Cookbook Club Roundup - March 5th, 2016

Cookbook Club RoundUp! 

Our Cookbook Club members didn't disappoint with a wonderful selection of "Soup and Salad" dishes and recipes at this week's meeting. Here's what was shared:

Orange Blossom Special (a fruit soup), from Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread Cookbook, by Crescent Dragonwagon.

(Kubbeh) Hamustaahatar, a soup, from Jerusalem: A Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi.

Ezogelin Corbasi - Spicy Lentil and Bulgur Soup, shared from a cooking class taken at 'Cooking Alaturka', in Istanbul, Turkey.

Curried Zucchini Soup, from The Essential New York Times Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser.

Beets, Apples and Ginger with Clementine Vinaigrette, from Cooking for Mr. Latte, by Amanda Hesser.

Here are some recipes that were shared:

Endive and Watercress Salad with Walnuts and Roquefort Cheese

2 endive
1 bunch watercress
1 firm Bosc pear
6-8 cherry tomatoes
½ cup walnut pieces
½ cup Roquefort, crumbled
Extra virgin olive oil,
Balsamic vinegar

Core and slice endive thinly. Core and slice pear thinly. Wash and stem watercress.  Slice cherry tomatoes in half.

Make vinaigrette, using ½ olive oil and ½ balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste.

Toss endive, pear and watercress with vinaigrette.  Pile on shallow bowl and surround with cherry tomato halves. Sprinkle with walnuts and Roquefort cheese. Taste and adjust for seasoning.

Honey Grapefruit with Banana Salad      

Prep: 5 minutes. Yield: 3 servings (serving size: 1 cup) 

1 (24-ounce) jar refrigerated red grapefruit sections (about 2 cups) 
1 cup sliced banana (about 1) 
1 tablespoon fresh chopped mint 
1 tablespoon honey 

Drain grapefruit sections, reserving 1/4 cup juice.

Combine grapefruit sections, juice, and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. 

Toss gently to coat. Serve immediately, or cover and chill.

German Potato Salad

4 potatoes
4 slices of bacon
1 tablespoon of flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped green onions
salt and pepper to taste

Boil large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes; cook until tender but still firm about 15 minutes, drain cool and chop.

Place bacon in a large deep skillet and cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. Reserve bacon fat.  

Add flour, sugar, water and vinegar to the skillet and cook in reserved bacon fat over medium heat until it is thick.

Add bacon, potatoes and green onions to skillet and stir until coated. Cook until heated and season with salt and pepper.

Serve warm.

For more information on our Cookbook Club, and to register, please email Barbara Davis at bdavis@nrpl.org or call (914) 632-8254.

Cookbook Club Roundup - February 20th, 2016

Cookbook Club RoundUp! 

Members of our brand new Cookbook Club brought some delightful dishes and recipes to this week's gathering. Here's a sampling:

Caviar Pie, from Mother’s Club of New Rochelle 1987 Cookbook.

Chipotle & Rosemary Spiced Nuts, from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That? Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips.
           
Turkey and Zucchini Burgers with Green Onion and Cumin, adapted from Jerusalem: A Cookbook.

Zahatar Cherry Tomatoes Crostini, from Rose Water and Orange Blossoms: Fresh & Classic Recipes from my Lebanese Kitchen, Maureen Abood.

Marcella Hazan’s Famous Tomato Sauce, originally appeared in Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. 

Some members shared their own recipes too, these included Dill Pickles; Sauerkraut; Spinach, Cheese & Veggies Quiche; and Gougeres. 

What, you may ask, is a gougere?

Choux pastry, or pâte à choux, is used to make sweet profiteroles. When cheese is added for a savory dish, they are called gougeres. These mini-pastries should be crisp and golden on the outside and light and fluffy within.

Gougeres – Cheese Puffs

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

1 cup Gruyere or Parmesan Cheese, finely grated

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

1 cup flour

4 large eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the butter and water in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce the heat to low and add the flour and salt, all at one time.

Stir rapidly and continuously with a wooden spoon as the mixture comes together. Cook for up to three minutes, or until the mixture forms a smooth ball.

Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool for a few minutes. Beat the eggs. Add them to the warm dough one at a time, beating thoroughly to incorporate. Mix in the grated cheese.

Using a teaspoon, place spoonfuls of the mixture on to a baking tray lined with parchment paper, leaving room between each spoonful for the pastry to puff up. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 325 degrees for another 20 minutes, or until the pastries are cooked through and golden.

