Old-Time Cheese Delight (Cheese & Bread Custard)

Cheese Delight (Cheese and Bread Custard) As the holidays are beginning to wind down, I’m in the mood for comfort food. So, when I came across a hundred-year-old recipe for Cheese Delight, I was intrigued and decided to give it a try.

Cheese Delight is a delicate cheese and bread custard. It is not the same as modern egg and cheese casseroles that often contain bacon, onions, and green peppers. If you can set aside any possible expectation that Cheese Delight will be the same as modern egg and cheese casseroles, you will will enjoy this dish.

The original recipe called for using American cheese. I thought about updating it to go with a natural cheese that has a tangier flavor, but decided to stick with the recipe author’s choice. The mild and creamy nature of American Cheese (and velvety smoothness when it melts) worked well in this recipe, and made this dish a delightful, old-fashioned comfort food.

Here is the original recipe:

Cheese Delight Recipe — Source: Ladies Home Journal (September, 1925)

I decided to put the custard in a baking dish rather than make individual cups of custard.

When I made this recipe, I added chopped parsley to the egg mixture. I sprinkled a little paprika on the top before putting in the oven to bake, but I could not see the paprika when I took the dish out of the oven, so would not bother putting any on it if I made the dish again.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Cheese Delight (Cheese and Bread Pudding)

Servings: 3 - 4
Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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2 eggs

1 1/2 cups bread torn into 1/2-inch cubes (I used half white bread and half whole wheat bread.)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 pound American cheese, grated (about 6 slices) (I folded the cheese slices to make a small stack and then grated with a box grater.)

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Step 1. Preheat oven to 325° F.

Step 2. Put the eggs in a mixing bowl and beat. Stir in the milk, salt, and pepper. Add the bread cubes and the grated cheese; stir until all ingredients are evenly distributed. Stir in the chopped parsley.

Step 3. Pour into individual custard cups or into a 1-quart baking dish.

Step 4. Place the custard cups or baking dish in a pan of hot water and place in the oven.

Step 5. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the pudding comes out nearly clean. (It may not be totally clean because of the melted cheese.) It will take a less baking time if individual cups were used than if the mixture was put into a baking dish.

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Cracking Walnuts with Family and Friends Over the Holidays

walnuts in bowl — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1925)

A DIAMOND Walnut advertisement in a hundred-year-old magazine said:

Be sure to have [walnuts] throughout all the holidays – a standing invitation to partake of the distinctive hospitality of your home. They are fireside companions that the entire family will enjoy.

Ladies Home Journal (December, 1925)

Some traditions don’t change (at least not much). I have a bowl of nuts — I went with mixed nuts instead of walnuts — ready for my family to crack and eat as we sit around the fire.

nut bowl

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

“Food for the Gods” (Date Crumbles) Recipe

Date Crumbles with whipped cream topping I recently came across an intriguing recipe in a 1925 issue of Farm Journal. The recipe was labeled “food for the gods or date crumbles.” What a bold assertion! Could this recipe possibly be that good? I had to find out, so next thing I knew I was making the recipe.

Date Crumbles had a crispy crust, with lot of nuts in the middle. The dates cooked down to create a lovely, sweet date filling on the bottom. I scooped the Date Crumbles out of the pan, and put it in serving glasses (dishes would also work just fine). I served it with whipped cream. I thoroughly enjoyed this dessert.

Here is the original recipe:

recipe for "food for the gods" — Source: Farm Journal (April, 1925)

It’s fascinating that the old recipe directs cooks to serve it in “tall glasses.” I took this to mean stemware. I envision Farm Journal readers, living in remote rural locations, feeling like they were serving a very elegant dessert when they put the Date Crumbles in stemmed glasses and topped it with whipped cream. After all, they were serving “food for the gods.”

I did not want 16 servings, so I made half of the recipe. That said, I don’t think that half of this recipe would be enough for 8 people, so when I updated the recipe, I indicated that it would make 5 – 7 servings.

I assumed that a “slow oven” meant setting the temperature at 300° F.

As I prepared to bake the date mixture, I considered putting it in a baking dish instead of a pie pan as indicated in the old recipe; but, in the end just used an old 9-inch metal pie pan that I had and that worked well. A baking dish would also work. Date Crumbles in pan

I would not store Date Crumbles in a tin box. When I made this recipe, I ate some of it right away, and covered the remainder in the pan that it was baked in. It also could be stored in a food storage container.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Food for the Gods (Date Crumbles)

Servings: 5 - 7
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: easy
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1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup nuts, chopped (I used pecans.)

1/2 cup dates, chopped

whipped cream

Step 1. Preheat oven to 300° F.

Step 2. Put egg, sugar, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.

Step 3. Stir in the chopped nuts and dates.

Step 4. Put the mixture in a greased pie pan or other baking dish (an 8″ X 8″ dish would work well), and spread it out.

Step 5. Put in oven and bake for 45 minutes.

Step 6. Use a spoon to “crumble” the baked dessert; put into dessert dishes or glasses to serve. May be served hot or cold. Top with whipped cream.

Note: The Date Crumbles can be covered and stored in the pan that it was baked in or it can be “crumbled” and stored in a tightly covered container.

