December 10, 2014

I like reading the recipes that appear in the old newspapers, and have tried a few of them, with mixed results. I have made the Lemon Mince Meat recipe that appeared in the Dec. 13, 1932 column “Christmas Dainties” twice and thought it was very good. I did make some changes. I made tarts, not pies and I cut the amount of sugar way down to 1 cup to 1 and a half cups. The recipe also says to add 1/4 cup melted butter per pint. When I made the recipe it made 1 quart, and I added 1/4 cup of melted butter to the quart and that was fine. It keeps well in the fridge for a couple of weeks. On the same page, the Hints for the Household article also had Christmas recipes, suggesting a menu which included an odd recipe for Christmas Pie. I made this recipe and learned that 1-2 as printed, means one half, and 3-4 means 3/4! But it was surprisingly good (thanks Rhonda from the Museum for trying it with me). Again, I made tarts, not a pie. I used 1/2 cup of raisins, and again cut the amount of sugar. I used 1/4 cup instead of 3/4 and thought it was plenty. I had doubts about the meringue, but it was a nice finish. This filling also keeps well in the fridge for a while, and I wouldn’t recommend baking too many at a time – only what would be eaten the day of baking or the next. Happy Baking!
written and researched by Kathryn Auger