One of America’s Favorites – Graham Crackers
February 15, 2021 at 6:02 AM | Posted in One of America's Favorites | Leave a commentTags: baking, Chocolate, Cooking, Crackers, Flour, Food, Graham Crackers, Honey, Marshmallows, One of America's Favorites, recipes, S'mores
A graham cracker (pronounced /ˈɡreɪ.əm/ or /ˈɡræm/ in America) is a sweet flavored cracker made with graham flour that originated in the United States in the early 1880s. It is eaten as a snack food, usually honey- or cinnamon-flavored, and is used as an ingredient in some foods.
The graham cracker was inspired by the preaching of Sylvester Graham who was part of the 19th-century temperance movement. He believed that minimizing pleasure and stimulation of all kinds, coupled with a vegetarian diet anchored by bread made from wheat coarsely ground at home, was how God intended people to live, and that following this natural law would keep people healthy. His preaching was taken up widely in the midst of the 1829–51 cholera pandemic. His followers were called Grahamites and formed one of the first vegetarian movements in America; graham flour, graham crackers, and graham bread were created for them. Graham neither invented nor profited from these products.
The main ingredients in its earlier preparations were graham flour, oil, shortening or lard, molasses and salt. Graham crackers have been a mass-produced food product in the United States since 1898, with the National Biscuit Company being the first to mass-produce it at that time. The Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company also began mass-producing the product beginning sometime in the early 1910s. The product continues to be mass-produced in the U.S. today. In earlier times, mass-produced graham crackers were typically prepared using yeast-leavened dough, which added flavor to the food via the process of fermentation, whereas contemporary mass-production of the product typically omits this process. The dough is sometimes chilled before being rolled out, which prevents blistering and breakage from occurring when the product is baked.
Graham cracker crumbs are used to create graham cracker crusts for pies and moon pies, and as a base, layer or topping for cheesecake. Graham cracker pie crusts are also mass-produced in the United States, and consumer versions of the product typically consist of a graham cracker crumb mixture pressed into an aluminum pie pan. The graham cracker is a main ingredient in the preparation of the s’more. Graham crackers are also commonly used in place of broas in the traditional Filipino icebox cake mango float.
Kitchen Hint of the Week!
October 31, 2019 at 6:00 AM | Posted in Kitchen Hints | Leave a commentTags: Baking, Cooking, Cooking Tips, dessert, Food, Kitchen Hints, Marshmallows, Pies, Pumpkin pie, recipes
Pumpkin Pie………………
For a unique pumpkin pie, put small marshmallows on the bottom of the pie, just above the crust. Asthe pie bakes, the air in the marshmallows rise to to the top.
Kitchen Hint of the Day!
September 22, 2019 at 6:00 AM | Posted in Kitchen Hints | Leave a commentTags: Baking, Brown Sugar, Cooking, Cooking Tips, Food, Grilling, Kitchen Hints, Marshmallows, recipes
Lump Free Brown Sugar………….
Keep your brown sugar soft and lump free with this simple trick: Just throw a couple of marshmallows into the bag with it.
Kitchen Hint of the Day!
May 11, 2018 at 5:00 AM | Posted in Kitchen Hints | Leave a commentTags: Baking, Brown Sugar, Cooking, Cooking Tips, Food, Grilling, Kitchen Hints, Marshmallows, recipes
Sweet hint…………….
Keep your brown sugar soft and lump free by just throwing a couple of marshmallows into the bag with it.
One of America’s Favorites – Peeps
March 19, 2018 at 5:02 AM | Posted in One of America's Favorites | Leave a commentTags: Baking, candy, Cooking, Food, Marshmallows, One of America's Favorites, Peeps, recipes, Sugar, Yellow Chicks
Peeps are marshmallow candies, sold in the United States and Canada, that are shaped into chicks, bunnies, and other animals. There are also different shapes used for various holidays. Peeps are used primarily to fill Easter baskets, though recent advertising campaigns market the candy as “Peeps – Always in Season”, as Peeps has since expanded to include Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day; since 2014 it has been available year-round with the introduction of Peeps Minis. They are made from sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and various food dyes.
Peeps are produced by Just Born, a candy manufacturer founded in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by Russian immigrant Sam Born (1891-1959). In 1953 Just Born acquired the Rodda Candy Company and its marshmallow chick line, and replaced the painstaking process of hand-forming the chicks with mass production. When founder Sam Born would display a sign for his freshly-made candy, he would title it “Just Born,” playing off of his last name and the fact that he made his candy fresh daily. According to Mary Bellis, the newly purchased company, Just Born, was soon the “largest marshmallow candy manufacturer in the world.” New shapes other than the chicks were produced following a theme according to the season starting in the 1960s. Twenty years later, the Marshmallow Peeps Bunny was released as a popular year round shape of the candy. The yellow chicks were the original form of the candy — hence their name — but then the company introduced other colors and, eventually, the myriad shapes in which they are now produced. Peeps were manufactured in different colors such as lavender and blue starting in 1995. Prior to that they were only being produced in the traditional colors: pink, white, and yellow. New flavors such as vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate were introduced between the years of 1999 and 2002.
