Old-Fashioned Honey Muffins

Honey Muffins in Plate

I’m a fan of muffins, so when I saw a recipe for Honey Muffins in a hundred-year-old cookbook I decided to give it a try. In addition to honey, the recipe called for graham flour. Graham flour is a coarsely ground whole wheat flour that contains the endosperm, the bran, and the wheat germ. It is traditionally considered a health food.

The Honey Muffins were not very sweet, but tasted good in a “healthy way.” They are a fairly dense muffin. They were lovely when served with jelly or jam.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Honey Muffins
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)

Graham flour is sometimes difficult to find. Whole wheat flour, preferably coarsely ground whole wheat flour, can be substituted for the graham flour.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Honey Muffins

  • Servings: approximately 18
  • Difficulty: moderate
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4 cups graham flour (whole wheat flour – preferably coarsely ground – can be substituted for the graham flour)

3 teaspoons baking powder

4 tablespoons honey

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

Preheat oven to 400° F.   Sift the baking powder and graham flour into a mixing bowl.

Put the honey, egg, salt, and milk in a separate bowl; stir to combine. Then add to the flour mixture and stir to combine.

Grease muffin pans (or use paper liners). Spoon batter into muffin cups; fill each cup about 3/4ths full. Place in oven. Bake 20-30 minutes or until lightly browned and the muffins spring back when lightly touched.

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Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding and Berries

Rice Pudding with Berries

It’s berry season, so when I saw a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Rice Pudding with Berries, I decided to give it a try. The Rice Pudding is molded, and served with a berry sauce. I used strawberries, though the recipe says that raspberries (or a mixture of strawberries and raspberries) could also be used.

The Rice Pudding with Berries turned out well, made a nice presentation, and was very tasty.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Rice Pudding with Berries
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)

The recipe directions indicate that sugar is needed for both the Rice Pudding and the Berry Sauce, yet the ingredients list only has “powdered sugar” and does not list an amount. It appears that an ingredient (or at least amounts) is missing for this recipe. I decided to use 1/2 cup of granulated sugar in the Rice Pudding, and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar in the sauce. The sauce I made was a bit tart – but I thought that it was lovely. If a sweeter sauce is desired, use more sugar.

Some of the liquid evaporates while cooking the rice, so the cooked Rice Pudding mixture has less volume than the sum of volume of the ingredients. I used a 2 1/2 cup mold.  When the mold was filled, I still had a little extra Rice Pudding which I put into custard cup. A 3 or 3 1/2 cup mold would work better.

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Rice Pudding and Berries

  • Servings: 6 - 8
  • Difficulty: moderate
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4 cups milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup rice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

butter or cooking oil

1 pint strawberries or raspberries (or a mixture of both strawberries and raspberries) (I used strawberries.)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Put the granulated sugar, milk, and salt in a large heavy saucepan. Stir to combine, then heat using medium heat until the mixture just begins to simmer. Stir in the rice, reduce heat to low and cover. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice mixture is thick (approximately 35-45 minutes). Remove from heat and then stir in the vanilla.

Grease a mold with butter or cooking oil (a 3 – 3 1/2 cup mold works well), then firmly press the rice pudding into the mold. Refrigerate until cold (at least 3 hours).

In the meantime, make a berry sauce by slicing the berries (raspberries can be left whole) and then putting them into a saucepan. (Reserve several berries to use as a garnish.) Stir in the powdered sugar, cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil using medium heat while stirring. Reduce heat; continue cooking and stirring until the strawberry pieces are very soft and the sauce has thickened. (Add a little more water if the sauce it too thick.) Remove from heat and strain. Keep the liquid and discard the cooked berry pieces.

To serve: Losen the edges of the Rice Pudding with a knife or other cooking tool. Dip the mold in hot water, then unmold onto serving plate. Pour the sauce over the Rice Pudding, and garnish with berries.

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Why is it so Difficult to Find Graham Flour?

Definition of graham flour
Source: The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)

Graham flour is a coarsely ground whole wheat flour that contains the endosperm, the bran, and the wheat germ. Year ago it was considered a health food. Graham flour is named after its inventor Sylvester Graham. He began making graham flour in the 1830s, and promoted it as part of a health movement which encouraged eating vegetarian meals and unseasoned foods.

A hundred years ago graham flour was a popular type of flour, and cookbooks contained recipes for graham bread, graham muffins, graham pudding, and other graham foods.  Several years ago I bought graham flour at my local store and made a couple old recipes that used graham flour for this blog:

Graham Nut Muffins

Steamed Graham Pudding with Lemon Sauce

Orange Nut Bread

Graham Popovers

However, when I recently wanted to make a recipe from a 1924 cookbook that called for graham flour, I looked for it at half a dozen stores and couldn’t find it. I eventually bought some (at an outrageous price) off the internet.  Each of those stores probably sold at least two dozen other types of flour, some of which sounded very exotic to me. But, why no graham flour? Have tastes changed so much across the past hundred years that a food that once was a common staple is now extremely difficult to find?

