Prairie Cooks: Holiday Post

At four o'clock Ingeborg calls up the stairway, "Myrrrrtle?" which is the signal for Myrtle to go down and set her Christmas cookies out for Kaffe Tid. We all troop down to the kitchen. Myrtle is a fantastic cookie maker. Her sandbakkels are incredible—each one a perfect fluted cup of flaky pastry. We can't make sandbakkels at our house because we don't have baking tins. Myrtle passes her cookies around to the grown-ups who are having their coffee around the kitchen table. We take our own cookies back upstairs, because we have got to get back to that Uncle Wiggily game. We are rabid for Uncle Wiggily, and none of us has won yet.

Myrtle's Sandbakkels (Butter Tarts)

Fluted tins (3 inches in diameter at the top and 1 inch high) are necessary to make these beautiful, cup-shaped Christmas cookies, which can be served alone, inverted on a plate, or filled with ice cream, whipped cream, lemon filling, or lingonberry preserves. Do not save this recipe for a rainy day: dry weather makes the dough much easier to work with.

1 cup butter

1 cup margarine (or lard or shortening)

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 large beaten egg

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl cream the butter, margarine, and sugar well with the almond extract, add the egg and the flour which has been sifted with the salt, until the flour is just absorbed. The dough will be soft. Flour the hands, divide the dough in half, and form two rolls about 9 x 2 1/2 inches. Wrap well in lightly floured waxed paper and chill at least several hours or overnight.

When dough is firm, slice the rolls in circles to 1/8 inch thick and press into the sandbakkel tins to form shells about 1/16 inch thick, making the bottoms slightly thinner than the sides (the dough will settle in baking). To facilitate forming the shells, if desired, press the dough with another sandbakkel tin the same size which has been dipped in flour.

Arrange the tarts on a baking sheet about 1 inch apart and chill again until firm (15 to 30 minutes) before baking in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden and slightly brown around the edges. Remove the tins, inverted, to a cooling rack. Cool until tins can be handled, then twirl in the hands and press in gently with the fingertips until tarts loosen, then invert carefully on the rack. Let the tarts cool completely before storing in airtight tins. Makes about 40 3-inch sandbakkels.

Carrie Young and Felicia Young, Prairie Cooks

Tree of the Week

White Spruce, Picea glauca (Moench) Voss.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: Leaves linear, four-sided, evergreen, 1/3 to 3/4 inch long, green or light blue-green, with woody, peglike bases that remain on the twig when the green portions fall, spirally arranged and extending from the twig in several directions. Twigs gray on new growth. Buds with recurved scales. Cones pendant, 1 to 2 1/2 inches long, their scales dull light brown, rigid, with entire, rounded margins. Bark thin, dark, scaly.

SIMILAR TREES: Norway and blue spruces have larger cones and orangeish twigs. See also firs and Douglas=fir in the discussion of Norway spruce.

IOWA DISTRIBUTION: Planted throughout the state.

Forest and Shade Trees of Iowa (Third Edition), by Peter J. van der Linden and Donald R. Farrar

Winter Story

We had such a nice open winter until after we brought the cattle home. We thought spring was near at hand. They had only a straw stack for food and shelter where they were and we planned on their eating the buffalo grass which was all round our place where it had grown fast after the grasshoppers left. And [there was] a small corn stalk field near to help out. But one night we heard the wind begin to howl in a cold piercing note and J.T. got up to see what was going on. He reported a regular blizzard was starting and we must try to get the cattle in the house or they would drift away and perhaps freeze to death. I hurried to dress and he made me put on his overcoat as he said the wind would blow right through me and I went out into the storm to help him. We opened the south door and drove them to the south side of the house and by considerable running and shouting urging them into the house, all but one stubborn steer. We had him to the door time and again but he always bolted by so as the storm was increasing and we were nearly frozen ourselves we left him go and went back to bed to get warm. I was afraid our carpet partition would not keep them out of our end of the house but J.T. laid on that side of the bed and then they crowded up into the other end of the room and let us go to sleep.

