Thursday, January 28, 2016

Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #2 - Culinary Vices

Time for another Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge!  This one is #2 - Culinary Vices. 

2.  Culinary Vices (January 15 - January 28)  Some foods are really, really naughty.  Globs of butter, lashings of sugar and syrup, decadent chocolate and wine.  Bring out your naughty, indecorous side with foods associated with all the bad things, in the best ways.
 
 
Butter and sugar, syrup, chocolate and wine - all necessary food groups, I'm certain!  Staying with the 1916 Twenty Lessons in Domestic Science by Marian Cole Fisher, I find wonderful recipes for many sweet items as the book itself is compiled and printed for the Calumet Baking Powder Company and presented with its compliments.
 
 
Lesson Number Two is entitled Leavening Agents.  It describes the common leavening agents in the home as yeast and baking powder.  Where yeast is a microscopic plant which during the process breaks sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxid gas, baking powder produces the same gas by chemical action.  William Monroe Wright established the Calumet Baking Powder Company in Chicago, Illinois in 1889 and sold it to General Foods in 1929.  He used his wealth to build a breeding and training horse operation in Lexington, Kentucky which he named Calumet Farm.
 
 
Page 31, Twenty Lessons in Domestic Science
 
In Lesson Two a recipe for Maple Rolls catches my eye as our family loves anything with maple flavor.
 
 
The one ingredient I don't have is maple sugar and it sends me into research on how to make/obtain maple sugar.  I find this wonderful blog post and decide to give it a try.
 
 
A dark pure maple syrup.  8.5 oz approximately $5.00.

Over med-high heat.

The syrup begin to foam and release moisture quickly.

The color darkens and if the foam rises too high in the pot, just stop stirring and the foam will subside.

Getting closer.

Getting darker.

256 degrees and ready!

Poured into the bowl and ready to stir.

As the syrup cools it releases more moisture and the stirring gets more difficult.

Very thick and difficult to stir.

Right at the point where it starts to turn to sugar but I can't stir any longer.

Turned out onto a sheet....

....and then beat into sugary submission.

The 8.5 oz jar of syrup yields 5 oz of varied sized sugar.
 
Fortunately I had also ordered some maple sugar online and used it to add to my home-made sugar to meet the recipe requirements.
 
 
Now I'm finally ready to make Maple Rolls.
 
Ingredients.  I'm adding a little butter to the fat free milk.

Measured flour, salt, and baking powder ready for sifting.

Sifted flour, salt, and baking powder.
 

Shortening measured and cut into dry ingredients.

Milk added.

Dough ready.

Dough rolled square.

Home-made and purchased maple sugars spread on dough.
Insert big sad face here.  Why?  Because the dough was too warm to hold the roll, my hands were too messy to take a photo, and I was ready to toss everything in the sink.  But the house smelled so maple-y wonderful and I had gotten this far, so I decided to cut my messy roll and bake my Maple Kind-of-Rolls anyway.







So sad looking.  But they still smell wonderful with the maple sugar!
The center of the roll was even more of a mess than the ends, so I just formed it into a maple loaf-kind-of-thing.
 
 
The recipe calls for a "moderate" oven which I find described on another page of this 1916 book.
 
 
Half way through baking I rotate the pan.

The sugar/syrup bubbles as the rolls brown.

The recipe gives an option for cutting dough rounds and placing the rolls on top to seal in the goodness.  It does melt out during baking and the rolls should be removed from the pan immediately out of the oven.
 
Now comes the real test of any recipe - the flavor!  Thumbs up from everyone!!!  Yay!!  Moist, sweet, and oh-so-maple-y!!
 
Warm Maple Rolls and hot coffee!

Part sugar, part syrup, all goodness.

Even the little Maple Loaf is yummy!



 It's a keeper!
Love,
  Jeanette

4 comments:

  1. I wonder if you could just beat those maple sugar candies they sell at some grocery stores into submission? I might try this recipe but add some thin apple slices to the rolls. Thank you for posting it.

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    1. What a great idea, Isabella! I should try that! I did sneak some of the larger pieces and ate them as candy. They were delicious! Apples would be sooooo wonderful. I'm going to try that delicious addition!

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  2. Those sound REALLY good! I love Maple sugar. I got a small container at a maple barn. One of the good things about living in New England. http://www.parkersmaplebarn.com/

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    1. They were so good and Patrick is already asking when I'm going to make them again! Thank you for the maple sugar source, QNPoohBear!

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