Jewish Cook Book - Muffins & Biscuits

This is the Muffins and Biscuits section of this book

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Baking-powder
Put eight ounces of bicarbonate of soda, one ounce of tartaric acid and one package of high-grade cornstarch together and sift them thoroughly five times. Keep closely covered in glass jars or tin boxes.

Baking-powder batters
Batter is a mixture of flour with sufficient liquid to make it thin enough to be beaten.

Pour-batter requires one measure of liquid to one measure of flour.

Drop-batter requires one measure of liquid to two measures of flour.

To make a batter. Sift flour before measuring. Put flour by spoonfuls into the cup; do not press or shake down. Mix and sift dry ingredients. Measure dry, then liquid ingredients, shortening may be rubbed or chopped in while cold, or creamed; or it may be melted and then added to dry ingredients, or added after the liquid. Use two teaspoons of baking-powder to one cup of flour. If eggs are used, less baking-powder will be required.

When sour milk is used, take one level teaspoon of soda to a pint of milk; when molasses is used, take one teaspoon of soda or baking-powder to each cup of molasses.

Mix dry materials in one bowl and liquids in another, combine them quickly, handle as little as possible and put at once into the oven.

The oven for baking biscuits should be hot enough to brown a teaspoon of flour in one minute.

Brown bread
Mix and sift together one cup each of rye, graham flour, corn-meal and one teaspoon of salt. Dissolve one teaspoon of soda in one cup of molasses. Add alternately to flour with two cups of sour milk. Grease one-pound baking-powder cans, put in the dough and boil two and one-half hours, keeping the water always three-fourths up around the tins. Turn out on baking-tins and place in the oven fifteen minutes to brown.

To be eaten warm, whatever is left over can be steamed again or toasted.

Corn bread
Mix and sift one cup of corn-meal, one cup of flour, two tablespoons of sugar, one-half teaspoon of salt, three teaspoons of baking-powder. Melt one tablespoon of butter and add to one egg; mix milk and egg and beat this into the dry ingredients, pour this mixture into well-greased tins and bake in a hot oven one-half hour. Cut in squares and serve hot. Bake in gem tins if preferred.

Bran bread
Sift four teaspoons of soda, two teaspoons of salt with four cups of white flour, add four cups of bran flour and mix well. Add one cup of molasses and four cups of sweet milk. Use chopped nuts or raisins or both as desired. This will make three or four flat loaves. Place in greased pans (four and a half by nine inches), and bake one hour in a moderate oven.

Johnnie cake
Mix one cup flour and two cups corn-meal, one heaping teaspoon of soda, one-half cup sugar, add two eggs beaten with one and one-half cups of buttermilk, one half cup of molasses and one-half cup of shortening, melted. Beat all ingredients as fast as possible for a minute. Pour the dough into a warm, well-buttered pan and bake quickly and steadily for half an hour. The dough should be as soft as gingerbread dough. Serve hot.

Eggless gingerbread with cheese
Sift two cups of flour, one teaspoon of soda, one-half teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of ginger. Melt three-fourths cup of grated cheese in one-half cup of hot water, add one-half cup of molasses and blend perfectly. Add the flour and seasonings very gradually and beat thoroughly. Bake in muffin rings for fifteen minutes and serve while warm.

Gingerbread
To one cup of molasses add one cup of milk, sour or sweet, dissolve one teaspoon of soda in the milk, one tablespoon of butter, one or two eggs, one teaspoon of ginger and one of ground cinnamon, add enough sifted flour to make a light batter. Bake in a shallow pan.

White nut bread
Mix two and one-half cups of flour, four teaspoons of baking-powder, one-half teaspoon of salt, one-half cup of sugar and one-half cup of walnut meats, broken; add one egg beaten with one cup of milk and let this mixture stand for about twenty minutes in well-greased breadpan before placing in a moderate oven to bake. Bake about an hour. Better day after it is made.

Baking-powder biscuits
Sift two cups of flour with one-half teaspoon of salt, four teaspoons of baking-powder, and four tablespoons of butter; cut butter in with two knives and mix with one-half to two-thirds cup of water or milk, stir this in quickly with a knife, when well mixed place on a well-floured board and roll out about one inch thick, work quickly, cut with a biscuit cutter or the cover of a half-pound baking-powder can; place on a greased pan and bake quickly in a well-heated quick oven tea to fifteen minutes.

Butter substitutes may be used in place of butter.

Drop biscuit
Add to ingredients for baking-powder biscuit enough more milk or water to make a thick drop batter, about two tablespoons; mix as directed for biscuit, drop by spoonfuls an inch apart on a greased baking-sheet or into greased gem pans, small size.

