Kentucky Pecan Pie, Another Dishboy Takeover.

Laura is gone again, and I guess it is becoming tradition that I (Scott) take over her blog for a little while in her absence. I’ll never quite fill her shoes, but hopefully this post will tide you all over until her return (which should be soon)…so here goes:

There are certainly things in this life worthy of compromise, and times where, for whatever reason, it makes sense to settle. However, there are a few things in life that I absolutely will NOT compromise on, under any circumstances. Pie is one of those things. Ken Haedrich authored what is possibly one of the most comprehensive books ever written on pies. Here’s what he says about pie: “Since as far back as I can remember I have simply loved pie. I can’t really explain why. If one loves poetry, or growing orchids, or walking along the beach at sunset, the why isn’t all that important. To me, pie is poetry that makes the world a better place. Pie, in a word, is my passion”. I don’t know Ken, but I have a feeling we’d get along great.

Life is just too short to eat bad pie. It came as quite a shock when I first realized this, but it has been my experience that as our culture increasingly shifts away from “real” cooking and baking, it is getting hard to find people who can still make a good homemade pie these days. That’s a real shame…almost as if we’ve lost a national treasure. I guess some would settle, but I am completely unable to hide my disdain for “institutional” pie.

Do you want to know a little secret? One of the best ways to get me started ranting and raving is to bring up the subject of institutional pies. I’m convinced that Laura does this just for fun and entertainment when she is bored. We’ll be walking through the pie aisle at the grocery store and she’ll nonchalantly mention something such as, “that pie looks pretty decent for a store pie”. Or, there was the time that we had dinner at this chain restaurant which makes pies that are supposedly “just like homemade”. I noticed that I haven’t been invited back since!

Is this what people think pie is now? I’m sorry if this is offensive, but if you received a pie in exchange for money, or if it came in a thin aluminum pan, you don’t really have a pie. You see, you cannot buy pie with money.

I make homemade pie quite frequently, and I do make one compromise…I use the rolled Pillsbury pie crust instead of making my own. I’m sure some of you are now questioning the high moral ground I staked out above. However, I will freely admit that there is no question that a good homemade crust makes a pie significantly better. The problem, however, is that I’ve just never taken the time to learn how to make a good crust from scratch. Plus, a bad homemade crust totally ruins a pie for me (and I’ve had numerous ones made by people who should really consider using prepared crusts, like me!). I like the refrigerated Pillsbury crusts because they are decent, and because I make a lot more pies now that I keep some of these in my freezer/refrigerator. It is quick and super simple to make a pie if you’re not having to also throw together and roll out a crust. If you love pie but find that you’ve not been making pie much lately, try it out. You might find yourself addicted to these crusts just like Laura and me!

So, I like just about every kind of pie. However, I have a special love affair with pecan pie. Pecan pie is generally credited as having been popularized in America by the makers of Karo Syrup, who in the 1930’s were looking for creative ways to sell more corn syrup. The following is the recipe for my favorite pecan pie. This recipe has been used in my family for many years, long before I was even born. I am not aware of the original source, but I did find it interesting that I found several examples of the exact same recipe online, each with the proclamation that this was their family’s favorite pecan pie, and that it “has been passed down for years”, etc. I’m guessing that we all got it when our grandparents clipped the recipe printed on the back of the Karo Syrup label, or some such thing. However it happened…now you have it too. Enjoy!

Kentucky Pecan Pie Printer Version

1 cup corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup pecan halves (approximately)

Combine corn syrup, sugar, salt, butter, and vanilla. Mix well. Add slightly beaten eggs. Pour into a 9” pie shell (unbaked). Arrange pecan halves on top of pie. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes. Let cool before serving.


Notes:
Please don’t cheat and just dump chopped pecans on the top of the pie. I’d roll over in my grave, and I’m not even dead yet!