Gougeres can be made a few hours ahead of time and reheated before serving.

Remy's Soup

Remy's Soup

Chef D'Amour Giovanni Green from Break Bread Not Hearts had a lot of help in making a wonderfully hearty vegetable soup. Here's Giovanni's simple recipe. 

Ingredients

Potatoes – three medium sized
Parsley – one bunch
Carrots –three medium sized
Portobello Mushroom – one to two large caps
Baby Spinach – ¼ pound
Scallion – three stalks
Garlic – 4 cloves
Diced/Crushed Tomatoes – one 28 oz. can
Coconut Milk – one 14 oz. can
Salt, Pepper, Thyme, Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
Butter or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Love

Directions

1. Begin by being thankful and excited for the meal you are about to prepare.  
2. Rinse potatoes and cut them into small bite sized cubes, mince the garlic, and remove the gills from the portobello mushrooms.  Slice the mushrooms into thin strips.
3. In a saucepan or stockpot drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of the olive oil or the butter over medium heat.  You can now add the potatoes, garlic, and mushrooms with a pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir constantly until the garlic turns light golden brown, about 2-4 minutes.
4. Add the can of diced tomatoes, can of coconut milk, a healthy dash of salt and pepper and increase the heat to medium high until the soup begins to boil.  Once boiling reduce the heat back to medium-low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Slice carrots into any shape and drop into the soup and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes.  If you want the carrots to be soft cut them into smaller pieces.  If you like them with a bit more crunch cut them into larger pieces and cook for a shorter period of time.
6. Once the potatoes and carrots are cooked through the soup is ready to be served.  Thinly slice the scallions and the spinach.  Place the spinach at the bottom of a bowl, ladle the soup on top, and garnish with scallions and thyme.
7. Enjoy with love!


This recipe in the film comes together based on the ingredients available at hand to the characters.  Allow your imagination, taste buds, and the rest of your senses to guide you when preparing this soup or any other meal as a team.

ICYMI: December Baking

(This was posted last year, but we think its worth revisiting!)

December Baking

 

I grew up in a family of German heritage and cookies were always a big part of our Christmas celebration. My father’s sister Irma always showed up with big tins of fancy homemade cookies for everyone—all kinds; my favorites were the iced cutout cookies and the anise caps—and my mother’s family made cinnamon waffles using a special waffle iron passed down through the family. When I got out on my own I kept up the cookie baking tradition, trying out new recipes as I went along, but still making my aunt’s anise caps and my grandmother’s cinnamon waffles—which I now make on an electric pizzelle maker since a cousin has the family waffle iron.

About 20 or so years ago I saw that my church in White Plains was having bake sales on Sundays in December to raise money for Heifer International, which struck me as such a worthwhile project that I started taking a lot of my vacation time in December and added pies, coffee cake, cranberry-orange bread, Christmas stollen and rolls to the baking list. I get teased a lot about the “cookie calendar” I have to work out in late November so I can keep what I’m doing when straight. I’m still doing that, and I try to make plenty to give away to friends as well. My colleagues at the library don’t see much of me in December, but they do seem to enjoy my occasional visits with baked goods in tow.

I have a small collection of cookie cookbooks at home, but there are some good ones here at the library as well:

The Cookie Party Cookbook by Robin L. Olson

The Gourmet Cookie Book: The Single Best Recipe From Each Year 1941—2009

Cookies For Christmas by Jennifer Darling

Cookie Craft Christmas by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer

Biscuiteers Book of Iced Cookies by Harriet Hastings and Sarah Moore

Gingerbread Houses: Baking and Building Memories by Nonnie Cargas

Nestle Toll House Best Ever Cookies

The French Cookie Book by Bruce Healy and Paul Bugat

          

Contributor: Beth Mills, Senior Librarian @ NRPL and one of our favorite December bakers! 

Simple and Sweet Pumpkin Treat

Simple and Sweet Pumpkin Treat

Here's a simple and sweet pumpkin treat submitted to us by our part-time clerk Maria Hernandez!

Ingredients 

Pumpkin (2.5 lbs)

2 cups of sugar

Directions

Wash the outside of the pumpkin (just to be safe!)

Remove and rinse the pumpkin seeds and set them aside.

Cut the pumpkin into chunks of about 2 inches (5 cm) and place them in a pot.

Add the pumpkin seeds and let it cook for 30 minutes or until tender.

The pumpkin is going to release its water so drain it, add the sugar and let it caramelize.

Once it cools, enjoy it with milk!

