Friday, July 12, 2013

Baking...back in the day...

I love my kitchenaid mixer and all the other little kitchen gadgets I've aquired over the years but there are some things that are just better left "old school" and as I watched the last of the American Baking Competiton the other night, I see I'm not alone in this way of thinking....I know...surprise surprise, right?....and it took me back to my aunt Evelyns book of memories. This time to an entry or two she made about Grandma Mag and her cooking. Shown below is a photo of her and my Mom....

"Grandma Mag Summer was a very good cook. She cooked by dollops & "by guess and by golly". That is why you can't duplicate her cooking. I remember her bread dressing & gravy. She would cook sweet potatoes, drain & let them cool. Then she would mold the sweet potatoe around a marshmallow-then roll it in coconut-place them on a cookie sheet placing it in the oven until the coconut would brown. You had to be careful when you ate yours that you didn't burn your mouth with the hot marshmallow.
When baking a cake she didn't use a recipe. She had a small pan and she put several spoonfulls in-baked it. She would break it-feel of it-taste it. Then she could tell if the batter needed more flour or maybe more milk.
My favorite cake was a burnt sugar cake. The white sugar was burned in an iron skillet. When as dark as she wanted it, she added water making a syrup. It was used in cake & icing. The only time we could make ice cream was in the winter. We couldn't afford to buy ice in the summer. She also made burnt sugar ice cream. Our neighbor Lady  Schooler could make Christmas candy just as good as Grandma Mag. Their nut date candy roll was the best candy I ever ate. The fudge they made was cooked and beat not like quick fudge you make now. The divinity was fantastic."

"I remember Grandma Mag getting up on Sunday morning early- make pies or a cake & dress a chicken to have for dinner. She would make it to church too."

Alot of her memories brings about some of my childhood memories.
I remember my Grandma Hazel Summer talking about burnt sugar cake and my Mom talking about Grandpa's divinity and I did find a recipe and tried it for the first time last year and was quite successful! I've not tried burnt sugar anything but reading about this cake I'm really wanting to! 
I like to cook....sometimes by the book and sometimes "by guess and by golly". Sometimes I take shortcuts using new kitchen gadgets and sometimes things are better left to the "old school" way.
Hope you enjoy your day....we have a break from the heat today I think I'm going to go bake something!

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