You should cover the crust with a pie crust shield. This one is designed for a 9” pie plate, but I’ve been able to get it to work on the 9 ½” glass deep dish Pyrex ones as well. Many people advocate using one of these for half the baking time. I find it simpler to just stick it on at the beginning and leave it on for the entire time, and it seems to work just fine that way.


Notes on Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts:
They freeze well. Just be sure to take them out before you need them…they don’t defrost in the microwave very well!

You can use them with 9 ½” deep dish pies, but it helps to roll them slightly larger between two sheets of wax paper. Even for 9” pie pans, rolling them out in this fashion gives better results.


By The Dishboy Scott. Photo by Laura Flowers.

1970s No bake Coconut Orange Juice Cookies

At times I get bored baking cookies for my husband every week. To change things up, I tend to make silly recipes like these 1970s no bake "cookies" on days I can't face another cookie.

This is one of those love ‘em or hate ‘em recipes. These coconut-covered balls are intensely orange with a cookie dough consistency. I don’t happen to like most no bake cookies, and these are no exception. However, I’ve had so many requests for these darn things I’ve given up and am posting the recipe anyway.

Here you go Eric and Aunt Trina and the rest of you weird no bake cookie lovers. Enjoy!

1970s No bake Coconut Orange Juice Cookies
1 (12 ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers 


3/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed


1 pound powdered sugar


1/2 cup butter, half melted


1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts


1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut

1. Spread chopped nuts on a plate and microwave in 30 second increments until toasted, tossing between stops. Usually takes about 1 1/2 minutes total. Set aside to cool.

2. Crush Nilla Wafers until fine in a food processor or plastic bag. Mix wafer crumbs, orange juice, powdered sugar, butter, and chopped nuts together. Shape the mixture into walnut-size balls, and gently press in coconut.

3. Store "cookies" in the refrigerator in a covered container. Layer cookies between sheets of wax paper if stacking.

Notes: Aunt Trina thinks these would be great sans coconut and dipped in dark chocolate instead. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Original recipe source unknown. Picture by Laura Flowers.

1960s Strawberry Cream Pie

I wish Better Homes & Gardens would reprint their 1960s Dessert Cook Book. This old hardback is a gem, and I make family desserts from it all the time. If you want a copy of your own, make sure you’re getting one from the 1960s. It went through several printings, so you should be able to find a copy. But don’t order one from the 1970s, by then they’d dropped their best recipes to support the Jell-O craze and the flood of women heading out into the workforce.

My kitchen was such a mess that day. Obviously it wasn’t just pie that created mass destruction, but I found myself paralyzed by the mountain of dish washing ahead of me. Luckily, Dishboy Scott came to the rescue! Thanks Dishboy, you’re the best, even if you’re just in it for free pie and martinis.

Strawberry Cream Pie


Due to short, unorganized, old time style instructions, failure to read this recipe before starting could possibly result in frustrated yelling and self hair pulling as you scramble to catch up. I have clumps of missing hair to prove it.

1 9-inch baked pastry shell
½ cup slivered blanched almonds, toasted (Jesse doesn’t like nuts so I left them out, but I bet they’d be great in here.)
1 recipe cream filling (below, make first)
2 ½ cups fresh strawberries
½ cup water
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Few drops red food coloring (This is not needed, tastes bad, and I never use it.)

Cover bottom of cooled pastry shell with nuts. Fill with chilled Cream Filling. Halve two cups of the strawberries. Pile atop filling.

Glaze: Crush remaining ½ cup berries; add water; cook 2 minutes; sieve. Mix sugar and cornstarch: gradually stir in berry juice. Cook, and stir until thick and clear. Tint to desired color with food coloring. Cool slightly; pour over halved strawberries. Keep refrigerated till serving time. Pass whipped cream, if desired.

Cream Filling
(for Strawberry Cream Pie)
Really? I thought it was for Date Pinwheels 30 pages away. Sorry, the sarcasm seems to be oozing out of me today. I think I need a piece of pie.

