Hearth and Home

These rich mini's can satisfy your chocolate cravings in the best of ways.

No flour needed!

Molten Milk Chocolate Mini Cakes
4 {1oz} squares semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter
3/4th cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs, beaten
milk chocolate chips

Milk Chocolate Icing
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300. Now grease one 12 count muffin tin with butter, nonstick spray or vegetable oil . Next dust your greased cups with cocoa powder. Using microwave or double boiler melt the butter and semi-sweet chocolate. Once fully melted add in the suagr, cocoa powder, eggs, and vanilla. Pour equally into muffin cups. Sprinkle some of the milk chocolate chips in the center of each cake. Bake for about 30 minutes and then remove from oven and let cool in pan for about 10 minutes. After that remove them from the tin to complete cooling.

While the cakes were cooking you could melt on low heat the chocolate chips and cream. Do this until chips are completely dissolved. Then put the icing in the fridge. Keep in fridge about 30 - 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once cakes have been cooled and the icing cool and thick, dip each cake into the bowl of icing. Store the cakes in the fridge until ready to be eaten. When ready to be served, warm each mini cake for about 20 or 30 seconds in the microwave. {Yes I know, totally not old fashioned - but totally scrumptious lol!}

Note: I used only 1/4th cup butter by accident and it came out just as good. I'm sure it would have made a little more batter had I used the whole half a cup. These do have a slight brownie like taste, but we still love'em! Basic recipe from Allrecipes.com

Out of the oven and before they were dipped in the icing

Sweet potato muffin recipes are surprisingly hard to come by. I found only two on allrecipes, but they weren't quite what I was looking for. I thought for sure some old books on google's book search would produce plenty of recipes. I was wrong. It was tough but the few I found used yeast or were very bland sounding. But I did find one recipe that I could work with. It was from the "Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Alabama - Possibilities of the Sweet Potato in Macon County" published in 1915. I added several flavor enhancements such as brown sugar, molasses, and spices. But the basic recipe is virtually untouched.

1 20oz can yams or sweet potatoes, drained, hot and mashed
{or you could use 1 sweet potato weighing about 3/4th a pound thats been cooked and mashed}
1 tablespoon butter
dash of salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon molassses
abt 1 teaspoon cinnamon
abt 1/8th teaspoon ginger
abt 1/8th teaspoon cloves
abt 1/8th teaspoon nutmeg

Whip butter into hot mashed sweet potatoes. Continue whipping until butter has been melted. Then add your dash of salt and brown sugar, stirring well. Next add milk and molasses, again stirring well. To this mixture stir in the beaten eggs. In a new bowl combine flour, baking powder, and spices. Add to the sweet potato mixture the flour, mixing well. If the mixture is a little on the dry side add a little more milk until the right consistency for spooning into greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 for about 15-20 minutes or until knife comes out nearly clean.

And here is the original recipe from 1915, very basic.
No. 26, Sweet Potato MuffinsBoil until thoroughly done a sweet potato weighing about 3-4 of a pound; mash very fine; pass through colander to free it from lumps; add to it a large tablespoonful of butter and a little salt: whip well; now add 1-2 cupful of milk and two well-beaten eggs, and flour enough to make a soft batter, which will be about two cupfuls. Before adding the flour sift into it one teaspoonful of baking powder. Bake in muffin or gem pans.

P.S. Why do I always want to spell potato - potatoe?

Well this may not be exactly old-fashioned but it sure is a satisfying soup and serves as a little different than the norm.

1lb Smoked Sausage {I used Eckrich Smoked Sausage}
1 onion, diced
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
1 cup or so Beef Broth
abt 1 or 2 cups mixed frozen veggies
Half of a 7oz package of small pasta Shells
abt 1/8th teaspoon Italian Seasoning
abt 1/8th teaspoon Oregano
Few Shakes Worcestershire Sauce
Few Shakes Tabasco Sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon butter
water

First dice onion and saute well with butter in soup pot. You shouldn't have much if any excess butter, to this add the beef broth and mix around. Then add the can fire roasted tomatoes. Add a little water to take out the concentrated look of the tomatoes. Next add the kidney beans, smoked sausage {cut up in slices}, mixed veggies, seasonings, few shakes Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Then finally add the shells and let cook on medium heat until shells are soft. Then turn down to low and simmer until desired taste.

