Good, Good, Good, Good, Good Ginger Snaps from Alberta Burrill

Mrs. Burrill, was not one to go into Raptures about anything. Perhaps a bit of enthusiasm for gardening, though I never saw a great garden at her house, and flower arranging, though i never saw a bouquet or arrangement in her house. That being the case, I had to take an interest when I saw this recipe, with no fewer than five GOODs written in pencil in the corner.

2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup molasses
1 rounded teaspoon soda(the big spoons in your regular table service)
1 dessert spoon vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon ginger
salt

Mix all together except the molasses.

Boil the molasses and pour over the rest of the ingredients and stir together.

Stir in flour to make a stiff dough(your guess is as good as mine).

Roll out about 1/8 inch thick (my recommendation)

cut with a cookie cutter.

Bake in a "Quick" oven... I would assume a 375 oven would do the trick. perhaps 10 to 12 minutes, but they should be firming in the middle.

Use ungreased baking sheets.

Christmas Fruit Cake from Alberta Burrill 1934

We have to face the fact that many of the old recipes that were commonly used in the US in the 20th century probably came from one of the old time cookbooks or from the Boston Globe here in New England, or from some other regional paper. In this case, we are Italian for the most part. In my family, there may have been a British component in the form of the Mitchells, and my mother was surrounded with Canadians when she lived in Northern Maine, but she was essentially Italian. Also, Uncle Phil, well known as a great cook, and Grammie could not escape that Italian Background. Fruit cake is pretty much a Northern European phenomenon. There are cakes and pastries that included dried and candied fruits in Italian tradition, and sweets such as Panforte that bear at least a nodding resemblance to fruit cake. But what we as Americans think of as fruitcake came from England and similar recipes will appear in Germany, where we, of course, have our roots.
Fruitcake was a big deal at our house. Mom rarely did one while I remember it. Uncle Phil and Grammie did though. since they did so many of them, it really did not matter that Mom did not. There were fruitcakes that were as black as tar, and some that were a medium golden color. All were heavily soaked with alcohol as a rule. There are a couple of recipes included here from Grammie, but here is one from Alberta Burrill, a most British aligned person.

1/2 pound of Butter
1/2 pound lard
1 1/4 pounds flour(about 4 cups)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 pound white sugar
1/2 pound brown sugar
1 cup egg whites
1 cup egg yolks
2 Tablespoons molasses
1 cup sour milk(perhaps buttermilk will do)
1 pound seedless raisins
1 pound citron
1/4 pound candied ginger
1/4 pound orange and lemon peel(there was no real mention here of whether it was 1/4 pound of each or of both mixed to total 1/4 pound.)
1 pound nuts
2 teaspoons nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. (again, I must assume 2 teaspoons of each, but only done as a list in her manuscript)
1/2 cup each of grape and prune juice.


Cream the fats,
Add the sugar gradually,
Add the egg yolks(beaten),
Add the molasses.

Dissolve the sugars in the milk and add.

Toast 2/3 of the flour in the oven.
Sift together with the spices and add.
Add the fruit juices.
Sift the rest of the flour and the soda and baking powder together and add.
Add the nuts, that have already been floured with the previously mentioned flour.
Stiffly beat the egg whites and fold in as gently as possible.
Bake in loaf pans at 250 to 325 degree oven. If baked in one large pan, about four hours is required.

Well, that is the first time I have ever seen a range in temperature given like that! You could satisfy this range by starting at the high temperature and reduce it as the baking process progresses. That would be similar to the old time "slowing oven" I have mentioned before.

Pizzelle posted by Mildred Cafarella Sinor and a variation from Jenny DeFina

2 sticks of butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp anise oil
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups flour

Melt butter and let cool. Mix 3 eggs and 1/2 cup sugar. Mix in anise and cinnamon, then add the remaining eggs, sugar and butter (cooled). Slowly add the flour a little at a time just until the batter isn't wet. Allow to rest in the fridge for 20 mins. Then either spoon the dough in your iron or make balls about the size of a walnut and put into pizzelle iron.

A variation of this came from my cousin Jenny Cincotta DeFina at a party recently. She uses the anise(anise extract is good but you might also try grinding anise seed.), but she also adds ground walnuts to the batter. I would say that any nut would work for this, but the taste is rather subtle. Almond or Pine nuts might be good for this purpose as well.

I would like these with almond instead of anise. My partner John does not like anise(What is wrong with him?)so I would only do it that way here.

Aunt Josephine's Sfingi Posted by Mary Chambers Cafarella (Texas Mary)

Col. Joe Cafarella married Mary Chambers. In February of 1955 Joe had to bring Mary to her new home. They moved into the house at 8 Biltmore Street in Malden. Uncle Tony and Aunt Josephine lived there too. Mary, who had been a rather active person for many years and a Nurse, was left when Joe was sent overseas in a strange town and far from her own family in Texas. Mary had a nursing job at Malden Hospital. Mary says that Aunt Jo took her under her wing. She was instantly family to Aunt Jo(despite the fact that people teased her when trying to say something in Italian with her Texas accent)(I find her accent to be most pleasing), and they spent much time together. Aunt Josephine taught Mary to cook. Perhaps Mary was not so helpless a cook before this, but I suspect that Italian food was not often on the menu in Texas in that time period. Mary always talks lovingly of Aunt Jo and when I was looking for a Sfingi recipe, she made sure I had this one from her old teacher.

