Red Bluff Daily News

December 02, 2015

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By Heather Shelton hshelton@times-standard.com OneofmyfavoriteFace- book pages is called "Do You Remember?" It's a site dedicated to bringing peo- ple together who are pas- sionate about nostalgia. In the past week, "Do You Remember?" fans have had the chance to reminisce about the "Anne of Green Gables" books, the car- toon "Atom Ant," English Leather cologne, the Stretch Armstrong action figure, scratch-and-sniff stickers, the TV Show "Love Connec- tion," frilly ankle socks and much more. The photo-rich site also regularly shares memories about favorite food items from years gone by. Some of the culinary highlights of late include shepherd's pie, gelatin mold desserts, chicken and dumplings, bot- tled milk, lemon icebox pie, wax bottles filled with liquid candy,ribboncandy,Neapol- itan ice cream and candy buttons on paper tape. This got me to thinking about some favorite dishes that my mom used to make when I was young. I have handwritten recipe card af- ter handwritten recipe card of not only her specialties, but those of Grandma Ber- nice. One a recent rainy weekend afternoon, I de- cided to try my hand at one of my favorite childhood desserts — Jell-O Cake, made with that ever-popu- lar flavored gelatin. Below, you'll find my mom's Jell-O Cake recipe, as well as a few other sweet treats I remem- ber her making when I was just a girl. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! Jell-OCake INGREDIENTS 1smallpackageJell-O (lemon, orange or cherry), dissolved in ½ cup hot water 1box of yellow cake mix ½ cup vegetable oil 4eggs ¼ cup orange juice DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a tube pan gener- ously with vegetable oil. Add ½ cup vegetable oil to cake mix. Stir. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat. Add dissolved Jell-O a er it's cooled. Add orange juice. Mix everything together and pour into the pan. Bake for about 55minutes. Let cool and take the cake out of the pan carefully. Do not invert the pan. The cake will be very moist. Adorn with powdered or cane sugar and fruit slices. Mama's Peanut Brittle INGREDIENTS 2cups sugar ½ cup Karo syrup ½ cup water 2cups raw, shelled peanuts 2teaspoons baking soda DIRECTIONS Add sugar, syrup and water to a large pot and bring to a boil. Once the water mixture is boiling, add peanuts. Cook mixture until peanuts begin to pop in the pan. (You can hear the peanuts popping and they will smell roasted.) Remove from heat. Add baking soda to the mixture. It will swell up. Stir only until mixed. Pour into a greased cookie sheet immediately. Let cool and then crack into pieces. Snickerdoodles INGREDIENTS ½ cup shortening ½ cup butter 1½ cups sugar 2¾ cups flour 2eggs 2teaspoons cream or tartar 1teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon salt 2tablespoons sugar 2teaspoons cinnamon DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 400F. Mix shortening, butter, sugar and eggs. In a separate bowl, blend all dry ingredients together and then add to the wet mixture. Blend well. Roll dough into balls, about the size of walnuts. Roll balls in 2tablespoons sugar mixed with 2teaspoons cinnamon. Place 2inches apart on a cookie sheet and bake for 8to 10minutes. Makes about 5-dozen cookies. Heather Shelton can be reached at 441-0516. DESSERTS HEATHER SHELTON — THE TIMES-STANDARD Orange Jell-O Cake is a moist, sweet cake that is sure to please any crowd. Take a culinary trip down memory lane Remembering Mom's Jell-O cake and other delectable delights By Donna Maurillo Digital First Media Good table manners. Ei- ther you have them, or you don't. And if you don't, people do notice. When I asked what annoys my readers, you came back with strong opinions. Here is a sample of the re- sponses: Gail Olson said, "I see folks who don't know to put the napkin in their lap. They use it and leave it on the table, either folded up or bunched up. A dirty napkin, in my world, belongs out of sight and in your lap until the meal is over." Her other pet peeve has to do with wait staff who remove the dinner plates as soon as peo- ple finish. She says it puts extra pressure on those who are not yet finished. They think they have to hurry up. She's not alone. Brenda Hillier, who grew up in Great Britain, says it seems to be an American custom to do that. Marianne Evans also agrees. But she has other peeves, including stack- ing dirty plates, so rinsing them takes twice as long. And there's more. "Stack- ing plates is one thing, but scraping them at the table is pretty disgusting. This isn't a hash house!" Sharon Caiocca grew up in a military fam- ily where they learned proper manners. She just bought "Farmhouse Rules," a cookbook by Nancy Fuller. At the end, the author included "Mind Your Manners," a list of 32 manners to re- member. Sharon thought it would be amazing if parents starting teaching their children good man- ners again. It's people who wipe their noses with their nap- kins who turn off Kerry Beth Hosley. "I feel like I have to give the napkin special treatment and get it in off the table and into the laundry PDQ, when I'd rather not touch it at all." Georgann Lane men- tioned three things — peo- ple who use cell phones at the table, wait staff who argue in front of din- ers, and people who bring emotionally charged top- ics to the table. Actress Lynda "Wonder Woman" Carter agrees about the cell phones. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Missed manners at the dinner table Very Merry Minty forgotten cookies Makes about 48cookies 4egg whites 11/3 cup sugar ¼ teaspoon vanilla ¼ teaspoon food coloring 12ounces mint chocolate chips Beat egg whites at high speed and gradually add sugar. Slowly add remain- ing ingredients. Beat until batter forms peaks. Stir in mint chips carefully. