Low-Salt and Delicious -- Sweet and Spicy Crackers Abraham Lincoln Might Have Enjoyed

Part of what we do here at Potluck Paradise is to research and write about old recipes.  I've written six books that are a fusion of history and food. Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen is my newest. This recipe is from that book and is one of the absolute favorites in our kitchen and wherever we have served these unusual treats.

These are kind of like cookies. They are sort of like crackers. They are absolutely delicious and ridiculously easy to make. And, once made, they keep for days, even weeks, if you can stop eating them.

They are called APees.  Pronounced "A Peas" not aps.  And they date way, way back. I've made them for years, first finding the recipe in a Civil War-era cookbook. I was thrilled to find a recipe for them in the newspaper Abraham Lincoln would have been reading in New Salem, Illinois, in November of 1833.

I don't think store-keeper Lincoln would have made these himself. He was sleeping on the counter of his store and taking his meals with families in town or at the Rutledge Tavern. Ann, the daughter of tavern keeper and New Salem founder James Rutledge, was said to have been Abraham Lincoln's first true love. They were, at the very least, good friends and mutually devoted to learning. Neighbors recounted seeing them together, often with their heads bent over books.

Lincoln was elected to his first term in the Illinois Legislature in 1834 and the Rutledge family sold the tavern and moved to a nearby farm. Ann made plans to enroll at Illinois College in the town of Jacksonville the following year. However in August 1835 Ann became ill, probably with typhoid fever. Lincoln rode to visit her for what the family feared would be one last time. The two spent an hour alone together as the grieving Abraham sat by her bedside. She died two days later. She was just 22 years old.

Lincoln was said to have become deeply saddened and seen to be wrapped in profound thought as he walked around town and in the surrounding woods. Years later, as Lincoln was leaving Springfield for the White House an old New Salem friend asked Lincoln about Ann. Lincoln is said to have replied, "I did honestly & truly love the girl."

These delightful treats are memorable, too.

 APees   -- adapted from an 1833 recipe

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon mace
1 1/2 tablespoons caraway seeds
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold, salted, or unsalted, butter
1/3 cup white wine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the flour, sugar, spices and the 1 1/2 tablespoons of caraway seeds in a mixing bowl, or in your food processor. Slice the butter into small chunks and cut into the flour mixture with a pasty cutter, two knives, or using the food processor, until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Mix in the wine with a fork or the processor and knead until you have a smooth dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface about 1/8-inch thick. Prick all over with a fork and cut into squares with a rotary jagging iron or just a knife. Place on lightly greased sheets and bake until light brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. The Apees shrink as they bake.  Makes about 7 dozen small cookies.

Note: these are great to eat all by themselves, but are particularly tasty -- and unusual -- as a base for cheese, spreads--ham would be great, or a bit of cream cheese and homemade apple preserves--see our recipe for February 2!

Copyright 2015 Rae Katherine Eighmey. All rights reserved.

Celebrate Honest Abe's Birthday with His Gingerbread Men

This Wednesday, February 12, will mark 206 years since Abraham Lincoln was born on his family's farm in Kentucky.  The family lived there until Abe was nearly eight, moving to homestead in wild southern Indiana. Lincoln later wrote a poem in which he described those early Hoosier settlement days. One stanza says:

When first my father settled here, 

'Twas then the frontier line:

The Panther's scream, filled the night with fear

And bears preyed on the swine.

Among the young boy's favorite treats were these gingerbread men, made either by his mother Nancy who died when Abraham was nine, or by his step-mother Sarah. Lincoln described these soft cookies several times, almost giving a recipe. When he was in the White House President Lincoln told the story about those men describing the two key ingredients--sorghum and ginger--and the texture, being able to eat one quickly in two bites.

Lincoln had first used the homey anecdote to great advantage during the Lincoln-Douglas debates when he diffused the excessive and insincere praised heaped upon him by the "Little Giant" Senator Douglas. The tall, eloquent lawyer from Springfield allowed as how he was like his poor neighbor "Hoosier boy" back in Indiana who loved gingerbread more than anyone and never got any. Lincoln said that he was so unaccustomed to praise that he forgot to get angry even at the misrepresentations Douglas had insinuated within it.

Abraham Lincoln won the hearts and the humanity of the audience that day, even though he lost the election. It was the second and last one he would ever lose in his long political career in the Illinois Statehouse, United States' Congress, and the Presidency.

These easy-to-make treats will win your hearts, too. Perfect to make with children or grandchildren and celebrate Lincoln's birthday or President's day in two weeks.

Abraham Lincoln's Gingerbread Men

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sorghum syrup, you may use light or dark molasses
3 1/3 cups flour
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold salted butter

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Pour the milk into a glass measuring cup and add the sorghum. Stir to mix. In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and ginger. Slice the butter into small pieces and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add the milk mixture and stir with a fork or spoon, kneading until smooth like children's play clay.

To make a gingerbread men about 4 inches high, break off a piece of dough a little larger than a golf ball. Place it on your work surface and roll it lightly under your palms to form a pencil-thin rope of dough about 12 inches long. Break off a piece about 4 inches long and set aside. This will become the arms.

