Got a sweet tooth for delectable history? So do we. Combine our sugary cravings with the rich historical palate of the Lake Michigan region, and you can see why we gobbled up “Midwest Sweet Baking History.” We love that author Jenny Lewis (CCE, CHE) takes classic Midwest ingredients (like beet sugar and pumpkin) and, in the style of a social anthropologist, excavates authentic baking traditions from the 1600s to the present.
So, we are pleased to introduce “Hermits” as our featured recipe from yesteryear. Taken from the Civil War era—a time that distinguished regional tastes and differentiated Northern traditions from Southern ones—Hermits might have derived from extra baking ingredients that army camps could not afford to waste. Lewis says that it’s a firm cookie, travels easily and is always delightful when one is hungry.
Hermits
½ cup butter
½ cup raisins, cut into small pieces
⅔ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg
¼ teaspoon clove
2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon mace
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Cream the butter and add sugar gradually, then the raisins, the egg well beaten and the milk. Mix and sift dry ingredients and add to first mixture. Roll mixture a little thicker than for Vanilla wafers. 350 F. for 8–10 minutes until lightly browned.
And because we can’t stop with just one, here’s a more modern recipe that uses a yummy regional ingredient from the Lake Michigan states: pumpkin. We think its Midwestern taste brings the right kind of flavor to warm muffins on cold February mornings. So does Whiskey Cake, but you’ll have to dig that up in Midwest Sweet Baking History.
Pumpkin Gingerbread Muffins
Yield: 1 dozen muffins
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup oil
2 eggs
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon each: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves & allspice
⅓ cup water
8 ounces pumpkin puree
Preheat oven 350 F. Spray or line muffin tins with muffin papers. Mix sugar, oil and eggs. Sift flour, soda, powder and salt. Mix remaining spices and flavorings to the flour mixture. Whisk in wet sugar, oil and egg mixture, alternating pumpkin and water. Fill muffin cups ⅔ to top. Bake 15–20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean and/or when product “springs back” when touched.