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop cookies onto cookie sheet to form a 1½-inch circle. Bake at 335degrees until dry and turn golden brown, about 1½ hours. Store in a box, not an air- tight container. —CaitlinBain Marin Made Shimmy cookies Makes about 17medium cookies Prep time: 15minutes Cook time: 5to 7minutes Total time: 3-plus hours, to allow for dough chilling Cookies: 1large egg 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed (light brown sugar may be substituted) 1/2 cup coconut oil, in liquid state 1/3 cup unsulphured molas- ses (I used robust molas- ses; light or medium may be used; blackstrap will likely be too pungent) 2tablespoons vanilla extract 2tablespoons Marin Brew- ing Co. Three Flowers IPA 2teaspoons cinnamon 1teaspoons ground ginger 1teaspoon ground cloves 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg Pinch salt, optional, and to taste 2cups all-purpose flour 1teaspoon baking soda Raw cane sugar coating: 1cup raw cane sugar 1teaspoon cinnamon Candied naval oranges: 3naval oranges (peels only) 3cups sugar 3cups water Additional 2cups sugar coating Straus frosting: ½ cup Straus milk 1cup confectioner sugar Cookies: To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use large mixing bowl and hand mixer; or simply whisk together in a large bowl), combine the egg, brown sugar, coconut oil (measure like you'd measure vegeta- ble or olive oil; you need 1/2 cup of liquid-state coconut oil; if your coconut oil is in a solid state, microwave enough so you get 1/2 cup liquid-state coconut oil), molasses and vanilla; beat on medium-high speed un- til well-mixed, smooth and glossy about 4minutes. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, optional salt; beat on medium-high speed until combined and smooth, about 1minute. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour and baking soda; mix until just combined, about 1minute. Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping 2-tablespoon mounds (I made 17). Place mounds on a large plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refriger- ate for at least 3hours, or up to 5days, before baking. Dough will be very so , mushy, limp, and is not suitable for baking; it must be chilled so the coconut oil resolidfies. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line baking sheets with Silpats, or spray with cooking spray; set aside. Raw-sugar coating: Add raw sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl and stir to combine. Roll each ball of dough through the coating, liberally coating all sides. A er all cookies have been coated, I like to go back and double-dip each mound to get an extra-thick coating. Place coated mounds on baking sheets, spaced at least 2inches apart (I bake 8cookies per sheet). Bake for 8to 9minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if undercooked and so center. Do not bake longer than 9minutes for so cookies because they firm up as they cool; bake for 9-10minutes if you like firmer cookies. Allow cook- ies to cool on baking sheets for about 5minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling. Store cookies airtight at room temperature for up to 1week, or in the freezer for up to 4months. Alter- natively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5days or in the freezer for up to 4months, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the re- maining dough to be baked in the future when desired. Do not roll cookies through cinnamon-sugar mixture until you plan to bake them. Candied naval oranges: Cut off the ends of an or- ange, then cut into the peel, creating 6-7sections, while making sure not to cut too far into the orange itself. Pull off the sections of peel, then press flat onto a cut- ting board and use a sharp knife to cut very thin (about 1/8-inch thick) slices of peel. If desired, before cut- ting into small strips, you may want to trim off some of the white (pith) from the underside of the peel. In a large pot, heat the wa- ter and sugar and stir gently until the sugar dissolves. Add the strips of peel and cook over medium to me- dium-low heat (keeping a slow simmer) until the peel becomes translucent, this will take 45-60minutes. When the peel is quite flex- ible (limp) and translucent, drain the peel from the cooking liquid. If desired, use the sugar syrup to sweeten iced tea. Prepare a large dish (such as a 9-inch-by-13-inch casserole dish) by adding about a cup of sugar to the dish. Add the drained orange peel, then layer with an additional cup or more of sugar until the peel is fully covered. Allow the peel to sit, covered in sugar, for 15 minutes or so. Remove orange peel from sugar and lay on a large cool- ing rack (with a baking sheet under to avoid a big mess). Allow peel to sit out (at room temperature) for 48hours. A couple times during the dry- ing time, mix the peel around a bit, so that each piece is being exposed to air. Holiday cookie recipes ROBERT TONG— MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL Julia Fitzpatrick's shimmy cookies feature California ingredients, including Marin Brewing Co. IPA beer. La Corona WILL BE CLOSED starting December 7, 2015 & re-opening January 7, 2016 to serve you. 914WalnutSt,RedBluff,CA•528-9496 Authentic Mexican Food La Corona FromourfamilyhereatLaCorona Mexican Restaurant, we would like to wish you and your family Happy Holidays We look forward to seeing you next year. FOOD » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, December 2, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B4

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