Discovering history through an old recipe book

Who is Mrs Rawnsley? Where did she get this recipe for sponge cake from?  Did she make it up herself?  Did she get it from a friend or a neighbour?  These are questions that I’d love to have the answer to, but unless one of Mrs Rawnsley’s descendants is reading this post, I don’t think I’ll ever find out.   I found her recipe for sponge cake when I was carefully leafing through a very old cookbook that belonged to my grandmother (the one you can see below).  I mentioned the book briefly in my last post about growing up in New Zealand. The recipes are faded; some are so faint that they’re illegible.  Beside almost all of the recipes is the name of the person who gave them to my grandmother.

A life in recipes

This makes the book more than a collection of recipes.  It makes it the story of my grandmother’s life; who she knew, where she lived and how people ate at different periods of her life.  There are also some recipes in it, written very carefully by my mother when she was a little girl.  I can imagine her sitting at the dining-room table, studiously writing them down, with her tongue caught between her teeth in concentration.

The sponge cake is very easy to make. It is more the consistency of cake rather than sponge, but tasted it wonderful! It should be eaten within a day or two of making it.  I noticed that it goes stale quite quickly.

A little bit of soul searching

The cookbook leads us along the path of my grandmother’s life from when she started collecting recipes from my great-grandmother, to when she got married, left home and started to meet new people.  We all have a book like this inside of us: a trail of people we’ve met.  Some of them are passing acquaintances and some become friends.  Each and every one of them has some sort of impact on your life, just as you have an influence on theirs. Just remember that next time you smile at a stranger.  That could make the difference in their day! So, enough of the philosophy for now. Here’s the:

Travel Photo Of The Week

Of course, this week it’s a photo of New Zealand.  How can I make a sponge cake from New Zealand and not show you a photo from there too?  My brother and his family are very lucky to live close to this beach called Mangawhai Heads, up in the North of New Zealand. It’s known for its surfing, though it was pretty calm the day we were there (and empty!). We had great fun poking through the rock-pools with the kids.  The kids had great fun rolling and running down the huge sand-dunes behind the beach.  We left that one to them and waited sedately for them at the bottom.

By Lisa Watson

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Mrs Rawnsley's Sponge Cake

Mrs Rawnsley's Sponge Cake is a very old recipe from New Zealand, discovered in my grandmother's faded, falling-to-pieces cookbook. 

Course Dessert, sweet

Cuisine New Zealand

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 1 cake

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs
• 150 g White Sugar 3/4 cup
• 125 ml Milk 1/2 cup
• 40 g Butter 1 1/2 oz
• 120 g All-purpose flour 1 cup
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

Instructions

• Grease a cake tin with butter and line the bottom with baking paper. Heat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
• Beat together the eggs and sugar until they become pale and thick.
• Boil the milk and melt the butter in it. Pour the milk mixture slowly into the creamed egg while beating the batter constantly.
• Mix together the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.
• Gently beat the flour mixture into the batter.
•  Bake the cake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.
• Leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before running a knife around the edges and tipping out onto a wire-rack to cool completely.
• Dust with icing sugar before serving.

What is a snickerdoodle anyway?

I spent a few years living in California, which is where I was introduced to these fabulous cookies called snickerdoodles. When I first heard the name “snickerdoodle”, I thought it was another one of those strange poodle crosses, like the labradoodle (now, who wouldn’t want one of those?!). In fact, I eventually found out that snickerdoodles were butter cookies rolled in sugar and cinnamon, which was a little disappointing, but much easier to keep as a pet. The origins of the strange name seem to be lost in the mists of history.  My guess is that one day some cook just decided that it would be terribly funny to make everyone in the world try to say snickerdoodle as often as possible.

What to use instead of cream of tartar

Snickerdoodles call for an ingredient called cream of tartar, which can be difficult to get in some countries.  My supplier (i.e. my mother) brings it into France when she comes to visit from New Zealand. If you can’t get hold of cream of tartar, apparently you can replace it with 2 tsp of lemon juice for the taste, and/or 1 tsp of baking powder.  Now, I haven’t tried either of these replacements, so I can’t guarantee that they will taste/work the same (although the internet assures me that they do!).  I can’t see that they would hurt the snickerdoodles, so if you try it, let me know how it goes.

Snickerdoodles keep well for a week or so in an air-tight container after they’re made.  It’s very unusual that they last that long though.

Travel Photo of the Week

This photo comes from the U.S.A.: the home of snickerdoodles.  This is one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever hiked to. Arches National Park lies in the State of Utah near a very hip small town called Moab. The park is full of eye-bending rock arches, but this one is the most stunning, in my opinion. The rock formation is called Delicate Arch, for obvious reasons.  It is perched on the edge of a cliff that drops away into a deep valley.  I’ve hiked up here a couple of times, and the best time was just before sunset.  The sun setting on the orange rocks turns them a deep red colour.  If you go, take a headlamp with you so you can find your way back down the trail!

This recipe for snickerdoodles is adapted from a recipe from a fantastic cookie book called (wait for it!) “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt In Your Mouth Cookies” By Alice Medrich.

By Lisa Watson

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Snickerdoodle cookies

How to make Snickerdoodles: The Great American Cookie

Course Dessert, sweet

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

fridge time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 35 - 40 cookies

Ingredients

• 225 g Butter 7.9 oz
• 275 g Sugar 9.7 oz
• 2 Eggs
• 380 g Flour 13.4 oz
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Cream of Tartar
• For The Coating:
• 4 Tbsp White Sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

• Cream the butter (at room temperature) and sugar together until fluffy.
• Add the eggs and beat in.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients, except those for the coating.
• Add the flour mixutre to the creamed butter and stir until the dough becomes smooth.
• Cover the bowl with clingfilm and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or up to one day.

When you are ready to make the cookies:

• Heat the oven to 180°C (375°F).
• Mix the sugar and cinnamon for the coating in a shallow dish.
• Roll the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls, then roll them in the coating mixture.
• Place them on a cookie sheet covered with baking paper. Leave about four fingers of space between each cookie so that they can spread.  I usually fit 12 cookies on a regular-sized cookie sheet.
• Bake for 10 - 12 minutes until the cookies are golden in colour.  Take them out of the oven and leave them to cool on the tray for a few minutes.