Overbooked and Underpaid: Notes from a Yes-aholic

Act Of Creation - Self Quarantine Composition #2 "One Harpist, Two Harps"

 

To keep myself busy while I (and everyone else on the planet) sit at home I've begun sharing some of my harp music here on the blog.

If you see "Act Of Creation" in the title it means I'm doing an improv - it could be a new piece I'm working on or it might be a new version of something I recorded on a previous album.

Sometimes I like to play two different harps at the same time - it gives a completely different character to the sound. This is one of those pieces.

If you like my music I have two albums available for download - click the store tab up in the menu bar.

The music is available via downloads of the whole album or individual tracks. When you click on any individual track you can hear a sample for free - downloads are .99 each or $10 for the whole album.

Note: The store button takes you to my other website - the most direct way to get back to this site from the store is to use your "back" button.

Thanks for listening!

 

Back To Betty - Recipe Review: Rich Sugar Cookies

I'm always on the lookout for a good sugar cookie recipe so I thought I'd go through the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture cookbook and see what I could find.

There are 2 basic sugar cookie recipes on page 194 - "Sugar Cookies" and "Rich Sugar Cookies."

The Rich Sugar Cookies use baking soda rather than baking powder and, since I'm always more partial to cookies with baking soda I tried that one first. It also uses cream of tartar - this may be the first time I've ever added that to a cookie. Usually I reserve it for baked meringues.

In general this is a very basic cookie dough and really easy to make and work with.

To keep this post focused on Betty's recipe, I've published another post on general cookie baking tips that you can find by clicking here.

My notes On Betty's Rich Sugar Cookies:

1) The baking soda produces a nice "crispy and bubbly" cookie - sort of like a toll house cookie. I imagine the baking powder recipe is softer and denser and more like the kind you get in fancy cookie shops. I'll find out when I try that recipe next ;-)

2) The thickness of the dough when you roll it out REALLY matters. The cookies in the picture below were all cut with the same cookie cutter but the different thickness of dough made a big difference to the size of the final cookie.

3) If you look at the photo above you will see a lot of variation in the color of the bake - this was intentional. I wanted to see what tasted best - a golden cookie or a lighter cookie. If you are going to decorate them with icing lighter is better. If you are going to just eat them plain the more golden ones are crispier and delicious!

4) Because this is a baking soda recipe the cookies tend to "spread" more than they would if they had baking powder instead. Keep this in mind if you want to make cookies with very crisp edges for decorating.

5) This recipe calls for a chilled dough - DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. The dough rolled out quite easily after chilling but was a sticky mess while warm.

6) I took time to really beat the eggs and sugar and shortening/butter mixture until it was really fluffy before I added dry ingredients. I always do this to get a light cookie.

7) Betty recommends using a pastry set (cloth and rolling pin cover) and it DOES make a difference. You don't want to have to add a lot of flour to sugar cookies when you roll them out - it makes them tough. If you don't have a pastry set you can use lightly floured parchment for the rolling surface and then plastic wrap over the top to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.

8) Since my daughter and I were making these together on Easter Sunday we decided to go ahead and decorate them. Betty has a recipe for easy powdered sugar icing on page 195. If you like to do the "edge and flood" technique just make the edge icing fairly stiff and once you are done with it add more water to turn it into flood icing. The cookies below (and at the top of the page) were done with ordinary icing and the edge and flood technique.

All the cookies pictured on this page were made with this simple icing:

Overall Impression: These cookies turned out great! They were easy and delicious and I would make them again.

The only negative thing - and it's not really negative - is that they spread and do not keep hard edges. I would not advise using this recipe if you have intricate cookie cutters and plan to do complicated decorations with a crisp finish.

As Always: If you own a copy of the Betty Crocker Picture cookbook (1950 edition) I hope I've inspired you to take another good look at it. If you don't have a copy they are pretty easy to find on ebay and other sources for old used books.

If you are just finding the blog for the first time you might want to explore the other articles on Betty Crocker's 1950 Picture Cookbook. You can find them by clicking the "Back To Betty" category in the right hand side bar.

Anne's Cookie Tips

Just a few tips for great home baked cookies:

1) My first tip concerns mixers. I realize some people do not own stand mixers and, if they do, they are likely to have a big Kitchenaid. I am blessed to own both the Modern Kitchenaid and Vintage Sunbeam mixers. A good stand mixer is a BIG help on the road to great cookies.

While the Kitchenaid is great for a lot of things, including kneading bread dough, my prefered mixer for cookies is the old Sunbeam.