In 2009, Just Born expanded the Peeps product line further by introducing Peeps Lip Balm in four flavors: grape, strawberry, vanilla, and cotton candy. Just Born has come out with several other various accessories. Items such as nail polish, wrist bands, umbrellas, golf gloves, earrings, and necklaces are produced and sold online and in retail stores. Other companies have produced items based on the popular Peeps candy. Peeps micro bead pillows were made by Kaboodle and conform to one’s shape. The company Kaboodle promises that “they’ll last a lot longer than their edible counterpart!” Ranging from infant sizes to adult sizes, Peeps Halloween costumes can also be found on the shelves of several costume stores. The first Peeps & Co. store opened in November 2009 in National Harbor, Maryland, Prince George’s County. Peeps & Company retail stores were later opened in Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. In 2014, Peeps Minis were introduced, and were intended to be available year-round.
An annual “Peeps Eating” contest is held each year at National Harbor in front of the Peeps & Company store. 2017 winner, Matt Stonie of California, ate 255 Peeps in five minutes. The first such event was arranged by Shawn Sparks in 1994, and had only six participants. Dave Smith started an annual Peep Off in Sacramento after contacting a participant in the first Peep Off. Another contest in Maryland asks that participants create a diorama of a culturally important scene from the modern era, featuring a number of Peeps. The winner gets two free inflatable life jackets.
Several newspapers hold annual contests in which readers submit photos of dioramas featuring Peeps. The St. Paul Pioneer Press was the first paper to hold such a contest. Similar contests are put on by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and the Seattle Times. These contests frequently correspond with the Easter holiday. MIT also has a yearly Peeps contest.
The Racine Art Museum is sponsoring the International Peeps Competition from April 1–28. Anyone can enter the contest, centered on the theme “peep-powered work of art”.
The following are other contests held in various states. Peeps jousting consists of putting two Marshmallow Chicks into the microwave and seeing which one gets the biggest and therefore affects/deforms the other. “Peepza” is a dessert pizza made with Peeps. Also, blogs were created according to Fox News entitled “101 Fun Ways to Torture a Peep.”
Several recipes and creative ideas to alter Peeps have been invented. Fox News Magazine published an article in 2013 including several recipes from various creators, including Peeps smores, home-made chocolate covered Peeps, Peeps marshmallow chocolate chip cookies, Peeps brownies, Peeps popcorn, Peeps frosting, Peeps Krispie treats, and Peeps syrup.
A recipe for “Peepshi” involves placing a peep onto a Rice Krispie treat and wrapping it in Fruit by the Foot, to create a single “Peepshi roll” in the style of a sushi roll.
In April 2017, several internet and Twitter postings, and TV news stories claimed ‘outrage’ that Peeps were being used as a pizza topping.
Kitchen Hint of the Day!
December 20, 2017 at 6:32 AM | Posted in Kitchen Hints | Leave a commentTags: Baking, Brown Sugar, Cooking, Cooking Tips, Food, Grilling, Kitchen Hints, Marshmallows, recipes
Brown Sugar……..
Keep your brown sugar soft and lump free by just throwing a couple of marshmallows into bag with it.
Kitchen Hint of the Day!
June 24, 2017 at 5:28 AM | Posted in Kitchen Hints | Leave a commentTags: Baking, Brown Sugar, Cooking, Cooking Tips, Food, Grilling, Kitchen Hints, Marshmallows, recipes, Sugar
Brown Sugar………
You can keep your Brown Sugar soft and lump free with this simple trick; Just throw a couple of marshmallows into the bag with it.
One of America’s Favorites – Sweet Potato Pie
December 12, 2016 at 6:10 AM | Posted in One of America's Favorites | Leave a commentTags: Baking, Cooking, dessert, Food, Marshmallows, One of America's Favorites, recipes, Spices, Sweet potato pie, Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potato pie is a traditional dessert, originating in the Southern United States. It is often served during the American holiday season, especially at Thanksgiving, and is similar in many ways to pumpkin pie. Marshmallows are sometimes added as a topping, but this was adopted more in the Northern United States than in the South.
It is usually made as a large tart in an open pie shell without a top crust. The filling consists of mashed sweet potatoes, milk, sugar and eggs, flavored with spices such as nutmeg. Other possible ingredients include vanilla or banana extracts. The baked custard filling may vary from a light and silky to dense, depending on the recipe’s ratio of mashed potato, milk and eggs.
Though creamy vegetable pie recipes date back to Medieval Europe, sweet potato pie appears in the southern United States from the early colonial days. Like many sweet potato recipes, sweet potato pie was likely developed by African-American slaves from traditional African cuisine, making it a staple of soul food today. Recipes for sweet potato pie first appeared in printed cookbooks in the 18th century, where it was included with savory vegetable dishes. By the 19th century, sweet potato pie was more commonly classified as a dessert.
Kitchen Hint of the Day!
December 2, 2016 at 5:46 AM | Posted in Kitchen Hints | Leave a commentTags: Baking, Brown Sugar, Cooing, Cooking Tips, Food, Grilling, Kitchen Hints, Marshmallows, recipes, Sugar
Lump free brown sugar…..
Keep brown sugar soft and lump free with this simple trick: Just throw a couple of marshmallows into the bag with it.
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