Category: Baking

Apple butter Pie

10/3/2024

I got a big load of apples from my sister lately. I put up jars of both smooth and chunky applesauce, stowed away bags of peeled and sliced apples in the freezer, and made a batch of apple butter.

If you've never had apple butter, you're missing out. Dark, sweet, and redolent with fall spices, it warms your heart and satisfies your tummy. I went online, looking for things to do with apple butter beyond spreading it on toast, and I found a recipe for apple butter pie. The recipe was gluten free, and had many steps that I didn't want to go through, so I took the idea, modified it, and came up with something of my own.

Apple butter pie is a custard pie, similar in texture to a pumpkin pie. I think it would be a perfect addition to a fall feast, and a great substitute for those who aren't all that keen on pumpkin. It's also easy, especially if you have a food processor. Give it a try and tell me what you think!

Crust:
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 1/2-3 TBS ice water
1/2 TBS vinegar

Filling:
1 cup apple butter
3 large eggs
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 TBS all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
14 oz. evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla.

Cinnamon Sugar:
1 1/2 TBS granulated sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Food Processor Method:

Preheat oven to 400°

Place flour and salt into food processor bowl. Dollop shortening over flour. Pulse 1 or 2 times. Slowly add vinegar through liquid dispenser while pulsing. Add water slowly while pulsing. When dough forms into a solid ball, take it out of the processor bowl, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 10 minutes. Place on a floured sheet of wax paper. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle 3" bigger than your pie plate. Pick up the waxed paper and flip it over atop the pie plate. Ease into the plate. Crimp the edge, or flatten it and brush it with cold water. Use a small cookie cutter on scraps to make shapes to go around the edge or to float on the filing. Sprinkle the shapes with some of the cinnamon sugar.

Add all filling ingredients to food processor bowl and process until smooth. Pour into pie crust. If using, add cutouts to pie. Sprinkle filling with remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 400°for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and continue baking for 30-40 minutes, until crust is brown and filling doesn't jiggle when the pie is shaken.
Let pie cool for at least an hour before serving. A big dollop of whipped cream really enhances this pie.

Mix by Hand Method:

Preheat oven to 400°

Mix flour and salt in medium bowl. Cut shortening into flour using a pastry cutter or fork until particles of shorting are the size of small peas. Sprinkle with vinegar and mix with fork. Sprinkle with water 1/2 TBS at a time until dough forms into a solid ball. Take it out of the bowl, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 10 minutes. Place on a floured sheet of wax paper. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle 3" bigger than your pie plate. Pick up the waxed paper and flip it over atop the pie plate. Ease into the plate. Crimp the edge, or flatten it and brush it with cold water. Use a small cookie cutter on scraps to make shapes to go around the edge or to float on the filing. Sprinkle the shapes with some of the cinnamon sugar.

Beat all filling ingredients together in a bowl until smooth. Pour into pie crust. If using, add cutouts to pie. Sprinkle filling with remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 400°for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and continue baking for 30-40 minutes, until crust is brown and filling doesn't jiggle when the pie is shaken.
Let pie cool for at least an hour before serving. A big dollop of whipped cream really enhances this pie.

Jennifer Bohnhoff is the author of contemporary and historical fiction for middle grade through adult readers. She also likes to putter in the kitchen. For more information on her and her books, visit her website. For more recipes, sign up for her newsletter.

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Walnut Pie

2/15/2024

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I’ve been sharing Perspective, an historical novel set on Isle Royale during the Great Depression, with my critique group. This past session, my chapter included a scene where the characters make a walnut pie. It fit into my chapter well, since the characters, Genevieve and Ida, are using the shells to create ornaments for their Christmas tree, and if they’re shelling walnuts, they’d better do something with the meat. But I’d never researched further to find out just what was in that pie.

“Walnut pie?” my critic partners wondered. “What’s that? What goes into it? What does it taste like?”

