Baking Old School

Bakeries can be a dime a dozen (pardon the pun), but one that has staying power can be hard to find. The Back in the Day bakery has been serving up comforting dishes of sugar and spice for 10 years. To celebrate that amazing anniversary, owners Cheryl and Griff Day are showcasing some of their top recipes in the new Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook.

The old-fashioned fare has a distinct Southern accent and a sense of community, as if the duo is lending you their dog-eared recipes to copy down over a cup of coffee.
As Cheryl writes in the introduction, "We are inviting those who can't make it to our bakery to slow down and taste the sweet life in their own kitchens."
And how sweet it is – with recipes for Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes, Drunk Blondies, Lavender Shortbread, and Salted Caramel Apple Pie.
Savory dishes aren't ignored, but are celebrated, including Vegetable Potpie, Pancetta Fontina Bread Pudding, Southern Corn Cakes, and Hot and Spicy Mixed Nuts.
There's a genuineness to the Days that makes this a more-than-special cookbook with a piquant charm. (Artisan - 2012)

Wednesday's Cookbook: Baking History

Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters

by Marilyn Brass and Sheila Brass
There are recipes that are handed down from generation to generation, the type of dishes that bring back strong memories of someone you love. We have a lot of those in my family ― sausage gravy makes me think of my grandma, ginger crinkles remind me of my great-grandmother, and chocolate pies make me think of my Chris-Mom (That's the name I made up for my other grandma. And it fits her).
For my mom, there are almost too many dishes to list. But her blintzes send me into orbit. When we were kids, we could barely wait until she had them off the baking sheet. I can't tell you how many times I burned my tongue on them. I never learned.
This cookbook, recently named a James Beard finalist, is the follow-up to the Brass Sisters book on heirloom cooking that was published in 2008 and it has a similar nostalgic flavor.
The Winthrop, Mass.-based sisters (named Marilyn and Sheila) have spent a lifetime collecting archival recipes. They have snapped up old recipe boxes at flea markets and yard sales, purchased old cooking pamphlets and guides full of recipes, and have poured over their own family journals to collect these amazing recipes.
Adding to the nostalgia of the food are photos of antique cooking implements and cookie cutters, as well as the covers of old recipe books from 1900 to 1940. A date is listed with each recipe so you can get a sense of the time period.
But this isn't an antiquated cookbook; directions and ingredients are completely up-to-date. In some cases, the expert Brass Sisters have slightly changed the recipes to adjust for more modern tastes.
The book is organized by type (like "Keeping the Cookie Jar Filled" or "Waking Up to Breakfast") and by occasion ("A Southern Lady Pours Tea" or "Bridge with the Girls").
I also like the interesting sidebars. For example, Sweet Touch gives suggestions for additional ingredients or toppings. Sweet Tips offer cool ideas ― like coating a spoon with cooking spray before measuring honey.
The heart of this book is that sense of family and of sharing. And in that spirit, the Brass Sisters also included pages in the back of the book so you can write down your own heirloom recipes, as well as a built-in envelope to store old notes and cards. So my next task is to convince my mom that I need the blintz recipe. Stay tuned...
(2011 - Black Dog & Leventhal - awesome name for a publisher)

Review and Recipe

Review: Around the World on Two Wheels
by Peter Zheutlin
The late 1800s were heady years, with discoveries and inventions making headlines practically every day. With their usual enthusiasm for new things, Americans embraced each discovery with gusto, determined to be the first to speed on a motorcycle or the first to ride a train across the country.
Most of the early adopters and explorers during that time were, of course, men. But a few intrepid women, usually in the company of husbands or fathers, took adventurous turns in epic car tours or hiked up previously unattainable peaks.
In late 1894, Annie Londonderry joined the ranks of early extreme sports enthusiasts with an around-the-world trip on a bicycle. She wasn't the first woman to journey long distances on the new-fangled bikes, but she was the first to go solo, making her both a heroine and a pariah.
Annie was an unlikely candidate to take on such a difficult task - she was an immigrant, she was poor, and she was a married mother to three children. The last fact was something she knew would not endear her to many on her journey, so she presented herself as an intrepid single "new woman."
She was different in one other way as well. Unlike the other women before her, Annie wasn't just riding for the adventure of it. She was on a search for money, fame, and freedom.
Annie Londonderry was an unusually savvy marketer and PR pro. There is still some dispute about whether she invented the story of a wager between two men that prompted her trip, or whether there was perhaps a bet at some point, but she did tell all of the newspapers who began to follow her story that two rich men had a stake riding on her. If she made it back to her hometown of Boston in 15 months, so her story went, Annie would receive a large sum of money. But she was not allowed to take any money with her, and was required to earn her way around the world.
To accomplish that, Annie designed an early sports endorsement program, adorning her bicycle and clothing with signs, ribbons, and cards, all touting corporate sponsors and products. She also sold autographed photos of herself and gave lectures as she traveled, cannily alerting the press of her arrival before every stop. And she proved to be fashion-forward, putting aside the cumbersome dresses and layers of the day for a split skirt, and later for scandalous bloomer pants.
Along her journey, Annie claimed to break speed records and win races, and that she was attacked by natives or "bad men." True or not, they made great press reports and she soon had readers and reporters clamoring for her adventurous tales.
Traveling around the world required some trips by ship or train, of course, when roads were unavailable. And though there were some grumblings about how often Annie actually rode her bicycle, no one could deny that she was a brave woman to set out on her own without money or a chaperone.
As compelling as her global trip, however, is what happened to Annie when she returned. Once she transformed into an adventurous "new woman" who had seen China and Africa, how Annie readjusted to her tenement home with her family in Boston is, as they say, the rest of the story. (2008 - Kensington Publishing Company)

Recipe: Ginger Crinkles
This recipe has been handed down by the unforgettable women in my family, and it is one of my favorite treats. Spicy and sweet, the cookies have an old-fashioned flavor and a nice round shape that just happens to look like a bicycle's wheel.
2/3 cup vegetable oil                    1 cup sugar
1 egg                                            4 Tbs. molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour                2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt                                  1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar for dipping              1 tsp. ginger
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix oil and sugar thoroughly. Add egg and beat well. Stir in molasses, then add dry ingredients. Drop teaspoons of dough into sugar and form into balls coated with sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart (cookies will flatten and crinkle). Bake for 10-15 minutes. (Recipe from my mother's collection)