½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons enriched flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 slightly beaten egg
½ cup heavy cream, whipped
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix first 4 ingredients. Gradually stir in milk. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil; reduce heat and stir until thick. Stir a little of the hot mixture into egg; return to remaining hot mixture. Bring just to boiling, stirring constantly. Cool, then chill. (It will be very gelatinous after chilling.) Beat well; fold in whipped cream and vanilla.

Recipe from p77 of the "Better Homes & Gardens Dessert Cook Book", published 1960. Pictures by Laura Flowers.

Mom’s Chocolate Waffle Cookies

I had a dream about a month ago. Clear as day I had a vision of my mother in a hospital after surgery and I was taking care of her. I woke Jesse to tell him about my dream. Unlike normal dreams, this is one I refer to as a preparation dream. During the dream I felt strong and calm. As if I understood this is supposed to be, or planned rather.

A week later my mother called telling me about a mouse-sized growth in her throat, and that she was making an appointment to get it checked out. The biopsy was benign, and a five-hour surgery took place yesterday. Everything turned out well, but she has some recovery ahead of her.

As I sit in the hospital keeping vigil, these cookies remind me of her and of my own childhood. Every Christmas she would pull out the waffle iron as far back as I can remember, and make these magical cookies. Magical to me at least. To a little foodie, cookies in a waffle iron were something special, and much different than the Toll House Chocolate Chip ones she would make on other occasions.

These cookies provide me with visual reminders of our kitchen in our split-level orange home in College Place, Washington. There was a chocolate brown refrigerator that I often yanked open to peer inside for snacks when I was bored or hungry. Attached to the kitchen was the main dining area where Mom kept a bookcase stuffed full of her many cookbooks. I would pull them down, rummaging through 1960s and 1970s Better Homes and Gardens looking at the pictures even before I could read. Maybe this is where my passion for food and photography began now that I think about it.

In college I realized that I wanted to someday be good enough to copy historical images. I needed to understand the concepts of art as well as master the technical side of photography before I could even think of trying. I also realized that I would have to work differently with light, composition, and Photoshop to come close to producing the same qualities that certain films created. I wasn’t sure I could do this, but I did try.

Somehow, the top shot has the qualities of a dying Andy Warholesque time; ridged, uncomfortable, structured. Too shiny, and not screaming out that this is food. More art than not, it needs a macramé plant holder to accompany it. Or maybe a few random figurines! The bottom shot is a more modern look; warm, casual, unstructured, and much like you wouldn’t disrupt the scene if you snatched a cookie for yourself.

I remember my mother always used canned frosting. She loves canned frosting. I myself am not so fond of the stuff, unless it’s on these cookies, as the canned version somehow magically stays soft, probably from all the chemicals in it. Although, I have been known to make my own chocolate frosting to smear over the top.

My mom will get better, and I realize there are moments where she will need me, as I needed her when I was younger and will likely need her again. It’s all part of this pretty darn wonderful life, and I feel strong, protective, and brave enough to face forward.

Mom’s Chocolate Waffle Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 ½ cups sugar

½ teaspoon salt

4 eggs

¾ cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 to 2 containers of canned chocolate frosting

1. Preheat Belgian waffle maker.

2. In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and salt. Then beat in eggs until well incorporated. Mix in cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Then add the flour and mix until just combined.

3. With a standard (size 50) cookie scoop, scoop the dough and drop onto the hot waffle iron onto the sections. Cook 90 seconds per waffle. Carefully remove the hot waffle from the iron with a spatula to a cooling rack.

4. Once cooled, frost with chocolate frosting as desired. Or as I do, eat them sans frosting.

Recipe from Linda Komberec. Pictures by Laura Flowers.

The Case of the Missing Meatloaf, Its 1950s Replacement, and a Goat

I lost my meatloaf last week and can’t find it anywhere. How does one lose a meatloaf? I thought I placed the leftovers in a small container. Did I actually do this? Am I going crazy? No one claims to have touched it, and Rocky the Dogapotamus is much too short to reach the counter, and hasn’t yet figured out how to open the refrigerator.