Note: Sorry for a lack of exact measurements...when I cook on my own I don't always measure things out.

I made some shortcakes this morning and adapted the recipe from my 1891 edition of Queen of the Household Cookbook.

2 cups flour
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter {half a stick}
1 tablespoon lard
abt 3/4 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Then cut in butter and lard till mixture has a crumbly texture. Then pour over enough water to make a firm dough. Then flour your surface and roll the dough to about 1/4th an inch thick. Cut into squares and prick with a fork. Bake for 15 - 20 mins or until done. {I am using a toaster oven to bake so you may need to adjust the baking time for a regular oven}

The original recipe would make double the amount of the above recipe. I knew that so I cut the recipe in half. Here is the original recipe.
One quart flour, 1 saltspoon salt, 2 heaping teaspoons baking powder; mix thoroughly; then add 1/4th a pound butter 1/8th pound lard, and enough cold water to make a thick paste. Roll out about 1/4th inch thick, and cut into squares; prick with a fork and bake immediately.

Note: You probably can make this mixture {omitting the water} ahead of time and then freeze. I served over mine with some leftover strawberry mixture we had. My eldest hates strawberries so he dipped his shortcake into maple syrup. This is a good basic shortcake.

Molasses Cake - original recipe
One Cup of molasses - an ordinary teacup.
One cup of sugar.
One cup of butter.
One cup of cream.
Six cups of flour (or a sifted quart).
One teaspoonful of soda, small.
Two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar.*
Spiced and fruits as you choose.
Four eggs.

Stir the sugar and butter together, add the yelks of the eggs, then the molasses, and then the cream and flour in small portions, alternatly, till all the flour is in, and last of all add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. The sodashould be sifted in the flour, and the cream of tartar added to the cream or milk. If the cream is sour, put half the quantity of cream of tartar. You may bake this cake in a large pan or in small patties.
Let it bake in a moderarte oven, steadily. Try it with a straw before removing from the oven. If you take it out before it is done, it will fall, and never rise again.

*If the cream is sour, use only one spoonful of cream of tartar.
- From The Young Housewife's Counsellor and Friend 1871

The cake batter before going into the oven.

My Notes and Observations
The above is the orginal recipe. I had to cut it in half because I didnt want that much. That would have made two cakes - using 9inch round cake pans. So I cut the recipe in half and added about a tablespoon or so of cinnamon. The flour would be about 2 cups. I did a little over 2 cups {using liquid measure - all I had} and it came out rather stiff and had to add a little more milk to make a better batter. But I think if you use a scanty 2 cups in dry measure it will be perfect. I also oiled and floured my pan. I baked it at about 375 degrees, for about 35 minutes.It rose really well and when I tested it with a fork and it came out perfectly clean. A nice warm treat on a cold and dreary morning.

The summer fruits are coming in and we were fortunate enough to be given some pears recently. So I decided to try my hand at making some pear butter. I didn't follow any recipe but just let my instincts be my guide with this one. One thing about fruit butters are that they are very easy to make! It set just right for a fruit butter, I think, with a great homey flavor. I made homemade biscuits this morning so that I could use the pear butter. It was perfect! So in the end here is my recipe for ....

The pear butter boiling down.

Cinnamon and Allspice Pear Butter
about 15 to 25 small pears
water to cover
about 4 cups sugar
1 heaping tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 or 2 whole allspice, ground fine - (about 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice)
Slice and core the pears. Mine were small so just quartering them was sufficient. Then add them to large pot. Pour in enough water to cover them. Let the water get warm but not hot enough to handle yet. Take off the heat and begin peeling the pears. Once you are finished with that let the pears boil down for about 30 minutes to an hour. While in the pot mash them. Add the cinnamon, allspice, and sugar. Continue stirring and let the mixture boil until it has reduced to a little less than half.
Wash and sterilize jars, pour into pint or quart jars, and water bath them for about 10 minutes. My batch made three wide mouth pint jars.

