Mom making a Spangler favorite - sticky buns.
Category Archives: Homemaking
Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning,
Close by the window young Eileen is spinning,
Bent o’er the fire her blind grandmother, sitting,
Is crooning and moaning and drowsily knitting.
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the wheel, while the foot’s stirring,
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing,
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.
“Eileen, a chara, I hear someone tapping.”
“Tis the ivy, dear mother, against the glass flapping.”
“Eily, I surely hear somebody sighing.”
“Tis the sound, mother dear, of the autumn winds dying.”
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the wheel, while the foot’s stirring,
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing,
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.
“What’s that noise that I hear at the window I wonder?”
“Tis the little birds chirping at the holly-bush under.”
“What makes you be pushing and moving your stool on
And singing all wrong that old song of Coolin?”
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the wheel, while the foot’s stirring,
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing,
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.
There’s a form at the casement, the form of her true love,
And he whispers with face bent,” I’m waiting for you love;
Get up on the stool, through the lattice step lightly,
And we’ll rove in the grove while the moon’s shining brightly.”
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the wheel, while the foot’s stirring,
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing,
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.
The maid shakes her head, on her lips lays her fingers,
Steals up from the seat, longs to go and yet lingers;
A frightened glance turns to her drowsy grandmother,
Puts one foot on the stool, spins the wheel with the other.
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the wheel, while the foot’s stirring,
Sprightly and lightly and airily ringing,
Sounds the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.
Lazily, easily, wings now the wheel round,
Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel’s sound;
Noiseless and light to the lattice above her
The maid steps, then leaps to the arms of her lover.
Slower and slower and slower the wheel sings,
Lower and lower and lower the reel rings;
Ere the reel and the wheel stopped their spinning and moving,
Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving.
Old Irish Ballad
Key Lime Cheesecake
My mother has been doing a little geography project that includes our whole family preparing food from each of the different states. This past week we did Flordia, and I was chosen to make a cheesecake.
I had never made cheesecake before.
First, make sure to wrap three layers of foil around a 8 inch springform pan. The crust is made of 1 3/4 cups of graham crackers, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tsp salt, and a half stick of butter. I’ve never made one of these before (I prefer buttery pie crusts), so this was a new experience. The crust is baked for 6 minutes to set, and then thoroughly cooled.
This cheesecake had a lime custard (6 eggs, 3/4 cups sugar, 1 tsp lime peel, 6 T lime juice). To my shock the lime juice was yellow instead of green (and that was before I added the egg yolks). Later, I researched it, and found out that the true color of limes is yellow. Like bell peppers, limes are picked before they turn. I also discovered that in key lime pie (which is made using a similar custard) does not cook the eggs and the lime juice because they chemically react to thicken the custard. Interesting. But I did cook mine.
The cheesecake part had 2 packages of cream cheese, 3 T lime juice, 1 tsp lime peel, 3 eggs, and 2/3 cups of sugar. It was a delicious mixture. Unfortunately, though, I forgot that I needed to make it in halves, so when I lifted the beater from the mixer, the stuff dribbled all over the counter. Whoops!
Next, I had to layer the custard into the bottom of the cake crust.
After that came the creamy cheese mixture. Then the whole pan is set in a larger pan filled with water to insure even heating. Personally, I think that was more trouble than it was worth. My father can make a cheesecake without doing this that looks pretty good, so I’ll try his method next time.
After baking for 45 minutes, the cake is pulled out and topped with 2 cups of sour cream mixed with 3 T of sugar.
This is then baked a further 10 minutes.
The cake is then chilled for several hours and then served with lime slices.
8 Year Project
Looking at the picture below, you probably are going to assume that, as soon as I got this, I tore the box apart, eagerly read the instructions and attacked the craft with gusto, finishing it in only a few short months.
Guess again.
This was a 25-year-old craft given to me by a relative. It had lain unopened in a back room or attic for who knows how long, had been discovered during a deep clean and sent off to the one place in the extended family where it might find use. Unfortunately, that one place in the extended family happened to be the last place any latch hook project should go. Latch hooks usually receive a swift death sentence once they pass through our doors. The only salvation of this particular craft was that I fell in love with the picture - it reminded me of my childhood make believe stories. Even so, it took me 8 years to complete the project. I’m probably going to make it into a wall-hanging, but lack the wall space.
Spitzbubens - a Family Tradition
One of my favorite family traditions at Christmas is Spitzbubens, a German butter cookie sandwich. We’ve made them every year as long back as I can remember. My paternal grandmother started this tradition many years ago. Perhaps she will tell us where she found the recipe.
Cream 2 cups of room temperature butter, 2 2/3 cups of sugar, 2 tsp. of vanilla, and 6 eggs.
In a separate bowl, combine 6 cups of flour, 4 tsp. of baking powder, and 2 tsp. of salt.
Add to creamed mixture. This constitutes the practically perfect tasting cookie dough. It’s my favorite out of all the different kinds I’ve tried (and there have been quite a few!).
Chill the dough. Too long and it becomes crumbly. Too short and it stays really sticky.
Once the dough is chilled enough, roll out a small ammount. For me, this is the trickiest part because if you use too much flour, you can ruin the dough. I did that the first time I attempted these.
Spitzbubens are a type of cookie sandwich, if you will, so you make the bottoms first.
The batch makes about 50-60 complete cookies (I usually aim for 50 - it gives me a larger margin for error). That’s about 50 bottoms and 50 tops. When I make these solo, I tend to roll out all fifty bottoms before baking them and have the extra ones on large trays because once I start baking its very difficult to roll out more cookies while juggling cookie sheets.
