Buttermilk Cookies and Cat Stevens

Back in 2014, the DH and I traveled to Philadelphia's Tower Theater to see Yusuf Cat Stevens play his first American concert in 35 years. (He had cancelled his NYC appearance because venues here insist on paper tickets, and he insisted on none, as a way to foil scalpers.) The concert was fantastic; he played a mix of old and new songs, his distinctive voice was exactly as I had remembered and his charm has endured.

We spent the night in a lovely inn, and the next morning found ourselves at the Reading Terminal Market, a fabulous hall (reminiscent of European markets) filled with all manner of food and food vendors. And there, I scored real buttermilk (the stuff we buy in supermarkets is not real) plus a dozen double yolk eggs.

I used this buttermilk in ginger cookies, and as the expiration date drew ever closer, I was fortunate to find this vintage gem for buttermilk cookies. They are very easy to make, quite tender and cake-like (on account of the buttermilk) and  really, really good.

Like many old recipes, this one is basically a list of ingredients. Start by creaming the butter and sugar.

Add the rest of the ingredients and drop by teaspoon onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Cool the cookies on racks.

Because the cookies looked a bit too plain Jane, I mixed up some frosting -- confectioner's sugar and milk -- to give them a little pizzazz.

Aerial view.

Here's the vintage recipe. I especially like the (Good Luck) at the bottom. And the Ground Metel ingredient. She must mean Gold Medal flour, I've written out the method I used, below.

Butter Milk Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter (two sticks) softened
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (store-bought buttermilk will work fine)
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar until well combined.
Add eggs, one at a time.  Mix well.
Mix flour and soda in a small bowl and add this mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
Blend in vanilla.

Drop from a teaspoon onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges have some color.
Good luck!

Breakfast Muffins

I was headed to the gym this morning (really!) when, on my way out the door, I spied this recipe card on the dining room table.  It called my name (in a way the gym never does), so I swapped my sweatshirt for an apron, and put these delicious breakfast muffins together in literally five minutes.

These are old-school style muffins -- simple, small and not overly sweet --  muffins that will not give you the kind of muffin tops you try to avoid by going to the gym. They are the opposite of the huge modern-day muffins sold in delis and bakeries, which are really just muffins disguised as cake (which is fine, but we should all acknowledge them for what they are).

Below are all the ingredients you need.

Mix everything together in a bowl...

and fill the muffin tin.

This is a thick, sticky batter.  Don't worry that the tops aren't smooth.  They will all even out in the oven.

Plated, awaiting the arrival of the DH, who did go to the gym this morning.

Inside the muffin.

This is one of those vintage recipe cards that's simply a list of ingredients, with no method given.  Below, is the way I mixed them.  If you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own by adding some vinegar or lemon juice to a cup of milk.  Let it stand for a few minutes before using.

I used butter instead of shortening, and baked them for 20 minutes.

Breakfast Muffins
Preheat oven to 425 F.  Prepare the muffin pan by lining or greasing and flouring.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl.  Pour wet ingredients in and mix well.  Place into lined muffin pan and bake.

Ann's Irish Soda Bread

This simple vintage recipe for Irish Soda Bread is simply the best I've ever made.  And I'm not a fan of Irish Soda Bread (where's the butter?), but hot from the oven, this is moist and delicious.  And addicting.  It's so good that I may make this for the DH to bring to work on Monday, instead of the modern-day Ina Garten recipe I'd planned to use.

I put it together this morning in about ten minutes.  Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together.

Measure out the raisins.  I dusted lightly with flour to prevent them from sinking in the bread, but you can add them to the flour mixture and skip this step.

Put the buttermilk in a measuring cup, add the egg and mix together.

The dough is a bit sticky, and despite the recipe instruction, no kneading required.

Place in a greased eight-inch cake pan and press down.  I used gloved hands to do this; you can use the back of a large spoon.

About 35 minutes later, you'll have this.

Remove from the pan,

slice and enjoy.

Here's the original recipe card.  I made half the recipe, used butter instead of margarine and skipped the poppy seeds as I didn't have any.  Below the card is the method I used.

Ann's Irish Soda Bread

Preheat oven to 375F
Grease an 8-inch cake pan

2 c. all purpose flour
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 T baking powder
3 T unsalted butter
3/4 c buttermilk
1 egg
1 c raisins

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.  Blend.  Add softened butter and mix until incorporated.  Add raisins.
Mix buttermilk and egg together.  Add to bowl.  Blend until just incorporated -- do not overmix.
Spoon into pan and flatten.  Bake about 35 minutes.

Chocolate Drop Cookies

Tragedy struck the Cake Bakes kitchen on Saturday -- our dishwasher broke.

Now that may not be a big deal to some people, but to me it's a deal breaker.  We never hand wash dishes; we don't even have a dish drainer.  If the dishwasher is full, we just leave the dishes in the sink until the next load.  (Now my secret is out.) I could live without any appliance except my beloved dishwasher.

Luckily, we weren't hosting a dinner party, but we were expected to bring dessert to our friend Alec's party in Chelsea that night. So I had a new criteria in mind as I searched through my recipes -- one that didn't require a lot of kitchen equipment and utensils in its preparation.  And it had to be chocolate, as Allen, another dinner party guest, is a big fan of chocolate (and faithful reader of this blog).

Cake was out, as it's like making two desserts, what with the cake and the frosting.  Brownies seemed too boring, and so I was pleased to find this c. 1950s old-fashioned chocolate drop cookie recipe.   They were soft, rich, delicious and typical of mid-20th century recipes, not overly sweet.

Below is a photo of all the equipment required: A chef's knife, a one cup and a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup, a two-cup glass measuring cup, one Kitchen Aid bowl and beater, a cutting board, a butter knife, measuring spoons and one mixing spoon.

And with those few utensils, plus this cooling rack, I got this:

I frosted some of the cookies with a mixture of confectioners sugar and milk (pictured at top) and left some plain.  These are perfect for the cookie jar (if they last long enough to make it in).

The recipe is below.  I followed it exactly, using butter for the shortening and two ounces of Scharffen berger unsweetened chocolate instead of a supermarket brand.  If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can make a close enough substitute by placing one teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in a measuring cup, adding about one cup of milk and let the mixture sit about five minutes until it thickens.

Buttermilk Pie: The Crack Pie of the 1950s

For dessert addicts in New York City, crack pie needs no explanation.  For everyone else, let's just say that this most delicious treat at Momofuku Milk Bar was given the perfect name.

Recipes for crack pie are all over the internet; problem is, there's no official one and those that do exist are extremely complicated and time-consuming with no guarantee of success.

So imagine my delight when my co-workers at Henry Street Settlement (a lovely, but tough crowd) heaped praise on this c. 1950s Borden's Buttermilk Pie* calling it "amazing" and "incredible" and . . .  drum roll here . . . "as good as crack pie."

It's really easy to make (once you master the pie crust) and very quick -- I swear it took me about five minutes to put the filling together.

At the beginning, making the pie filling is like making a cake, creaming sugar and butter,
 then adding flour and eggs.

The very liquid filling firms up in the oven.

The top takes on a dark golden color.

*I did not use Borden's Buttermilk; I believe that company closed shop about a decade ago.  Instead I used "real" buttermilk (as opposed to supermarket varieties) from Animal Farm that I purchased at Saxelby Cheese at the Essex Market.  Look for more buttermilk posts in the coming week.