While searching for information on graham flour, I learned that modern graham flours sometimes have most of the wheat germ removed to prolong shelf life and to help keep it from going rancid. Some websites say that coarsely ground whole wheat flour can be substituted for graham flour, though as with modern graham flours, most of the wheat germ may have been removed. I guess that even if I follow an old recipe calling for graham flour exactly that I’m probably not accurately replicating it. Sigh. . .

Old-Fashioned Rice and Peas

Rice and Peas in bowl

When browsing through a hundred-year-old cookbook, I came across a recipe for Rice and Peas, and decided to give it a try. This recipe is easy to make, and was very tasty. I served it as a side dish, though it would also work well as a meatless entree.

Here’s the original recipe:

Rice and Peas recipe
The New Butterick Cook Book (1924)

Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Rice and Peas

  • Servings: 4 - 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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1 cup rice

2 cups green peas

2 onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter or cooking oil

Prepare rice following the directions on the package.

In the meantime, cook the peas.

Also, heat the butter or oil in a skillet, then add the chopped onions and sauté until the onions are tender and translucent. Add the cooked rice and peas; gently stir.

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Hundred-year-old Suggestions for Using Leftover Pancakes

pancakes

Ever struggle to use left-over pancakes? They tend to just languish in my refrigerator (if I don’t immediately toss them).  There actually are lots of ways to use them. Here’s two suggestions in a hundred-year-old magazine:

Other Ways to Use Cold Pancakes

“I use them,” writes our correspondent, “in two ways. First, after they are quite cold I cut them into very thick strips, like noodles, with a very sharp knife, put them in the soup tureen, and pour over them a well-seasoned beef broth. This makes, when served at once, a very good soup. My second way is to make them into a dessert. The cold cakes are spread with a mixture of sugar, ground cinnamon, and raisins, each pancake is rolled with the mixture inside, and they are placed in a baking dish in a row, and quite close to one another, milk is poured over almost to cover them, and then they are put in the oven and baked. This makes a very good pudding, not unlike a bread pudding.”

American Cookery (June/July, 1924)

 

Old-Fashioned Prune Souffle

Prune Souffle

There are lots of food trends and fads. Some foods become more popular over time; other decrease in popularity. Prunes are a food that were much more popular a hundred years ago than what they are now – though personally, I like them. So when I saw a recipe for Prune Souffle in a 1924 cookbook, I decided to give it a try while recognizing that prunes are not trendy.

The Prune Souffle didn’t puff up like the typical souffle. It was very rich, and contained chopped walnuts which added a nice crunch. The dominant flavor was the prunes, though there was a hint of cinnamon. I’m not sure exactly how I’d rate this dessert. It’s definitely different than what I expected, and it’s richer than I’d like; but in an old-fashioned way, it was tasty.

Here’s the original recipe:

Recipe for Prune Souffle
Source: The Metropolitan Cook Book (Published by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 1924)

I’m not sure why the souffle did not puff up. It called for several fairly heavy ingredients – the chopped nuts and prune puree which may have weighted it down. Also, since the old recipe calls for a “slow oven,” I baked the souffle at 325° F.  but maybe it would have worked better if it had been baked at a higher temperature.

When I made this recipe I wasn’t sure how many prunes were needed to get 1 cup of pulp, but I estimated that I’d need about 1/2 pound of prunes.  I cooked the prunes for about 30 minutes get them nice and soft, and then put them through a Foley Mill. (Another option would be to puree them.) I ended up with a little less than 1 cup of pulp, but went with it.

Here is the recipe updated for modern cooks:

Prune Souffle

  • Servings: 4 - 6
  • Difficulty: moderate
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1/2 pound prunes

water

2 eggs, separated

1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts.)

1/2 cup grated bread crumbs (I grated 1 slice of bread.)

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/6 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

grated rind of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 325° F. Put prunes in a saucepan and cover with water; bring to a boil then reduce heat and gently simmer until soft. Remove from heat and drain; reserve 1/2 cup of the prune juice. (If there is less than 1/2 cup of prune juice, add water to make 1/2 cup.) Puree the prunes or use a Foley Mill to press through a sieve. Set aside.

Beat egg whites until fluffy and stiff. Set aside.

Put the chopped nuts, bread crumbs, sugar, salt, cinnamon, lemon juice, grated lemon rind, pureed prunes, 1/2 cup of prune juice, and egg yolks in a mixing bowl; stir to combine. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Put in a 1-quart baking dish, and bake until the top is lightly browned and starting to crack (30-40 minutes). Can be served warm or cold.

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