The next day the blizzard was still on and as fuel so scarce J.T. said Willie and I must stay in bed while he rustled a fire and something to eat. So he got a good fire and hot water and coffee. I am quite sure we still had some oatmeal though no milk. Anyway he put a coat around me and I sat up in bed and as the stove was right beside I could reach over and see to things and we had quite a lot of fun out of it. J.T. would dance around to keep warm and sing funny songs and as of course Willie wanted to get up he would take him back to bed. He went out to try to get the wild steer in but it only made him run further from the shelter of the house so he gave it up. There was nothing we could do for the cattle in the house so J.T. soon came back to bed as we could not burn up all the fuel trying to warm the house and we put in the day telling stories and singing songs until it was time for the other meal ("only 2 meals when the man cooks") which was about the same as breakfast and then to bed again and listen to the blizzard.

The next morning it was still cold but the sun shone bright so we turned the cattle [out] as the wind had died out and the snow which had seemed to come for a night and a day so fast and furious had nearly all, as J.T. said, blown into gopher holes or down into Kansas, so the cattle could get their feed all right and even the steer who stayed outdoors, as he had sheltered himself in the lee of the doorway, seemed not the worse for the storm.

A Prairie Populist: The Memoirs of Luna Kellie, edited by Jane Taylor Nelsen

Prairie Cooks: Holiday Post

By the time we arrive for Christmas dinner, the table is set for twelve people; it is loaded, and it is beautiful. Ingeborg has lovely Scandinavian china and antique water glasses of red and gold. In addition to lutefisk, lefse, and mashed potatoes, she serves roast pork and rich brown gravy. Lining the table are watermelon pickles, raisin breads, preserves, and jellies. For dessert there is pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

Pioneer Pumpkin Pie

My mother and Ingeborg often made pumpkin pie for the winter holidays. This recipe has a mild yet rich taste.

For the 9-inch unbaked pie shell: use recipe for Carrine's Flaky Pie Crust (see page 23)

For the filling:

1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon dark molasses

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups light cream

whipping cream (for topping)

After making pie shell, refrigerate for 30 minutes. Place pumpkin, brown sugar, and molasses in a large mixing bowl and combine well. (If using fresh pumpkin, boil well until tender, drain and mash very well—if pumpkin still looks rough, put it in the blender a minute.) In a small bowl combine eggs, melted butter, spices, and salt and beat well with an eggbeater. Pour over pumpkin mixture and add cream and stir until smooth. Pour into refrigerated shell.

Pumpkin pie is best if baked at a long slow heat—pumpkin filling that has been allowed to boil in the oven is not palatable. Start out at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes and then lower heat to 300 degrees and bake for up to another hour or until a knife inserted in the filling comes out clean. Cool pie on rack until warm and serve with a liberal topping of freshly whipped cream sweetened with a little sugar and vanilla. Serves 8.

Carrie Young and Felicia Young, Prairie Cooks

Tree of the Week

Norway Spruce, Picea abies (L.) Karst.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS: Leaves linear, four-sided, evergreen, 3/8 to 1 inch long, dark green, with woody, peg-like bases tat remain on the twig when the green portions fall, spirally arranged and extending from the twig in several directions. Twigs drooping, orange on new growth. Buds with recurved scales. Cones pendant, 4 to 6 inches long, their scales dull brown, rigid, with finely toothed margins. Bark thin, dark, scaly.

SIMILAR TREES: White and blue spruces have smaller cones, and the twigs are stiffly held, not drooping. Blue spruce has longer, more sharply pointed leaves that are usually (in cultivated trees) noticeably blue-green in color. White spruce has grayish twigs.  Firs and Douglas-fir resemble spruces and are often confused with them but differ in having flattened leaves that lack woody, peg-like bases. Fir cones are held upright on the branches and disintegrate at maturity; cones of Douglas-fir have protruding bracts.

IOWA DISTRIBUTION: Planted throughout the state; occasionally naturalized on cool, moist slopes in northeastern Iowa.

Forest and Shade Trees of Iowa (Third Edition), by Peter J. van der Linden and Donald R. Farrar