This lemon sponge pie, also known as lemon cake pie, is attributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch and is often not found outside of Pennsylvania.  From what I've read, the pie is baked slowly and the filling separates into a lower lemon custard layer and an upper cake-like layer.  It certainly sounds delicious and would make for an interesting twist on the common pie.

As you can see on this recipe, it came from 'Etta' as did many recipes in this collection. Etta was clearly a great baker and good friend of Gladys.

Lemon Sponge Pie
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 heaping tablespoons flour
pinch salt
Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1 unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 375.  Cream together sugar and butter.  Add flour, salt, lemon juice, lemon peel, egg yolks and milk.  Blend until thoroughly mixed.

Beat egg whites until stiff, then fold into the pie mixture.  Pour into pie shell and bake for 10 minutes at 375.  Reduce heat to 300 and continue baking for 40-50 minutes or until the pie tests done.

I found a great example of this lemon sponge pie at Bunny's Warm Oven who graciously shares her photos and recipes (thank you!).  The photo helped me to understand just how nicely it separates into two delicious layers.  Although her recipe is slightly different, it does indeed yield a beautiful separation between the custard and sponge cake.

Yet another intriguing recipe to try once our meyer lemon tree begins to output its amazing quantities of lemons later this year.

I've heard of smearcase before but I cannot remember where or in what circumstance. Likely, my mother reminisced about it at some point. Smearcase is a soft cheese usually eaten with a spoon or on crackers and is sometimes used to refer to cottage cheese. The term smearcase is based on the German word schmierkase which translates as 'smear cheese', schmier (smear) kase (cheese).

My mother made similar cheese spreads to this and I adored them. I've always been a fan of dairy products, so a spreadable cheese is a good thing in my book!

Smearcase Cheese
1 or 2 packages cream cheese
melted butter
1 10 cent can of stuffed olives, chopped fine
cayenne to suit taste
salt and pepper to taste
grated onion to season highly

The amounts of ingredients are not exact and in some cases, not even provided. This recipe is largely based on taste and what you like. Love olives? Add a 1/2 cup. Love spice? Add a good pinch of cayenne.

Mix all together and put in a large bowl or cup to set in cold water or cold place to stand and set firm and cold. Basically, refrigerate the bowl of cheese until firm. She also states, "Fancy molds may be used".

The note at the bottom of the recipe cards mentioned that it may take up to 2 hours to set. I suspect that it wouldn't take nearly this long using a modern refrigerator. She notes to serve with crackers and coffee.

The recipe reminds me of a cheese spread my mother made that was so incredibly good. The base is also cream cheese, but also contained grated cheddar, pimento, and a bit of worcestershire sauce. I'm not sure what else went into my mother's but it was good enough to eat with a spoon (or on crackers). Hmm, I'll have to see if I can dig up that recipe for my other blog.

I consider the following recipe to be an interesting find. Not so much for the recipe, but instead for the card on which it is written. The images below show the front and back of the bard, and although I've resized them poorly, the images should be the same size.

On the back side is written a recipe for a souffle, while the front is a receipt for ice delivery from W. P. Sweet dated July 27th, 1931.

 

 

I'm interpreting the receipt to show how many pounds were delivered each day (i.e. 25lbs) and for the week it came to .87 cents. The receipt is signed as paid with the initials WPS (W. P. Sweet). I can only imagine what life was like in the days before modern day refrigeration.

Although ice was first harvested and shipped commercially in the early 19th century, an ice revolution occurred largely toward the end of the 19th century. In 1879 there were 35 commercial ice plants in America, but by 1909 the this number had grown to 2000. There is an interesting article called The Impact of Refrigeration which is quite intriguing to read and explains the development of this industry.

History lessons aside, the recipe on this card appears to be for a souffle although the recipe isn't named. I've found quite a few souffle recipes in this collection as they must have been popular with this cook.


Update: I made this recipe 5/25/09 - how to make cheese souffle

Cheese Souffle
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup scalded milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
speck cayenne
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated cheese
3 eggs, separated

The recipe instructions need some clarification as they don't specify what to do with the cheese. I am providing my interpretation of how to prepare this recipe.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir to combine, cooking about 20 seconds. Add milk and cook for an additional minute until begins to thicken. Stir in cheese until melted. Turn off burner and set the sauce aside to cool slightly.

Beat the eggs white until stiff peaks are formed, set aside. Beat egg yolks in a separate bowl and then stir them into the sauce mixture until combined. Slowly fold in the egg whites until combined.

Pour mix into a greased souffle dish or other pan with high sides. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a 325F oven or until the souffle tests done.

I love pie. Plain and simple, pie is one of my childhood favorite foods and it remains my all-time favorite dessert (and also my favorite breakfast!). There's nothing better that diving into a wedge-shaped slab of pie at any time of the day.

My mother was known for her peach pies but apple, raspberry, blueberry, cherry, custard, butterscotch, banana cream and chocolate were also quite popular. This recipe for pineapple pie stood out to me as I've never had a pineapple pie. It gets worse ... I haven't even heard of a pineapple pie.

How could I have loved pie for so long and never had this one before?

Pineapple Pie
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups crushed pineapple
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2/3 cup sweet cream
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
1 unbaked pie shell

Beat together the butter, sugar, and egg yolks to a creamy consistency. Add pineapple.

In a small dish, dissolve the cornstarch in the sweet cream. Add the cornstarch mixture to the pineapple mix.

Gently fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites to the pineapple mix. Place mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes then reduce heat to moderate oven and bake until filling is brown and firm in the center.

Doesn't this sound delicious? Mark of No Special Effects has a wonderful looking version of pineapple pie on his blog.

Imagine my surprise when I found a recipe with 'monkey' in the title.  Sure, I've heard of monkey bread but never English Monkey.  To my relief, I discovered the recipe did not contain any actual monkeys or other primates.

Like many old recipes, it just lists the ingredients and not much else.  I decided to research this recipe as I wasn't really sure what it made.  The ingredients seemed reminiscent of a cheese fondue.  It turns out that I wasn't too far from the truth.  English Monkey is a Welsh-American dish and is a modified version of Welsh Rarebit.

Rarebit (i.e. rabbit), or in this case our Monkey, is actually a savory sauce served hot over toasted/stale bread or crackers.  The name originated during the 18th century as a slur on the poverty of the Welsh.  In England, the poor man's meat was rabbit while in Wales it was cheese.  The name Welsh Rarebit implies a dig at the Welsh who were looked down upon at this time in history.

Personally, I pick cheese over rabbit (or monkey) any day!

English Monkey
1 cup cheese
1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
small piece butter (~1 TB)
pepper and salt to taste

The recipe only states to cook in a double boiler.  Many recipes say to soak the bread crumbs in the milk to soften them first (assuming you're using stale bread).  Heat the milk mixture and butter, stir in cheese to melt, then add the beaten egg.  Cook for a few minutes and pour over toasted slices of bread or crackers.

In the upper right corner of the recipe is written, "Ma's, It's Good"  It certainly sounds like it would be good.  Other variations on this dish include the use of ale, mustard and even a pinch of cayenne.

Read more about Welsh Rarebit and English Monkey:
Welsh Rarebit (Wikipedia)
English Monkey (Ethnic Cook)