The reason for that, of course, is that it takes 5 minutes or less for the cookies to bake. They are very easy to burn.
You can see that I have a few dark ones. I didn’t quite burn them.
I think this is Abby’s idea of a joke. I had finished rolling out all the bottoms and actually had about 3 minutes before the next batch came out. My new pennywhistle just happened to be in the vicinity so I picked it up and attempted to play Donnybroke Fair in 2 1/2 minutes, not knowing that Abby had swiped my camera!
Spitzbubens are filled jelly or jam. Grape seems to be the family favorite, however a few of us prefer strawberry. Mom and I like apricot or peach.
You’re supposed to spoon the jam onto the cookie bottoms before making the tops. The reason for this is that the tops have to be hot when they are placed over the jelly. Something about making it stick better. It’s actually a rather nice break from rolling out dough because I get to sit down.
I’ve found from experience that it’s a lot easier to use jam. It spreads better than jelly. There’s a little too much jelly on the grape cookies.
These are the tops. You can use all different shapes; we like a simple flower.
Cutting out the center of each flower.
Immeaiately after the tops are out of the oven, they are placed on top of the wating cookies.
The kitchen is now very dirty. Clean it up! (This picture was also taken by Abby unbeknownst to me)
At the very end, it’s time to sprinkle the 10x sugar over all the cookies. Abby apparently thought this was the best part. One final note: spitzbubens are best if they sit and ripen for 4-7 days so no one gets a bite just yet!
Apricot…
Triple berry…
Strawberry…
Grape…
Yum! I can hardly wait until Christmas Day to eat these!
Crocheted Scarf
I’ve seen a great deal of variety in crocheted or knitted scarves, but never have I actually tried one. Until recently. The old black scarf I used with my good dress coat finally wore out and I realized I needed another one. I was loathe to purchase anything, so the only solution to my problem was that I make something suitable myself. Alas, I didn’t have enough black yarn to make a thick and long enough scarf. I would have to buy more yarn and that brought me right back to the drawingboard. As I puzzled over this extreamly puzzling problem, I notced a ball of rough-textured grey yarn in the basket. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head. Why not make a scarf with two strands of yarn? That would solve my thickness problem and make it possible for me to add more length. And it would look unusual.
Here is the finished scarf.
Close up of the stiches.
Close up of the border.
For those who would like to make one themselves, here is the pattern I used/made up.
Materials: One ball of black yarn, one ball of grey yarn (I think usuing dark and light of the same colors, such as dark blue/light blue, dark green/light green and so on works best with this kind of thing); one large crochet hook. I used size P, but anything from sized I to Q would work. It depends on how tight you want the stitching to be. I like a sort of loose, nubby look so I used one of my afghan crochet hooks.
Pattern: Using both colors, chain 25. Double crochet in third stitch from hook. Double crochet across to end of chain. Chain three, turn. (22 double crochet) Double crochet across and chain three. Turn. Repeat until desired length is reached - in my case that was roughly 3 feet. Finish off. With grey (or light color) join to any double crochet and single crochet around the perimeter of the scarf. Join with slip stitch to first single crochet and chain one. Repeat single crochet around the perimeter again. Join to the first single crochet and finish off. Weave in the extra ends of yarn.
The Practically Perfect Cranberry Apple Pie
What you are about to witness is not a healthy pie recipe. You have been warned.
Peel and core six very large Granny Smith apples. Set aside (oxidation is not an issue).
Combine 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of sugar. I used a food processor to mix these by pulsing the blades for 1 to 2 seconds at a time.
Cut 1 cup (2 sticks) of frozen butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients.
Turn the processor on and off with quick pulses just until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
Separate 1 egg. Set aside the whites.
To the egg yolk, add 1/4-1/2 cup of ice water and 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract. Beat until thoroughly mixed.
Add the liquid ingredients and turn the motor on and off with quick pulses just until the mixture begins to mass together. It should be crumbly, but not dry. If the mixture seems too crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
Wrap the dough in wax paper and place in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes (this is especially important to do in the summer).
Slice the cored apples. Measure out approximately 4-6 cups of cranberries. Rinse thoroughly and pick out any withered berries.
In a large bowl, combine fruit and berries.
Squeeze the juice out of half a lemon. Drizzle the juice over the berries and fruit.
In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups of sugar, 1/8 tsp of nutmeg, 3/4 tsp of cinnamon, and 5 tablespoons of cornstarch.
Toss the fruit in the dry ingredients until well coated. Set aside.
Take the dough out of the fridge and divide in half. Roll the first half out until roughly between 1/4 - 1/8 of a inch thick.
Dust the top with flour. Fold in half and then in half again.
Place the center of the pie crust in the center of a 10-inch pie shell. Unfold and press in.
Trim the dough to about half an inch beyond the pie rim.
Heap the pie filling in the shell and dot with butter. Set aside.
Roll out the second half of dough. Using an empty pie plate, measure and cut about an inch around.
Cut the dough into eight wedges.
Using the egg whites, moisten the edge of the pie crust.
Begin laying the wedges over top the pie, moistening the edges with the egg whites.
When finished, the pie will look like a yurt.
To create a vent for steam to escape, pull the points of the wedges back.
Fold the edges of the crust together. Press down with a fork.
Brush the top of the pie with the remaining egg whites.
The pie is now ready to be baked. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 325 and bake for another 50 minutes. To prevent over browning, lay a sheet of tin foil over the pie after about 15-20 minutes.
Bon appetite!
