The Master Mix

In 1975 while in 8th grade I took my first cooking class. I loved that class, I loved everything about it; the rules, the cleaning, the homework, the teacher and class duties. I loved it all. I had Mrs. Romero, 6th period, 3 quarter and I got an A. A's were not easy for me to achieve and that made me love Mrs. Romero and Home-Eco Cooking class even more. I've kept my cooking notebook all these years. I always find myself going back to it for basic recipes. The pages are mostly printed from a Ditto machine and are fading so bad or have such badly stained pages you can barely read them. One recipe we were taught that seemed to be the mother of all recipes was The Master Mix. At the top of the recipe it says:

 "for biscuits, griddlecakes, muffins, waffles, gingerbread, cookies and cakes" 

Basically any recipe that called for Bisquick you could substitute equal amounts of the master mix and end up with the same results, but save money. It was the middle of the 70's rescission when I had this class and we were all about sitting in line for gas and saving a buck.

Before you make up this recipe you need an air tight container that hold at least 13 cups that fits in you pantry to store the mix. A Tupperware or Rubbermaid type container works great. The trick with using Master Mix in a recipe is to keep the mixing to a minimum. You'll have light biscuits and heavenly coffee cake as long as you don't over mix.  Get creative and experiment and you might find you love the results of Mrs. Romero's Master Mix as much as I do.

Ingredients -

9 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/3 cup baking powder

1 T. salt

2 teas. cream of tartar

4 T. sugar

1 cup nonfat dry milk

2 cups shortening which does not require refrigeration

Method

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar, sugar and dry milk 3 times.
2. Cut in shorting with pastry blender or two knifes until mixture looks like coarse corn meal.
3. Store in covered containers at room temperature.

Note: To measure the master mix, pile it lightly into cup and level off with spatula.

Gingerbread Man Pancakes

"Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man."  Oh yes we can and love we every bite!

 

These pancakes are a new favorite at our house. My grandsons will eat as many as I will make them. They're perfect for a yummy Thanksgiving breakfast when the family has gathered. They taste extra yummy served with applesauce and warm maple syrup. I use my wonderful pancake pen my daughter gave me for Christmas last year, a must for every mom and grandma, to draw perfect little men or whatever shape is requested, but if you don't have a pancake pen don't let that stop you from making these for you family.

 They are yummy no matter what shape you choose. I wish I had this recipe when my kids were little and doing the gingerbread man unit in kindergarten, but I have it for the grandkids and you bet we have fun eating them up.

1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk soured with lemon juice *
3 Tbs butter or margarine, melted
1 Tbs molasses
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbs ground cinnamon
1/2 ground ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Butter or cooking spray for grilling
Raisins, crannies or chocolate chips for decorating

*(to make sour milk, pour milk into a liquid measuring cup so that you are just about 2 Tbs shy of 1 cup. Add 2 Tbs of lemon juice to the milk making 1 full cup. Set aside the milk while lightly beating the egg and melting the melting the butter. The milk should lightly curdle, or you can always use real sour milk or butter milk.)

Combine egg, sour milk, melted butter and molasses . Sift together remaining dry ingredients and add to egg mixture, stirring just until moist.

 Spoon or using a pancake pen shape pancakes on to hot , lightly greased griddle. Raisins, crannies or chocolate chips can bee used for eyes and buttons. Cook until tops are covered with bubbles, turn and cook other side. Serve with butter, warm syrup and apple sauce. Makes about 3 cups of batter.

Pflaumehkucken

My grandma Etta's German Plum Cake was a little taste of heaven on earth. I knew when she made it she loved me and that summer was coming to an end. It's a recipe she learn from my German great grandma Camilla. My mom made it every fall, I've made it for my kids and now they are getting old enough to start making it for theirs. For me this is German comfort food. Traditionally it is served at German coffee or tea. We enjoy it for dessert or as a breakfast cake.

1 small batch of any good sweet yeast dough (enough for one standard batch of cinnamon rolls)

3 cups of homemade vanilla pudding

1 pound of Italian plums, pitted and sliced (if you can't find these you can use small black plums)

Streusel  (topping)

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

Mix together till crumbly

Make up the sweet dough and let rise until ready to shape. Dough can be rolled out to fit a 9x13 baking pan or a half sheet jelly roll pan. Grease pan and line with dough so that dough comes about half the way the sides of pan.

Pour cooked pudding onto the dough. Lay the plums on top of the pudding with the skins side down. They can be placed in rows or decoratively, however you choose. Make up streusel and sprinkle over plums to cover. You do not have to use all of the streusel, but it's yummier if you do.

Let rise 45 minutes, then bake at 375 F for 30 minutes or until crust is done.

For Apple Tart - use about 5 pipen apples in place of the plums.  Peal and slice apples thin. Any tart fruit is good in this cake, such as cherries or apricots.