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Old-Fashioned King George’s Steamed Pudding

Steamed puddings, with their subtle blending of flavors, are a traditional cold weather dessert. For generations, cooks regularly made steamed puddings on their wood or coal stoves. The stoves were used for both cooking and heat, so they were hot all day, and it was easy to cook a pudding that needed to be steamed for several hours.

Hundred-year-old cookbooks contain numerous steamed pudding recipes, but as people shifted to more modern heating and cooking methods, steamed pudding become less popular because of their long cooking time (and concerns about the energy cost of steaming a food for several hours). That’s a pity. Steamed puddings make a lovely dessert.

I found a nice recipe for King George’s Pudding in a 1925 cookbook and decided to give it a try. Myth has it that King George I requested steamed pudding for a Christmas feast in the 1700’s, and that the request resulted in him being considered the “pudding king.”

The King George’s Pudding was sweet and moist with a dense texture that is characteristic of steamed puddings. The old recipe says to serve the pudding with a sweet sauce. I decided to make a lovely Lemon Sauce that I previously posted. A Vanilla Sauce or Brandy Sauce would also work well.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for King George Pudding — Source: The Rumford Complete Cookbook (1925)

Cooks regularly update recipes to adapt to changing tastes or to use new ingredients. This recipe clearly is not a replicate of the steamed pudding served at King George’s Christmas feast. It calls for both very traditional pudding ingredients such as suet and an ingredient (flaked cereal) that would have be considered “modern” in 1925. Suet has a high melting point which results in it melting slowly. This gives the pudding a lovely spongy texture. When I made the recipe, I used bran flakes for the flaked cereal.

King George's Pudding with Lemon Sauce

Servings: 7 - 9
Time: 3 hours 20 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup suet, finely chopped

1 cup flaked cereal (I used bran flakes.)

1 egg

1/2 cup dark-colored jam (e.g., plum, raspberry, blackberry, currant) (I used currant.)

1/3 cup milk

Step 1. Put flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl; stir to mix. Add chopped suet; stir to coat the suet with the flour mixture. Add flaked cereal; stir until evenly dispersed in the mixture. Set aside.

Step 2. Put the egg in another bowl. Beat egg, then add jam and continue beating until mixed. Add milk and stir. Add this mixture to the bowl with the other ingredients.

Step 3. Put the batter into a greased mold or bowl (1 1/2 pint or larger), cover and steam for 3 hours.

Step 4. Remove bowl or mold from pan or steamer. Let sit for 15 minutes, then unmold.

Step 4. Serve hot with a sweet sauce such as Vanilla Sauce or Lemon Sauce.

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1925 “Charles Dickens” Christmas Menu + Recipe for Apples Stuffed with Prunes and Nuts

For close to two hundred years, the story of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens has been told and repeated. It was published in 1843, and its story of redemption and transformation has resonated ever since. Some people today even host Dickens’ themed dinners with classic foods based on the cuisine in the book. For example, Food and Wine provides guidance on how to serve Scrooge’s menu on Christmas.

Amazingly, people have been hosting dinners with menus based on the foods in A Christmas Carol for at least a hundred years. A menu for a Charles Dickens Christmas Dinner appeared in the December, 1925 issue of Ladies Home Journal. It included roast goose, boiled onions, mashed potatoes, plum pudding, and other foods. A companion article described how to roast and carve a goose.

In the old magazine, there were red-tinted apples stuffed with chopped prunes and nuts in the foreground of an image of the roast goose. The articles included directions for making the stuffed apple garnish:

Recipe for Stuffed Apples — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1925)

I had no desire to roast a goose, but I was fascinated by the stuffed apple garnish. The directions called for tinting peeled apples red, poaching them, and then stuffing them with chopped prunes and nuts. I decided to try making a few stuffed apples.

The Stuffed Apples with Chopped Prunes and Nuts were a vibrant red, and would make an impressive garnish or dessert. They were very tasty with a lovely mix of tastes and texture. When I got ready to eat an apple, I cut it in half, and was amazed how beautiful the white interior of the apple looked against the red background of the parts of the apple that had the red coloring. An optional way to present the apples would be to cut them all in half.

The old directions were for twelve apples. I didn’t want that many, so when I updated the recipe, I reduced it to 3 apples. For the syrup that the apples are poached in, I divided the amount of sugar by three, but proportionately used more water than in the original recipe. I did this because even though I made fewer apples, I still needed sufficient syrup to successfully poach the apples. I also had some issues with the syrup getting too thick if I didn’t add additional water.

The old recipe doesn’t identify what type of nuts to use. I used walnuts.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Apples Stuffed with Prunes and Nuts

Servings: 3 apples
Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: moderate
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3 apples (Use a variety that maintains shape when cooked. I used Honeycrisp.)

6 prunes

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup sugar + additional sugar to sprinkle on top

1 cup water + additional water to cook prunes

1/2 teaspoon liquid red food coloring (Adjust amount if very light or dark red apples are desired.)

