Making your own Altoids®

We used to go through a lot of Altoids®.  I was not able to find a decent copycat recipe, so I invented my own.  This makes about 20 tins, with about 180 calories per tin.  (We ended up with lots of tins that I was able to use once we were satisfied with this recipe.)  These satisfy a sweet tooth with not too many calories.

First gather the equipment needed:

bench scraper

pan scraper

1/2 cup measure

small stainless bowl

small wire whisk

pizza wheel or pie crust cutter

teaspoons

rolling pin

heavy duty stand mixer (mine is Cuisinart) with paddle
3 cookie sheets

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cool water in the stainless bowl
4 teaspoons gelatin
       After this has softened, melt over low heat to fully dissolve.

1/2 teaspoon Xanthan gum 

Then whisk like mad to get out the lumps.  Xanthan gum likes to clump.

  

Put two teaspoons peppermint oil into the stand mixer bowl.  Make sure you buy food quality pure oil.  I made the mistake of using another that was peppermint in a strange oil.  Nasty.  Extract will not work.  You must use oil.  The little bottles of Loran oil will work - use two whole little bottles or more.  I make this often enough to justify the large bottle.

You will probably use slightly less than 2 pounds of powdered sugar.

I hold back about two cups from a two-pound bag to begin, and then add until it is a texture that is not too sticky to roll out.  `

I prefer to work on a cookie sheet than on the counter.  I worry about the oil being absorbed into the counter.  I sprinkle some of the reserved powdered sugar onto the cookie sheet to keep the candy from sticking and sprinkle some on top, too.  Then roll it out like pie dough.  About that thick, too.

 Then cut it with a pizza wheel or piecrust cutter.  We like the ruffled edges of the pie cutter.

Use the bench scraper to transfer the squares to another cookie sheet to dry.  Two pounds of sugar needs three cookie sheets (the half-sheet pan {18" x 13"}) to dry.  My house is not very dry much of the year, so I put the cookie sheets in the oven with the light on, and they dry in two to three days.  Then they can be stored in tins.

I did see a recipe once that suggested getting a straw from bubble tea (it's a large diameter), and use it like a cookie cutter.  You would have nice round mints.  Much too fussy for me.  We'll live with squares!

Cookies - Royal Icing

Every few years I forget that I am unartistic and uncoordinated.  I watch videos on icing cookies and I think, "I can do that. . ."

My student, Gina, made wonderful cookies for Halloween.  She shared one, but I ate it before I thought to photograph it. . . Perhaps that's good, since I have no proof of excellence!  But I was inspired to try my hand.

I used Gina's recipe:

Sugar Cookie Recipe

3 c flour

1 c sugar

1 1/4 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

2 sticks butter

1/2 t vanilla

1/2 t lemon extract

1 egg

2 oz cream cheese

mix, chill, roll, cut

350º, 12 minutes

It's Great!

I rolled out about four dozen cookies.

When they cooled, I made royal icing and colored some brown:

For the Royal Icing, I used meringue powder with water and powdered sugar, using the proportions on the meringue powder container.

The next day, I made blue and green frosting.  Handling the piping bag is a bit of a challenge, as you might guess from the pictures.  Also, it's a challenge getting the right consistency.

Next day brought the red icing - it looks kind of pink.  .  .  I am using concentrated color, and a little goes a long way.  Looks like I'm getting better at "flooding", but lines are still a challenge.

The following day I added the white.  I kept it thicker so that I could make "stars".  I also dusted some of the white with white or green sugar crystals.  I think the crystals may be useful for hiding mistakes.

Next is yellow. . .

And chartreuse

All done. . . 

I guess you don't need talent to have fun.

~ ~ ~

The beginnings of batch two:

Ain't we got fun. . . 

And now we're done:

And we had a good assortment to take to a "covered dish".

That was fun!

Pizzelle - Part Two

I blogged about the pizzelle I made a year ago.
http://muddleaged.blogspot.com/2016/12/pizzelle.html
They were not quite right - heavy and cakey.

Today we're testing out the new cart and a new recipe.

I wanted a movable work place in the kitchen.  One day, I lucked out on an Amazon Warehouse deal on a commercial cart.

It's title is:  "Metro MW Series Chrome Plated Wire Utility Cart, 3 Shelves, 375 lbs Capacity, 36" Length x 21" Width x 39" Height".  It was easy to put together.  Very sturdy.  Now, will it do what I want?

I need a work surface that is about table-height.  I think it's hard to work on a counter - tough on the arms and shoulders.  But the kitchen table is across the room from the cooking supplies.  Also, because the mixer is so heavy, it would be nice to have it live where it will be used.  This cart is the right height and the right location.

 This setup turns out to be excellent.  My back is to the kitchen sink and counter.

The drawer behind me holds baking tools - the portioner, skewers, measuring devices, scrapers.
The shelves on the cart hold flours and sugars.  The counter behind me holds the microwave.  Just need to get the eggs and butter from the refrigerator.

