Let's Make Colonial Cookies!

Every now and again I get an urge to investigate a Colonial recipe. I want to make something palatable to my modern diet, so most of the recipes I try incorporate those changes that benefit my tastes. That said, I always discover some interesting historical tidbit in the process. 

In an effort to come up with some new munchies to go into my hubby's lunch, I decided to try some very basic cookies and found a great recipe for Colonial Cookies from the Cooks.com website. Join me in the process, won't you? 

In searching for a likely recipe, I realized first off that sugar in the colonial period was not the refined, white grains we buy packaged in five-pound bags. As sugar was mostly supplied from the Caribbean at the hands of slaves, it was basically sugar cane that had been boiled and strained a number of times. Then the final product was placed in cone-shaped molds to harden, much like a modern sugar cube.

Colonial households had in their kitchen chest of implements a tool called a sugar nippers for breaking off chunks of sugar from the cone as required. Sugar nippers came in a variety of sizes, and you can find antique nippers for sale online as well as reproductions. Here is a good example of a sugar nipper reproduction and sugar cones that are available from Townsends.us. 

https://www.townsends.us/products/sugar-nippers-sn954-p-88

I have to admit that I'm tempted to own a pair for decoration.

Oats came to America in the 17th century and were in plentiful supply in the colonies, though it, too, was not always the product we know today. Then oats might be ground or crushed, and whole oats might simply be set to soak overnight and then cooked easily in the morning. I will use common "old-fashioned" oatmeal for my recipe, not the quick-cook variety.

These are very basic Colonial oatmeal cookies with nothing fancy added, and I'm going to double the recipe below, because I'm a grandma and that cookie jar needs to be full! 

However, regarding substitutions, I'm going to use brown sugar as my sugar cone replacement, and I'm also going to use shortening made with meat fats (no vegetable oil shortening here) to replace half the butter. The shortening made with meat fats (available everywhere) makes a flakier, yummier baked product, especially in pie crusts. It keeps the texture for cookies and sometimes improves it. It also saves on the butter bill when I'm making extra large batches. I think "lard" would also be a common replacement in colonial America, though they probably often saved their fats for making tallow candles.

Colonial Cookies

Here's the easy recipe from Cooks.com, but watch the video below if you want a good laugh. Yes, I am a screw-up. You can watch me neglect one main ingredient and add another twice.

But guess what...the cookies still turned out great! I will definitely make these again!

1 c. sugar (I chose brown.)
1 c. butter (I use half shortening made from meat fats.)
1 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 c. oatmeal

Combine together. Mix all ingredients like pie crust until soft; flatten small balls of dough on ungreased pan.

Bake at 350°F for about 10-12 minutes.

Makes 4 dozen.

This is why I don't have a food channel:

And here's my evaluation of how they turned out:

There you have it, folks. colonial cookies from a modern kitchen. Yummy! They did want to crumble easily, so next time instead of adding twice the baking soda (oops! 😏) I might add an egg to help the dough bind better. 

I have news!

The pre-order is available for BOTH Song for the Hunter and the Lumberjacks and Ladies novella collection! Click on the covers or the Amazon links to find out more!

Song for the Hunter on Amazon

Lumberjacks and Ladies on Amazon

Colonial Style Corn Fritters

I love combining my writing research with my love of cooking and good food. My characters need to eat and I want them to enjoy foods that would have been common in their time period. My current WIP (work in progress) is set at the beginning of the 19th century. My characters would have had to grow, gather, or hunt most of what they consumed.

This past week I pulled out a favorite cookbook, History from the Hearth, and made a batch of corn fritters. Yummy? You bet! Our ancestors knew their way around food. And thankfully, some of them recorded their recipes and handed them down through the generations.

Colonial Style Corn Fritters

2 cups cooked corn
2 eggs - separated
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teas salt
1/2 teas pepper
lard for frying

Beat the eggs whites in a small bowl until stiff. In a larger bowl, slightly beat the egg yolks, then stir in the cream, flour, salt, and pepper. Fold in the egg whites. Add the corn last. Heat lard (or oil if you prefer) in a large frying pan. Drop batter by the spoonful into hot fat and fry until golden brown, then flip and cook the other side. Serve hot. 

