Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Magic Pear Grumble

Interesting title, what?

    Once upon a time a Maiden Odd acquired, to her delight, a book which held Tales of Old, spun from threads of imagination. Whilst delving into the delights of the book a discovery was ere long made, that after the story had come to an end, there were set down several of Ye Olde Recipes.
A Maiden Odd marked those she found appealing, and setteth them aside until Ye Various Ingredients could be acquired for a proper and thorough test.
   Ye Old Recipe she is sharing today contains a mere handful of Ye Various Ingredients and, in truth, thou shalt surely find it easily mastered.
   To begin, having inherited the particular peculiarity of not being able to leave some of Ye Olde Recipes alone from Ye Older Sister, A Maiden Odd forsook the idea of using pears (for she doth not care for them overly much), using instead some rather ripe apples lounging in Ye Olde Pantry.

   It was recieved fairly well enough, and A Maiden Odd accepted Ye Gentle Criticisms offered.
"Gadzooks! I dost believe this syrupy dish doth contain several grains of sugar too much!"**


A Maiden Odd determined Ye Olde Recipe could improved upon be - and Ye Olde Recipe upon the table graces every year.


Magic Pear Grumble

1 cup flour (115 g)
2/3 cup sugar (265 g)*
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk (115 ml)
4 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2-3/4 inch chunks
(peaches were used here because Maiden Odd better prefereth them)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (150g)
1/4 cup butter (55 g) cut into 5 pieces
3/4 cup boiling water (175 ml)

*This recipe hath a very sweetness of taste, especially if the fruit thou useth is not very tart of a nature. The last time it twas made the sugar was diminished to 1/2 cup.   Twas better but mayhap would have been fine if more hath been left out.

Ere thou begin thou must preheat thy cooking fire (stove) to 375 degrees F (190 C)

In a large crock (bowl), using Ye Olde Whisk, mix together thy flour, white sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and ground cloves until wondrous well combined.

A Maiden Odd dost not oft measure everything out beforehand - but, verily, since the start of this blog, the accounting of food images on her hard-drive seem to hath begun multiplying rapidly. . . . .

Now, return us to Ye Olde Recipe -
Add thy milk of a cow, and beat until smooth. Verily thy batter, ere long, shalt be very thick and sticky.

Making sufficient use of a rubber spatula, fold in peaches (or pears or any fruit that thou art using) to thy batter.
Scoop ariont an unslicked (ungreased) baking or casserole dish.

Boil thy water and measure 3/4 cup (it would behoove thou to have thy water merrily rolling already - A Maiden Odd hath done it both ways before and it taketh a longer time, significantly, when thou hast to stand and stare at thy pot, waiting for it to boil:)
Place thy butter and brown sugar in a small, heat proof bowl or, mayhap, measuring glass and pour thy hot water over yon butter and sugar. Stir until melted and dissolved.

Huzzah! A favorite part is now upon thou - it puzzleth Maiden Odd greatly, how Ye Olde Recipe worketh out so wondrous well. . . . .
Pour thy hot water mixture over the batter in thy baking dish - and DOST NOT MIX!

Does it not look appetizing?  
To pour liquid like thou hast, and not mix, rings of error great - but wait til thou seeist what hast happened to it!
*Oh, on a side jot - whence thou puttest thy batter in a baking dish thou doth not have to smooth it all out, making it level. It shall looketh a sight more interesting if thou stayest thy hand. (A Maiden Odd inevitably oft forgetteth and endeth up smoothing it out. Thou can if thou wantest, but thou dost not have to.)

Bake thy dessert for 45 minutes. It shalt be bubbly and golden brown when completed.


VIOLA!!!!  Looketh rather enticing, dost it not!
No longer watery and odd looking, instead the syrup hast bubbled all around the edges; the batter hast puffed and turneth golden brown, and smelleth wondrous well!



Served warm with whip-ed cream or fresh, vanilla iced cream Ye Olde Dessert tastes wonderful well!
Smiley
Thou could even try drizzle chocolate sauce over everything. (It has not been tried, but it soundeth pretty rather well.)


**canst thou guess who hath been quoted thus?

4 comments:

  1. Oh my dear you are too TOO much!! I laughed all the way through it. I think from now on you should just handle all cooking posts. They're so interesting. :)
    IR

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  2. That looks delicious! I hope that some time we can make some of that:)
    Elizabeth M.

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  3. @Reuben - We would love to dispatch a parcel of it. . . but, unfortunately, we're afraid it wouldn't be quite as appetizing once our dispatch rider managed to swim across the ocean:D (Probably wouldn't hold up as well as cake in a jar either.)

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