Fold the remaining rope in half to form a narrow, upside-down V. Grasp the folded top and pinch together one inch down from the top and twist to form the neck. Put the arm piece under the neck and place on the baking sheet.  Make the remaining men.

Bake until the cookies are lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Watch carefully as the sorghum or molasses in the dough can burn quickly.

Makes 18 gingerbread men 4-inches high.

President's Day Potluck--Updated

We first wrote this post in 2011 and are updating it now in 2015.
For a short month, February sure packs Presidential Punch. Four United States Presidents were born in February and we have the President's Day holiday to celebrate them. We're all familiar with Abraham Lincoln on the 12th and George Washington on the 22nd. This year marked the 104th anniversary of Ronald Reagan on February 6th. William Henry Harrison's 242nd birthday followed just three days later.

Here at Potluck Paradise headquarters we think these birthdays and all the other presidents provide a perfect platform for potluck. The menu could practically write itself. From Reagan's favorite Mac and Cheese through Washington's storied Cherry Pie there's a lot of good eating to be dished up from American History.

I have two favorite presidential recipe collections. In my Food Will Win the War blog (http://bit.ly/1AbNIcM), there are recipes from World War I. Eleven years before he was elected president, Herbert Hoover served voluntarily as the United States food commissioner during those days when we shipped vast quantities of wheat and meat, fats and sugar to our allies in Europe.

I've also written a book, Abraham Lincoln in the Kitchen, with 55 recipes from his life and times. You'll find two of my favorite Lincoln recipes on other posts in this blog. The handy click-through index on the side will take you to his Gingerbread Men and a delightful appetizer or cracker called an A-Pee.

But back to the Presidential Potluck. There are several collections of "presidential favorite recipes" I've looked through a couple and drawn together a short list to get your potluck started. Dishes with * have recipes in this post or at other places within this Potluck Paradise blog. For the others, you can easily use your own favorite recipes for these suggestive dishes:

Entree
Ronald Reagan's Macaroni and Cheese
Dwight Eisenhower's Beef Stew -- beef, potatoes, carrots, small "boiling" onions simmered in beef stock and tomatoes seasoned with thyme, bay leaves, and garlic
James Buchanan's Pennsylvania Baked Sauerkraut -- 1 pound thinly sliced pork tenderloin browned quickly on both sides in a bit of butter in a large, oven-proof skillet; sprinkle with 1/4 cup brown sugar; 1 pound package sauerkraut placed on top of the pork. Cover and bake in 325 oven until kraut is cooked, about 15 minutes. Watch as you may have to add a bit of water if the kraut is too dry.

Vegetables
FDR Salads and Veggies -- served at meals for King George IV and his wife Queen Elizabeth in June 1939
Lettuce with Roquefort Dressing, Asparagus with Saratoga Chips (thinly sliced potatoes, fried quickly), Mushrooms and Wine Sauce; Sliced Tomatoes, Buttered Beets, Cranberry Sauce

Herbert Hoover Red Cabbage* Find at Blog Archive February 4, 2015

Beverages
*Woodrow Wilson Prohibition Drinks

Dessert
* Herbert Hoover WWI Cake
*Lincoln Gingerbread Men

The Recipes

Prohibition Sour "A Drink for Men"
By the Drink 
1 ounce lemon syrup (See recipe below)
1/2 ounce orange syrup
freshly squeezed juice of one lime
crushed ice
carbonated water, 6 ounces approximately

Put the syrups and lime juice into a 12-ounce glass and add a scoop of crushed ice. Fill with carbonated water, stir and serve garnished with a slice of lime

By the pitcher -- enough concentrate for 12 8-ounce servings
1 1/2 cups lemon syrup
3/4 cup orange syrup
juice from 6 limes
carbonated water and ice
Mix syrups and lime juice.
Pour into a large pitcher and add 60 ounces (about 2 liters) carbonated water.

Simple Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup white granulated sugar

Put the water into a medium pot, Gradually add the sugar, stirring constantly. Warm the mixture over low heat, stirring gently until the sugar dissolves. Do not even bring it to a simmer. Just heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Keep simple syrup in the refrigerator for several days.

To make flavored syrups
1/4 cup simple syrup
1 tablespoon frozen concentrated juice mix, thawed

Mix together and use immediately or store in the refrigerator for two or three days

Prohibition lasted through five presidencies -- Wilson, harding, Coolidge, Hoover, and FDR. My book Soda Shop Salvation has more than one hundred tasty recipes for soda shop and non-alcoholic treats. You can find a sampling at the blog Soda Shop Salvation (http://bit.ly/16StU0j)


Easy Herbert Hoover World War I Cake
This recipe saves fat, sugar, and eggs and is a delicious way to taste history one dessert plate at a time.

2 cups brown sugar
2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons lard (or butter)
1 teaspoon salt, optional
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 package (8 ounces) raisins, chopped
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put everything but soda and flour into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil 5 minutes after it bubbles, then cool. Stir in soda and flour. Put batter into a lightly greased loaf pan. Bake 45 minutes. Cake keeps fresh a long time and can “be sent to men at the front.”

Lincoln Gingerbread Men -- click Blog Archive 2015 February heading to find this and another Lincoln recipe.

Copyright 2015 Rae Katherine Eighmey.  All rights reserved