This recipe is so simple, with ingredients any Colonial good wife would have had on hand. It could have been made over a kitchen hearth or campfire. Full of both protein and carbohydrates, these hearty fritters would have given them the energy to do all the work they needed to accomplish to survive. 

Tweet this: 

Corn fritter #recipe from Colonial American. #Writing research that's tasty too! 

The best part of enjoying a historical recipe like this, is to eat it while enjoying a great Christian historical book. Maybe one day - God willing - it will be mine!

~ Pegg Thomas

Colonial Steamed Brown Bread

Colonial Steamed Brown Bread

A big part of writing historical fiction is research. If you don’t do the history well – it’s just fiction. And trust me, you’re going to honk off a bunch of history geeks in the process. Having been that honked off history geek a time or two, I know what I’m talking about.

I love to cook and bake. Always have. It’s another creative outlet for me. Combining my love of history with my love of cooking and baking was a no-brainer. So researching colonial-era cooking for my book? That was fun!

My grandma used to make what she called Boston Brown Bread. I discovered that the Colonial Steamed Brown Bread is very close to what grandma made. I think hers was considered “Boston” because it was served with baked beans.

Tweet this: #Colonial Steamed Brown Bread #recipe on the #ColonialQuills 

Home ovens were rare in Colonial times. The fort or settlement would have one oven, maybe two, that were shared. Yeast breads were baked only when the oven was available and heated.

Steaming breads was something that could be done in the hearth over an open fire. The bread – not a yeast bread, but more like our modern-day quick breads – was poured into a bowl of some sort, placed into a Dutch Oven with water about half-way up the sides of the bowl, covered with a lid, and swung over the fire to steam for anywhere from one to three hours, depending on the size of the bowl.

Wash 3 soup cans (roughly 15 oz size) grease well, prepare your steamer, get the water boiling.

Mix together:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup rye flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. cooking oil (lard or bacon grease would be more authentic)
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup milk
1 teas. salt
1 teas. baking soda

Divide into the 3 greased cans (cans will be just over 1/2 full to allow the bread to rise). Top each can with a square of aluminium foil. Secure with a rubber band or string. Set cans into the steamer. Steam for 1 hour. Remove to a rack to cool. Immediately remove foil. Cool 10 minutes. Remove bread from cans. The texture is like a moist cornbread, but the flavor is unique. Wonderful served warm with butter and jam, or for the “Boston” variety, smothered with some rich and tasty baked beans.

Colonial Steamed Brown Bread smothered in beans and sausage

~ Pegg Thomas

Interview with Shannon McNear by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Shannon McNear

What got you interested in the colonial time period?

Well, if a decade or two of breathing the air of Charleston, South Carolina, won’t do it ... :-) Seriously, what really fired my imagination was attending my first Revolutionary War reenactment in 2006, the 230^th anniversary of the Siege of Charleston. From that day, I was seriously hooked—and this in an area probably best known for Civil War history.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Story after story of the conflict between Americans who fought for independence and those who chose loyalty to the king.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Old Fort Dorchester State Park, now known as Colonial Dorchester. It’s one of the few local sites that hasn’t been built over, which means there’s a wealth of archaeological finds just twelve inches or so down. Also, since it’s one of the lesser-known area attractions, it tends to be quiet and peaceful—a great place I can let my family run and play. And I love the fort and church ruins, and the cemetery.

If you care to say, you can tell readers where you live and what colonial places you have in your state or your home state if different.

We live on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina, and there are too many places to list! Seriously, Charleston was the busiest seaport on the southern coast during colonial times, possibly the richest. We have plantations, town homes, forts, churches (some ruined and some not), buildings of commerce, and old jails. Inland and upstate are battlefield sites in various states of upkeep (one is half under water now). Kings Mountain, which I wrote about in Defending Truth, is right up on the state line.

Do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy and would like to share with readers?

Just one?? I suppose johnnycakes would be the obvious choice since they figure so prominently in Defending Truth.

