of the cream mixture, then pour back into saucepan with remaining cream
mixture.
· Cook until it begins to
thicken, stirring constantly for 1 minute longer DO NOT BOIL.
· Strain into bowl.
· Mix in bourbon.
· Pour into buttered
casserole.
· Set casserole in large
baking pan.
· Add enough hot water to
baking pan to come halfway up the sides of the casserole.
· Bake until top of custard
browns evenly (approx. 1 1/2 hours) custard may not be set in center thats O.K.
.
· Remove from oven, cool on
rack.
· Refridgerate.
· Serve well chilled
8-10 servings
1 cup unsalted butter room temp.1 cup loganberry
preserves1 cup sugar1 10 inch unbaked pie shell4 eggs seperated
· Preheat oven to 350
· Put rack in lowest 1/3 of
oven.
· Cream butter with sugar in
medium bowl until light and fluffy.
· Beat in yolks one at a
time.
· Mix in preserves, 1/3 cup
at a time.
· Using clean dry beaters,
beat egg whites in another medium size bowl until soft peaks form.
· Gently fold into preserve
mixture.
· Pour filling into pie
shell. Bake until filling puffs and is light brown (approx. 40 min.).
· Remove from oven let cool
on wire rack (filling will fall during cooling).
·
Circa 1866
(Don't go all
weak in the knees cause of the name. If you like plum pudding, you'll like
this. The recipe is written here as I found it: )
A delightful cake is made by the use of pork, which saves the
expense of butter,eggs and milk
Fat, salt pork, entirely free of lean or rind, chopped so fine as
to be almost like lard 1 pound;
pour boiling water upon it 1/2 pint;
raisens seeded and chopped 1 pound;
citron shaved into shreds 1/4 pound;
sugar 2 cups;
molasses 1 cup;
saleratus 1 teaspoon rubbed fine and put in the molasses.
Mix all these together, and stir in sifted flour to make the
consistency of common cake mixtures
then stir in nutmeg and cloves, finely ground 1 oz. each;
be governed about the time of baking it by putting a silver into it- when
nothing adheres it is done. It should bake slowly.
When pork will do all we claim for it, who will longer contend that it is not
fit to eat? Who?
__________________________________________________________________________
Lemon Drops
1855
1 cup powdered sugar
lemon juice
Pour enough lemon juice into sugar to dissolve it. Boil to hard crack stage.
Drop onto buttered cookie sheet to let cool and harden.
__________________________________________________________________________
Maple Sugar Carmels
1886
2 pounds maple sugar
1 quart rich milk
Break the maple sugar into small peices and put into a pan oon the fire with
milk. The pan must be deep enough to allow the sugar to expand as it boils;
stir witout ceasing. Test it in cold water, and when it is sufficently brittle
it is done. Then pour into square buttered pans and score with a knife into small
tablets.
__________________________________________________________________________
Mashed Potato Candy
(bad name, good candy)
1/4 cup hot mashed potatoes
1/4 teasp. grated orange peel
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoom melted butter
1/2 teasp. vanilla
Combine potatoes and butter in medium bowl. Slowly addsugar, beating until well
blended. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls on to wax
paper or form roll, chill and slice.
__________________________________________________________________________
Rice Apples
1876
(you will need to improvise a bit with this one, don't be afraid)
Boil half a pound rice in custard-kettle till tender in one quart milk
sweetened with half a tea cup of sugar; pare and core with apple corer seven or
eight good cooking apples, place in slightly buttered baking dish put a tea
spoon of jam or jelly into each cavity and fill with rich cream; put the rice
in around apples, leaving top uncovered; bake thirty minutes, then cover with
the whites of two eggs, sift on sugar and return to oven for ten minutes. Serve
with sweetened cream.
Cowboy City
Pumpkin Pie
(not old but hot diggity delish)
4 oz cream cheese,softened
1 tablespoon half & half
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups whipped cream (or cool whip)
1 graham cracker pie crust
1 cup cold half & half
1 can (16 oz) pumpkin
2 packs vanilla instant pudding
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Mix cream cheese, 1 tablespoon milk and sugar in
large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Very bgently stir in whipped cream.
Spread on bottom of crust.
Pour 1 cup cold milk into bowl. Add pumpkin,
pudding mixes and spices. Beat with wire whisk until well mixed.
This will be thick.
Sprinkle pecans over cheese layer then
spread on the pumpkin mix.
Refrigerate 4 hours
Round-Up Pecan Pie
1 9" pastry shell (frozen or line 9" pie
plate with home made)
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons bourbon
Whites of 6 large or extra large eggs
Line the pie crust with foil and bake in preheated 450 oven for 8
min. Remove foil bake 4 more minutes (until golden). Cool on wire rack.
Reduce oven to 350
Combine all ingredients except egg whites.
In another bowl, beat egg white until foamy. Add the combined
ingredients, mix well. Pour into pie shell. Bake uncovered 35
minutes (until set