3 cups pastry flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 teas. Cinnamon
3 cups water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 ½ teas salt

Sift dry ingredients into hot water. Mix well and turn out hot dough on a greased surface. Knead well. Return to pan and work in one dozen eggs one at a time. (4 eggs for each 1 cup of flour)

These are dropped by the teaspoon full into oil at 360 degrees+- till golden brown, turning once if necessary. Remove and drain on brown paper or paper towels. Stack into a cone on a large plate or shallow bowl Drizzle with honey or a thick simple syrup. Sprinkle with colored candies/nonpareils and serve.

I remember the first time I had any contact with these. Back in the early 70s, Aunt Rose Cincotta came to Houlton to visit with her husband Jake. They stayed with Uncle Phil on Park Street. They brought a recipe for Sfingi with them and were determined to do them while there. I think it was near Easter and this was to be their Easter treat. I don't know the source of this recipe, but I do not think that Aunt Rose had done them before or she had forgotten about them. I just remember her saying to all of the assembled would be cooks that we needed four dozen eggs! I think she even startled herself. Just how many of these things were we making? I do remember that these were good. They served them in Uncle Phil's biggest pasta bowl (maybe 20 inches across?)and they were in an enormous mound covered with syrup.

Sorbetto

Boy, was I cute or what?
My mother was a wonderful woman. She had her faults like anyone, but the life she led was not much less remarkable than the life of my immigrant grandmother. But, she got very sick when I was a youngster. I ended up being kid, caretaker and a fugitive looking for a life outside the house. Mom realized that there were others who could give me opportunities, open doors for me. I know it was hard for her, but she let me become involved with Alberta Burrill and Madelyn Crawford. Alberta was my sister's husband's mother. Now there is an obscure relationship. She gave me Art lessons and taught me French when I was floundering and was a companion for unusual adventures through many of my early years. Madelyn involved me in the recreation department, and the Summer playground program. There she gave me responsibilities and involved me in crafts and administrative experiences that would color the rest of my life. She was also from the area of New Brunswick that my father was from. She exposed me to our father's culture beyond what my sister and brother had. It was like having an aunt or grandmother that could tell me all about the rest of my father's world, a world beyond the woods, fields, animals and building trades that my sister and brother learned about. She was a great cook. Now that she is in her nineties and I have only talked to her three times since the seventies, she is closing up her retirement home apartment. I hope that she will be able to pass on some of the recipes that she used to do. Here is one that I loved years ago. Of course you only really appreciate the sweets when you are young. The rest is sometimes just fuel. This is of course a dessert. It is a sorbet. It is very much in the tradition of Italian Sorbetti or perhaps a granita, and I am often reminded of this recipe when I am at gelato shops in Italy. No milk of course, but still it just takes me right back to Madelyn's kitchen with a tall cut crystal glass and a tiny scoop of Sorbet.

Madelyn did this with strawberries at the height of the season. Before people had Air Conditioning, as most did not in Northern Maine, this was a real treat in July and August. Come to think of it, did anyone have Air Conditioning in the early sixties?

Crush 3 cups of cleaned strawberries.
Add:
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of lemon juice
3/4 cup of orange juice
1/8 cup of Grand Marnier

You could bring all the liquids to a boil if you wish to remove alcohol and dissolve the sugar to a simple syrup. This would alter the juices somewhat and be less fresh tasting. To be sure the sugar dissolves, it would be wise to let this sit for a couple of hours after mixing.

Mash and mix well or process in a food processor. Do not puree. Leave a little texture.
Pour into metal trays. Old fashioned ice cube trays with the dividers removed would be perfect.
Place in the freezer and allow to freeze to a slush.
Break ice crystals with a fork and mash up again.
Return to the freezer and allow to freeze to a slush again.
Break up the crystals and mash again.
Return to the freezer and freeze completely, packed into tupperware or paper containers.
If you really want this smooth you could do the mash one more time.
Alternatively freeze the Sorbetto in an ice cream freezer.

You could substitute any berries for this and the liqueur could be varied according to taste and purse. Any soft fruit would work just as well. I would think that pureed stone fruits would be nice.(they have a stringy texture that you might not notice when eating these casually, so it is best to start smooth) Cherries perhaps?

Make this really special. Berries are expensive and the batch is not large. Add the cost of Grand Marnier, and a couple of full scoops could be budget busters. Take the containers out of the freezer and allow to sit in the refrigerator for half an hour or so. Use the tiny scoops...You know the ones that are not much bigger than a melon baller. Put it into a coupe Champagne or Martini glass, decorate with a fresh or frozen berry or other decoratively cut fruit, and stick a tuille, Pizelle, short-bread or sugar cookie into the scoop so it stands up at a jaunty angle.

Granitas for those hot days.

