A couple of weeks ago I hit the mother-load of recipe collections. My mom gathered together the many hand written recipes she's collected over the years, from her mother, grandmother, aunts, cousins, and of course, her own. My task is to get all of these recipes scanned into the computer (to preserve handwriting samples) and typed into a uniform format so that they may be enjoyed by generations to come.
There are a variety of recipes, some using ingredients that we no longer use, like oleo. Oleo is margarine, or vegetable oil, used back in the 1930's. Apparently if one wanted to replicate the look of butter, they would add the included bottle of food coloring to turn the white oil, yellow. I won't be using oleo, but as I replicate the recipes, I will be including the original ingredient list with strikethoughs and then the substitution I choose.
This first recipe I tackled was a brownie recipe. I added to it a caramel drizzle of my own. The finished dessert was delicious, and is now safely tucked away in the freezer, away from little hands (and big hands too)!
Ingredients
Brownies
* 1/2 pound butter (2 sticks)
* 4oz baking chocolate
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 1/2 cups crushed pecans
* 1 cup flour
* 2 tsp baking powder
* 1 TB vanilla
* 4 eggs
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Melt butter on low heat
3. Add in baking chocolate
4. Sift together sugars, flour, and baking powder
5. Whisk eggs together and add vanilla
6. Pour butter mixture into dry ingredients and stir
7. Add egg and vanilla mixture to batter and stir or use immersion blender
8. Pour batter into greased, 11x7 baking dish
9. Top with 3/4 cup chopped pecans
10. Bake for 35 minutes, or until fork comes out clean
Caramel Topping
Ingredients
*3/4 cup maple syrup
*1/4 cup honey
* 2TB butter
* 1/4 cup cream
* pinch baking soda (yes, I'm bringing back the "pinch")
Directions
1. On medium heat, heat syrup and honey in small sauce pan until mixture is thick and coats the back of a spoon. This took about 10 minutes. Do NOT stir this mixture as it's cooking. You may scrape the bubbly edges down, but do not disturb the liquid.
2. Add a pinch of baking soda. The caramel will bubble up, stir it down (yes, now you can stir) and turn down heat.
3. Add it butter and stir until melted.
4. Add in cream and stir
5. Turn off heat and allow to cool. As the caramel cools, it will thicken.
6. Poke holes into baked brownies (I used the end of a mixing beater) and pour caramel sauce over the top.
7. Add remaining chopped pecans.