What Have We Been Cooking Up at NRPL?

What Have We Been Cooking Up at NRPL?

In the last session of “Science and Cooking Experiments,” on August 10^th, instructor Jeremy Miransky provided a cool, sweet ending to a wonderful summer workshop series!

Chocolate Ice Cream in a Baggie

Ingredients and Materials:

2 quart-size freezer bags

1 gallon-size freezer bag

Crushed ice

Rock salt or kosher salt

Duct tape

1 pint (2 cups) half-and-half

3 tablespoons instant chocolate pudding

¹/₃ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

Instructions:

1. Mix the half-and-half, the sugar, chocolate pudding and the vanilla together in a bowl.
2. Pour the mixture carefully into the quart size baggie and seal the bag after carefully squeezing out as much air as you can.
3. Put the bag into another quart size baggie, again squeezing out all the air and sealing it carefully.
4. Put the quart bags into the gallon bag.
5. Fill the gallon bag with ice and salt, alternating the ice and salt layers.
6. Make sure that the quart bag is completely surrounded with  the salt and ice layers.
7. Seal the gallon bag and put a towel around it.
8. Rock and shake the towel-wrapped bag  for 10 minutes.  Keep the bag moving but be careful not to drop the bag or let it open.
9. After 10 minutes, open the large bag and carefully take out the smaller bag. 
10. If the ice cream isn't yet frozen, add more salt and ice to the large bag, seal and roll for another 10 minutes.
11. Quickly rinse off the smaller bag so that salt doesn’t get into your ice cream.
12. Put the ice cream into small bowls and enjoy.

Your hands can get very cold while doing this, so wear gloves or put a towel around the bags.

We used half and half, but you can also use whole milk, light cream or heavy cream, depending on how rich you want the ice-cream to be.

Experiment with other flavors. Add crushed frozen fruit, chocolate chips, instant decaffeinated coffee, etc.

For the last six weeks Chef D’Amour, (Giovanni Green of Break Bread Not Hearts,) has created one fabulous dish after another, with the help of the teen and tween participants of “Cook Like an Iron-Rich Chef” workshops attendees participants. Each one has been created with fresh, healthy ingredients—often a mix of savory and sweet and always incredibly tasty. His grand finale was no exception!

Savory and Sweet: Summer Kale and Berry Zeppole

Ingredients:

2½ cups of flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 bunch of kale

1 small onion

1 bulb garlic

8 ounces shredded mozzarella

½ cup water

Thyme

Black Pepper

½ cup cane sugar

½ cup of grapeseed oil or 1 stick of butter

½ pound of mixed berries or other fruits

½ cup of raisins

½ cup water

Cinnamon

8 tablespoons of flaxseed with 1 cup of water

1 teaspoon of sea salt

Grapeseed or coconut oil for frying

Love

Yield: Serves 6-8 people

Directions:

1. Begin by giving thanks for the harvest of the food you are about to prepare.
2. Wash the berries and remove any stems depending on the types of fruits you are using. Cut fruit into small pieces. Most nutrients are found in the edible skins of fruits so be sure to use organic fruit if possible to avoid the risk of pesticides.
3. Wash the kale and rip into small pieces by hand.  Finely dice onions/garlic.
4. Sauté the onions, garlic, kale, and thyme with a pinch of salt and pepper until the kale is tender and set aside. 
5. After the kale mixture is cool enough to handle mix with 1¼ cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 4 tablespoons  of flaxseed, ½ cup of water, and mozzarella then form into small balls by hand or with a scooper.
6. In a saucepan add the oil, sugar, fruit, water, salt, and cinnamon and allow to come to a boil.  Once boiling remove from the heat.
7. Add in 1¼ cup flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 4 tablespoons of flaxseed, and 1 cup of water and stir to incorporate into fruit-sugar mixture. 
8. In a double boiler or small frying pan placed over a saucepan with boiling water, add the chocolate chips and ¼ cup grapeseed oil and stir continuously over low heat until the chocolate chips are completely melted.  Set aside.  If the mixture is too thick whisk in more oil one tablespoon at a time.
9. Add grapeseed oil to a large skillet to the depth of 2 inches and bring to medium-high heat.  Using a cookie/ice cream scooper, spoons, or your hands drop the kale zeppole dough into the oil and fry first followed by the fruit zeppole mixture.  Fry for approximately 4 minutes or until the zeppoles are golden brown.
10. Sprinkle the kale zeppoles with more cheese and drizzle melted chocolate over the fruit zeppoles and enjoy with love.