Johnnycakes—or journeycakes—are essentially cornmeal pancakes. I can’t find serious provenance for the use of baking soda or powder before the early 1800’s, so the main leavening agent would have been eggs. Here’s the basic recipe as I recently tested it:

 Johnnycakes

2 cups cornmeal (stoneground is best, I grind my own with a Nutrimill, which makes the meal more “thirsty” than commercial, aged cornmeal)

½ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ c. milk, more or less

Stir dry ingredients together, beat in eggs, then add milk to make a pourable batter. Fry like pancakes—best on a hot, oiled cast iron griddle—and drench in butter. :-) Or butter and syrup, or butter and jam.

This is a very flexible recipe. You can substitute flour for half the cornmeal, or change up the sugar for honey or molasses. Definitely don’t hesitate to adjust the amount of milk to make your batter the desired consistency—a thicker batter makes for a thicker cake. Also, make them a little smaller than you think you should, since they tend to be very filling.

Story overview/blurb

On the frontier of western North Carolina, which will someday become east Tennessee, Truth Bledsoe keeps her family fed while her father is away fighting the British. When she discovers a half-starved, fugitive Tory, she’s not above feeding him, but to go past simple Christian charity to forgiveness seems impossible. To love would be unthinkable.

Micah Elliot has fled capture after the massacre at King’s Mountain, heartsick, battle weary, and ashamed of the cowardice that sent him westward over the mountains instead of eastward to home. Groping his way through a crisis of faith, he must discover and embrace what might finally be worth laying down his life for.

Author bio

Shannon McNear has been writing one thing or another since third grade and finished her first novel at age fifteen—but it would be more than thirty years before she’d receive her first book contract. In the meantime, she graduated from high school, attended college, met and married her husband, birthed nine children, lost one, taught five to drive, revised that first story innumerable times, and completed six others.

Her writing experience includes former interview coordinator and review editor for Christian Fandom, founding contributor of Speculative Faith, and founding member of the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour. She has also served as area coordinator, southeast zone director, and local chapter founder and president for American Christian Fiction Writers. She's an active member of ACFW, RWA, and My Book Therapy.

At the 2012 ACFW conference, to her shock and delight, she was awarded a first-time author contract from Barbour Publishing for her historical romance novella Defending Truth. It released September 2013 as part of A Pioneer Christmas Collection.

A Midwestern farm girl transplanted more than 20 years ago to Charleston, South Carolina, she loves losing herself in local history, especially the colonial era. When not homeschooling, sewing, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she finds joy in worship, women’s ministry, and encouraging whoever God brings across her path.

Interview with Lori Benton, debut author of Burning Sky

I’m so pleased to present this interview with Lori Benton, debut author of Burning Sky, featured in last week’s Tea Party. Lori was born and raised east of the Appalachian Mountains, surrounded by early American and family history going back to the 1600s. Her novels transport readers to the 18^th century, where she brings to life the Colonial and early Federal periods of American history, creating a melting pot of characters drawn from both sides of a turbulent and shifting frontier, brought together in the bonds of God's transforming grace.

When she isn’t writing, reading, or researching 18th century history, Lori enjoys exploring the mountains with her husband – often scouring the brush for huckleberries, which overflow the freezer and find their way into her signature huckleberry lemon pound cake.

What got you interested in the colonial time period?

Stumbling upon good fiction set during that time period, and the movie The Patriot, with Mel Gibson. Those two things collided at the right time, and made me determined to write a hero who wore knee breeches. I wish I could claim something more profound than that as the start of all this, but it certainly led to much less frivolous reasons for my continuing interest in the 18^th century.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Burning Sky, my first published novel, is set in 1784, right after the Revolutionary War. It’s a complicated answer, what inspired it. I’d been researching late 18^th century American history for about four years before I began Burning Sky, working on a novel set in 1790s North Carolina. But my attention kept being drawn to the Mohawk Valley of New York. The conflict in that colony during the Revolutionary War was intense, with particular animosity raging between patriot and loyalist Americans. Along with the conflict European Americans were experiencing, the Haudenosaunee (the Six Nations of the Iroquois), who had lived on that land for generations, ended up drawn into the conflict as well—not all on the same side. For a time, the Iroquois Confederacy ceased to exist as brother fought against brother.

