Testing!

So I have had a little bit of thing with buying old cookbooks of late, I can't seem to stop. Really I am buying anything that reminds me of my grandmother's house from cookbooks to aprons to old kitchen gear. As I was picking up a pile of vintage phamplets at the East Bay Depot yesterday with Karrie, she asked when are you going to start making recipes out of these things? Today that's when.

For my first recipe I choose one of the phamplets that I got for 25 cents at the EBD, a Diamond Walnuts advertisement recipe phamplet with no publishing date but titled The New Walnut Cook Book. I would guess from the style of type and illustrations that it would be from the mid 1950's to mid 1960's. I am not one for walnuts myself, but the drawings in the phamplet were super cute, and there was one recipe that caught my eye, Old-Time Penuche. For those of you unfamilar with penuche, it is basically a brown sugar fudge. The penuche at the Fudge House on Pier 39 reminds me of some candies my grandmother used to make when I was a tot so I thought I would give this one a go. The "beating until it is creamy" method also brings me back to watching grandma making my favorite frosting for banana cupcakes, a recipe I have yet to find.

Of course I had to alter the recipe a bit as I had neither walnuts nor enough sugar in the house to make it. (Note that this page also contained one of Sarah's favorite recipes, Rum Ball.)

Here is the recipes in its entirety in case you wish to try it (or alter it) yourself.

Old-Time Penuche

1 lb light brown sugar ( or 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar, packed)
3/4 cup light cream or half-and-half
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
2 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 teaspoon grated orange rind (optional)
1 cup coarse chopped Diamond Walnuts

In a large saucepan measure all ingredients except vanilla and walnuts. Stirring constantly, heat to boiling, and boil gently to 238 degrees or until a few drops in cold water form a soft ball. (Don't worry if mixture curdles; beating will make it smooth.) Remove from heat and let stand without stirring until bottom of pan feels lukewarm; then stir in flavoring and walnuts, and beat with spoon until thick and creamy and beginning to lose its gloss. Pour into butter 8" square pan. Cut into squares while warm. Makes a little over 1 lb.

Of course right off I started messing with this recipe as I got rid of the walnuts (which kind of defeats the purpose of this cookbook but I like my desserts like I like my pets: neutered). I also halved the recipe as I didn't need that much fudge, and I didn't quite have a pound of light brown sugar. I also didn't add the orange rind, and I used whipping cream in place of either light cream or half and half. Oh and it didn't say salted or non salted butter so I used the unsalted and threw in a pinch of salt which most of the candy recipes I used before seemed to have. Also note that this recipe doesn't mention at all the temperature at which to cook it or any of the times involved with the activities. Again taking a hint from other candies I have made, I went with a medium to medium low heat. This still cooked up pretty fast, and by the time I got around to getting cold water bath to test the temperature, it was already at the soft ball stage. Of course this could also have something to do with the fact that I halved the recipe, and so the mixture got more contact with the cooking surface. I did taste the little ball of candy that came from the water ball, and it tasted exactly like these caramels my grandmother made when I was a child. I shall have to try this recipe again and make it hardball stage to see if they are similar. The part that seems to take the longest though is the waiting for the mixture to reach the lukewarm stage. I have already cleaned up all my prep dishes and have gotten most of the way through taking pictures and a post, and it is still a few minutes away from lukewarm.
When it was finally cool enough (20-30 minutes approximately), I started beating, and this stage was yet another part of the recipe that took forever (although I think it was only between 5-10 minutes). I had just about reached the point of composing a paragraph on just what I had done wrong when the gloss started to go away, and it finally stopped looking like a caramel and started looking like a fudge. And it also have the texture of fudge when I tasted it. I didn't cut it while it was warm like the recipes suggests. All and all I think this test went pretty well. I don't think there is much more I could have done better the results (which are quite tasty btw). I will note that the times I mentioned above will probably be longer if you do a full or double batch of candy. In addition to halving the recipe, not adding nuts made it so there is about a quarter of the pan full of fudge. This means I won't be eating an entire pan of fudge (again). If I were to try the recipe again, I might add some of the orange rind as that sound intriguing. I think I shall label this test a success and the recipe a keeper.
What should I try next weekend? I think I might have to buy MSG if I want to make most of the savory recipes from many of the cookbooks I have. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Breads are too much trouble for me these days as there isn't a good place in my kitchen to rise it. Perhaps another dessert, perhaps a salad. We shall have to see what the weekend brings but hopefully I should have something interesting to bring to the Firefly marathon on Saturday.

Happy cooking, and if you have a recipe for banana cupcakes that involves a white, hand-beaten frosting (which when slightly modified makes caramels), you will let me know right?