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----- Original Message -----
From: allie
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 11:12 AM
Subject: recipe request
Dear Phaedrus,
Can you track down a recipe for Sugar Cookie Ice Cream from the Juice Bar in Nantucket,
Massachusetts? It is the best ice cream my family and I have tasted in a long time.
We think it is vanilla ice cream with half baked sugar cookie pieces in it, but we cannot
seem to replicate it. It would be an amazing find!
Thank you so much,
Allison
Hi Allison,
Sorry, I found no recipes from the Juice Bar, nor any for sugar cookie ice cream.
Phaed
Addendum:
Still no recipes from the Juice Barm but Timm in Oregon sent these:
I have a couple of recipes that may be close to the requested recipe.
Timm in Oregon
Sugar Cookie Dough for Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2-1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water
Instructions:
In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar, white sugar, and butter until smooth.
Stir in vanilla and water. Mix in the flour until well blended. Shape into a loaf or
log and freeze for 1 to 2 hours. Cut into small chunks and mix into softened ice cream.
Freeze
for 1 hour or until firm before serving.
Optional: Freeze the small chunks. Make your favorite ice cream mixture for an ice
cream maker. Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and start the machine according
to manufacture's instructions. When the ice cream is starting to thicken, stop the
machine and stir in the frozen cookie dough chunks and restart the machine to continue freezing.
---------------------------
Snickerdoodle Ice Cream
For Ice Cream Maker
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 cups half and half
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions:
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the sugars and spices. Stir in the rest of the
ingredients until well mixed. Pour the mixture into a 1 quart ice cream maker and
freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.
----- Original Message -----
From: pamela
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 6:37 PM
Subject: recipe search
Uncle Phaedrus,
I have always loved searching through your site, now I have a request.
I have looked on the internet for this old family recipe, but have come up unsuccessful.
My father wishes for this every holiday season, it's a dessert from his mother who was
born in Bari Italy, but my father grew up in Chicago IL.
He refers to it as "pillows" but doesn't have another name. I've searched for italian
pillows, and the italian word for pillows (cuscino), but haven't found anything.
OK this is it: They are pillows, a light pastry filled with ricotta cheese, from what
i remember they were either deep fried in oil first, or they were actually cooked in a
fruit sauce, which I will call a compote.
The compote consisted of figs, plums, raisins, lemons/citrus maybe, and other fruits,
and it was cooked down to a syrup, then these little cheese stuffed pastries were (I think)
floating in this fruit syrup. This was a holiday dessert, the only time I ever saw it.
I would be grateful if you can find any information on this. Thank you.
Pam
Hello Pam,
Sorry, I cannot find anything that fits this description. There are several Italian
cookies/pastries that are fried, but none of those fit the other parts of your descriptions.
Some are coated in honey or vino cotta, but I don't know of any that are cooked or served
in fruit compote or a fruit sauce like you describe. Most are simply dusted with powdered
sugar after frying. There is a Sardinian pasta dish called "pillas", but it's more like
ravioli filled with cheese, not a pastry.
I will post your request. Perhaps another reader will recognize the dish.
Phaed
Hi, there! I have a good Italian friend whose mom always made something similar to this.
HOWEVER, it was always done like a loaf, more of a tart with the ricotta filling in it.
I asked her if it was ever done as "pillows" and she said, "Sure - mom just didn't like
taking the time!"
Pastry Recipe:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water
Combine flour, sugar, salt. Using a pastry blender or forks/knives, work in butter
and zest until small balls (pea-sized) form. Add egg yolk, vanilla, and water, and
combine well. Turn dough out onto **lightly** floured surface (too much flour will
make pastry tough) and knead for several minutes until dough is well incorporated.
Chill 45 minutes.
Now, in my mom's friend's recipe, she rolls the dough out and puts it in a loaf pan,
pricks and bakes it at 375 degrees, until browned. I imagine, for the little "pillows",
you'd do them like ravioli - roll out two sheets, with ricotta filling in between, crimp
edges (or use a drinking glass to cut circles, place a spoonful of ricotta filling on
one half, fold and crimp) and then bake.
Filling Recipe:
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 pound ricotta
1 large egg plus 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
Beat cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon together until creamy, either by hand or with
a mixer. Mix in egg, egg white, and salt. Fold in ricotta cheese, until just combined.
Again, when my friend's mom makes the recipe, she pours the filling into the baked
tart shell, bakes for 15-20 minutes until the edges are just starting to puff up,
and then takes it out of the over and lets it cool overnight until the filling
"firms up." She said at least 6-8 hours, though. That wouldn't be necessary,
I'm thinking, if making little "pillows" instead. Mrs. M. didn't think so!
Fruit Compote Sauce:
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups white wine
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 (3- by 1/2-inch) strips of lemon zest
1 cup dried figs, halved or chopped, if big ones
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup dried sour cherries
Bring water, wine, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest to a boil, stirring the entire
time, until all the sugar is dissolved.
NOTE: Mrs. Mercurio does this 2 ways! The first way is she boils the fruit in the
syrup for about 8-10 minutes, then removes it with a slotted spoon, and then continues
cooking the syrup down until it's about a cup's worth. She pitches the lemon zest and
lets the syrup cool to room temperature. The second way is, she either leaves the fruit
in it (it gets really boiled down!), or adds the fruit again after it's been reduced
(the fruit stays soft but not totally boiled). She says it just depends on who's coming
over, if they like it "chunky" with fruit or not.
Now, when I talked to Mrs. Mercurio, she didn't think the little pastries were likely
actually cooked IN the fruit syrup, because of the way the syrup is cooked and reduced
reduced it would neither support the volume of pastries the dough creates nor cook the
pastry through in the short cooking time required by the syrup. Probably cooked beforehand,
either fried or baked, maybe dusted with powdered sugar?
