Desserts

222/365: National S’mores Day*

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Bet you can’t eat just one: today’s food holiday is dedicated to all those who want some more. Some more toasted marshmallows, that is. With graham crackers and milk chocolate. August 10 is National S’mores Day!

It’s also National Banana Split Day. Since we’ve had a lot of ice cream themed food holidays, but very few marshmallow ones, this decision was a no-brainer. Plus, when we went camping last month, I said, “Too bad there isn’t a National S’mores Day. That would be perfect.” Ha. Little did I know! It’s like a genie came along and granted my wish (while ignoring my other for a billion dollars, the bastard).

This classic campfire treat dates back to the early 1920s, and is closely associated with camping because all three ingredients are easy to transport and don’t spoil. They are often associated with the Girl Scouts, who didn’t invent the treat, but did publish the first recipe in their 1927 handbook, Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. I assume “tramping” had a different, less-derogatory connotation back then. The sweet confections were so popular, people were constantly asking for “some more”…and the name stuck, much like marshmallows to the roof of your mouth.

Speaking of, marshmallows date back some 4000 years, originating from the mallow plant in Egypt. Sap was extracted from the plant, sweetened with honey, and used as a medicinal substance to treat sore throats. Later it was whipped with egg whites, mixed with sugar, and coated with cornstarch to form the modern-day marshmallow.

Graham crackers were invented by Sylvester Graham, a reverend and proponent of American dietary reform, in 1829. The man, who was anti-meat, anti-tobacco, anti-alcohol, and anti-sex  (which all translates to anti-FUN), believed that a vegetarian diet would help curb alcoholism and sexual urges. He set out to create a high-fiber vegetarian alternative to a cookie, and used whole, unrefined wheat flour to make his namesake cracker. Graham was often ridiculed and was actually assaulted on the street more than once because of his radical views, but his invention lives on.

You can probably recite the history of chocolate in your sleep, as many times as I’ve written about it here.

This challenge would have been perfect a few weeks ago, when we went camping. We actually had s’mores that night, too. But alas, we were stuck at home, and had to improvise. We actually turned to the microwave to make s’mores. Turns out it’s simple! And while nothing beats a s’more cooked over a campfire, this was a pretty good substitute. All that’s missing was the crispy, blackened char on the outside of the marshmallow.

National S'mores Day

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221/365: National Rice Pudding Day

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Midwest Mark

There’s more than a grain of truth to this declaration: August 9 is National Rice Pudding Day!

Rice pudding is a surprisingly simple dessert that consists of just three ingredients: rice, milk, and sugar. Sure, you can add other ingredients like vanilla, rum, raisins, nutmeg, or chicken bouillon granules, but sometimes simplicity is best. Not surprisingly, rice pudding originated in Asia, where rice was first cultivated thousands of years ago. The dish gained popularity during the Middle Ages, as it spread through Europe like the plague. Err…oops, that was in poor taste. It’s still too soon for plague jokes. The first written records of rice pudding are found in medical journals dating back to ancient Rome, where it was prepared with goat’s milk and used for medicinal purposes. Because rice was once an imported luxury, elaborate dishes were prepared using fancy spices and other ingredients. As the grain became more commonplace, ingredients were scaled back, and nowadays the dish has a reputation for blandness. And yet, some cultures revere it. In Dutch and Flemish folklore, heaven is described as a divine place where you can find a never-ending supply of rice pudding, to be eaten with a golden spoon. And in Sweden, children put out rice pudding for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Famous writers like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Walt Whitman all mention rice pudding in their literary works, and in Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the supercomputer Deep Thought claims the existence of rice pudding is derived from first principles. Seeing as how I haven’t read the book I can’t really tell you what that means, but I’m sure it’s deeply philosophical and stuff.

To celebrate, my mom made rice pudding from scratch. In a strange twist of events, she wasn’t even there to enjoy it, but we were. And we did. Good stuff!

National Rice Pudding Day

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216/365: National Chocolate Chip Day

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Midwest Mark

You’re like a chip off the old block if you appreciate today’s food holiday. August 4 is National Chocolate Chip Day!

