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.

Patriots Super Snack

Here's the second contender in our Super selection of game-day snacks. This is for the New England Patriots fans. Your guests will love filling this delicious traditional New England Baked Corn Cake baked corn cake with shredded beef and cranberry filling, then topping it with a sunny apple relish. It has all the elements for a winning dish.

This is Potluck Paradise at its finest. Make-ahead easy, tasty heated or at room temperature, and even healthy. Low fat and low sodium, but your guests will never know. Even New York Giants fans will like it.

Baked Corn Cakes
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the cornmeal into a medium-sized, heat-proof bowl, slowly pour in the boiling water, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool. Mash the cooled cornmeal mixture with a fork to break it up. Stir in the sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Combine the melted butter, egg, and milk, mixing well, and stir into the cornmeal mixture. Then add the flour. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly spray with non-stick spray. Form corncakes about 3 inches in diameter by pouring about 1 1/2 measuring tablespoons of batter on the sheet. Cakes will spread as they bake, so allow 2 inches between them. I could get 8 corncakes on my 11 by 18 baking sheet. Bake until cakes are lightly browned on the bottom and firm on the top, about 5 to 7 minutes. Then flip and bake for another 5 to 7 minutes. If the cakes don’t lift off immediately and easily they are not ready to flip.
Note: You can also cook these in a frying pan, but the cakes come out thicker. Just as tasty, though.
Yield: about 18 3-inch corncakes. Recipe may be doubled

Cranberry Barbecued Beef
2 1/2 cups shredded left over pot roast, New England boiled beef,
or a hunk of deli roast beef, shredded
1 14-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 cup apple cider

Combine all the ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture cooks down with hardly any liquid sauce left.

Apple Slaw
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 apples such as Gala, Cortland, or Jazz

Combine the vinegar and sugar in a 1-quart saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Grate the apple, peel and all, on the large side of a box grater. Add the apple to the hot liquid and stir to mix. Drain before serving.


Copyright 2012, Rae Katherine Eighmey. All rights reserved.

Love Boat Salad for your Valentine

Love is in air and hearts arae filling the grocery stores. So we're taking a break from celebrating our own National Potluck Month here at Potluck Paradise headquarters. Not that we don't love potlucks, but we're pushing romance this week leading up to Valentine's Day. Look at the post below for our homemade and mostly healthful Valentine's chocolates. In this post we have a dish that could be the centerpiece of a potluck, but is lovely on a shared plate for two.

One quick comment before the recipe. We've made a few changes to typical seafood salads to cut the fat and reduce the sodium. That's why we've used poultry seasoning to add a bit of complexity to the dressing instead of a more traditional "seafood seasoning." Check out the labels. No sodium in poultry seasoning while "celery salt" is the first listed ingredient in the other product.

Shrimp and Avocado Salad
2 tablespoons non-fat cream cheese
2 tablespoons non-fat mayonnaise
1/8 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/8 teaspoon cumin, or more to taste
1/8 teaspoon paprika
1 cup small salad shrimp
1/3 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced parsley
1 teaspoon minced dill gherkin pickle, low sodium version
1 Haas avocado

Combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise and seasonings in a small mixing bowl. Reserve a couple of shrimp for garnish and chop the rest into three or four pieces. Add the remaining ingredients and carefully mix until shrimp and vegetables are coated with the dressing mixture. Cut the avocado in half. Remove pit. With a small spoon, scoop out about half of the avocado flesh, chop and mix with shrimp. Make it a little easier to eat by scoring the remaining avocado in a chris-cross pattern Mound shrimp mixture into avocado shell, garnish, and serve with beet and sweet potato chips. Refrigerate any leftover filling and eat within two days.

Steelers' Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Sunday afternoon the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the Green Bay Packers. For Steeler fans, these easy-to-make-ahead meatballs with chipped spinach and golden raisins are a metaphor for the dominance of their team over the Green and Gold. For the rest of us here at Potluck Paradise headquarters, they are just a great meatball that keeps in the fridge for a few days and freezes nicely for a month or more in the sauce. Baking the meatballs in the oven eliminates the need to fry them on top of the stove. A method we love here at PP headquarters for efficiency and neatness!

Steelers’ Sweet and Sour Meatballs

For the Meatballs:
1 9-ounce package frozen GREEN spinach, thawed
1/2 cup GOLDEN raisins
1/2 cup dry unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 cup orange juice
2 whole eggs, or 3 egg whites
2 1/4 pounds 90% lean ground beef

For the Sauce:
1 14-16 ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce
1 1/2 cups white wine or apple juice
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
3 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 cup cold water

To Serve:
1 jar cooked red cabbage
Leaves of Romaine lettuce

Preheat oven to 400 degreed F. Thaw the spinach and wring out until very dry. Put spinach and raisins in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Or chop with a knife. Put the breadcrumbs in a large mixing bowl and stir in the seasonings. Stir in the orange juice and let stand a couple of minutes until the juice is completely absorbed. Stir in the spinach raisin mixture and the eggs. Then add the ground beef. Line a large baking sheet with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Spray with cooking spray. Form beef mixture into balls, about the size of a large walnut. Place on sheet and spray tops of meatballs with cooking spray before putting into the oven. Bake until internal temperature of the meatballs reaches 160 degrees F. and the tops are browned.

While meatballs are baking, make the sauce. Put cranberry sauce, wine or juice, brown sugar and vinegar into a large pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until cranberry sauce is melted. While this is cooking, combine the cold water and corn starch into a smooth mixture. Gradually stir it into the sauce. Continue stirring until the sauce thickens and turns transparent.

When meatballs are fully cooked, gently place them in the sauce and stir to cover them. Allow to cool and then refrigerate before serving.

To serve. Heat the red cabbage and meatballs. Wash the Romaine lettuce leaves and dry. Place a dollop of cabbage on leaf and then one or two meatballs. Fold up leaf to eat and enjoy!

Copyright 2011 Rae Katherien Eighmey All rights reserved