Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are the best, especially for a summer party. My Grandma Eulie made great ones but I've added balsamic and truffle salt, two ingredients not too likely to be found in mid-70s Paw Paw, Michigan. Here's the recipe my friend Lydia goes crazy for...

Vintage egg plates make a difference

18 eggs, hard-boiled
1/2-3/4 c. mayo
2 T. yellow mustard
splash of the very best, sweetest balsamic vinegar
1/4 t. truffle salt
Cayenne to taste
White pepper to taste
Sea salt to taste
Paprika, for the classic garnish. Hot paprika, chives, fancy grey or red salts, black sesame seeds, what-evah... also fun.


Boil the eggs. Cool and peel under cold water. Chill.


Cut eggs in half the long way and throw the yolks in your Kitchen-Aid with the whisk attachment. Add your mustard, balsamic, and half cup mayo. Start on low and eventually work up to your highest speed, adding the remaining mayo to desired creaminess. Stop and season to taste. Whip until very smooth and fluffy.


Using a pastry bag or gallon ZipLoc with the corner cut off, fill the whites in a pretty, swirly pattern. Garnish. Serve, preferably with a cold cocktail.

Eulie's Ozark Apple Cake

My grandmother made this as a breakfast or snack cake when I was a child. It's similar to a typical "Ozark" apple cake, but uses butter, not oil. I think she got the original recipe from a cookbook called Symphony of Cooking. The actual honest-to-God note handwritten on the back of the original recipe card says, "If you are planning to serve this to guests, better make two as Jen can eat one whole one." Um, yes.

SERVES 6

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups finely chopped, peeled apples
• 1/2 cup nuts, dried fruit, etc. optional, though I never include them

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add egg. Beat well.
3. Sift all dry ingredients.
4. Blend into wet ingredients.
5. Fold in apple and optional items
6. Spread into a well-greased 8x8 inch pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.
8. Serve warm or room temp, with whipped cream or without. 

Eulie's Chocolate Snack Cake

This is another one from the Grandma Eulie archives. When you drink about 14 cups of coffee a day, like she did, you might need a little something to go along with it. Hence, her arsenal of not-too-sweet, no-frosting, all-in-one-pan snack cakes. This is a gem. She apparently adapted it from a recipe on the Gold Medal package, sometime in the mid-1970s.

NOTE: You may mix in entirely in the pan, making this a one pan wonder, to boot.

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup cocoa

1 t. baking soda

1/2 salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 t. vinegar

1 t. vanilla

1 cup water

Mix dry ingredients well, then add liquids. Bake in an 8x8 ungreased pan. 35-40 minutes or until a wooden pick (seriously, who keeps wooden picks around?) comes out clean. No temp specified, but I think I do about 350.


*Because this is a "wacky" cake, there is no egg in it.  Vegan by accident. Lovely.*

Grandma Eulie’s Carrot Cake

The main reason for starting a blog is so I could share my Grandma Eulie's amazing recipes with my cousins who are scattered all over the country. This is a Eulie classic or maybe even THE Eulie classic.  She got the original recipe from her friend Paulette Green.

If you want to bake it in true Eulie style, you have to get up at, oh, maybe 4:30am, bake this cake, and have it ready and frosted when your grandchildren wake up at 8am.

Ingredients:

2 ¼ c. flour

2 t. salt

2 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

(above sifted together)

1 ½ c. vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 c. sugar

3 coarsely grated carrots

1 ½ c. chopped walnuts  (I make it without the nuts which many consider sacrilege.)

1.      Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2.      Grease and flour 2 8” layer cake pans

3.      Mix sugar, oil, and eggs in large bowl at medium speed for 2 minutes.

4.      Gradually add flour mixture at low speed for 1 minute.

5.      Stir in carrots and nuts until well mixed and spoon into pans.

6.      Bake for 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours, then cool. 

7.      Make icing and frost.

Icing:

8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

¼ c. butter

2 t. vanilla

1 package confectioner’s sugar (I’m assuming that means a 1 lb. package.)

Cream the above ingredients until super fluffy.

Eulie's Sour Milk Doughnuts

It's Sunday morning and that means a breakfast better than toast. And last night was a dancing and 2AM kind of night which doesn't happen very often these days. That means that breakfast should be not only better than toast but maybe deep-fried.

Homemade doughnuts are a little tricky but not as difficult as you'd think. My Grandma Eulie, a goddess of homemade delicious treats, routinely made these on a weekend morning and it's time for you to, too. Done right, a homemade doughnut will ensure you never eat Dunkin again.

Mix well in large bowl:
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup sugar
3 T melted butter

Add:
1 cup sour milk (1 c milk + 1 T white vinegar + 5 minutes)
1/2 t nutmeg OR cinnamon (Eulie preferred nutmeg, I prefer cinnamon)
3/4 t salt
1 t baking soda
3 1/2-4 cups flour (the batter should be quite stiff)

Fry small spoonfuls in shortening, about a pound. Eulie preferred lard, I prefer Crisco. in a heavy pan. Eulie used an electric frypan, I use a Le Creuset.

I use two teaspoons (one to scoop, one to scrape) or a very small springy scoop like this to plop the batter in the grease. They really do need to be quite small - sort of doughnut-hole sized, duh - and fried until quite brown or you run the risk of them being doughy and raw in the center.

Shake the warm doughnuts and a cup of powdered sugar in a brown bag. Eat them all, they don't really keep well.

I didn't make these (my friend Lynne P-G did) but it proves that making doughnuts at home is nothing to be afraid of.

West Virginia Whoopie Pies

These cookies are created from my Grandma Eulie's Ginger Cream cookies and her cream cheese frosting.  The lemon zest is my addition.

Mix well:

1/2 c. sugar

1 egg

1/3 c. oleo (I use butter)

1/2 c. water

1/2 c. "Grandma's" brand molasses

Stir in:

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 t. ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. cloves

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Drop 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper. Consistency in size is important since these will form the halves of the pies that need to "match up." I use a small scoop with a release.

Bake 7-8 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Cool. Spread one half the cookies with frosting and top with the other half. Store between waxed paper in an airtight container. BETTER ON SECOND DAY!

Frosting (and I totally wing it so these are approximations):

1/8 c. butter

1/8 c. cream cheese

2 c. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 t. milk, adjust for consistency

lemon zest to taste