At least, I think it is. Don’t you just love discrepancy? I originally had today listed as National Lasagna Day, and while a few websites concur, most showed that on July 29, so we celebrated it then. Which left the “real” food holiday for August 4…umm, a bit of a mystery. Occasionally, we’ll come across a day where consensus is lacking, or there just isn’t a lot of information. Today is like that. But several sources list it as National Chocolate Chip Day, which is good enough for me! (Further confusing matters: May 15 is/was either National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day or National Chocolate Chip Day, depending on whom you believe). Sheesh. Can you pass the Excedrin?20130804_094949

I discussed how chocolate chips were invented in my previous post in May, so we won’t rehash that. The fact is, I’m loathe to rehash anything we have to celebrate twice, but when it comes to chocolate chips, it’s hard to think of making anything else with them but cookies. Still, a quick online search netted some rather unusual chocolate chip recipes. The non-adventurous need not apply.

20130804_100002We were fresh out of crickets, so to celebrate, we decided to make banana bread with chocolate chips. Since Tara did all the work, I’ll let her talk about the recipe…and also her super cool new mixer!

Hi there!  My recipe is there on the left.
<——

As you can tell from all the splatters, this page sees a lot of use.  The recipe is from a Fanny Farmer cookbook that was given to me on my 18th birthday.  The cover is long gone, one corner is chewed up from one of my dogs, there are lots of scrap pieces of paper used for bookmarks, along with quite a few bent corners.

My super cool mixer was purchased yesterday at the local Value Village thrift store.  We had a few items to donate and decided to take a quick look inside.  I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw it and wide-eyedly asked Mark if I should get it.  A little bit of hopeful expectation in my tone of voice.  He said absolutely and suggested I plug it in to make sure it worked.  It did…and does wonderfully.  It’s a Sunbeam Deluxe Mixmaster Mixer, circa 1975, and a steal at $24.99.  I have a feeling this is going to be a staple in our cooking from now on.

National Chocolate Chip Day

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214/365: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Midwest Mark

A sandwich with no bread, meat, cheese, or condiments?! Sounds like sacrilege, until you remember the summertime treat that is the centerpiece of today’s food holiday. August 2 is National Ice Cream Sandwich Day!

Ice cream sandwiches were first created when advances in freezer technology enabled ice cream to last longer than thirty minutes without melting into a sweet, sticky puddle – sometime in the 18th century. Victorian-era chefs began layering ice cream in between slices of cake and freezing their confection. Ice cream sandwiches and other “novelties” became popular in the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when they were a cheap way to beat the heat. According to the Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, “Ice cream sandwich (slabs of ice cream sandwiched between cakelike cookies)…began appearing in the late 1890s on New York street vendors’ carts. In San Francisco the It’s It ice-cream bar was a similar item made with oatmeal cookie layers.” In 1926, a patent was issued for the Anderson ice cream making machine, no doubt saving countless hours that would otherwise be spent assembling the desserts by hand. Blue Earth, Minnesota claims to be “the birthplace of the ice cream sandwich,” but provides no facts to back up their claim. Sounds like a desperate grab for attention to me.

I love ice cream sandwiches, so this was an easy holiday to celebrate!

National Ice Cream SandwichDay

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213/365: National Raspberry Cream Pie Day

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Midwest Mark

I just might blow raspberries in your direction if you try to skip out on today’s food holiday. August 1 is National Raspberry Cream Pie Day!

Yay. More pie.

But at least we haven’t celebrated anything with raspberries yet. These berries are related to the rose family, and originated in East Asia. They date back to prehistoric times – evidence has been found that Paleolithic cavemen enjoyed the fruit. As it grew in popularity, it came to be associated with fertility. In Greek mythology, legend has it that the berries were once white, but when Zeus’ nursemaid, Ida, pricked her finger on a thorn, the berries were stained red with her blood, and have remained that color ever since. European settlers brought red raspberries to America, where they were crossbred with our native black raspberries. George Washington was so fond of them, he cultivated raspberries at Mount Vernon. They grow throughout the U.S., with my home state of Washington being the nation’s top producer, churning out around 70 million tons per year. Oregon is second. It doesn’t surprise me, as the Pacific Northwest is well known for all sorts of wonderful berries.

I had never heard of raspberry cream pie before. It’s not exactly a common dish, but thanks to the Internet, recipes are easy to find. We decided to try this recipe from The Pioneer Woman because it features a crust made from Oreo cookies. Hello! Only, we didn’t want a whole pie, so we scaled it back by 2/3 and whipped up a mini pie instead. The result? Oh. My. GOODNESS. The Pioneer Woman knows her pies! Really, really good.

National Raspberry Cream Pie Day

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211/365: National Cheesecake Day

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Only a real muenster would think today’s food holiday wasn’t the cream of the crop. July 30 is National Cheesecake Day!