The more crust the more palatable these biscuits are. The mixture should not be soft enough to run. Bake in a hot oven ten to twelve minutes.

Sour milk biscuits
Mix and sift two cups of flour, one-half teaspoon of salt and one-half teaspoon of soda; cut in one tablespoon of butter, stir in with a knife enough sour milk to make a soft dough. Roll one-half inch thick; cut in small rounds and bake in a quick oven about twenty minutes.

Muffins
Light the burners of the gas oven before beginning to mix the muffins and work rapidly. Place in a mixing-bowl one well-beaten egg, two tablespoons of butter, one tablespoon of sugar, one-half teaspoon of salt, one scant cup of milk and two teaspoons of baking-powder that have been sifted with sufficient flour to form a batter that will "ribbon" from the spoon. Beat the batter steadily for five minutes, stir in one tablespoon of melted butter and bake in muffin-pans in a quick oven. These muffins will bake in ten minutes if pans are only half filled.

Bran muffins
Sift one-half cup of white flour with one teaspoon of soda; mix three tablespoons of molasses with one tablespoon of butter, add two cups of bran, one and one-half cups of sweet milk, then add the flour and one-half teaspoon of salt, stir all together; one-half cup of chopped dates or raisins may be added if so desired. Bake in muffin-pans in a moderate oven thirty minutes.

Corn muffins, No. 1
Beat the yolks and whites of two eggs separately. Add to this two cups of flour, of which one is a full cup of white and three-quarters of the corn-meal. This must be sifted three times. Put into this flour two teaspoons of baking-powder, together with a pinch of salt. Mix the prepared flour with a little boiling water, adding the eggs; also a little sugar may be put in, if desired. Then add enough tepid milk to make the mixture into a batter, after which pour into your pans; or, if corn-bread is desired, into the plain pan (thin). Bake in a quick oven. This quantity makes a dozen muffins. Butter your pan well, or the small gem-pans, according to which is used, and in so doing heat the pan a little.

Corn muffins, No. 2
Mix one cup of white flour; one-half cup of corn-meal, one tablespoon of sugar, one-half teaspoon of salt and one-half teaspoon of soda, add one egg beaten into one cup of sour milk and one tablespoon of melted butter. Beat thoroughly and bake in well-greased tins.

Graham muffins
Mix one cup of Graham flour, one cup of wheat flour, one-half teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of baking-powder, add to this one tablespoon of melted butter creamed with one-half cup of sugar and one well-beaten egg, moisten with one and one-half cups of milk. Beat all well and bake in muffin-tins in moderately hot oven one-half hour.

Wheat muffins
Mix two cups of flour, one-half teaspoon of salt, three teaspoons of baking-powder, two tablespoons of sugar and sift these ingredients twice, rub in one tablespoon of butter. Separate one egg. Beat the yolk and add it to one cup of milk and one teaspoon of molasses. Mix with the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Fold in the beaten white of egg and pour into hot, well-greased muffin-tins. Bake fifteen to twenty minutes in hot oven.

Rice muffins
Beat one cup of cold rice, two eggs, one cup of sweet milk, one teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of sugar, two teaspoons of baking-powder, enough flour to make a stiff batter and lastly one tablespoon of melted butter. Bake in muffin-tins.

Rye flour muffins
Sift one and one-half cups of rye flour with one-half teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of baking soda; add one-half cup of molasses and one well-beaten egg or one-half cup of water if the egg is omitted, one-quarter cup of chopped raisins and four tablespoons of melted shortening—butter, or any good butter substitute will do. Bake in muffin-pans in rather hot oven twenty-five minutes. Fill pans three-fourths full.

Gluten gems
Beat the yolks of two eggs, add one cup of milk; then one and one-half cups of gluten flour, two teaspoons of baking powder; beat well, stir in the whites of the two eggs, and bake in hot buttered gem pans about twenty minutes.

Eggless ginger gems
Mix one-half cup of molasses, one-half cup of sugar, one tablespoon of butter, and warm slightly; beat up well and stir at least ten minutes. Add the following spices: one-half teaspoon each of ginger and cinnamon; and gradually one-half cup of milk and two and one-half cups of sifted flour in which has been sifted two teaspoons of baking powder. One-fourth cup of currants or seeded raisins may be added. Bake in well-greased gem pans and eat warm for tea or lunch.

