Sunday, September 16, 2007

Some Book Club Recipes

I hosted book club Friday night. I had a few requests for the recipes of the food I served so here are my most requested recipes from Friday's gathering.

FORGOTTEN COOKIES
from the Pattie Gang Cookbook,
Pattie Elem. in Prince William County
When you need two dozen cookies and it is already 10:00 P.M. That's what I needed Thursday night after watching Big Brother and then President Bush.
2 or 3 egg whites 1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt 6 oz. of dark chocolate chips or kisses
3/4 c. 1 c. chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Beat egg whites and salt. Add sugar gradually/then beat till stiff.
Fold in remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls on foil covered sheet. Place in preheated oven. Close oven door. Turn oven off immediately.
Do not open oven door until morning. Then remove and peel foil off
the bottoms of the cookies.
3 LOAVES OF PUMPKIN BREAD
FROM RIVER ROAD RECIPES II
The Junior League of Baton Rouge, LA
This is one of my all time favorite recipes from my all time favorite Junior
League cookbook. I've been making this since 1982 trip to New Orleans.
It makes 3 loaves: one to eat now, one to freeze and one to give away to a friend or neighbor.
3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 eggs
2 15 oz. cans of pumpkin
3 and 1/3 cups flour, unsifted
2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
2 and 1/2 t. salt
1 t. nutmeg
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup water
2 t. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans or golden raisins or 1/2 cup of each
Combine sugar and oil in electric mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Add spices. Then start adding the flour--one cup at a time and alternating with the water and the cans of pumpkin.
remove bowl from mixer and fold in by hand the pecans or golden raisins.
Pour batter into 3 well greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour. Then check with wooden skewer for doneness. It usually takes 5 minutes more to get the bread baked all the way through and loaves to pull away from the sides a teeny bit. Remove from oven. Let cool in pans for 1 hour while you clean up your mess. Then remove loaves from pans when barely warm and place on wire rack to finish cooling completely. This original recipe calls for cream cheese icing which I never use because with 3 cups of sugar it is mighty sweet already.
Pistachio Pudding for Twelve
from Joann's Imagination and Jello
Fix two packages of Jello's Instant Pistachio Pudding following the package directions. Soon as pudding is made in mixing bowl add 1 cup of finely chopped pistachios to the pudding making sure to save a few for the top for decoration. Then add 1 cup of golden raisins and again save a few for the top for decoration. Now gently fold in 2 cups of Cool Whip but leave it streaked or marbleized instead of totally blended. Choose a pretty glass or crystal serving bowl and pour in the pudding. Then put two big globs of Cool Whip on top of the pudding right in the center. Sprinkle the reserve ground pistachios and golden raisin on top and about the globs of Cool Whip. Cover pudding with plastic wrap that doesn't touch the pudding and put in the refrigerator till time to serve. Note: you could use real whipped cream (1 and 1/2 cups cream for whipping) with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla if you want to be really decadent. I'm not totally decadent.
Note: the book for discussion Friday night was Khaled Hosseini's second novel, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS. Khaled's first novel was THE KITE RUNNER. Both novels have historical settings in Afghanistan. Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and moved to America in 1980 where he became a medical doctor.
Final note: I have also read the following books that are about Afghanistan and the Balkan region:
Asne Seierstad's THE BOOKSELLER OF KABUL
Yasmina Khadra's THE SWALLOWS OF KABUL
Robert Kaplan's BALKAN GHOSTS, A JOURNEY THROUGH
HISTORY
Ahmed Rashid's TALIBAN, MILITANT ISLAM, OIL AND FUNDAMENTALISM IN CENTRAL ASIA.
Happy fall reading, everyone.

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