Peel and core the apples. Combine the sugar and water in a pan that is large enough to hold the apples; bring to a boil using medium heat. Stir in the red food coloring, and add the apples. Reduce heat so the syrup very gently boils while the apples poach. Periodically roll the apples to get them evenly colored. Add additional water if the syrup gets too thick. The lid can be put on the pan to help the apples cook more evenly. Cook until the apples are just barely tender (and not so long that they begin to fall apart).

In the meantime, put the prunes in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat. Let sit for a few minutes, then drain and chop the prunes. Combine the chopped prunes and chopped walnuts. Set aside.

Line a dish or pan that can be put under the broiler with foil. Set the cooked apples in the lined dish and stuff with the chopped prune and walnut mixture. Sprinkle sugar on top of the stuffed apples. Put under the broiler and broil until the sugar melts (1 – 2 minutes).

The stuffed apples can be served whole or cut in half before serving. They work well as either a garnish or a dessert.

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Mignons Cookies Recipe

I recently found a hundred-year-old recipe for Mignons, and decided to give it a try. Mignons are almond cut-out cookies. The cookie dough contains ground almonds, as well as a little cinnamon; and, there are chopped almonds on the top of the cookies.

Mignons Cookies on plate The name of these cookies seemed a bit confusing to me. I wasn’t sure what “mignon” meant, but kept thinking of Filet Mignon, so looked up the definition of “mignon.” According to Dictionary.com, mignon means “small and pretty; delicately pretty.” It’s an apt description of these cookies. They are visually appealing, light, and tender cookies.

The Mignons had a lovely almond flavor, with just a hint of cinnamon. They would be perfect with a cup of coffee, or on a holiday cookie tray.

Here’s the original recipe:

Mignons Cookies on plate Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Mignons Cookies

Servings: approximately 36 cookies
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
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½ cup butter, softened

½ cup sugar + additional sugar to sprinkle on top of cookies

3 eggs, separated

¼ cup sliced almonds, ground fine (They can be ground with a blender or food processor) + approximately 2/3 cup sliced almonds, chopped

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

milk, if needed

Step 1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

Step 2. Put butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, then cream. Stir in the egg yolks, then the ground almonds, cinnamon, baking powder, and vanilla. Add the flour, stir to make a dough that can be rolled. (If the dough is too dry add a small amount of milk).

Step 3. Put the dough on a prepared surface, and roll the dough until it is ¼ inch thick, then cut with a cookie cutter. (Relatively small cookie cutters that are basic shapes work best.) Put the cookies on a plate and brush the cookie tops lightly with egg white, then sprinkle chopped almonds and sugar on the cookies; press firmly to ensure that the almonds stay put. (It works best to put the almonds on before the sugar.)

Step 4. Put the cookies on a greased cookie sheet, then put in oven and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned.

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Old-Fashioned Potato Griddle Scones

Potato Griddle Scones on plate

Old-fashioned, thick and fluffy Potato Griddle Scones are perfect for cozy winter breakfasts. I recently found a delightful hundred-year-old recipe for them that puts me in the mindset of cooks back then.

Cooks a hundred years ago cooked almost every day, and wanted quick and easy recipes that used inexpensive ingredients while satisfying a hungry family. Potato Griddle Scones fit the bill for those frugal cooks. The recipe calls for mashed potatoes, and are a perfect way to use left-over mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes are mixed with flour, milk and a few other basic ingredients, and the scones take just a few minutes to make.

The old recipe called for rolling the dough into a circle that is 3/4 inch thick, cutting into triangles, and then cooking on a griddle or in a skillet. This results in lovely, thick scones. They are thicker than many modern Potato Griddle Scones. I can picture cooks a hundred years ago making these scones in a cast iron skillet with a large family clamoring in the background for breakfast. Satisfying amounts of the scones could have been quickly made and ready to eat, as compared to the slower process of cooking just a few thin pancakes at a time on a griddle or skillet with limited space on the top.

Warm Potato Griddle Scones are lovely with a little jam or butter smeared on them. They also make a nice lunch or dinner quick bread.

Here is the original recipe:

Recipe for Potato Griddle Cakes — Source: The Rumford Complete Cook Book (1925)

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Potato Griddle Scones

Servings: 4 - 6
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: easy
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3/4 cup mashed potatoes

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons shortening or butter (softened) (I used butter.)

1 egg, lightly beaten

approximately 1 cup milk

Step 1. If the mashed potatoes are refrigerated and cold, warm them slightly to soften them. (I put them in the microwave for a few seconds.) Set aside.

Step 2. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the butter, mashed potatoes, and egg, then stir to combine. Add about 2/3 cup milk and stir to mix. If the dough is too thick, add additional milk to create a dough that is a nice consistency to roll. (If the mashed potatoes contained milk, probably less than 1 cup of milk will need to be added.)

Step 3. Divide the dough in half. Roll half of the dough on a prepared surface into a circle that this approximately 3/4 inch thick, then cut into sixths to create triangles. Roll other half of dough, and cut into triangles.

Step 4. Grease griddle or a large skillet, then heat using medium-high heat. When hot, put the triangles of dough on the griddle or skillet. Cook until lightly browned (about 3-4 minutes), then flip and cook on the other side.

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