Friday, April 23, 2004

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

9 inch unbaked pie shell
1 Cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 Cups canned pumpkin (Not the stuff with spices; just pumpkin)*
1 2/3 Cups evaporated milk**

Procedure:
  1. Blend sugar, spices and salt. 
  2. Add eggs, pumpkin and milk. 
  3. Mix well and pour into pie shell. 
  4. Bake about 60 minutes at 350 F. or until the pie is "set." 
  5. Check the pie after 40 minutes. Refrigerate when cool.
Notes:
One and a half cups of canned pumpkin is one 15 oz. can or 425 grams. 
** One and two thirds cups of evaporated milk is one 12 ounce can or 354 ml.

As written, this makes a single pie. 
A smaller shell makes a thicker pie, but will take a bit longer to cook. 
Double for a large deep pie, or two pies. 
Adjust the spices to suit your taste; I favor a bit more ginger.

Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Scones

This is a rewrite of a scone recipe from "Stephanie" that Michael downloaded and printed back in 1998. My approach to scones is practical rather than fussy, so I don't, for instance, use a glass or cookie cutter to shape them. These freeze well; I suggest removing them from the oven just as soon as they are cooked through, cooling them, then freezing them. The recipe can be enhanced by adding dried fruit, lemon or orange zest—use your imagination. You can substitute milk for the cream, use a mixture, or in a pinch, use canned evaporated milk, as long as the quantity remains the same.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
1 egg, beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Procedure:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour image of scones on a platewith a pastry blender. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. If you wish to add raisins, or dried fruit, add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup now, and stir them in. In a small measuring cup combine the whipping cream (or a mixture of cream and milk), beaten egg and vanilla. Add this to the dry ingredients, and stir just until it's combined into a dough you can handle. You want to mix and handle the dough as little as possible since the more you handle it, the tougher the scones will be.

Remove the dough from the bowl; most of it should adhere into a single lump. Knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface to mix in any odd crumbs or dry flour left in the bowl. Roll or pat out the dough into a rectangle that's about an inch to an inch and a half thick (depending on how many scones you wish to make). If you want to make the scones sparkle, lightly sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the rectangle. Cut the rectangle into six to twelve scones.

Transfer the scones to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake 375 F. for about 15 minutes, or until the scones are lightly browned.

Tuesday, April 6, 2004

Peach or Fruit Cobbler

This is a recipe my mother gave me; she was given it by an unknown friend. I'll have to ask her who it was.

I generally make it with peaches, though I've used fresh berries, and even canned cherries. It's best with peaches. I use peaches I've frozen. I buy local fresh peaches (from California, sorry mom) at the Farmers' Market, let them ripen, dip them in boiling water just long enough to loosen the skin, peal them, slice them, and mix them with sugar and absorbic acid (to keep them from darkening), then freeze flat in gallon size ziploc freezer bags. Peach cobbler in January through March is a lovely treat, and the frozen peaches have a wonderful flavor.


Cobbler Ingredients:

  • 1 2/3 cups Flour
  • 3/4 Sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1 1/2 Cups Milk
  • 1 Stick (1/2 cup) Butter, melted
  • 6 cups fruit

For Syrup:

  • 1 Cup Water
  • 1 Cup Sugar
  • 3 Tablespoons Butter

Mix dry ingredients; stir in melted butter and milk until smooth. Spread batter on bottom of a buttered 9 x 13 inch pan. Add and arrange fruit (reserving any fruit juice).

Combine water (substitute any fruit juice you reserved for water), sugar (I adjust the sugar based on the sweetness/sugar of the fruit), 3 Tablespoons of butter, and boil (you want a thick syrup). Pour the syrup over the fruit. Bake at about 400 F. for about an hour; you want the batter to be cooked, the fruit to be slightly crisp on the edges, and cooked all the way through. It can take a lot of cooking, especially if you use a deep dish rather than a flat pan. Serve warm with ice cream, or a little heavy cream.