I saw this setting, and still see it, as fertile ground for the type of stories I love to tell, stories of men and women caught between worlds (races, cultures, upbringings, beliefs)—often with loved ones facing them across the divide. After I’d decided on the setting and time period, I simply had to wait until a character showed up. It wasn’t long before Willa Obenchain came striding over the mountains, heading home.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Living in Oregon makes it hard to visit colonial places. I have a long wish list of them I’d like to visit. A few years ago I had the pleasure of touring the late 18^th century home of General George Rogers Clark, Locust Grove, in Louisville, KY. I’ve also in recent years visited a historic home in North Carolina, the Alston House, which retains the bullet holes around its back door from a Revolutionary War skirmish that took place there.

I’m familiar with that skirmish from my own research! Do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy and would like to share with readers?

I’d love to share my succotash recipe. The mixture of ingredients is far older than colonial, though. It’s the type of meal (with a few modern additions) the Iroquois often made of their three staple crops: corn, beans and squash.

Succotash

3-4 strips of bacon (more if you really like bacon)

About a Tbs. of cooking oil

½ cup chopped yellow onion

1 tsp. minced garlic (from a jar is fine)

1 c. frozen or fresh corn

½ c. chopped fresh tomato

1 c. each yellow squash and zucchini, chopped

¾ c. lima beans, cooked tender (don’t overcook), or canned

¾ c. pinto beans, cooked tender (don’t overcook), or canned

salt & pepper to taste

a pinch or two of basil, fresh or dried

Fry bacon. Preserve drippings in pan (up to about a Tbs., more if you love bacon, as this will flavor the vegetables and beans). Set bacon strips aside. Add about a Tbs. of cooking oil to the pan, if needed. Sauté chopped onion and minced garlic until onion is tender. Add corn and tomatoes. Sauté a few minutes. Add chopped zucchini and yellow squash.* Sauté until tender. Add beans, salt, pepper, and basil to taste. Stir until heated through and mixture is cooked to your satisfaction. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle on top, or stir it in too. Serve warm. Makes 3-4 servings

* Feel free to modify ingredients/portions. Substitute different types of beans and squash, or something else entirely. Add a bit of vegetable broth. You can even make it sans bacon, though I never shall. Enjoy!

Abducted by Mohawk Indians at fourteen and renamed Burning Sky, Willa Obenchain is driven to return to her family’s New York frontier homestead twelve years later. At the boundary of her father’s property, Willa discovers a wounded Scotsman lying in her path, and is obliged to nurse his injuries. The two quickly find much has changed during Willa’s absence—her childhood home is in disrepair, her missing parents are rumored to be Tories, and the young Richard Waring she once admired is now grown into a man twisted by the horrors of war and claiming ownership of the Obenchain land.

When her Mohawk brother arrives and questions her place in the white world, the cultural divide blurs Willa’s vision. Can she follow Tames-His-Horse back to the People now that she is no longer Burning Sky? And what about Neil MacGregor, the kind and loyal Scottish botanist who does not fit into her plan for a solitary life, yet is now helping her revive her farm? In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, strong feelings against “savages” abound in the nearby village of Shiloh, leaving Willa’s safety unsure. As tensions rise, challenging her shielded heart, the woman once called Burning Sky must find a new courage—the courage to again risk embracing the blessings the Almighty wants to bestow. Is she brave enough to love again?

GIVEAWAY! Please leave a comment, including your email address, to win a copy of this most excellent story.

Muster Day Gingerbread

Muster Day Gingerbread

 (A traditional recipe enjoyed on colonial Muster Day,
as seen in Colonial Courtships by Carla Olson Gade)

The following recipe is taken from The Art of Cookery made plain and easy by A Lady, 1747 (Hannah Glasse was discovered to be the authoress in the 19^th century).

To make Ginger-Bread. TAKE three quarts of fine flour, two ounces of beaten ginger, a quarter of an ounce of nutmeg, cloves, and mace beat fine, but most of the last; mix all together, three quarters of a pound of fine sugar, two pounds of treacle, set it over the fire, but do not let it boil; three quarters of a pound of butter melted in the treacle, and some candied lemon and orange peel cut fine; mix all these together well. An hour will bake it in a quick oven.