I know its not Autumn yet, but Apple Butter always puts me in the mood for fall foods. I had some Apple Butter on hand and wanted to try it in some muffins. I combined a few recipes to make this very scrumptious recipe and then used the goodness of whole wheat, instead of just all purpose flour. I use half regular whole wheat and half Hodgson Mill's Naturally White all purpose flour. The White flour has not been bleached or bromated, but is in fact wheat, but you wouldn't know it really. I use it in substitute of all purpose flour and you wont know the difference, except that it tastes better than using bleached and stripped flours. These muffins were a big hit with the boys too, so even your little ones can enjoy them. What makes these muffins extra special is the shot of apple butter in the center. Too yummy!

Whole Wheat Apple Butter Muffins

1 cup all-purpose or white-wheat flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 cup apple butter - setting aside 1/4 cup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
Natural Sugar (like Sugar in the Raw, not granulated)

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl combine the wheat and white flours, brown sugar, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves, and ground ginger. In another bowl combine 3/4th cup apple butter, oil, milk, and eggs and mix together. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and combine until moistened.

Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into greased muffin cups or paper cupcake liners. Then spoon a little apple butter from the reserve onto each muffin. Now finish filling the muffin with batter about 3/4th or so full. Next sprinkle some of the natural sugar onto the tops of the muffins. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 4-5 minutes then remove to a rack to cool.

And if that is not enough to satisfy the taste for Autumn harvest foods, I have an Apple Butter & Pumpkin Pie in the oven right now. I'll post the photos and recipe of that later.

I have never heard of such a thing until I was reading through my almanac of 1906 and saw an article entitled "A Seedless, Coreless, Bloomless Apple". Quite intrigued I read through the little article and have wondered why there are no seedless apples today? The article claims that John F. Spencer { of Grand Junction } was credited with the discovery of the seedless apple. He had become curious that if the orange could be seedless why not the apple too? Which in this case produced a bloomless variety which was said to aid in it being wormless & not being affected by the late frosts. So I have to ask, what happened to that seedless, coreless, bloomless apple of 1906?

Call me a stickler for old cookbooks. I am really surprised I had not starting collecting these domestic books much earlier. Well, at first, I was only reserving myself to collect really old cookbooks dated sometime around 1800 - 1850s. But after finding them usually more expensive than I care to pay, I decided to broaden my horizons. So when I saw this one on ebay I could not resist getting it to add to my collection. None of my cookbooks are museum quality or anything. But I prefer the books to show they have been used. And for the meager ten dollars I paid for it, it is well worth it with over 700 pages of recipes and interesting odds-n-ends. It's much bigger than my Compendium of Cookery and much nicer too. The only odd thing I find is the three cookbooks I have do not have a name written in any of them. The oldest of my cookbooks dated 1824 even has recipes handwritten all over the endpapers. But no names to tell me who wrote all those lovely personal addenda's. I suppose it's because cookbooks were too practical to be sentimental about by writing one's name in it. Who knows.
You could peruse a later edition of The Queen of the Household which is found here: Queen of the Household published in 1901. However, it is quite a bit different from the 1891 edition.

Update: I just ran across this edition from Google Books, which is a lot closer to mine. It even has the same cover.

I have in my collection a cookbook, which I have mentioned before, called Compendium of Cookery. Well we wanted to make waffles one morning so instead of using a modern recipe, we decided to use an old one, just something extra special about that to us.

4 cups sweet milk
1 cup butter (melted)
6 cups flour, sifted
6 eggs (divide yolks from whites)
4 teaspoons baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar (optional, not in original recipe)

Mix together melted butter, milk, and flour. Beat egg yolks then add to mixture. Whip egg whites until very frothy, then fold into mixture. Add baking powder and sugar (optional), stir, then cook in waffle maker.

NOTE: You can cut all the ingredients in half in order to serve a family of four or so.

The original recipe didn't add sugar, but we found it did improve the recipe. If you are looking for something like the store bought then keep on looking. These waffles, when made in an ordinary waffle maker, are not the crispy types of waffles we have today in the market and on the shelves. But they are great with maple syrup!