This dish is versatile and can be created to be savory, sweet or both depending on the additions of onions and other vegetables, herbs, spices, cheeses, maple syrup, jams, jellies, and anything the imagination will incorporate. With the fruits it is a delicious and light dessert. With the savory ingredients it can be a wonderful appetizer or side dish. These can also be baked instead of fried for an even healthier treat.

Be sure to use dark chocolate and organic berries and fruit, as it is higher in antioxidants and nutrients that support our brain and heart health along with other bodily functions and systems.

The kale is high in Vitamins A, C, K, iron, and a long list of nutrients to support your body. Adding the garlic and onions to the dish will boost your immune system and keep you healthy. The kale, garlic, and a variety of summer fruits are extremely fresh this time of year from a farmers market so try to eat local.

- Chef D’Amour

Life is Peachy Chicken Stir-Fry and Grilled Pineapple

Life is Peachy Chicken Stir-Fry and Grilled Pineapple

Ingredients

3 pounds Chicken Thighs/Breasts (bone-in preferably) or 3 pounds cooked chickpeas

3 pounds of Peaches

1 bunch of Kale

1 large Onion

1 Pineapple

¼ pound of fresh Ginger Root

1 bag of Dark Chocolate Chips

Toasted Sesame Oil

Sea salt, pepper, coriander, cinnamon

Lemon Juice

Love

Yield: Serves 6-8 people

Directions

1. Begin by giving thanks for the life of the chicken and all the ingredients you are about to prepare.

2. If using bone-in chicken thighs or breasts cut them into small pieces roughly the size of 1-inch. Mix the chicken with 1 cup of lemon juice, a large pinch of sea salt, pepper, and the coriander. You can do this step a day or two ahead of time to allow the chicken to absorb maximum flavor from the seasoned marinade. The reason for using the bone-in chicken is because the dish will have more flavor.

3. Slice the onion and mince the ginger and place aside in a bowl.  Slice each peach into 6 segments. Wash the kale well and shake free of any excess water.  Using your hands tear the kale from the stem into bite sized pieces.  Peel the pineapple and slice into 4 pieces.

4. In a large wok or sauté pan add 2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil along with the sliced onions and ginger. Stir this mixture constantly over medium heat until the aroma of the ginger increases. This will take approximately 3-4 minutes.

5. At this point you can add 1/3 of the peaches and the chicken and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook stirring constantly allowing the chicken to brown and cook through and for peaches to become syrup like in consistency.

6. With the sliced pineapple you can light the grill or use a grill pan or sauté pan.  Brush the pineapple with the toasted sesame oil and cinnamon and place onto grill pan over high heat. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side to allow the pineapple to develop a slight char. You can also place the pineapples under the broiler in your oven for it to brown.

7. Once the chicken is cooked toss in the remaining peaches and kale and place immediately onto a serving dish.

8. Cut the pineapple into smaller pieces after being cooked and in a large bowl toss the pineapple with the dark chocolate chips. You can also sauté the grilled pineapple with the chocolate to allow it to melt.

9. Enjoy with love!

Life is peachy and thanks to Mother Nature and the season of summer we can enjoy the bounty provided during these warmer months.  Peaches come into season in the Northeast during the month of July.  This recipe combines the fuzzy and sweet peach into a stir-fry with kale, chicken, and ginger to create a dish with an Asian flair. If you would like to omit the chicken you can prepare the dish with chickpeas. Did you know that in ancient Chinese culture peaches signified the Tree of Life?

Pineapples provide a light delicious replacement for dessert requiring only some melted dark chocolate to enjoy. Pineapples are high in enzymes that aid our digestion as well. The enzyme bromelain is found mainly in the core of the pineapple.

The dish provides a high amount of fiber, protein, and a vast spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to support our overall health. Vitamins A, B, C, K, iron, potassium, magnesium are present along with many more.

Go ahead and plan a family trip to a local orchard and begin picking.

- Chef D’Amour

Summer Recipes to Share

Summer Recipes to Share

11 ways to keep kids' minds active over the summer, an article that appeared in the July 6th issue of The Journal News, started the list with:

#1: "Check out your local library: It's a wonderful place to inspire a love of reading, whether it's required or recreational reading. Many libraries offer summer programs…"

The #7 suggestion was: "Cook with your kids. Not only can they practice their reading skills by reading cookbooks and recipes, but they can work on their math skills as well".