If you do not have one of these, and would like one, they are pretty easy to find in antique malls, thrift stores, estate sales, and ebay etc. They are real work horses and last forever. One caveat - try to get permission to plug it in before you buy so you are sure the motor is not shot.

The Sunbeam bowls are big and wide and rotate while running. This allows you do do a couple of helpful things:

a.)You can scrape the bowl while mixing. 

b.) It's easy to add ingredients without stopping the mixer or changing the position of the bowl.

c.) The beaters seem to add more air than a paddle attachment - more air means a fluffier mixture of butter, sugar and eggs before you add dry ingredients.

d.) There are more speed settings to facilitate slowly adding dry ingredients while mixing.

e.) You can watch the dough more easily to keep from overbeating.

 

I've actually tried making identical cookie recipes in the two kinds of mixers and there IS a difference in the final product.

Back to tips:

2) Second tip is to beat the sugar/shortening mixture as much as possible before adding the eggs

3) After adding the eggs beat the mixture at least 3 minutes to get as fluffy as possible before adding vanilla or other flavorings or liquids. The more fluffy this mixture gets the lighter the cookies will be and the more the sugar will caramelize while baking.

4) Always whisk or sift together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl so that there are no pockets of salt or baking soda or baking powder.

5) The best pans for baking cookies are those "air bake" cookie sheets. The jelly roll pans that look like they are made of the same material tend to burn the bottoms of the cookies while the tops are underdone.

6) Many cookies benefit from being made on a silpat or parchment. Especially anything that you want to mold while still warm - like a tuille or brandysnap. If you don't have a silpat parchment paper works too. Note: Silpat is an actual trade name - you can find cheaper silicone baking mats at Costco, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. These usually work just as well.

7) Setting the oven temperature 25 degrees (F) lower than the recipe says will usually produce a more evenly browned cookie - I learned that trick from the Mrs. Fields cookie book.

8) Always remember to move the pans around halfway through the bake - both by changing which racks the pans are on and rotating the pans 180 degrees.

9) Some cookies need to be removed from the cookie sheet immediately and others should sit for a few minutes to set up. Be sure you read the recipe carefully to see which is which.

10) If the recipe says to chill the dough, don't muddle on with warm dough thinking it won't matter. It will. I like to chill mine in a plastic wrapped disk like pastry dough.

11) Cookie scoops are all the rage now but two old fashioned dinner spoons will usually do the trick. I have a whole post about cookie tools that you can find by clicking here.

12) When you roll out a chilled dough like sugar cookie dough the thickness REALLY matters. The cookies in the picture below were all cut with the same cookie cutter but the different thickness of dough made a big difference to the size of the final cookie.

13) Sugar cookies can be easily decorated with standard water/powdered sugar frosting. You don't always need to make fancy royal icing. If you like to do the "edge and flood" technique just make the edge icing fairly stiff and once you are done with it add more water to turn it into flood icing. The cookies below (and at the top of the page) were done with ordinary icing and the edge and flood technique.

These are all I have at the moment but I discover of new ones all the time so check back every now and then to see if I have any more :-)

 

Behind The Scenes With Anne & God: Inspiring Music For Tough Times

I grew up with a pretty eclectic mix of music.

The parents were professional classical musicians who played both in the local Philharmonic and show tunes in the orchestra pit for musicals...

I was personally listening to rock and pop music (or as my father called it, "that garbage")...

In addition to his professional French Horn gig, Dad was also a jazz bassist who played with Bob James back in college. (Bob James wrote the theme to the TV Show Taxi - I just saved you a google search.)...

Meanwhile mom developed a side passion for Irish music - especially The Cheiftans...

And throw in for good measure a bunch of stuff from old time radio - Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glen Miller, Phil Harris etc.

So I have a lot of options to throw onto my stereo when I want to clear my head or just generally lift my mood.

Yes, I said stereo.

We actually never got rid of our turntable or CD player so, in addition to all the tunes on our bluetooth playlists, this household still listens to great "old school" records and disks.

For nostalgic "rock out" sessions, I break out the Stevie Ray Vaughan or the Led Zeppelin or the Alan Parsons (even in rock my taste is pretty wide.)

And sometimes one needs a good rollicking Celtic band playing stuff like The Rocky Road To Dublin. (You've probably heard it in the Robert Downey Sherlock Holmes movie during the boxing scene.)

But for really bad days I turn to "Sing Sing Sing" by Benny Goodman.

Along with other 40's swing music by the greats like Ellington (Take The A Train, Caravan), Basie (Corner Pocket), Miller (Tuxedo Junction) and others.