Popovers
Mix to a smooth batter two cups each of milk and well-sifted flour, the yolks of three fresh eggs and a teaspoon of salt. Butter well the inside of six or eight deep earthen popover cups and stand them in a pan in a hot oven. While the cups are heating, beat to a froth the whites of the three eggs and stir them quickly in the batter. Open the oven door, pull the pan forward, pour the batter in the hot buttered cups up to the brim. Push the pan back, close the oven door, and bake the popovers till they rise well and are brown at the sides where they part from the clips. Serve them hot, folded lightly in a napkin.

One-egg waffles
Mix one and one-half cups of flour, one teaspoon of baking powder, one-quarter teaspoon of salt; add one and three-fourths cups of milk, add the milk slowly; then one well-beaten egg and two tablespoons of melted butter; drop by spoonfuls on a hot buttered waffle iron, putting one tablespoon in each section of the iron. Bake and turn, browning both sides carefully; remove from the iron; pile one on top of the other and serve at once.

Three-egg waffles
Mix two cups of flour, one teaspoon of baking-powder, one-half teaspoon of salt, and sift these ingredients; add the yolks of three eggs beaten and stirred into one and one-fourth cups of milk; then add one tablespoon of melted butter and fold in the whites of the eggs. Bake and serve as directed under One-Egg Waffles.

Doughnuts
Mix two and one-half tablespoons of melted butter, one cup of granulated sugar, two eggs, one cup of milk, one-half nutmeg grated, sifted flour enough to make a batter as stiff as biscuit dough; add two teaspoons of baking-powder and one teaspoon of salt to the sifted flour. Flour your board well, roll dough out about half an inch thick, and cut into pieces three inches long and one inch wide. Cut a slit about an inch long in the centre of each strip and pull one end through this slit. Fry quickly in hot Crisco. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top of each doughnut.

French doughnuts
French doughnuts are much daintier than the ordinary ones, and are easily made. Take one-half pint of water, one-half pint of milk, six ounces of butter, one-half pound of flour, and six eggs. Heat the butter, milk, and water, and when it boils remove from the fire and stir in the flour, using a wooden spoon. When well mixed, stir in the eggs, whipping each one in separately until you have a hard batter. Now pour your dough into a pastry bag. This is an ordinary cheesecloth bag, one corner of which has a tiny tin funnel, with a fluted or fancy edge. (These little tins may be purchased at any tinware store.) It should be very small, not over two inches high at the most, so the dough may be easily squeezed through it. Pour the paste on buttered paper, making into ring shapes. Fry in hot oil or butter substitute. Dust with powdered sugar.

Crullers
Cream two tablespoons of butter with one-half cup of sugar, then beat in one at a time two whole eggs. Mix well, then add one-half cup of milk, two teaspoons of baking-powder, and sufficient flour to make a soft batter to roll out. (Try three cupfuls and then add as much more flour as necessary.) Last, add one-half teaspoon cinnamon. Roll one-half inch thick, cut in strips one inch wide, three inches long and fry in hot Crisco.

Strawberry shortcake (biscuit dough)
Mix two cups of flour, four teaspoons of baking-powder, one-half teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of sugar; work one-quarter cup of butter with tips of fingers, and add three-quarters of a cup of milk gradually. Toss on floured board, divide in two parts. Pat, roll out and bake twelve minutes in hot oven in layer-cake tins. Split and spread with butter. Pick, hull, and drain berries. Sweeten one to one and one-half boxes of strawberries to taste. Crush slightly and put between and on top of short cake. Allow from one to one and one-half boxes of berries to each short cake. Serve with cream, plain or whipped.

Strawberries make the best short cake, but other berries and sliced peaches are also good.

Dough for open face pies
The directions for making the dough for Cinnamon Buns may be followed in making the under crust for fruit pies, such as apple, plum, huckleberry and peach.

Enough for two pies. Drippings and water may be substituted for butter and milk respectively.

Cinnamon buns
Sift together one pint of flour, one tablespoon of sugar, one-half teaspoon of salt, two teaspoons of baking-powder. Rub in two tablespoons of butter, mix with milk to soft dough. Roll out one-half inch thick, spread with soft butter, granulated sugar, and powdered cinnamon. Roll up like jelly roll, cut in inch slices, lay close together in greased pan, and bake in quick oven.

Fruit wheels
Sift together two cups of flour, two teaspoons of baking-powder, one-half teaspoon of salt, one tablespoon of sugar. Rub in two large tablespoons of butter. Mix to soft dough with milk; roll out one-half inch thick. Spread thickly with soft butter, dust with one teaspoon of flour, four tablespoons of granulated sugar, one teaspoon of cinnamon; sprinkle over one-half cup each of seeded and cut raisins, chopped citron, and cleaned currants. Roll up, cut in one-inch slices, put one inch apart on greased, flat pans, and bake in hot oven.