Put the two recommendations together and what do you get? Cooking Workshops at the New Rochelle Public Library! Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing some of the recipes concocted at our workshops for elementary school children, for teens, and at some of the BID Family Market Days. Enjoy them at home as much as patrons have enjoyed them here in the library and at the Market on Library Green.

An easy recipe for playdough was introduced by Jeremy Miransky, at the first session of Experiments in Cooking and Science (for kids 6 – 12 years, Mondays at 10 am, through August 10th).

Playdough (for play – not eating!)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup water

3  tablespoons oil

1 cup flour

1/3 cup salt

10 drops food coloring

Instructions:

1. Mix water, oil and food coloring in a bowl.

2. Mix flour and salt in another bowl.

3. Add the flour and salt mixture to the oil and water mixture.

4. Mix with a spatula until the mixture forms a dough.

5. If the dough is too wet, add a little flour, bit by bit until the consistency of the dough is the way you like it.  If the dough is too dry, add a couple of drops of water until the consistency is right.

6. Store in a covered container or freezer bag.

For the Teens Workshop, Cook like an Iron-rich Chef, (Mondays at 4 pm, through August 10th), Chef Giovanni Green and the chefs-in-training cooked-up this fabulous dish:

Snow in July Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati Rice (uncooked)

1 lb. Snow Peas *

2-3 Bell Peppers (mixed color peppers) *

3 Summer Squash (Zucchini) *

1 lb. Golden Raisins

2-3 tablespoons Ginger Root 

Toasted Sesame Oil (Coconut Oil or Grapeseed Oil works too!)

1 lb. Arugula *

2-3 Cucumbers *

Figs or Fig Jam *

1 15 fl. oz. can Coconut Milk

Smoked Paprika, Sea Salt, Pepper

Vinegar (Apple Cider or Rice)

Love

Instructions:

1. Begin by placing the uncooked basmati rice, toasted sesame oil, sea salt, pepper, and smoked paprika into a pot over medium heat stirring constantly to coat rice with oil and spices.  After stirring for about 5 minutes add 3 ½ cups of boiling water and allow to boil for 3-4 minutes. Then reduce the heat to a low simmer. The rice will cook for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Snap off ends of snow peas, slice bell peppers and zucchini into whatever shapes and sizes you like.

3. Peel ginger with a spoon and then place into a food processor or mince by hand.

4. Wash the arugula and leave in a strainer to drain if it hasn't been washed already. In a blender combine the figs/fig jam, coconut milk, vinegar, with a pinch of sea salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. If using the fig jam you can whisk/stir the ingredients together by hand. Leave dressing aside, we will use it for the fried rice and the salad.

5. Toss together the golden raisins, cucumbers, and arugula and drizzle with the coconut fig dressing.

6. In a wok or a large frying pan add the toasted sesame oil and ginger over medium heat stirring constantly until you can smell the aroma of the ginger. You can also add minced garlic to the mixture if you like as well.

7. Add in the bell peppers and summer squash with a pinch of sea salt and pepper. After 3 minutes add in the cooked basmati rice and cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the snow peas and pour some rice vinegar into the pan and give the pot one final toss and stir.

8. As the rice is being served, drizzle each individual plate with the golden raisins and coconut fig dressing.

9. Enjoy with love!

Chef Green adds:

This dish is complete with a variety of fresh, seasonal, and local ingredients that are dense in nutrients. There is an abundance of iron, calcium, potassium, vitamins A, B-complex, K, protein, fiber, and more. Snow in July Fried Rice provides a healthy and delicious alternative to consuming fried rice purchased from an establishment which may be high in sugar, fats, and artificial/processed ingredients which only leaves us feeling lethargic and our bodies still craving the nutrients we need.

Next time you have leftover rice you can combine it with the ingredients I have listed or with any you may have on hand at home. Ingredients marked with * can be purchased right now from a local farmers market. Thus you know your food was picked most likely that morning or the day before, it will be at peak nutritional value, and will help reduce pollution since the food is coming from nearby.

Recipes From The Time Of Twain

Recipes From The Time Of Twain

In association with New Rochelle's 2015 The Big Read of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The following is from Twain’s travelogue, A Tramp Abroad, the author gives a lengthy list of everything he would like to eat at the first meal upon his return to America after cruising abroad, where the food (apparently) did not suit him.  