The pizzelle iron is probably at least 50 years old.  The cord has been replaced several times, but it still works well.

The recipe I used this time:

yield: ABOUT 30 PIZZELLES  

INGREDIENTS:

3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons whole anise seed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon anise extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of kosher salt


may need an extra 1/2 cup flour

Making the Kitchen Work

The kitchen had a few things needed.

The window wall had cupboards on the entire wall, with four wall cupboards and base cabinets.

There was also a free-standing tall cupboard.  (This picture is from the realtor listing.)
There simply was not enough storage.  And the workspace was limited.  (See the post with the cart here.)
We swapped places with the fridge and the tall cupboard.  It made it easier to work at the counter, but it didn't solve the storage problem.

The stove wall needed help!

We shifted the appliances to the left so that we could access the base cupboards.  (That meant moving the dryer vent, but that's a story for another time. . . )  But it didn't solve the storage problem.

Our guess is that the kitchen had been remodeled shortly before the house was sold to us, and D was able to find the exact match for the cupboards at Lowes.  And they were on sale.  And with a Lowes credit card you get a 5% discount!  The stars were aligning.  We bought the cupboards.

Oh my, they are heavy!  So we decided to call a contractor who had helped build the cider house.  He is young, and he can install the cupboards.  Alas, he did not return our call.  D was getting impatient.  "We'll do it ourselves," he said.  I said nothing because my jaw had dropped.

D came up with lots of tricks to make it doable.  We lifted from the floor to a chair,  from a chair to a table, from the table to the washer/drier, from that to the board screwed to the wall to rest the cabinets on.  And he clamped the one he had already screwed to the wall to the next cabinet so that it was well supported.

 

Cabinets up - doors put back on - ready for the range hood.

 All done!

D put both of the cabinets (between the fridge and the corner cupboard) without any help!!!!

Now we have a sensible amount of kitchen storage.

Next step is to put the things away from the top of the fridge!

Wild Cucumber

Echinocystis lobata (Wild Cucumber)

There was a vine growing way up in the pine tree in the front yard.  (This picture was taken in August.)

It's been a warm autumn, but we are expecting our first frost of the season tonight (October 16, 2017).
We harvested the last of the tomatoes and basil and moved the drying garlic indoors to prevent freezing. 

This is some of the wild cucumber vine.

This vine has fully dried seed pods as well as green ones.

There are four chambers for seeds.

The seeds look like black pumpkin seeds, but they have a texture.

Most of the seeds have fallen out, but I was able to find these three.

Although it is a cucurbit (member of the cucumber family), it is not edible, but some say the tender leaves may be edible.

Kitchen Cart

I must say, we are having fun finding the things we need to make the new little house work for us.  I was trying to decide what I needed in the kitchen.  I knew I needed a table-height work space, but the kitchen table is at one end of the room and the supplies are at the other end.  And, of course, the table is used as a kitchen table, so it always has stuff on it.  I thought about getting another table, perhaps a drop-leaf, but I wanted to be able to pull it out to use as a work surface.  I thought about a kitchen cart, but they are usually smallish and rather flimsy.

While I was still muddling, one of my Daily Deal feeds pointed out amazon warehouse deals.  I guess it was a quiet day, so I looked at quite a few pages of "deals", and then I saw

Metro MW Series Chrome Plated Wire Utility Cart, 3 Shelves, 375 lbs Capacity, 36" Length x 21" Width x 39" Height 

This is a commercial cart.  The price was reasonable, with the warehouse deal less than a third of the original price.  But there is only one review.  But the review is good.  And the price is good.  And if it works, it will be very good.

We ordered it. 

This was a "warehouse deal", which means someone may have returned it - perhaps it is damaged - perhaps it is incomplete.  Oh, boy, there are lots of things to worry about!

It was delivered in a couple of days.   The directions are four wrinkled xeroxed pages of drawings, with titles matching nothing like the name of our item.  And there are lots more black thingies than it looks like we need, and there are four white thingies that are not on the drawings anywhere.

Surprise - it went together in less than a half-hour.  It's very sturdy.  The wheels are smooth working and it glides across the floor.  

It's a decent size.  And a decent working height.

The first thing I tried was pizzelle.

The cart easily held the mixer, the pizzelle iron, and a cookie sheet with rack.

I was moving right along, so I transferred the pizzelle to a cookie sheet behind me on the counter to finish cooling.  It was just stand and pivot, not schlepp across the room.  And the height is a better working height for a not-so-tall person.  

I am using the second shelf to hold flour.  Right now there is stone ground whole wheat, whole wheat pie and pastry flour, Sir Lancelot high gluten bread flour, Wheat Montana all-purpose flour, White Lily all-purpose flour, and a couple of kinds of sugar.  Even with this weight, it glides easily and turns well.

The clothespins are holding plastic bags as they dry.  (We are very frugal folk, and if a bag can be reused, it gets washed and put away for the next time.)  The bottom shelf has a couple of things that have not found a home yet - waffle iron, pizzelle iron, food-processor blades.

