Old-fashioned Chocolate Mint Blancmange

Chocolate Mint Blancmange on plate Summer is the perfect time to make chilled desserts, so I was pleased to find a hundred-year-old recipe for Chocolate Mint Blancmange.

Chocolate Mint Blancmange is smooth and chocolaty with the essence of mint. It is made with milk and thickened with gelatin, and topped with whipped cream.

This molded dessert seemed old-fashioned, but the taste and texture reminded me of some of the small individual- serving chocolate desserts that I’ve had at restaurants or hotels. I think that Chocolate Mint Blancmange would seem much more trendy and modern if put into individual serving cups.

Here’s the original recipe:

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Chocolate Mint Blancmange

Servings: 6 - 8
Time: 30 minutes active prep time
Difficulty: moderate
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3 packets (0.25 ounce) of unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup cold water

3 ounces grated chocolate or 5 tablespoons cocoa (I used cocoa.)

1 quart (4 cups) milk

1 cup sugar

dash of salt

3 or 4 drops of peppermint extract

whipped cream

Place the cold water in a small bowl; then sprinkle the gelatin over the water. Let the gelatin absorb the water and soften for a few minutes.

In the meantime put the milk in a large saucepan and bring to a boil using medium heat; stir constantly. Stir in sugar, chocolate (or cocoa), and salt. Add the softened gelatin while continuing to stir constantly. Once the gelatin has dissolved, remove from heat. Strain and let partially cool for a few minutes, then add the peppermint extract and stir. Put into a 5 or 6 cup mold (or put into individual serving dishes or cups). Chill until firm (at least 4 hours).

To serve (if molded): Quickly dip the mold in hot water, then unmold onto serving plate.

Serve with whipped cream.

http://www.ahundredyearsago.com

Old-fashioned Chocolate Mint Sauce for Ice Cream

Last week I did a post on a hundred-year-old recipe for Mint Syrup. In that post, I said that the syrup could be used in coffee (it’s delicious) – but several readers suggested that it would be wonderful on ice cream, especially if it was mixed with chocolate syrup.

Well, great minds think alike – and it goes across the years. The magazine that contained the Mint Syrup recipe, also contained a recipe for Chocolate Mint Sauce for Ice Cream.

This sauce was much thicker than most modern chocolate syrups, but it was delightful on vanilla ice cream. The hundred-year-old recipe calls for lots of brown sugar and only one tablespoon of cocoa. I expected the syrup not to be chocolaty enough – but I was wrong. It had just the right amount of chocolate with the brown sugar apparently contributing to the rich flavor.

Here’s the original recipe. (I’m also including the Mint Syrup recipe, so that you don’t need to go back to last week’s post.)

Source: Good Housekeeping (August, 1917)

I found this recipe challenging. When I made it, the sauce quickly hardened into a candy-like consistency. I reheated it and added butter. I then removed from the heat and stirred rapidly until the sauce began to thicken – and it again got too thick, so I added water (quite a bit of it), and stirred until the consistency seemed right for a sauce.

Here is the recipe updated for modern cooks – though I feel like it still needs a bit more tweaking. If you try this recipe, I hope you’ll add comments about how well it turned out – and whether you made additional revisions to the recipe.

Chocolate Mint Sauce

Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: difficult
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Chocolate Mint Sauce

2 cups brown sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup mint syrup (see recipe below)

1/2 – 1 cup water, if needed

Put the brown sugar and cocoa in a sauce pan; stir to combine. Gradually add the milk while stirring. Bring to a boil using medium heat, then reduce heat and cook until it forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water (238° F.). Remove from heat, stir in the butter. After the butter has melted, add the mint syrup. Stir rapidly until the sauce begins to thicken; add water if the sauce is too thick. Serve on ice cream.

Mint Syrup

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup mint leaves

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan; then add the mint leaves. Bring to a boil using medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer until the liquid begins to thicken to a syrup consistency (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat; strain and cool.

Hundred-Year-Old Mint Syrup Recipe

I love fine coffee – and I hate to admit it, but I like it even better when I add a little flavored coffee syrup. I often feel guilty. Many commercial coffee syrups contain corn syrup and have lots of artificial ingredients.

I no longer need to feel guilty. I found a recipe for the perfect Mint Syrup in the place I would have least expected – in a hundred-year-magazine. It’s made with fresh mint leaves and there’s not a bit of corn syrup in it (though there is lots of sugar, so maybe I should continue to feel just a bit guilty). This simple syrup highlights the bright, complex nuanced flavor of the mint, and is wonderful in coffee and other beverages and foods.