This has left me particularly on edge and paranoid. My running shoes went missing too, but then I remembered tripping over them in the middle of the night on my way to the bathroom. I’ve lost my keys as usual, but they somehow turned up as well. So where is this missing meatloaf? Even the container is gone.

I think I’m losing my mind.

Anyway, I decided to replace the missing meatloaf with a recipe out of the 1950s The Family Home Cookbook I purchased from Evalois, a woman in Lewiston, Idaho who's purging her life-long cookbook collection.

When I open this book I can’t help myself, I start to laugh and can’t stop. Every savory recipe in this nutty text is seasoned with enough salt to make your eyes twitch, and don’t forget the Accent! Accent is a seasoning product consisting of MSG and a few specks of spices. No wonder everyone who lived through the 1950s has such fond food memories. I would too if everything I ate had MSG in it, including the water for all those boiled vegetables. Of course I would have also had a killer headache.

I wonder if enough people smoked that they could no longer taste food without the excess salt saturation. Or maybe people were accustomed to more salt back then, and our food today is too bland. Or just maybe we spice our food today instead of salting it to the hilt all the time. Who knows, I’m just guessing here, but I can see why physicians used to tell their patients to cut back on the salt!

I’ve copied the recipe for you in its original form, including the bold of the ingredient list and their spacing. I left notes in parentheses the way I made it, but feel free to follow the original recipe. Just don’t complain I didn’t warn you.

I’m still missing my meatloaf. I’m afraid that I’m going to find it in a cupboard five years from now. I wonder if one can smell rotting meatloaf through an airtight plastic container.

This might be further proof I’m going nuts, or perhaps it might prove I’m not as crazy as I think I am. Driving down a main street in the city of Clarkston, Washington last week I spotted a man walking his goat on a leash. I thought I must have been seeing things, and decided to turn around and stop my car.

Whew, I wasn’t seeing things. This guy was taking Scooby Doo the Goat, his beloved potty trained house pet for a walk. All I had on me was my lame camera phone, but I had to grab a shot anyway. I didn't catch the man’s name, but he looks identical to the "Miner 49er" from the old Scooby Doo cartoon. So Miner 49er he is.

Miner 49er asked me not to call Scooby a goat, as he believes himself to be a dog. And you thought I was crazy? Although I admit, a pet goat might be a lot of fun to walk down a city street.

Meat Muffins
(Heh. I like the words, "meat muffins".)

Grease twelve 2 1/2–in. muffin-pan wells. (These grease grenades do fine in a nonstick pan without any extra grease)

Combine and mix lightly
1 ¼ lbs. ground beef
½ lb. ground pork
2 cups (2 slices) soft bread crumbs (Ground up in the food processor for me)
1 cup milk (way too much, I added a ½ cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

and a mixture of
2 teaspoons salt (Holy cow, cut this in half unless you really really like salt)
1 teaspoon accent (Does this really need an MSG bomb on top of too much salt?)
½ teaspoon thyme
¼ teaspoon pepper

Divide mixture into 12 equal portions. Pack meat mixture lightly into muffin wells.

Bake at 350°F about 40 min.

Meanwhile, blend together and set aside
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup ketchup

After 20 min. of baking time, spoon about 2 teaspoons ketchup mixture on top of each meat muffin and continue baking. Unmold.

12 Meat Muffins

UNMOLD MEAT LOAVES-With spatula, gently loosen meat from sides of pan. Pour off excess juices; invert onto platter and remove pan. For meat loaves with topping, pour off excess juices and lift loaf onto platter with two wide spatulas.

Recipe from “The Family Home Cookbook” by the Staff Home Economists at the Culinary Arts Institute. Melanie De Proft, Director. Copyright 1956 & 1963. Pictures and write-up by Laura Flowers, cartoon still from Scooby Doo.