I know it is not a picture of a granita, but it is a good serving suggestion. Try buying up Depression Martini glasses or go to thrift shops and buy up all those one of a kind pretty glasses that are often there. I have some of these great Venetian glasses. What a presentation that would be! The first picture was taken in Lipari in a little Gelateria below the walls of the castle. The glasses are my own.
Try doing this with the Pizzelle recipe from Mildred Cafarella Borghini Sinor found elsewhere. Stand one in the glass like in the picture above. Also, try making a little sandwich with two cookies filled with just a skim of Nutella, vanilla frosting or lemon frosting.
Also try mixing a bit of ricotta cheese and confectioner's sugar and candied citrus peel...This would be very south Italian.
Ginger snaps, also found elsewhere filled with lemon frosting would be to die for. I am in dangerous territory here. My mouth is watering.



This was a rarity for us. I always loved Italian Ice, but often found it so sweet with sugar syrup that you felt awful if you had too much. This bears a very close relationship to the Strawberry Sorbet that I have posted elsewhere, and justly so as they are basically the same product. Granitas are more usually made from juices and thin flavored liquids however. And, they are consequently less nutritious. Nutrition was rarely a consideration however when contemplating this obvious dessert.

Boil together:

1 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar

When boiled and the sugar completely dissolved,
Add:

3 cups of juice, Soda, STRONG regular, green or herbal tea, coffee, espresso or a slurry of fruit pulp and liquid. Remember that the cold will dull the flavor of the juice, so whatever you use must be highly flavored.

Stir well to blend uniformly.

Pour into a lasagna pan or any container of a similar shape.

Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Remove from the freezer and scrape the surface of the freezing liquid till all has been "grated" into a coarse mound of crystals.

Return to the freezer and after twenty minutes, do this again. Repeat till the mass does not seem to have any liquid left in it.

The final product is not meant to be smooth, it should be composed of granules like a mound of rather small Pomegranate seeds. Serve in beautiful glasses or bowls that will display the color of the fruit used. Garnish with fruit, mint or ice cream and serve with plain cookies of a complementary flavor.

Remember that tomato is a fruit too, and this would be good with the addition of basil leaves to the tomato slurry. This might also be a good use for the Cusolito family Root Beer...Tower Root Beer.

This would also be good if you squeezed your own juice, to be served inside the empty fruit skins and refrozen. Make sure they are chilled first.

Add a little alcohol if you like, but alcohol does not like to freeze so not too much, or drizzle over it later.

Here is a thought. Make a Granita or Sorbet of cucumber, tomato and onion. Add Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce, lemon, celery seed and bit of salt(Remember too that the salt will not help your freezing process so be careful.) Serve in a martini glass and just before serving it, splash it with a tiny bit of vodka. Garnish with celery leaves.

When serving this, nothing would look better than a mound of little scoops made with a melon baller or undersized ice cream scoop....a little pyramid of the scoops with a nice garnish. Freeze the glasses before use and/or refreeze them after filling them.

Second recipe


Orange or Lemon Granita
Granita d'Arancia



Granita is a partially frozen slush that Italians love usually made with a variety of citrus or coffee flavors. The name comes from grana which means grainy since this is a slushy and not smooth mixture. It is a refreshing end to a meal.
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
4 large navel oranges plus one extra for garnish
1 large lemon
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups water

Directions
Pare the rind off the 4 oranges and lemon and try not to take the pith. Set aside.

Juice the oranges and lemon and set aside.

Heat the sugar and water in a medium size heavy duty sauce pan over low heat and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Raise the heat and bring to a boil without stirring for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is syrupy.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the orange and lemon rinds. Cover and cool.

Strain the syrup into a shallow rectangular casserole type dish. Add the fruit juice. Stir to mix well then freeze for 4 hours until slushy.(watch this process as I do not believe that it will be soft enough to do this after four hours)

Remove the dish from the freezer and mix with a fork; then return to freezer and freeze again for 4 hours or until almost solid. Let stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes, then scoop into parfait glasses.

For decoration strip another orange and cut peel into thin strips and place over granita. Or add an orange wedge at the side of the glass.

Note: Any mix of citrus will work in this recipe. Mix and match or stick to your favorite flavor; they are all delicious and refreshing!


Granita #3
Number three is all the same process as the second, but with different ingredient proportions.


2 1/2 cups citrus juice
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
citrus zest

Joe Greco's Tiramisu

Ingredients:

Lady Finger cookies – large package

1 lb. Mascarpone cheese

4 egg yolks

¼ Cup sugar

12 Cups Espresso Coffee (cold)

¼ Cup Amaretto liquor or to taste (cognac or other liquor)

Cocoa powder (i.e. Ghirardelli)



Pan size 9 x 13

Mix together Mascarpone cheese, egg yolks and sugar until smooth.
Spread a thin layer of cheese mixture on bottom of pan.
Add liquor to cold coffee and mix.
Dip cookies (one at a time) quickly in coffee and line bottom of pan.
Spread thin layer of cheese over cookies.
Add another layer of dipped cookies.
Spread the rest of the mascarpone cheese over the cookies.
Sprinkle cocoa powder over top of cheese mixture.
Refrigerate

It is best to make this dessert a day ahead of serving.