And we are finding the cart to be of great use in the kitchen.  Yesterday's trip to the supermarket yielded a lot of frozen food.  Usually, we would carry the bags to the counter, unpack, and carry the items back across the (relatively small) kitchen to the freezer, pull some things out to rearrange, put them on the floor or take them back to the counter, then sort and carry back to the freezer.  Now that we have this super-duper cart, we put the groceries on the cart and wheel it to the cupboard for the canned goods or to the freezer for the frozen goods.  Easy to sort and rearrange as needed.  I am delighted with this purchase.

We're having fun.

Royal Crown Derby

Crown Derby, Kings Pattern

Crown Derby

The Derby Porcelain Company was established in 1750.  In 1773, King George III, smitten with Derby  porcelain, gave the company the right to include the crown in the logo, and call it Crown Derby. 

In 1815 the sales manager, Robert Bloor, borrowed heavily and bought the factory.  In 1825 the backstamp was changed to incorporate the Bloor name.  The Bloor backstamp comes in 2 varieties, with or without a crown, the later production bearing the crown.  These plates have a crown and probably date to about 1835.  

Bob died in 1848 and the factory went belly up.  It was eventually bought by former employees and continues to this day (under new owners).

Royal Crown Derby

After many trials, the company was visited by Victoria in 1890, and smitten by their production, allowed the Royal prefix to be added to the company name.  And the name continues to this day.

These bowls demand hearty fare, and we enjoyed a stew of beef, mushrooms, and potatoes.  This was accompanied by a sparkling cider from Eve's Cidery.

 The silver is the Cinderella pattern (Gorham, Whiting) introduced in 1925.

 All gone. . . 

Hard to believe that china has survived for so many years.  The gilding is still bright and barely worn.

Walmart and Cream Biscuits - Part Two

We really like the America's Test Kitchen recipe for Heavy Cream Biscuits - that means using heavy cream, not having heavy biscuits.
Here's Part One of the making:  http://muddleaged.blogspot.com/2012/03/heavy-cream-biscuits.html

When I mentioned these biscuits to friends, Pat and Betsy, they said that White Lily flour is supposed to make the lightest biscuits.  Sounds good - now to find the flour.

We really like Walmart.com and Amazon.com for all kinds of things.  The best is that you can order something whenever you think of it. . . and it will be here in a couple of days.  And you did not have to:
drive to the store
find it in the store
put it in your cart
take it out of your cart at the register
put it back in your cart
take it out of the cart at the car
put it in the trunk
drive home and open the trunk
take it out
carry it into the house and
put it away.

If you buy it online, you do have to carry it into the house and put it away. . .

But, even better, when shopping online, you can find a huge selection that is not available in your local store.  To get an idea, do a search on walmart.com for bread flour.  Half the time there is none in my store.  Online there are bread flours from Gold Medal, Pillsbury, King Arthur, Bob's Red Mill, Wheat Montana, White Lily, Hodgson Mill, not counting the gluten free and all the strange milled grains.

So I found it at Walmart (it was much more expensive on Amazon - I always comparison shop) - White Lily All-Purpose flour.  It arrived today.  Now to test it!

Seventeen minutes later:

They are amazingly light.

Almost too "short".  They truly melt in your mouth.

What does this tell us?

Alas, I did the scientific no-no.  Everyone knows that you only have one variable in an experiment.
The flour was supposed to be the variable in this recipe experiment.
But I had to make more changes . . . .
I chilled the flour, cream, and cookie sheet.
And I barely handled the dough.
The results were wonderful . . . but we aren't sure why.  I guess I'll just have to make more. . .

These would probably make a great topping for a pot pie.  Or dumplings for chicken and dumplings.

Repeating the recipe:

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons baking powder.

450º, 17 minutes

This recipe is a keeper.

Cox's Orange Pippin

If nothing else, the name is cool - Cox's Orange Pippin.

Today was our first taste of this antique apple.  The skin is thin, rough, and won't take a polish.  The interior is firm, slightly sour, juicy, and with a lovely bouquet.  In Great Britain it is considered a dessert apple.  It was introduced in the early 1800s.

According to Cummins  https://shop.cumminsnursery.com/shop/apple-trees/coxs-orange-pippin:

Cox Orange Pippin is a Ribston Pippin seedling first planted by retired brewer Richard Cox around 1825.

This a well known, classic, very fine eating apple, common in England. Also excellent for all-around processing. Flavor enhanced by ripening off the tree. The fruit is medium sized, pale green with red stripes, flushed orange. It has firm, tender, juicy flesh, with a distinctive aroma and flavor. Flavors include citrus, spice, and rose. Crisp and and tender.

We had three apples this year.  One has a hole, one is still on the tree, and this one.  We hope for more in years to come!  It's really good.

The parent of Cox's Orange Pippin is the Ribstone Pippin (early 18th Century), immortalized in the Hilaire Belloc poem:

The False Heart

I said to Heart, "How goes it?" Heart replied: 

'Right as a Ribstone Pippin!' But it lied.