You may rescind my "Southern" card if you wish, but I am not fond of grits. I can tolerate them with a dab of butter and a spoonful of sugar but cannot abide them messing up cheese and shrimp.
Until Covid shut them down, there was a cafe in Huntsville that had biscuits and chocolate gravy on the menu. One of my earliest memories is arriving near starved late in the afternoon at my grandmother's house where there was a pan of cold chocolate gravy and leftover biscuits from breakfast. She told me she'd saved them just for me and I believed her, though she said I had to share with my brother.
I have a handwritten recipe for the apple stack cake that includes making the applesauce. It was a standard Christmas dessert when I was growing up. The handwriting (from the early 1940s) and language is a bit hard to read. Being lazy, I tried a "cookie" method from youtube and was very disappointed. Yes, it's time consuming but worth it to make the cakes individually.
Seems to me that Garden & Gun and Southern Living are getting just a little bit too "foodie" for my taste.
I don't often eat Grits, but when I do, it's sans butter. Just a generous sprinkle of black pepper and eat. But God forbid if you try to pan instant grits off on me.
I got an old recipe of my step mother's for Applesauce Cake and tried it out. I found that you have to be precise for the Applesauce measurements. It called for (4) cups of sauce. Each jar help just a scosch more than (2) cups, so I just poured both complete jars in the mix. The scosch more probably equaled an extra 1/2 to 3/4 cup more than recipe called for.
The cake had plenty of taste, but was way too "wet"...or moist. It was almost impossible to cut a slice, more like use a spoon and put a dollop on the plate.
I also made her banana bread recipe and the writing was a little eligible, so instead of a 1/2 cups of oil, I added 2 cups of oil. Talk about a nasty cake. It was also overly moist, too.
You can substitute applesauce for oil in a lot of baking, but as you say you have to be very precise. It requires a certain amount of experimentation to modify the recipe (and some modification nearly always has to be done with any baking recipe, if only to deal with differences in altitude).
At one time I used to do that for reasons that seem hazy to me now. Perhaps it was to make things for my mother, who for a time was deeply worried about eating too many fats. This year I did a similar sort of holiday baking for her involving a much higher protein flour than I would usually use. I send those kinds of 'health food treats' to her; I never eat them myself.
I don't like grits either in any way shape or form - and I was born in Alabama. My husband, who was born and raised in NJ and lived there until I dragged him down here to Lower Alabama - loves them. Very odd.
My favorite party appetizer is a brick of cream cheese with pepper jelly poured over it, served with crackers. Wheat Thins are traditional around here.
I have a wonderful muffin recipe that calls for substituting applesauce for some or all of the oil. Ditto a pancake recipe - that one is so good my brother asked for the recipe.
5 comments:
You may rescind my "Southern" card if you wish, but I am not fond of grits. I can tolerate them with a dab of butter and a spoonful of sugar but cannot abide them messing up cheese and shrimp.
Until Covid shut them down, there was a cafe in Huntsville that had biscuits and chocolate gravy on the menu. One of my earliest memories is arriving near starved late in the afternoon at my grandmother's house where there was a pan of cold chocolate gravy and leftover biscuits from breakfast. She told me she'd saved them just for me and I believed her, though she said I had to share with my brother.
I have a handwritten recipe for the apple stack cake that includes making the applesauce. It was a standard Christmas dessert when I was growing up. The handwriting (from the early 1940s) and language is a bit hard to read. Being lazy, I tried a "cookie" method from youtube and was very disappointed. Yes, it's time consuming but worth it to make the cakes individually.
Seems to me that Garden & Gun and Southern Living are getting just a little bit too "foodie" for my taste.
I don't often eat Grits, but when I do, it's sans butter. Just a generous sprinkle of black pepper and eat. But God forbid if you try to pan instant grits off on me.
I got an old recipe of my step mother's for Applesauce Cake and tried it out. I found that you have to be precise for the Applesauce measurements. It called for (4) cups of sauce. Each jar help just a scosch more than (2) cups, so I just poured both complete jars in the mix. The scosch more probably equaled an extra 1/2 to 3/4 cup more than recipe called for.
The cake had plenty of taste, but was way too "wet"...or moist. It was almost impossible to cut a slice, more like use a spoon and put a dollop on the plate.
I also made her banana bread recipe and the writing was a little eligible, so instead of a 1/2 cups of oil, I added 2 cups of oil. Talk about a nasty cake. It was also overly moist, too.
Ahh, adventures in baking.
I never liked grits until Iraq: the Army’s cheese grits are ok, though, especially when you’re hungry enough. I don’t make them myself.
You can substitute applesauce for oil in a lot of baking, but as you say you have to be very precise. It requires a certain amount of experimentation to modify the recipe (and some modification nearly always has to be done with any baking recipe, if only to deal with differences in altitude).
At one time I used to do that for reasons that seem hazy to me now. Perhaps it was to make things for my mother, who for a time was deeply worried about eating too many fats. This year I did a similar sort of holiday baking for her involving a much higher protein flour than I would usually use. I send those kinds of 'health food treats' to her; I never eat them myself.
I don't like grits either in any way shape or form - and I was born in Alabama. My husband, who was born and raised in NJ and lived there until I dragged him down here to Lower Alabama - loves them. Very odd.
My favorite party appetizer is a brick of cream cheese with pepper jelly poured over it, served with crackers. Wheat Thins are traditional around here.
I have a wonderful muffin recipe that calls for substituting applesauce for some or all of the oil. Ditto a pancake recipe - that one is so good my brother asked for the recipe.
Elise
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