Here’s the original recipe:

And here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Mint Syrup

Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup mint leaves

Hundred-Year-Old Orange and Mint Salad Recipe

Orange and Mint Salad is bright and sunny; and the perfect antidote to boring winter foods. The bite-size chunks of orange are mixed with chopped mint, and then drenched in a delightful citrus and wine liquid to create a refreshing, yet light salad (or dessert).

. . . hmm. . . . Now that I think about it, this salad would also be lovely on a hot summer day. Bottom line: This salad is good whenever you eat it.

Here’s the hundred-year-old recipe

And, here’s how I updated it for modern cooks.

Orange and Mint Salad

Servings: 3 - 4
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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3 medium navel oranges

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons mint, chopped

2 tablespoons wine

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice (optional)

maraschino cherries and mint sprigs, for garnish

Peel the oranges using care to remove the white membrane. Pull the orange segments apart into two halves, and then pull them apart again so there are quarters. Slice the quarters into pieces about 1/3 inch thick. Put the orange pieces in a bowl, and gently stir in the powdered sugar and mint.

In a small bowl combine the wine, lemon juice, and orange juice (and, if desired, the maraschino cherry juice). Pour the liquid over the orange and mint mixture.

Serve in champagne (or other decorative) glasses. Garnish with maraschino cherries and mint sprigs.

I only used half as many oranges as were called for in the old recipe. I also halved the amount of mint that I used. I did use the full amount of the other ingredients so that I would have plenty of liquid to pour over the orange pieces.

I also added a little maraschino cherry juice to the liquid to give it a lovely pink hue.

And, I skipped the angelica because it’s not easy to find these days. Angelica is the dark green candied fruit that was frequently used in fruit cakes in days gone by.

Angel Tip (Nonalcoholic) Recipe

Happy Labor Day!

I plan to relax and enjoy the day with family and friends—and I may serve Angel Tip. This refreshing grape and mint cooler is perfect for all ages.

I found this recipe in a 1915 Good Housekeeping magazine. Angel Tip recipes generally include alcohol, but this one doesn’t. I’ve never seen a recipe that called for alcohol in a hundred-year-old women’s magazine. The 18^th amendment, which instituted prohibition, went into effect in 1920. In the years preceding its enactment, public opinion and the media strongly supported prohibition, so alcoholic drinks were generally taboo in magazine recipe sections.

Angel Tip

Crushed ice

Mint leaves

Grape-juice

Sweetened whipped-cream

Use tall ice tea glasses. Fill each glass with crushed ice. Stir in a few (5-7 per glass) crushed mint leaves. Add the grape juice, and top with the whipped cream, and a sprig of mint. Serve with straws or long-handled spoons. Home-made grape-juice is preferable for this drink, but the commercial varieties may be used successfully.

To make homemade whipped cream, use 1/4 cup whipping cream per glass of Angel Tip. Whip the cream until there are stiff peaks; then, for each serving, stir in 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar.

Adaptation of recipe in Good Housekeeping (October, 1915)

You may notice that this is my second post this month that uses mint. Last week I did a post on Mint Glazed Apples. The mint plants in my garden are succulent and green this time of year, yet I have few recipes that use mint. I’m excited to find some old-time recipes that call for this healthful herb.

Glazed Mint Apples Recipe

I love these last lazy-daisy days of summer. The apples are ripe, the mint plants in my garden are going wild—and I found a recipe that used both ingredients in a hundred-year-old magazine.

Glazed Mint Apples are easy to make: and a healthy, refreshing dessert. Life is good!

Glazed Mint Apples

6 apples (McIntosh or other variety that retains shape when cooked)

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 dozen mint sprigs

Boil sugar and water together for fifteen minutes. Pare and core apples, and place in a frying pan. Pour the sugar syrup over them, add eighteen of the mint-sprigs tied in a bunch, and simmer slowly. Turn often to prevent them from becoming mushy. Each time the apples are turned, use spoon to baste apples with sugar syrup. When the apples have softened (about 20 minutes), remove carefully from pan, baste with a small amount syrup, and put a sprig of mint in the hole of each apple. Serve warm or cold.

Adapted from a recipe in Good Housekeeping (October, 1915)