Creator: Rainer Lesniewski | Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

In truth, I didn’t know. I’d included it because it was convenient. Maybe it was mentioned in one of the memoirs written by an islander that I had read while writing the first draft of this novel back in 2002, but I’ve forgotten whether that was the case, or I’d just made-up walnut pies out of thin air. Clearly, I needed to do more research.

Isle Royale is a long, thin island in Lake Superior, the westernmost of the Great Lakes. To some people, Lake Superior looks like a wolf looking to the left, and Isle Royale is the eye.

Isle Royale is a national park now. Earlier, it had been a site of copper mining, fishing and logging operations, and marginal farming. By the early 1930s, most of the inhabitants were only seasonal, visiting every summer to escape the heat and humidity of mainland Michigan and Minnesota. Tourists visited the island's hotels. Only a small but hardy group of fisherman endured hard winters cut off from the rest of the world by treacherous ice. What kind of pie, I wondered, would these independent souls create in their isolated wilderness homes?

There are lots of recipes for pies with walnuts on the internet. Many are fruit pies, often apple or apple and cranberry. Some, called Amish walnut pies, included oatmeal. Another Amish pie had whipping cream and gelatin. Many were similar to pecan pies. I didn’t find any pies on the internet that were called Isle Royale pie or even Michigan or Minnesota pies. Even if the inhabitants of this Lake Superior Island had made pies, they’d left easily accessible record on the internet, and I was in Maine while all my printed resource material was back in New Mexico. If I wanted a pie recipe now, I’d have to create it myself.

The recipe I finally settled on is very simple, like I assume my characters, living in an isolated island forest, would be most likely to make. It uses maple syrup, which was then produced on the island in small quantities for use by the local inhabitants. I made a test pie and shared it with my family and they pronounced it a winner, so here it is.

Walnut Pie

Put a pie crust into a 9” pie plate.
(Don’t have your own pie crust recipe? Click here for one of mine.)

Preheat oven to 375°

Place 1 ½ cup chopped walnuts on a baking sheet.
Bake 5-7 minutes to toast the nuts and bring out the flavor.

Mix together:
½ cup brown sugar
2 TBS flour
1 ¼ cup maple syrup
3 TBS melted butter
¼ tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir in toasted walnuts. Pour into shell.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing and serving.

Jennifer Bohnhoff writes historical and contemporary fiction for middle grade through adult readers from her home high in the mountains of central New Mexico. She and her family visited Isle Royale during the summer of 2000, where they camped, canoed and portaged by day and listened to the wolves howl by night. During her ten days there, she fell in love with the island and its history. Perspective, her novel set there during the Great Depression, may come out this summer. The cover will be a lot better than the one pictured here.

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Sweets for the Sweet

1/26/2023

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Valentine's Day is growing near, and for the Anderson family, that spells complications. Dad's long work hours makes Mom trade in her no- nonsense pony tail and sweatpants for capris and curlers. Big sister Chloe, who believes that Valentine's day is just an excuse for crass consumerism, abandons her principles and her black Goth style for pretty pinks after getting roses from an anonymous admirer. Much to his consternation, little brother Calvin's hand puppet, Mr. Buttons, falls in love. Only the youngest member of the family, Stevie, seems san as he anticipates the sweet tarts and lollypops he'll be getting at preschool,.

For Hec Anderson, a geeky sixth grader, is so inept when it comes to love that he feels like a sci-fi visitor abandoned on an alien world. All of Hec's confusion reaches a crisis point when the girl of his dreams moves to town and he must challenge the most popular boy in school for her attention at the school dance.

When Hec learns that Sandy loves polka dots, he decides that M&Ms are the way to her heart. Sandy reciprocates, giving Hec a bag of M&M-studded cookies, which he resolves to keep forever. Forever ends up being a very short period of time, and the cookies end up being eaten: by whom, I won't tell you. But if you'd like some of your own to eat, here's a recipe.