Muster Gingerbread
(A modern version for you to try.)

1/3 c  Shortening 1/2 c  Brown sugar 1/2 c  Molasses 1  Egg 2 c  Flour (all-purpose) 1 t  Baking soda

3/4 t  Ground ginger 3/4 t  Ground cinnamon 1/4 t  Ground cloves 1/4 t  Salt 1/2 c  Water; boiling

Cream the shortening and sugar until very light. Add the molasses and egg, beating well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, soda, spices and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the boiling water, beating after each addition. Bake in a greased 8x4x2 inch loaf pan at 350øF for about 50 minutes. Cool a few minutes before removing from the pan, and wrap. This cake mellows and tastes best the next day.

Authors note: The treacle mentioned in the first receipt, as recipes were then called, is Molasses. Muster Day Gingerbread, sometimes called Training Day Gingerbread or simply Muster Gingerbread, was usually prepared as a loaf cake. I discovered a variation of this recipe that was rolled out and baked as a cookie. Muster Gingerbread was traditionally washed down with rum after militia training, though I recommend a nice glass of apple cider or fresh milk.

Independence Day Liberty Tea Party!!!

Liberty Teas

In the 1770's Colonists forsook the partaking of tea imported from the British, and thus American women looked to their own gardens and the world around them to create their own teas.  Ribwort, sassafras, willow bark, birch, strawberry leaf, lemon balm, verbena, and currant bush were used as substitutes, as well as raspberry leaves which were used to make "Hyperion Tea".  Spearmint, peppermint, wintergreen, orange bergamot, and catnip were used to create mint teas.  Flowers such as red rose petals, blossoms of linden, elder, red clover, chamomile, violet, red rose petals, rosehips, linden blossoms, elder, red clover, chamomile, violet and goldenrod were also brewed into tea.  Teas were also made from sweet fern, spicebush, ambrosia, twigs of sweet gum, fennel and dill seed, parsley, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and sage.

 Liberty Tea

Four-leaved loose-strife was pulled up like flax, its stalks were stripped of the leaves and boiled; the leaves were put in an iron kettle and basted with the liquor from the stalks. Then the leaves were put in an oven and dried. Liberty Tea sold for sixpence a pound and drunk at spinning bees and women's gatherings.
Earle, Customs and Fashions in Old New England

Indian Tea, Redroot, New Jersey Tea

"Tea made from a plant or shrub (Ceanothus americanus) grown
in Pearsontown about 20 miles from Portland, Maine, was served to
a circle of ladies and gentlemen in Newbury Port, who pronounced
it nearly,  if not quite, its equal in flavor to genuine Bohea tea.
So important a discovery claims attention, especially at this crisis.
If we have the plant, nothing is wanted but the process of curing it
into tea of our own manufacture."
From The Boston Gazette, 1768


Balm Tea

Balm, or lemon balm alone, or with sage is much
recommended, with a few flowers of lavender; it has
a most delicious flavor and taste, but is most agreeable
when green" (freshly cut, from garden to teapot). In a
cup, bruise the leaves of 3 generous sprigs of fresh
lemon balm leaves, a sprig of sage, and three lavender
blossoms. Pour boiling water over the herbs and let
them steep for 5-10 minutes. Add honey to taste.
Drink hot or cold.
From Family Receipt Book, 1819

Please allow our server to pour you a cup of one of our Liberty Teas, which shall it be? We also have a wonderful Colonial American Independence Cake and hope you will try a piece as well. How are you celebrating our Liberty this 4th of July? Commenters are eligible to recieve a prize from one of our giveaways!

Giveaways:

Susan F. Craft will give away a copy of The Chamomile, some chamomile tea, and a small colonial "Betsy Ross" flag and a "Don't Tread on Me" flag. Leave a comment and your email address.

Elaine Marie Cooper is offering a copy of The Legacy of Deer Run to one of our winners.

J.M. Hochstetler will give away a copy of Daughter of Liberty to one of our winners.