It has now been many months, at the present writing, since I have had a nourishing meal, but I shall soon have one — a modest, private affair, all to myself. I have selected a few dishes, and made out a little bill of fare, which will go home in the steamer that precedes me, and be hot when I arrive — as follows: 

Radishes. Baked apples, with cream Fried oysters; stewed oysters. Frogs. American coffee, with real cream. American butter. Fried chicken, Southern style. Porter-house steak. Saratoga potatoes. Broiled chicken, American style. Hot biscuits, Southern style. Hot wheat-bread, Southern style. Hot buckwheat cakes. American toast. Clear maple syrup. Virginia bacon, broiled. Blue points, on the half shell. Cherry-stone clams. San Francisco mussels, steamed. Oyster soup. Clam Soup. Philadelphia Terapin soup. Oysters roasted in shell-Northern style. Soft-shell crabs. Connecticut shad. Baltimore perch. Brook trout, from Sierra Nevadas. Lake trout, from Tahoe. Sheep-head and croakers, from New Orleans. Black bass from the Mississippi. American roast beef. Roast turkey, Thanksgiving style. Cranberry sauce. Celery. Roast wild turkey. Woodcock. Canvas-back-duck, from Baltimore. Prairie liens, from Illinois. Missouri partridges, broiled. ‘Possum. Coon. Boston bacon and beans. Bacon and greens, Southern style. Hominy. Boiled onions. Turnips. Pumpkin. Squash. Asparagus. Butter beans. Sweet potatoes. Lettuce. Succotash. String beans. Mashed potatoes. Catsup. Boiled potatoes, in their skins. New potatoes, minus the skins. Early rose potatoes, roasted in the ashes, Southern style, served hot. Sliced tomatoes, with sugar or vinegar. Stewed tomatoes. Green corn, cut from the ear and served with butter and pepper. Green corn, on the ear. Hot corn-pone, with chitlings, Southern style. Hot hoe-cake, Southern style. Hot egg-bread, Southern style. Hot light-bread, Southern style. Buttermilk. Iced sweet milk. Apple dumplings, with real cream. Apple pie. Apple fritters. Apple puffs, Southern style. Peach cobbler, Southern style Peach pie. American mince pie. Pumpkin pie. Squash pie. All sorts of American pastry. Fresh American fruits of all sorts, including strawberries which are not to be doled out as if they were jewelry, but in a more liberal way. Ice-water—not prepared in the ineffectual goblet, but in the sincere and capable refrigerator.

Light and Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits

(Freezer Biscuits)

Makes about 3 dozen biscuits

1      tablespoon yeast
2      tablespoon sugar
¼     cup warm water
5      cups flour
3      tablespoons sugar
1      tablespoon baking powder
1      teaspoon baking soda

1      cup butter

2      cups buttermilk

Combine yeast, 2 tablespoons sugar, and warm water in a small bowl. Set aside for about 10 minutes or until bubbly.

Preheat oven to 425°. Lightly grease baking sheets, or use nonstick baking pans.

In a large bowl, combine flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and soda. Cut in butter till crumbly. Stir in yeast mixture and buttermilk just until
ingredients hold together.

Roll or pat dough to 1 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out with a circle cookie cutter or the top of a glass. Bake the biscuits for about 15 minutes.

To freeze raw biscuits: After cutting biscuits into circles, place ½ inch apart on cookie sheets and freeze. After frozen place in heavy duty freezer bags. Store for up to 2 months.

To bake frozen biscuits: Thaw completely on lightly greased cookie sheets, then bake at 425° for about 20—30 minutes.

Snap-Crackle Gingersnaps
From The Christmas Cookies Books,
by Lou Seibert Pappas

Makes about 4 dozen

¾    cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

½    cup granulated sugar

½    cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1     egg

¼    cup dark molasses

2     cups all-purpose flour

1½  teaspoons baking soda

½    teaspoon salt

2     teaspoons ground ginger

1     teaspoon ground cinnamon

Raw sugar for coating

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer or a spoon, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and molasses and mix until smooth.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until smooth. Cover and chill for 30 minutes, or until firm.

Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly grease baking sheets, or use nonstick baking pans.

Pour some raw sugar into a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1 inch balls between your palms, and roll in the raw sugar to coat lightly.

Place on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, or until just lightly brown on the hedges and still barely soft in the center.

Transfer to racks and cool completely, or serve slightly warm.

Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to revitalize the role of reading in American culture by exposing citizens to great works of literature and encouraging them to read for pleasure and enrichment. The Big Read is managed by Arts Midwest. New Rochelle is one of 77 communities nationwide participating in The Big Read from September 2014 - June 2015.