Betty Lives!

The New Settlement Cookbook

1954

Just a quick little entry because I’ve been so mind-blowingly busy (back to school) but also very guilty about not writing.  Before we left Bucks County (boo hoo) I tucked into The New Settlement Cookbook for a pancake recipe to which I added blueberries.  It was, as the other recipes have been, simple and delicious, no fancy beaten egg whites or flavorings.  I can’t say they were my favorite pancakes of all time because I actually like to add cornmeal to mine, but they were tasty and quick:

Over Labor Day weekend my sister and her family came to visit and I convinced her to “guest chef” a recipe for Betty, and she and my nephew Carter took to the task with gusto.

I wanted to make use of our last blackberries before leaving and the Blackberry Roll seemed interesting to me.  You make a standard cream biscuit dough, roll it out into a rectangle, lay some blackberries and  sugar on top.  Ok, no problem.  But then comes the rolling.  The crazy, crazy rolling.  The recipe says simply: “Roll up and place in greased pan”.  Ok, seriously, has anyone ever tried to ROLL biscuit dough that is being weighed down by big berries? It became more of a “Mush and roll, place lumps in greased pan, then fuse lumps into loaf shape.”  I thought it would work because we made sure the berries were still embedded in the dough.  Then the recipe says to sprinkle the rest of the berries around the pan and give the whole thing a sugar shower, one cup’s worth.  After about three quarters of a cup my sister looked up at me in desparation and said, “I’m sorry I just can’t put any more on.”  I sympathized.  It was a lot of sugar.  The berry/biscuit gets baked, but significantly longer than the recipe says which is 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes we cut into it and it was still raw in the middle.  Twenty more minutes was just right to cook the dough through and the berries in the pan had turned into a gorgeous, deep purple compote.  Served warm with vanilla ice cream it was by far the best dessert of the summer, lumps, excess sugar, and all.

Stay tuned this week:  Meat Muffins!