And thanks to the Sirius FM 40's channel everyone can listen to this great music - even those of you who don't know what a record is.

As I wrote in the poem above, the 40's, what with the Great Depression of the 30's and WWII, were a pretty bleak time. But a lot of the music was terrifically upbeat.

There was probably a direct correlation - people needed to feel better so the entertainers took that to heart and produced uplifting content on purpose.

Music has an amazing ability to transform our mood.

I know there are a LOT of people out there right now who could use a lift so here's some stuff to get you started.

And because not everyone is into swing music I've added some Rock, Blues, and Celtic.

Playlist: "Sing, Sing, Sing" Benny Goodman, "Corner Pocket" Count Basie, "Take The A Train" Duke Ellington, "Rocky Road To Dublin" Dubliners, "The Sidewinder" Lee Morgan, "One Good Reason" Alan Parsons Project, "The Immigrant Song" ∫, "Uptown Funk" ∫ - this is the version with all the old time dancers like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - for an added "pick-me-up".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project - Stained Embroidery Rescue

Once upon a time I started an embroidery of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers".

It was from a kit.

It might have been when I was in college.

Or even high school.

A long time ago....

Anyway, as is my overbooked wont, I got about 85 percent done and then stashed the thing somewhere.

It got moved around - both to other parts of the house and other living spaces. Dorm, apartment, house #1 house #2.

It got stained. (No idea when that happened but I figure my carelessness probably made it inevitable.)

And then, in 2018, was rediscovered in a box of something in the basement.

Somewhat the worse for wear.

The first thing I noticed was that the last sunflower was unfinished. This could be why I set it aside - the kit might have contained insufficient yarn.

The second thing I noticed was all the stains.

I hate waste.

Especially when I've already put a lot of time into something.

So I hatched a plan to fix it.

The first challenge was to try to finish that last sunflower. This proved to be more difficult than expected because the shades of yellow in the existing yarn were so specific to the embroidery kit. I went to some craft stores looking for more suitable embroidery yarn and could not find ANYTHING that remotely matched. Shift to plan B - My mother had thrown a hoard of old yarn and embroidery floss at me a few years earlier so I started rummaging through the stash. I wound up finding just enough fill in the final flower.

Second problem was the stains.

Stains no amount of washing - or helpful hints from Heloise - were going to be able to remove.

Since fixing the discoloration was not an option I chose to cover it all up.

How could I do that and still maintain the integrity of the rest of the embroidery?

Not by dying the fabric - too big a risk I would get something on the sunflowers.

Maybe I could have used fabric paint somehow.

But I went for filling all the background space with French Knots.

It took a LONG time.

It's a LOT of knots.

 

But I think it was worth it.

"Sunflowers" meets "Starry Night"

I love it.

Now I have to figure out how to frame it :-)

Back To Betty - Recipe Review: Homemade Donuts (Or Doughnuts)

When I was a kid we mostly ate commercially produced donuts from a place called "Mister Donut".

But I do remember my mother making real raised yeast donuts a handful of times. I think I got the impression that, because she made them so seldom, they were really hard to do. But after making them this week using the recipe from the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook I suspect it was less a matter of difficulty and more that she just didn't have the time. They are not too hard but they do require plenty of rising time.

To make Betty Crocker's yeast donuts you will need to use a couple different recipes and to follow directions on a few different pages.

First head to the main recipe for "Raised Doughnuts". In the 1950 edition this is found on page 109.

Read the recipe carefully - it specifies that you will use half the recipe for "Sweet dough" which is found on page 98.

And when you go to the sweet dough recipe you need to read carefully again because it uses compressed cake yeast instead of the dry packaged yeast that is most readily available in today's grocery stores. (In fact, where I live, the only source of cake yeast is the internet.)

There is a little note under the recipe that specifies how to substitute dry yeast and it's very important that you read this BEFORE you measure the amount of milk. The amount changes depending on which yeast you are using.

Note: Betty Crocker calls this "sweet dough" - the Great British Baking Show calls these types of doughs "enriched" dough.

Once you start actually making the recipe, the first thing to do is to heat up the milk.

I followed the instructions and heated to "lukewarm" but this was a mistake because as soon as you add the shortening and yeast and other stuff the temperature drops so much that the shortening remains one giant glob. So I started over with hot milk and only added the shortening to it at first. I stirred it around until it broke up and THEN added the yeast and other ingredients. By this time the temp was back down to lukewarm.