Polka Dot Cookies

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup candy-coated chocolate pieces

Heat oven to 350°
In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, butter and shortening until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla and egg and blend well.
Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.
Stir in chocolate pieces.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for easier handling.
Shape into 2" balls and place 4" apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
You can press an additional 1/2 cup candy into balls to decorate tops of cookies.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes before removing from sheets and placing on a cooling rack. Makes 14 large cookies

If you'd like to read something sweet this Valentine's season, Tweet Sarts is available in paperback and e-reader formats from many online books stores. You can also purchase a signed copy dedicated to the one your love directly from the author. She is selling this book at a discount between now and Valentine's day because she loves her readers.

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Two Variations on the Cookie with a Thousand Names

11/14/2021

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Okay, so a thousand names is a bit of hyperbole, but these are the cookies that everyone seems to call by a different name. I’ve heard these called Snowballs, Swedish Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cookie, Russian Tea Cakes, and Butterballs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you, dear readers, offered me an additional name or two.

Whatever you call them, these cookies have been a constant on the Bohnhoff Family Christmas cookie platter since long before I became a Bohnhoff. In our house, these cookies are made in balls, but I’ve seen them made into logs and crescents, too.

When my boys were young, I doubled this recipe every year. Sometimes I had to make it twice to make sure we had some all the way through the holidays. Then I discovered that one of my daughters-in-law was a peppermint fan, so I found and adaption that pleased her. It has now become a second standard on the cookie plate. The boys are all grown up, and the need for hundreds of cookies lying around the house has lessened, so I’ve adapted once again, to make two kinds of cookies from one batch of dough. I’m including suggestions so that you can make a full batch of regular butterballs, a full batch of peppermint butterballs, or one mixed batch. I’ve found the easiest way to make these is using a food processor. If you don’t have one, you’ll have to grind the nuts and peppermints in a blender, a coffeemill or some other way, then mix the ingredients in a mixer or by hand. However you pursue these, I hope you enjoy them!

Since Sweden, Mexico and Russia all get credit for these cookies, I am including a person from each who immigrated to America and significantly impacted our society.

Butterballs and Peppermint Butterballs

Preheat oven to 325°
If you are making half a batch of peppermint butterballs, whirr the following ingredients in a food processor until the candies are crushed fine, then set aside in a shallow bowl. Double the ingredients if you plan to make all your cookies peppermint.
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup broken peppermint candies or candy canes

If you are making half a batch of butterballs, place 1/3 cup powdered sugar in another bowl and set aside. Use ½ cup of powdered sugar if you are making a full batch of butterballs.

To make the dough for both cookies, process in food processor until chopped very fine

½ pecans (you can use almonds or walnuts if you prefer. It occurs to me that pinons would make a lovely New Mexican version of this cookie)

Add to food processor and pulse until mixed with the nuts.

½ cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
¼ tsp salt

Add to ingredients in food processor and pulse until everything is blended into a dough that bunches together in a ball.

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

Take dough out of food processor and knead on the counter a few times if you feel the butter hasn’t distributed all the way.

If you are making both variations of cookies, divide the dough in two.

To make butterballs, shape the dough into crescents, logs or balls about 1” large. Roll in the reserved bowl of powdered sugar. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 325° for 15-20 minutes until set but not brown. Cool on a cooling rack, then roll again in powdered sugar.

To make filling for a half batch of peppermint butterballs, mix the following in a small bowl. Double ingredients if you are making a full batch

2 TBS peppermint and powdered sugar mixture
1 TBS cream cheese, softened
¼ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp milk

Put a tablespoon of dough into your hand and form into a ball. Use your thumb to make a pocket in the middle of the ball, and fill it with about ¼ tsp of the filling. Seal the ball shut and roll it in the peppermint and powdered sugar mixture. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 325° for 15-20 minutes until set but not brown. Cool on a cooling rack, then roll again in powdered sugar and crushed peppermints.

