Skip to main content

#5 Date Bars 1945

The finished bars - full of promise.

"Graham crackers!?"

In what I think of as a fairly well-stocked pantry, I haven't kept graham crackers since my children were about five.

"Doug," I called to my husband, "I'm going to buy graham crackers."

In the aisle of my basic neighborhood grocery store, I was horrified to learn that graham crackers, something I'd considered wholesome snacks, no longer hold up to health food standards (partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil and high fructose corn syrup). My image of graham crackers as nutritious snacks lies in its history. Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister, invented them in 1829. It turns out he promoted his "Graham bread," made of coarse whole wheat flour, to curb excessive lust. He also preached temperance and a vegetarian diet. Little did I know this was the heritage of one of my own favorite snacks as a child - I couldn't get enough of these crackers with butter and jam sandwiched between them. You could say I lusted after them. But I digress...

Use all 18 crackers in a package for 1 1/4 cup of crumbs.
I dutifully threw 14 graham crackers into the food processor and came up short; 14 graham crackers no longer make the required quantity. The recipe notes (which I should have read right off) calls for 1 1/4 cup of crumbs. Even graham crackers are victims of shrinking product size, which masks price increases. It now takes the whole inner package of 18 crackers to give the 1 1/4 cup of crumbs.

Imagine these cookies baked without a foil pan liner.
After combining with nuts, date pieces, 3 eggs and minimal leavening, I wondered at the editors' note about lining the 9 X 9" pan. I was to crisscross two sheets of foil (Reynolds Wrap had not been sold until 1947), which would prevent the batter from touching the pan itself. What kind of mess did the original recipe create? I soon learned.

After 30 minutes of cooling, I tried to lift the block of cookie bars by the foil, but the foil quickly ripped and dropped the cookies back into the pan. Where the batter touched the pan in the tiny corner wedges, the cookies stuck fast. I ran a knife around the pan rim. The baked mass seemed in no danger of breaking apart, so I turned the pan over, onto a piece of parchment. I oh-so-slowly peeled back the foil to remove it from the cookie block.

I'll now confess that I cut these in my car, and took these cookies to share with my basketry retreat planning committee in a library conference room. I was glad I'd brought more than one cookie variety with me. Although my committee members were polite, these are better door-stop material than food. Both flavor and texture are lacking. I have never tried to eat a memory foam mattress, but biting into this cookie is exactly how I'd imagine the experience, except the mattress wouldn't leave your teeth coated with goo.

I really tried. I made these bars last weekend and I tasted them each day hoping to find a single redeeming quality. Their photo shows such promise, much like 1945, the year this recipe was published. The world anticipated decades of peace and prosperity at the end of  the war. I wish I could say the cookies that represent Gourmet Magazine in that year were an apt tribute to the country's optimism at the time, a turning point in history. These bars don't cut it.

You can find this recipe here, but don't bother.

Sources: About graham cracker history:  http://inventors.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_053.html; About product introductions in the market: http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl/1999_3183896/down-home-favorites-vie-with-classics-for-status-t.html
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#33 Almond Bolas (Portuguese Almond Cookies) 1975

Three almond balls ( bolas ) in a row. "This one is good," my sister-in-law Jill told me. She tried not to express too much surprise, but I have regaled her with too many tales of failed cookies. And forced her to eat a few duds. I was glad this one made the grade. I liked it, too. You might think I am a hopeless romantic to fall for another almond cookie. (Italy, almond cookies. Almond cookies, Italy.) The fact is every country that can grow almonds has its special recipes for almond cookies. Portugal is no exception. The ground blanched almonds combine with dry bread crumbs, then the usual sugar, egg whites and almond extract. The dry bread crumbs are key. When the cookies are fresh from the oven, the bread crumbs add a perfect crunch to their rustic, nutty texture. Holes in the center ready for filling. These cookies don't "drop." You roll them in a ball ( bola ) and press a hole in the center, as for jelly-filled thumbprint cookies. Egg yolk
1 comment
Read more

#17 Brazil Nut Crescents 1958

Light as a feather, these cookies showcase the Brazil nut. After my fiasco of many ingredients (the Oatmeal Molasses Cookies seem so last month), I wondered if only four ingredients would be enough to make a decent attempt at a cookie. I creamed the butter, added sugar, flour and finely chopped Brazil nuts, as instructed. I kneaded the dough on a floured surface a bit, and formed my 2-inch cylinder of dough. The ridged crescent shapes emerge when you cut off each slice. As you cut, each round compresses into more of an oval or square. Help it shape by giving it a pat on top. Then, poke a finger sideways into the middle of each slice, and pull the ends toward you to form the crescents. Cookie rounds flatten as you slice them. I expected a firm cookie, like the Mexican Wedding Cakes I've made. But these are lighter. When I bit in, they crumbled like an abandoned sand castle. OK, edible sand castle. I wondered how they had stayed together until then. The texture difference c
Post a Comment
Read more

Bourbon Balls, by request

On Sunday, my nephew asked me for my bourbon ball recipe. Not one from the Gourmet Cookie Book -- one of those recipes I haven't gotten around to -- but the one I make for Christmas brunch, and other cold-weather parties to get us all through the winter. My recipe comes from a 1970's yellowed 3 X 5 card. Typed on an actual typewriter. My mom found the "Coconut Rum Balls" recipe somewhere, set me to typing the recipe for her card file, then set me to making them. I kept making them. One year, we were out of rum and I'd tasted a friend's bourbon balls (in the '70's these things were everywhere), so I used bourbon and never looked back. Bourbon Balls 2 cups finely crushed chocolate waters 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, more for rolling 1 cup finely chopped pecans 1/4 cup light corn syrup 1/4 cup bourbon Combine all ingredients. With hands -- and this is the fun part so no fair using a spoon -- mix until all ingredients are well combined. The mixt
Post a Comment
Read more