It looks like this before you start adding flour:

Next you start adding flour - I only added 1/2 a cup at a time so I could really control the amount. I've learned that, with all yeasted doughs, the amount of flour can vary greatly depending on weather conditions and other variables. Because of this I never actually follow a bread recipe exactly when it comes to the amount of flour. Instead I read what type of dough I'm supposed to be ending up with - "sticky" "stiff" "dry" etc.. I add flour until the dough looks like whatever it says in the recipe.

I wound up using just about 1/2 cup less flour than specified - if I had added it all the dough would have been really, really dense and almost impossible to knead.

For this type of dough that starts out with a lot of liquid, you first mix with a spoon or spatula and then transition to using your hands once the dough is too stiff for a spoon.

Once you have added all the flour you will turn the dough out onto your counter (or wherever you like to knead dough) and knead until it is nice and elastic.

Note: I did not use a mixer with a dough hook because this is an "old school" recipe. I have found, when making this dough for a different recipe, that using a mixer GREATLY increased the amount of flour I had to add to get a dough that was not sticky. If you feel you MUST use a dough hook, mix the dough by hand to this point and then transfer to a mixer.

After the dough is kneaded, stick it in a nice big greased bowl and cover it. I try not to use plastic wrap for this - reusable silicone bowl covers work just as well. Let the dough rise until it is doubled.

If you are not used to making dough and need tips on how to know when the dough has doubled in bulk, or other procedures, there are Betty Crocker tutorials on page 90, 92 and 93.

When the dough is doubled you will punch it down and let it rise again until almost doubled again and it will look like this:

Carefully roll it out on a lightly floured surface and prepare to cut out the doughnuts. The recipe says roll to 1/3 inch but I wish I had rolled to 1/2 inch - I think the doughnuts would have been taller and lighter.

I do not have an official donut cutter so I used two biscuit cutters. It worked fine.

I had some dough left over and, because this dough is not like pastry or cookie dough and it's not easy to smoosh it back together and recut, I made twists out of the extra dough. This image is before rising - I forgot to take one after they rose :-) Betty says to let them rise on a floured board but I used silpat type liners on cookie sheets and that worked very well.

The recipe made 10 round donuts, 10 donut holes, and 7 twists.

Once they are done with the final rising you are ready to fry them at 375 degrees in hot oil. Try to use the most neutral tasting oil you can find. Canola was not available in 1950 but it's really the best choice these days.

The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook says to fry in a deep fryer or dutch oven. I like to use a wok for a couple of reasons: 1) The wok has a wider diameter at a shallow point which uses less oil and I can fit more donuts in at the same time. 2) Most woks come with a draining rack so I can let the donuts drain right back into the oil while still easily putting in new donuts.

If you do not have a place to drain the donuts back into the fryer you will want to follow the recipe and use paper towels.

The Betty Crocker recipe mentions how to sugar the donuts (put them in a bag of sugar while they are still warm and shake the bag) but does not mention glazing the donuts.

Glazing is easy - just mix some powdered sugar and water in a bowl to make a thin glaze, drop the donut into it, swirl it in the glaze a little, flip it over and do the other side, then put on a cooling rack to let excess glaze drip off.

Here are my donuts! Some glazed and some sugared.

Overall Impression Of This Recipe: These donuts were fantastic and tasted almost exactly like the ones we get at the bakery!

The recipe was really not too hard - especially if you are used to making sweet dough for other recipes like cinnamon rolls. Now that I know that doughnuts are basically just a fried version sweet dough, and not some super special "donut dough", I might try using some other dough recipes I like and see how they come out. I'll share results as I explore!

As Always: If you own a copy of the Betty Crocker Picture cookbook (1950 edition) I hope I've inspired you to take another good look at it. If you don't have a copy they are pretty easy to find on ebay and other sources for old used books.

If you are just finding the blog for the first time you might want to explore the other articles on Betty Crocker's 1950 Picture Cookbook. You can find them by clicking the "Back To Betty" category in the right hand side bar.

Need A Good Laugh? American Gothic And Other Art With A Twist

A while ago I ran across this painting  - I think it was floating through some social media news feed.

I like to attribute and link to artists whenever possible so I went looking for that info - I found a lot of people sharing it but it was hard to track down the origin point. I think the creator is Pat Copeland - here is a link to his shared iCloud album. You will also find other fun "quarantine" art pieces like "The Girl With The Pearl Earring", "Nighthawks" etc.

 

My google image search for "American Gothic" quarantine also turned up this similar image without the pitchfork on the lawn. Created by Jeff Roy and Drake Paul I'm linking here to an article about them and here to their gallery of other "quarantine" art like "The Last Supper", "Sunday In The Park With George", "The Scream" etc.