The Swede responsible for a famous American icon

Alexander Samuelson was born in Kareby parish, Kungälv, Bohuslän, Sweden in 1862. A glass engineer, he emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1883 and is credited with designing the famous Coca-Cola contour bottle in 1915. Although the shape has been modified, this bottle remains one of the most recognized trademark and package in the world.

The Mexican American who Fought for better education and voting rights

Jovita Idár was born in 1885, in Laredo, Texas, right on the border with Mexico. She wrote for her father’s Spanish language newspaper, La Crónica, using it as a platform to speak out against racism and in support of women’s and Mexican-Americans’ rights to vote and to receive decent educations. In 1915, when Woodrow Wilson sent troops to the Mexican-American border, Idár wrote a scathing editorial condemning the President’s actions. When the Texas Rangers arrived at the newspaper’s office, intent on shutting it down, she barred the door with her own body. https://americansall.org/legacy-story-individual/jovita-id-r

The Russian who keeps us Entertained at Home

Vladimir Kosmich Zworykin was born in Murom, Russia, in 1888. He studied "electrical telescopy," later called television, at the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. During World War I, Zworykin served in the Russian Signal Corps, testing radio equipment that was being produced for the Russian Army. In 1918, after the Russian Civil War broke out, made several trips to the United States on official duties. When the White party collapsed, Zworykin decided to remain permanently in the US. He got a job at the Westinghouse laboratories in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he was able to continue experimenting on television. In 1923, he applied for a television patent.

Jennifer Bohnhoff's latest novel, A Blaze of Poppies is set in the same time period as these three people lived and worked.

Jennifer Bohnhoff is a writer of historical and contemporary fiction for middle grade readers through adults. Each year, she sends a book of recipes out to the friends, fans and family on her email list. If you'd like to join this list, click here.

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September is Apple Time

9/12/2021

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Few people would recognize the name John Chapman. Most people would recognize him by his nickname: Johnny Appleseed.

Chapman was born sometime around 1774 in Leominster, Massachusetts. As a young man, he moved west, to Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, where he bought a small farm and planted an orchard. A devout Swedenborgian Christian, Chapman provided free food and lodging for the pioneers who passed his farm on the was west to the Ohio Valley wilderness. As a parting gift, he pressed a small pouch into their hands before they resumed their journey.

The pouch contained apple seeds. Chapman collected the residue from local cider presses, then laboriously picked the seeds out of the sticky mash, dried them, and placed them in little deerskin bags that he had sewn. He felt that the pioneers in the wilderness needed orchards just as much as he did.

After many years, Johnny began to worry about the orchards in the wilderness. He gave his farm to a widow with a large, needy family, bought two canoes from the Natives and lashed them together, loaded them with apple seeds, then floated down the Ohio River. He traveled all over Ohio, planting new orchards and tending those that were planted before his arrival. He lived by trading seeds for food and for used clothing, and was known for wearing his one cooking pot as a hat as he walked from settlement to settlement. Native Americans regarded him as touched by the Great Spirit. Even hostile tribes left him alone. Myths began to rise up around him. One story is that, after noticing that mosquitoes flew into his fire, he doused it and said “God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort, that should be the means of destroying any of His creatures." Another says he had a pet wolf that had started following him after he healed its injured leg. He reportedly could play with bear cubs while their mother looked on.

As settlers continued west, so did Chapman. In the 1830s he left Ohio and began planting trees in Indiana. He moved on to Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois. He died in 1845, his body found lying in an orchard near Fort Wayne, Indiana. In his lifetime, the botanist/herb doctor/missionary had planted thousands of trees. endeared himself to pioneer families, and become an American legend.

These cookies are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, just like the apples that inspired them. Before I made these, I visited my mother, picked apples from her tree, and made up several quarts of applesauce. You can use bottled sauce from the store if you're not as lucky - or industrious - as I am.

Applesauce Cookies

1 cup sugar
½ cup shortening
1 ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp salt
1 cup raisins
½ cup chopped nuts

Heat oven to 375°. Spray cookie sheets with oil.
Beat sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Add applesauce and egg and blend well. Stir in flour, baking soda. Cinnamon, cloves and salt and mix well. Sir in raisins and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until light golden. Immediately move from sheet to cooling rack.