WWII Caramel Refrigerator Cookies

I fumble around for a light switch as I walk softly in my skull printed Vans into the dark, cool reception room of a VFW Lodge. I find one, and suddenly spots of light float about the still dark room. Was this place alive once? It must have been, as old pictures of numerous past commanders run along the walls.

These men were once young, and grow older in visual records as time races forward. Fewer new faces come, and most of the old ones are gone now, giving the wispy ghost-like darkness a haunted feeling. I trail down the wall to the 1940s, my favorite era in time.

Young men, and many just home from the war, but I want to slide back just a bit further than these old photographs. I want to visit the time when these men were off fighting in foreign countries, and their wives, girlfriends, mothers, grandmothers, sisters and neighbors were taking responsibility for daily living. They did all this, all the while worrying about how they were going to make it, and how and if their loved ones would return home. Between newly acquired production line jobs and food rationing, women had to simplify their baking. Everyone was united in this war effort, either begrudgingly or wholeheartedly, but united nonetheless.

During this time, “Betty Crocker” printed a recipe for Caramel Refrigerator Cookies, which soon became an American favorite. These cookies were easy enough, stored quite well in the refrigerator until you needed them, and used brown sugar instead of precious rationed granulated sugar. They were also straightforward and not too sweet. Just the way I like my cookies.

I am in awe of the women who made it through this difficult time. They truly lived, good and bad, for better and worse. And after, they coped, celebrated, and had children. They moved forward, promoted service and veterans organizations, and changed the world. What an amazing time to be alive.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Caramel Refrigerator Cookies
½ cup shortening. (part butter or shortening)
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ¾ cups Gold Medal Flour
½ teaspoon soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix shortening, sugar, egg, and vanilla thoroughly. Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Stir flour, soda, and salt together; stir in. Form in roll 2 ½” across. Wrap in wax paper. Chill until firm.

Heat oven to 400° (mod. hot). Cut in 1/8th” slices. Place slices a little apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 min., or until lightly browned. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.


My Notes
1. Lay a piece of wax paper on top of the cookies and place a piece of bread on the paper. This will keep the cookies fresh longer.

2. I doubled the recipe, and used half shortening and half unsalted butter.

3. I changed the vanilla to 1 Tablespoon for the double batch.

4. I froze the cookie logs for easier slicing.

5. I baked the cookies on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

6. Soda in this recipe means baking soda.


Recipe in its original form from “Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book”. Write-up and pictures by Laura Flowers.

Mike's Childhood Chocolate Drops

My Colorado friend Mike and I spent a good part of a Wednesday on Skype recreating his favorite childhood cookie. His grandmother Dorothy has been making these for him since he was about two. I'm guessing this recipe goes back at least to the 1940s, perhaps earlier.

The only addition I made was an extra teaspoon of vanilla and a little salt. I also decreased the milk by a half a cup. I think today our eggs are larger and I didn't need as much liquid as the recipe called for.

These cookies are very old time flavored with all the brown sugar and just a bit of cocoa powder. You can certainly modernize the recipe with more cocoa powder, less brown sugar, and by adding some granulated sugar.

Cookies:
4 1/2 cups flour
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
4 Tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

Frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3rd cup cocoa powder
6 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

Topping:
Pecans, about 40 halves

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Place parchment paper on 3 large cookie sheets.

Cookies:
In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, & cocoa powder. With mixer cream butter with sugar until fluffy, then add eggs vanilla and milk. Add flour mixture in quarters until just combined. Measure dough into 1 ounce pieces, roll into a ball and flatten slightly into a disk shape. Place on cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheets for 4 minutes and remove to a cooling rack. Let cool completely.

Frosting:
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined. Then process for about a minute to make slightly fluffy.

Pecans:
Place on a jelly roll sheet and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 4 or 5 minutes shaking every minute or two until toasty. Immediately spread out on a plate and let cool.

Assembly:
With an offset spatula frost each cookie and set a pecan half on the center.