I’ve already talked about the history of cheesecake on cherry cheesecake day. Today, we’re not limited to any one particular fruit – or to any fruit at all. Cheesecake can be made with a variety of toppings – fruit, sauce, nuts – or no toppings at all. That’s the beautiful thing about this dish: it tastes great with anything. Or with nothing! In America, some of the different cheesecake varieties include:

  • New York style cheesecake. Dense, usually made with heavy cream or sour cream.
  • Pennsylvania Dutch style cheesecake. Relies on tangy cheese with larger curds and less moisture content.
  • Philadelphia style cheesecake. Lighter texture but richer flavor than New York cheesecake. Take that, Big Apple!
  • Cheesecake kludys. Pittsburgh’s answer to Philadelphia: this regional favorite is semi-sweet and usually served with fruit. Downside: you’re probably in Pittsburgh if you’re eating it.
  • Chicago style cheesecake. Deep dish. Err…scratch that. Firm on the outside, soft and creamy in the middle.

There are even more interesting international varieties. Smoked salmon cheesecake is popular in Scotland, while German style cheesecake uses quark. The Italians use a ricotta-like cheese, while the Greeks make theirs with a goat cheese known as mizithra. No matter in which region or country you’re eating cheesecake, I’ll bet you’re licking your lips as you enjoy every last creamy, decadent bite.

To celebrate, Tara picked us up a slice of “Portland-style” chocolate swirl cheesecake. Apparently this includes hipsters, bicycle spokes, and beards. Actually, I couldn’t find any information on what constitutes a “Portland-style” cheesecake. But I also stopped caring after I took a bite. Mmm!

National Cheesecake Day

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209/365: National Milk Chocolate Day

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Midwest Mark

If you’re cuckoo for cocoa, then today’s your day. July 28 is National Milk Chocolate Day!

Chocolate is one of those things we’ve celebrated many times already this year, and I’ve talked about its history more than once. I’m too lazy to link to those various posts, but a quick Google search under “chocolate eat my words” (or a similar combination) brings up links to multiple chocolate-flavored posts we’ve already published. Be careful, though: a similar search brings up a 9-step process on How To Eat Chocolate Seductively (#3: Unwrap the chocolate bar or box with a gleam in your eye and a sense of purpose. #5: Place your tongue on the chocolate first. Oh, the hilarity).

There are different varieties of chocolate, of course, and milk chocolate – while not as hip or trendy as dark chocolate these days – still holds a special place in many people’s hearts. It’s a sweet chocolate that contains milk powder or condensed milk, and is undeniably creamy and wonderful. In 1867, Swiss candlemaker Daniel Peter, who had recently started working in his father-in-law’s chocolate business,  experimented with adding milk to chocolate in order to create a creamier product. Milk contains water, which makes chocolate separate and disintegrate, so Daniel tinkered with his recipe for eight years before bringing it to his friend and neighbor, Henri Nestlé, whose company had perfected the manufacturing of condensed milk for its line of baby food products. By adding Henri’s sweetened condensed milk to Daniel’s chocolate, they successfully created a milk chocolate that stayed together and tasted delicious. You no doubt recognize the Nestlé name, and are well aware of its dominance in the world of milk chocolate. You can thank Daniel Peter for that.

To celebrate, we broke out a leftover Hershey’s chocolate bar from our camping trip last weekend. Nothing says milk chocolate like Hershey’s!

National Milk Chocolate Day

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208/365: National Crème Brûlée Day*

Posted on July 27, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Nobody will make fun of you today if you burn the cream. In fact, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do with today’s food holiday. July 27 is National Crème Brûlée Day!

If you’d rather put on a kilt and speak in a brogue, it’s also National Scotch Day. Just be sure you’re drinking whisky made in Scotland, otherwise, it’s not considered Scotch. Tara is not a fan of whisky, so Crème Brûlée it is! Besides, it’s her birthday, and she should have something sweet and yummy. After all, I got to indulge in prime rib on my birthday.

No fewer than three countries claim to have invented Crème Brûlée: England, Spain, and France all take credit for this delectable dish. In reality, custards had been popular since the Middle Ages, and it’s unknown for certain who first caramelized the sugar on top, the defining characteristic of Crème Brûlée. The name is undeniably French, first appearing in a cookbook published in 1691, but a later version of the cookbook in 1731 changed the name to crème anglaise and it didn’t become popular in that country until the 19th century. The Spanish claim to have invented crema catalana, a predecessor to Crème Brûlée, in the 18th century, though their version is not baked, but served cold with a hot topping. “Bloody Hell, you wankers,” say the British. “We invented burnt cream.” A student at Trinity College in Cambridge supposedly came up with a creamy unsweetened custard that had a caramelized topping sometime in the 17th century, and called the invention Trinity Cream, but many historians say this dish wasn’t sweet enough, and the topping was too thick, to qualify as Crème Brûlée.