Jennifer Bohnhoff is a retired middle school language arts and history teacher. She now writes historical and contemporary fiction from her home in the mountains of central New Mexico. You can read more about her and her books on her website.

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Back to School: Cookies and Teachers

8/8/2021

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It’s August, which should mean high summer.

For many of us, though, school is starting. Here in the mountains of New Mexico, the sunflowers start to bloom about the same time the school bells start to ring, and the smell of chili roasting wafts on the air. All of these are signs that summer is on the wane and fall is coming.

These cookies really have a bit of a fall feel to them. The molasses gives them an earthy, satisfying taste that calls me home. Time to settle in and enjoy the last of the season before fall, with all its activities, starts again.

Molasses Chocolate Crinkles

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
½ cup molasses
½ cup cocoa
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups flour

Topping: ¼ cup powdered sugar
Heat oven to 350
Beat all ingredients except flour until mixed.
Add flout just until blended
Form into 1: balls and roll in sugar
Place 1” apart on cookie sheet
Bake 9-10 minutes until puffed and cracked.
Cool 1 minute before removing from cookie sheet.

Over the years, there have been many outstanding teachers in the history of the USA. They worked to make the world a better place by improving the educational system and teaching practices. Their contribution changed the whole perception of education and shaped our society. Here are famous educators who have made a difference in the world.

Anne Sullivan
Anne Sullivan reimagined special education, using her experience and natural pedagogical talent. She is famous for being a teacher of Helen Keller, a deaf and blind girl. Anne became her educator and eventually a friend. Being visually impaired herself, Sullivan knew what the girl was experiencing. It allowed her to choose special teaching techniques to help Hellen communicate with the world. Anne would take her hand and spell each word on the girl’s palm. This creative method proved to be effective, and soon, Hellen learned more and more words. With Anne’s help, Helen Keller became a well-known author, political activist, and the first blind-deaf person to earn a bachelor’s degree.

William McGuffey
William McGuffey was born in 1800 and was such a precocious child that he began to teaching classes at age 14. While teaching in Ohio and Kentucky, McGuffey saw that there was no standard method to teach students how to read; often, the Bible was the only book available.

McGuffey paused his teaching career to attend college himself. By age 26, he was Professor of Languages at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In 1835, his friend Harriet Beecher Stowe asked him to write a series of readers for the publisher Truman and Smith. McGuffey Readers, a series of books for elementary school students, was used in American schools for the next 70 years.

Emma Willard
Emma Willard made education accessible for women. She founded the first higher education institution for females in America, the Troy Female Seminary. The school still exists as the Emma Willard School. Emma Willard made the promotion of education her life-long aim. She fought for women’s rights to achieve higher education of the same quality as men could get. In her institution, female students studied science, mathematics, philosophy, and other subjects that were not previously available to them. Willard’s progressive outlook prioritized equality changed the perspective people had on education.

Vivian Paley
Vivian Paley was a preschool teacher and the author of numerous books. She emphasized the importance of storytelling and play for the development of children. Paley believed that teachers who promoted fantasy and make-believe evoked the most interest in their students. She made her lessons memorable for students and encouraged them to express feelings and ideas in the classroom. Vivian Paley received numerous awards acknowledging her contribution to preschool teaching.

Sal Khan
Sal Khan tried to make education more accessible to people around the world. This American educator founded the Khan Academy, and online platform that granted people access to educational topics. It covers many different school subjects, including math, computing, history, and the arts. His use of technologies revolutionized education.

Jennifer Bohnhoff taught English, Social Studies and History at the middle school and high school level. She is now retired so that she can devote her time to writing historical novels.