But then...

I found other "American Gothic" parodies that just cracked me up - nothing to do with quarantine.

 

A longtime "trekkie" I laughed out loud.

Attribution on this one has been tricky - every image I found went to a pinterest board that did not properly track the artist. If anyone knows who came up with this please send me the link and info so I can give proper credit!

 

Next we have this take on modernism and classical art. It seems to be from a series of paintings by Dito Von Tease (sounds like a pseudonym to me). You can view more of his work with other paintings here.

 

Lastly we have this.

Here is a link to an article to the backstory on how this piece came to be with the help of Rabbi Yisroel Rubin.

It turns out that there are plenty of other American Gothic parody pieces - if you need a good laugh go start googling and see what you come up with!

YouTube Videos - #2 Rabbits In The Grass By Anne Morse-Hambrock With Animation By Katherine Hambrock

I've been wanting to make videos set to music from my album "Round & Round" for a long time but never seemed to find the time or know what tools to use. I guess I had to wait for my amazingly talented daughter to grow up and make them for me :-)

Here is our first collaboration: Rabbits In The Grass - you can find the lyrics and other liner notes on my main website by clicking here. (scroll down to the liner notes).

You can also download this tune and others from the album by clicking on the store tab up in the menu bar.

When you click on any individual track you can hear a sample for free - downloads are .99 each or $10 for the whole album.

Note: The store button takes you to my other website - the most direct way to get back to this site from the store is to use your "back" button.

Thanks for listening!

 

 

Back To Betty - Recipe Review: Canned Cherry Pie

Review: First Impression - I wanted to try this recipe because I was pretty sure it would be better than a pie made with canned cherry pie filling and also I have a very hard time getting fresh sour cherries where I live. I'm glad I gave it a whirl.

I need to note that I did one thing differently in this recipe - I did NOT add the flour.

I don't like gloppy pie filling and I was pretty sure that the addition of flour to the cooking fruit/sugar mixture was going to generate a pie filling almost indistinguishable from that canned filling I dislike.

 

Found on page 303 of the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, the recipe uses canned sour cherries (NOT canned cherry pie filling), sugar, the juice from the can of cherries, almond extract, cinnamon  and the basic Betty vintage crust. (page 299).

If you don't own the book and need the master recipe for the crust click here.

Recipe notes:

1) It says to use 2 3/4 cups canned cherries and juice but does not really tell you how much of the measurement can be juice and how much should be cherries. I was not adding the flour so I was pretty sure I would need more cherries and liquid (and the mixture cooks down) so I used two entire cans of cherries and the water they were packed in. If I make this again I will probably cut the water in half because the cherries generate more liquid as they cook.

2) Because I was skipping the flour I added more sugar to help the mixture thicken - sort of like making cherry jam.

3) There is a note in the recipe to put the top crust on the pie quickly once you have the filling added. This is very important to do so you don't get a bottom crust that gets soggy or refuses to brown. I made sure the top crust was all rolled out and ready to go before I even started the filling. If you are afraid it will dry out, cover lightly with plastic wrap.

4) The pie cooks in a very hot oven so make sure to use a pie shield to keep the edge crust from burning. I did this but added it too late and the crust got very dark. (Everyone ate it anyway :-) )

Final Impression: Turned out not too bad but also not my favorite. I might try it again and see how it works with frozen cherries - something that probably was not readily available in 1950.

But I sill maintain that when it comes to cherry pie really nothing beats a pie made with fresh sour cherries!

For notes on the other cherry pie recipes in the 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook click here.

Additional images for reference:

I used 2 cans basic store brand canned tart cherries packed in water

You must cook the cherries first - let the mixture thicken and the cherries will get more red the longer you cook them.

The filling shrank down so the pie was pretty flat - I might add more cherries next time. But it set up well and cut easily.

Here you can see how well the filling held together when I served a slice.

If you are just finding the blog for the first time you might want to explore the other articles on pie and Betty Crocker's 1950 Picture Cookbook. You can find them by clicking the "All About Pie" and "Back To Betty" categories in the right hand side bar.

Stress Baking Favorites: Molasses Cookies

A few years ago I spent a month perfecting a molasses cookie that ticked all the boxes for my family:

• Not too crisp
• Not too soft
• Nice and crackly on the top
• Not too bitter/spicy
• Not too much baking soda that would leave an aftertaste (not enough soda and the cookies don't crackle - too much and you really taste it.)

I'm reposting today because I know a lot of people are stress baking right now and looking for recipes!

Click here for my family's favorite Molasses Cookie.