I know this is not exactly what Pamela is looking for, and a good bit of it is conjecture
from myself and a great Italian cook (thanks, Mrs. M!), but hopefully with a few tweaks and
tries, she'll be able to surprise her father!!
Best wishes,
~Chrissie
----- Original Message -----
From: Susie
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2009 9:52 PM
Subject: Pecan Shortbread Cookie Recipe
Hi, I'm looking for the recipe of a pecan shortbread cookie that is sold at Schneider's
Bakery in Westerville, Ohio. This cookie is a shortbread cookie that is baked in strips,
indented down the center, and filled with a pecan/caramel mixture. The cookie then is cut
into 1" pieces.
I remember my father buying these cookies for me when I was growing up. I'm guessing that
this recipe has been around for over 40 years.
Thanks for your help,
Susie
Hello Susie,
I cannot find any recipes at all from Schneider's, nor can I find a pecan shortbread cookie
recipe that fits your description. Sorry.
Phaed
From: "Elizabeth "
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Request for early 1940s chewy brownie recipe
Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 6:03 PM
I am searching for a special brownie recipe which I know was printed in
the women's guild cookbook of the South Congregational Church,
Springfield MA, in the early 1940s. I do not know the author of the
recipe, but its two distinguishing features were that it used (Baker's)
chocolate, melted, *but no butter* (presumably because of wartime
rationing). My mother made these brownies for years; they had a
distinctive and wonderful "chewy" texture, not cake-like and not
fudge-like. They were never frosted, and the tops were never burned or
dry, but had what I would describe paradoxically as a "soft crispness."
My children, now grown, remember eating them at their "gammy's" house
when they were young and would like to make them for their own children,
but the cookbook and thus the recipe were lost in packing for a move. I
have been unable to locate a copy of the cookbook, and all my mother's
contemporaries who might have had a copy have died. Can anyone help?
Thank you.
Elizabeth
Hello Elizabeth,
I scoured the web, but I had no success with any brownie recipe from
that church, nor did I have any success locating a mention of that
cookbook.
Brownie recipes with Baker's chocolate and no butter are not at all
rare, I found dozens. However, they all have some sort of fat to
substitute for the missing butter: margarine or salad dressing or
vegetable oil. Descriptions of chewiness or crispness are not helpful in
locating a recipe on the web, because recipes rarely contain such
descriptions. I cannot hold out much hope without more information about
the ingredients, but I'll post your request on the site. Maybe someone
will recognize the brownies.
Phaed
Thank you. There was literally no butter, no oil, and no shortening in
this recipe, just chocolate squares (melted), eggs, flour, brown and
white sugar, and vanilla extract. I believe the proportions were on the
order of 1 C brown sugar, 1/2 C white sugar, 2 squares of chocolate, 3
eggs; I'm not sure whether 1 C or 1/2 C of flour, and I'm not sure
whether 1 tsp or 1/2 tsp of vanilla. If I can't find the recipe, I'll
experiment with the proportions until I get them right. The brownies
were famous among my mother's contemporaries; she was frequently asked
to bring them to "teas," etc., and they were incredibly easy to make. I
do remember that she greased the pan in which she cooked them, though
perhaps during WW II even that wasn't done.
I, too, have scoured the web and also tried to locate a copy of the
cookbook through used booksellers in Western Massachusetts, but the only
bookseller which might have been a likely source because it specialized
in local materials closed several years ago and there was no "successor"
firm. I've also checked with the daughter of the church's longtime
(1917-1954) minister, who also remembers the brownies and would like the
recipe, thinking that she might have a copy of the cookbook among her
mother's papers since her mother in the custom of that day was the ex
officio head of the women's guild. But she can't find it, either.
Elizabeth
A reader sent this recipe, that may be similar:
Dear Phaedrus
I saw Elizabeth's request for No-Butter Brownies from a cookbook from the 40's.
I have a Good Housekeeping Cookbook from the 40's. It even has a wartime supplement
in it. I decided to check it out and found a recipe that might be close. This one has
walnuts in it but I'm sure she could omit them.
Brownies De Luxe
2 eggs
1 1/4 c brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp vanilla
2 sq (2 oz) unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 c sifted all-purpose flour
1 c chopped walnuts
Beat eggs with a hand beater until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar
with a spoon. Stir in vanilla and chocolate. Gradually add flour and blend. Add 1/2
the nuts and pour into a greased or oiled 8"x 8"x2" pan. Spread out with a spatula,
then sprinkle remaining nuts on top. Bake in a moderate oven of 350* for 25 min.
When cool, cut in 2" squares. Makes 16 squares.
I hope this helps,
Elizabeth
----------------------
Phaed,
Yes!!! this is it! Thank you so much!
Elizabeth
----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank "
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 11:11 PM
Subject: Van de Kamp's Milk Chocolate Iced Angel Food Cake
> Hi Phaedrus,
>
> My favorite cake as a kid was Van de Kamp's milk chocolate iced
> angel food cake, and I'm trying to locate the recipe either for the entire
> cake, or just the frosting.
>
> The frosting is what made this cake special. It was light chocolate and
> (I think) whipped. Very light, but not at all sticky like a marshmallow
> frosting. The cakes were sold at Von's supermarkets in southern
> California and elsewhere during the 1970's and 80's.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Frank
>
Hello Frank,
Sorry, I had no success with this. As you can see from the list here,:
Van de Kamp's
very few Van de Kamp's recipes have ever become available or been copied.
There are requests for the milk chocolate angel cake on message boards, with
no recipes. That's a pretty good indication that this one just isn't available.
Phaed
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