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Cookies and Quakers

7/4/2021

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My husband loves cookies. He comes by that love naturally: his mother was a prolific cookie baker. Her Christmas cookie platter brimmed with dozens of different types of cookies. I didn’t get all of her recipes, and even if I did, I couldn’t match my mother-in-law’s cookie baking skills, but I’ve tried, for my husband’s sake. Although he likes many kinds of cookies, these oatmeal and raisin ones are one of his favorites. They are chewy and satisfying and, as cookies go, good for you. I added ground flax to this recipe around 20 years ago, when Hank developed high cholesterol. The doctor said that if he didn’t get his numbers down, he’d have to go on medication. Hank started exercising more, and I added almonds to his lunches, more fruits and veggies to all meals, and flax and oatmeal to many of my recipes. It seemed to do the trick. Hank’s still medication-free and his cholesterol numbers are good.

Hank’s Special Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

¾ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp apple pie spice (you can use cinnamon if you prefer)
3/4 cup flour
2 tbs ground flax
1 ½ cup quick-cooking oats (you can use regular oats, and your cookies will be a little chewier)
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 375°.

In large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla and egg and blend well.
Add baking soda, salt, apple pie spice, flour, and flax and blend well.
Stir in oats, raisins and nuts.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2” apart, onto greased cookie sheets.
Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.
Cool 1 minute, then use a spatula to remove from cookie sheets onto a cooling rack.

Famous American Quakers

Unless you’re like me and use generic and store brands, the oats you use for these cookies might come from a box that has a picture of a Quaker on it. According to the Quaker Oats Company, this man was America's first registered trademark for a breakfast cereal. Registered on September 4th, 1877, the logo featured a full-length Quaker man holding a scroll with the word "Pure" written across it.

Back in 1909, the company identified this figure as William Penn, the founder of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and called him the "standard bearer of the Quakers and of Quaker Oats." Now, however, the company says that he is not the representation of an actual person, but symbolizes the Quaker virtues of honesty, integrity, purity and strength.

William Penn was born in England on October 14, 1644. King Charles II owed his father, the admiral and politician Sir William Penn, a great deal of money, and in 1681 he handed over a large piece of his North American land holdings along the North Atlantic coast in what is now Pennsylvania and Delaware to cover his debts. The younger Penn, who had been imprisoned in the Tower of London several times for his membership in the Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, immediately set sail for America. As soon as he arrived, he convened the first Pennsylvania General Assembly. The democratic principles that he established in the Pennsylvania Frame of Government served as an inspiration for the members of the convention framing the new Constitution of the United States in Philadelphia in 1787.

Penn’s pacifist theories helped him propose a European Assembly, whose deputies would discuss and peacefully adjudicate issues among the nations, an idea no dissimilar to the European Union in place today.

Penn founded the city of Philadelphia, directing that it be laid out in an easy-to-navigate grid that was very different from the tangled street of his native London. Because Pennsylvania means "Penn's Woods," he named the cross streets after types of trees.

In addition to being an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, Penn is known for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans. He died on July 30, 1718.

But although he is the most famous Quaker, William Penn is not the only one. American folk hero Daniel Boone’s family emigrated to the U.S. because they were Quakers and raised their famous son in their beliefs. Cassius Coolidge, the painter who created the famous Dogs Playing Poker was born in upstate New York into a family of abolitionist Quakers. Actor James Dean was raised Quaker and is buried in a Quaker cemetery. President Richard Milhous Nixon’s mother was from an old Quaker family, and he attended a Quaker college in California named Whittier College. Joan Baez's father, Albert, a co-inventor of the X-ray microscope and a well-known physicist, converted to Quakerism when Joan was a child, influencing her anti-war stand. Blues guitarist Bonnie Raitt was also raised in a Quaker family. As far as I know, none of them have ever advocated eating oatmeal.

Author Jennifer Bohnhoff was raised Lutheran and eats a lot of oatmeal. She is especially fond of it when it is in cookies. You can read more about her and her books at her website. You can sign up for her newsletter here and be among the first to know about her upcoming books and special offers.