While the exact truth remains elusive, we can at least agree on the modern day technique. Crème Brûlée is usually served in individual ramekins; after the custard is baked, the top is caramelized using a kitchen blowtorch (or, alternately, a broiler). I love Crème Brûlée, and have long considered it a decadent and special dessert, so I was looking forward to today’s challenge. There’s a doughnut shop in Portland that specializes in Crème Brûlée doughnuts, so we made a special trip down there to pick some up. Here’s a little tip: never go to a doughnut shop in the middle of the afternoon. They had maybe three doughnuts left, tops. We had no backup plan, but my Yelp app came to the rescue and we ended up at a bakery on the other side of the river that sold actual Crème Brûlée. So we brought some home and celebrated Tara’s birthday in style!

National Creme Brulee Day

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207/365: National Coffee Milkshake Day

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today we’re going to shake things up a bit. And no, that’s not the caffeine talking. July 26 is National Coffee Milkshake Day!

National Coffee Milkshake DayThe deeper into our food challenge we get, the fewer new topics there are to write about. Today is no exception. I’ve already  discussed the history of the milkshake. Take one of those, add coffee, and you’ve got a coffee milkshake. Right? Pretty much! Some variations, particularly in New England, call for coffee syrup. Others call for chocolate syrup. At its most basic, a coffee milkshake consists of vanilla ice cream and coffee, blended together. Hey, speaking of, that’s something I can talk about: the history of the blender! This kitchen appliance was the creation of Stephen J. Poplawski, who owned Stevens Electric Company. In 1922, he patented his drink mixer, which had been invented to help mix together malted milkshakes and other frozen treats. In the 1930s, L. Hamilton, Chester Beach, and Fred Osius began selling Poplawski’s blender through their business, the Hamilton Beach Company. Former musician Fred Waring came up with his own version of the blender (he spelled it blendor) in 1937, and his Waring Products company went on to popularize the smoothie in the 1940s. In 1946 Fred Oster, who owned the Oster Barber Equipment Compnay, bought Stevens Electric Company and designed a new version of the blender, called the Osterizer. Blenders have remained a popular kitchen implement thanks to the need for cocktails, Frappucinos, smoothies, and other frozen drinks.

There you go! That was something interesting and different.

When I think of coffee milkshakes, my mind automatically goes to Arby’s, whose signature beverage is a coffee and chocolate milkshake called the Jamocha Shake. So that’s where we went physically. To Arby’s, where we shared a Jamocha Shake. It perfectly hit the spot.

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206/365: National Hot Fudge Sundae Day

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Midwest Mark

It feels like “a month of Sundaes” lately with all our ice cream holidays. We’ve also celebrated fudge three times now. So, it’s kind of fitting that July 25 is National Hot Fudge Sundae Day!

We’ve already talked about the history of the sundae. While there is some debate over who invented that particular ice cream dish, there is no dispute over today’s flavor. Los Angeles candy maker Clarence Clifton Brown opened an eatery named C.C. Brown’s in 1906, where he would serve ice cream with a little flask of molten chocolate customers could pour over the top. According to legend, Brown was constantly tweaking the recipe, changing the formula every day for 20 years until he had the perfect flavor and consistency. In 1929 he moved the business to Hollywood, right down the street from Grauman’s Chinese Theater, and it became a celebrity hotspot. With turn-of-the-century retro decor and homemade ingredients, the hot fudge sundaes become popular with stars like  Mary Pickford, Bob Hope, and Joan Crawford. Marlon Brando was so enamored of the sundaes that he would go inside, place an order, and take his sundae back to the limo to eat in order to avoid the prying eyes of tourists, while his family stayed inside the restaurant and ate theirs. The business closed down in 1996 but the name lives on – as does the hot fudge sauce, which can be purchased through the Lawry’s website.

To celebrate, my mom made us hot fudge sundaes. We had a mini family reunion of sorts, with my brother up for a visit from California (first time in 3 years), along with my aunt, uncle, grandmother, and parents. I’d much rather talk about my mom’s wonderful stuffed cabbage rolls, but alas, there is no National Stuffed Cabbage Day. What a shame, too. They are good. As were the sundaes. It’s hard to go wrong with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, and – of course – a maraschino cherry on top. She apologized for the lack of nuts, but honestly, who needed them? We were already around family. 🙂

National Hot Fudge Sundae

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