Fried Scones

Dad was raised in Northern New South Wales. Apparently, his mom was a good cook, and dad often spoke about her fried scone recipe. Mom and I attempted to perfect the fried scone recipe... we got it as close to dad's taste memory as we could. We think that his mom saved up the fat drippings in a jar all week, and then fried the scones in the drippings at the end of the week to use it up. How eco-friendly is that? (Though not sure what it would do to your insides!)



Fried Scones

Use the basic Scone recipe

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, enough to shallow fry.
Roll out scone recipe and cut into rounds about 1" thick.
Place scones in hot oil.
Here's the trick... cover the frying pan with a lid while the scones are frying... this will trap the heat in and cook the scones in the middle.
It takes about two minutes a side over medium heat to cook the scones.
Serve hot with golden syrup.

Lazy Daisy Cake

I've made this recipe a couple of times now, and love it! The cake is really easy to make... and very yummy too.



Lazy Daisy Cake Cake

1 cup sifted cake flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar**
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup milk, scalded***
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons cream or evaporated milk
1 cup shredded coconut

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350F. (180C)
Sift flour once, measure and resift twice with the baking powder and salt.
Beat eggs with a rotary beater until very light.
Add sugar gradually and continue to beat until thick and lemon colored.
Fold dry ingredi­ents into egg mixture, gently but thor­oughly.
Combine butter with scalded milk and vanilla and add to batter, stirring un­til blended.
Pour into a greased 9 by 9 by 2-inch pan and bake about 25 minutes, or until done.
Re­move from oven and cool.

For topping:
Combine sugar, butter and cream and cook over low heat until butter and sugar are melted.
Remove from heat, add coconut and spread on top of the cake.
Place about 2 inches under broiler heat and brown lightly, about 5 minutes.
Re­move from the broiler and serve warm or cold.

*Cake Flour: An easy way to do this is to put 2 tablespoons of the cornstarch into the bottom of a 1 cup measure, then fill to the top with flour.

**Recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, but mom switched it to 3/4 as 1 cup is too sweet. But if you like it really sweet, by all means make it 1 cup!

***Scalding: Many older recipes called for you to scald milk, that is, to bring it nearly to a boil and stirring. Scalding served two purposes, to kill potentially harmful bacteria in the milk, and to destroy enzymes that keep the milk from thickening in recipes. Pasteurization, however, accomplishes both of those goals, and since almost all store-bought milk in Western countries is pasteurized these days, scalding is essentially an unnecessary step. Another reason some recipes continue to call for scalded milk is that they simply want you to heat the milk first, as it will speed the cooking process, help melt butter, dissolve sugar more easily, etc.

Pie Finishes

From the Canadian Robin Flour cookbook... ways to finish your pie crust. Mom was perfect at the ruffle edge. I've tried and tried, but can never get the edge as flawless as she did. Guess I just need a little more practice! (The "Glamour Tops' subtitle makes me giggle. Bling was alive and well in the 50s, so it appears!)

Apple Pie

Mom's apple pie was so good, it has spoiled me for any other. Flaky crust, and the absence of cinnamon in the apple mixture ... it melts in your mouth. (Mom and I were in agreement that cinnamon takes away from the apples. Especially low-grade cinnamon in store bought pies that taste of grit.) The only way to improve this pie is with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

(How classic is this 1950s illustration of the doting housewife serving her husband a homemade apple pie?)

Apple Pie

1 recipe pie dough - click here for recipe
8 medium sized apples (about 5 cups, sliced)
3/4 cups of sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 450F.
Peel, core and slice apples.
Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a bowl and blend thoroughly.

Add sliced apples to the sugar mixture. (Mom sometimes started the cooking process of the apples in the microwave for a minute or two.)
Line a 9-inch pie pan with half the pie dough rolled 1/8 inch thick.
Arrange sliced apples and sugar mixture in the pan. Drizzle lemon juice over the top, then dot with butter.
Adjust the top crust, cutting several vents to allow for the escape of steam.
Trim and seal the edges and bake in a 450-degree F. oven for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. and con­tinue to bake for 45 minutes longer, or until the apples are tender.

Fried Scones

Dad was raised in Northern New South Wales. Apparently, his mom was a good cook, and Dad often spoke about her fried scone recipe. Mom and I attempted to perfect the fried scone recipe... we got it as close to dad's taste memory as we could. We think that his mom saved up the fat drippings in a jar all week, and then fried the scones in the drippings at the end of the week to use it up. How eco-friendly is that? (Though not sure what it would do to your insides!)

Fried Scones

Use the basic Scone recipe

Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, enough to shallow fry.
Roll out scone recipe and cut into rounds about 1" thick.
Place scones in hot oil.
Here's the trick... cover the frying pan with a lid while the scones are frying... this will trap the heat in and cook the scones in the middle.
It takes about two minutes a side over medium heat to cook the scones.
Serve hot with golden syrup.

Pancakes

Pancakes

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tbsp melted shortening or salad oil

Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add sugar, baking powder and salt; stir well to blend.
Combine milk, egg and shortening in a small bowl. Mix well.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Beat with a rotary beater until smooth.
Grease hot griddle for first pancakes only. Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto griddle. Bake until puffy and bubbly. Turn and bake other side.
Yield 10 6” pancakes.

When we were kids, dad would make pancakes for us every Saturday morning. He would shape them into Mickey Mouse ears... we thought he was the bee's knees!

Ice Cream

Thought this was an appropriate time to share the picture of mom's ice cream scoop and grandma's ice cream dish... we always waffles topped with ice cream and syrup.

Waffles

Waffles

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 eggs, separated
1/3 cup melted shortening (or oil)

Sift flour into mixing bowl. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well to blend.
Combine milk, egg yolks, and melted shortening. Mix well.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix well.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter.
Bake on preheated waffle iron until golden brown.
Yield 4 9” square waffles.

I added the picture of the recipe for Dale... he was reminiscing about the illustrations in the cookbooks. They are kind of cute and retro!