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American Mothers and Authors

5/3/2021

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May is the month in which we celebrate Mother's Days, so it seems appropriate to recognize some American mothers who were also authors.

Anne Bradstreet (March 20, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the wife of the governor of the Massachusetts Colony and the mother of eight children, but she was also a poet who wrote about marriage, family and the natural world. Her first book of poetry, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, was published in London in 1650, making her the first American woman to be published in Europe and the New World.

Illustration from a 1770 edition of Rowlandson's book.

Mary Rowlandson (c. 1637 – January 5, 1711) was the wife of a minister and mother of four children, one of whom died in infancy. The family lived in Lancaster, Massachusetts, a town that was on the edge of the wilderness at that time. In 1676, during King Philip's War, Lancaster was raided by Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Nipmuc Indians, and Mary and her her three children were taken. One of her daughters died of wounds after a week of captivity, but Mary and her remaining two children were ransomed after eleven weeks. Six years later, Rowlandson published The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, which many consider to be America's first best-seller.

Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910) may be best know as the author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” but it is just one of many poems she wrote. In addition, she was the author of plays, and books, and the publisher of literary magazines. She was also the mother of six children, active in advocating for world peace, women’s education, and women's right to vote. Julia wrote extensively over the course of her life and was also active as a speaker who championed morality and Christianity.

In 1872, Howe asked for June 2 to become a "Mother's Day for Peace." Although she was unsuccessful, Anna Jarvis, the women who managed to establish the modern Mother's Day 36 years later reportedly was inspired by her own mother's work with Howe.

Vanilla Wafers

Surely you've bought a box of vanilla wafers before. Why not make them yourself? These not too sweet cookies are perfect for accompanying a bowl of strawberries or a fruit salad, or as the base in banana pudding. If you are having a mother's day celebration, be sure to include them.

1/2 cup butter
1.2 cup shortening
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour

Cream butter, shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Add vanilla and salt. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in flour.

Scoop up dough with a teaspoon, roll into a ball, then set on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, 2" apart. Flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in flour so it doesn't stick.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, until browned on the edges. Let cook on a rack.

Jennifer Bohnhoff is the mother of three fine sons, the mother-in-law of three wonderful daughters in law, and the grandmother of three granddaughters and one grandson. She lives in New Mexico, where she teaches New Mexico History and writes. You can find out more about her at her website.

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Shortbread and Scots-American Presidents

2/15/2021

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Since February has Presidents Day, I'd intended to write a piece on George Washington and include a recipe that had something to do with him. Martha Washington was a famous cook in her day; surely I could find a recipe for cookies that she made for her husband.

But as I began planning, I remembered this shortbread pan that I've had a long time. (It might have been a wedding gift, but as I've been married over 40 years, I can't remember.)

Although I usually make shortbread at Christmas, the lovely hearts on the pan make it very appropriate for Valentines Day, and that led me on a search to find a connection between shortbread and February. Turns out I didn't have to search very hard at all, and my search led me right back to George Washington.

George Washington may have been our first president with ties to Scotland, but he wasn't our last.
Scotland.org states that 34 of our 44 presidents have been of either Scottish or Ulster-Scots descent. This includes George Washington, James Polk, Theodore Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, and Bill Clinton.

Even Barack Obama, our first African-American president, has some Scots blood. Genealogists have found that his ancestry can be traced back to William the Lion who ruled Scotland from 1165 to 1214.

So this President's Day, enjoy a bit of shortbread and think about what Scotland has contributed to the United States.

My recipe for shortbread has a secret added ingredient: corn starch. While it is unusual, I've found that it leads to a tighter crumb. These cookies won't shatter when you bite down on them, but they are still rich and not too sweet.

Shortbread

1/2 lb.(2 sticks) butter

1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup corn starch

Preheat oven to 325 If you have a shortbread pan, place it in the over and let it preheat.

Melt butter.

Mix sugar, flour and cornstarch together. Pour melted butter over and blend together. Pat into preheated mold.

Back at 325 for 40 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 and bake another 20 minutes, or until edges are slightly brown. Turn out shortbread onto a plate as soon as they come out of the oven. Use a large knife to slice the wedges apart when the shortbread is still warm.

Variations

If you don't own a shortbread pan, you can use any of these four variations.

Wedges: pat into two 8" circles. Cut into 8-12 wedges, but don't separate them. Back at 325 for 30 minutes. Recut while warm

Thumbprints: roll into 1: balls, Place 2" apart on a cookie sheet and press thumb into the center of each to make a deep indentation. Back at 325 for 18 minutes. Immediately after removing from over, fill each indentation with 1/2 tsp preserves. Cool before removing from cookie sheet.

Pecan spice: Substitute brown sugar for white and add 1 tsp of pumpkin spice to the original recipe. Pat into a 9x13" pan. Cut into 1x1/12" rectangles. Place a pecan half on each rectangle. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Recut while warm and let cook in the pan before sprinkling with powdered sugar.

Shortbread triangles: Substitute brown sugar for white and add 1 tsp of pumpkin spice to the original recipe. Pat into a 9x13" pan. Sprinkle dough with 1/4 cup chopped pecans; press them into the dough. Cut into 16 squares, then divide each square crosswise to make triangles. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Recut while warm. When cool, drizzle with vanilla icing.

Vanilla icing: 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, 2-3 tsp milk, stirred until smooth.

Jennifer Bohnhoff is an educator and writer who lives in central New Mexico. You can learn more about her books here.

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Peanut Pie

1/18/2021

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The last slice of the latest peanut pie in our house.

The author and her sons at Devil's Den, Gettysburg

During the summer of 2000, my husband and I took our three sons on an historical vacation. Among the places visited were Williamsburg and Gettysburg, both places where we ate peanut pie in local taverns, so that the pie is associated in our minds with American history.

Many histories of peanuts say that they came to America in the 1700s, carried from Africa along with slaves. While that may be true, they are not originally from Africa. Peanuts seem to have originated in South America, in Peru. They were taken back to Africa by the Spanish before coming to North America.

Wherever they came from, I'm glad they made it into my family's repertoire. This recipe is adapted from the Chowning's Tavern Pie from historical Williamsburg.

Peanut Pie

For the Crust:

1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C shortening

Cut shortening into flour and salt mixture until it resembles cornmeal in consistency, with some particles the size of small peas.

3 TBS ice water
1/2 TBS vinegar

Mix water and vinegar and sprinkle over the flour mixture, 1 TBS at a time, mixing until the dough clumps together. You may not use all the liquid.

Press together, then place on a floured piece of waxed paper or parchment. Roll out until it is larger than your pie place. Invert the paper over the pie plate to fit in. Flute edged.

For the Filling:

3 large eggs,
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 TBS melted butter

1 cup peanuts (you may use salted or unsalted, but I prefer unsalted, roasted Virginia peanuts with the skins removed.)

Beat the eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add the melted butter and peanuts. Pour into the pie shell and bake in a preheated oven at 350 until the filling is set in the center and the pastry is lightly browned, about 45 minutes.

Jennifer Bohnhoff is a writer and educator who lives high in the mountains of central New Mexico. She wrote about Gettysburg in her novel, The Bent Reed, which is available in ebook and paperback.

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Shortbread and Scots-American Presidents

Peanut Pie

ABout Jennifer Bohnhoff

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Walnut Pie

Polka Dot Cookies

​Butterballs and Peppermint Butterballs

The Swede responsible for a famous American icon

The Mexican American who Fought for better education and voting rights

The Russian who keeps us Entertained at Home

Applesauce Cookies

​Molasses Chocolate Crinkles

​Hank’s Special Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

​Famous American Quakers

Vanilla Wafers

ABout Jennifer Bohnhoff

Categories

Archives

Butterballs and Peppermint Butterballs

Molasses Chocolate Crinkles

Hank’s Special Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Famous American Quakers