Alabama State Nut – Alabama Statute

Arkansas State Nut – Arkansas Statute

According to the Arkansas Encyclopedia of Culture and History,

The Eighty-seventh Arkansas General Assembly designated the pecan as the official nut of Arkansas. Act 638, introduced as HB 1906 by Representative Larry Cowling (District 2, Little River County), had twenty-two co-sponsors and was approved on March 27, 2009. The act specifically noted, however, that it did not grant protected status to the pecan, thus ensuring that the fruit of the Carya illinoinensis may be harvested and consumed.

The Pecan Tree

Other States With Pecan Symbols

Pecan Cookies

Ingredients for Pecan Cookies

• Parchment paper or vegetable cooking spray, for the baking sheet
• 2 cups pecans, plus about 3 dozen pecan halves for topping the cookies
• 1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• Pinch of salt
• White of 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions for Pecan Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or generously grease it.
2. Combine the 2 cups pecans and 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar in a food processor, and process until the nuts are finely chopped.
3. Combine the chopped pecans, remaining brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add the egg white (unbeaten) and lemon juice, and stir until thoroughly combined.
4. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the mixture, about 1-1/2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet. Press a pecan half into each cookie.
5. Bake on the center oven rack until the cookies are golden brown, 8 to 11 minutes. Watch the bottoms, as they burn easily. Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet set on a wire rack until they can be safely moved, 1 to 2 minutes. Then transfer them to the rack to cool completely.
6. Repeat, baking and cooling the remaining cookies, and serve.

Yield: Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Note: The above recipe is courtesy of Grandparents.com
Grandparents.com is the ultimate resource and premier social website for today’s grandparents. The website offers enriching activities, discussion groups, expert advice, ten monthly newsletters, and a Benefits Club with discounts on thousands of goods and services.

History & Legislation of the Boston Cream Donut

Massachusetts State Donut

Section 51. The Boston Cream Donut shall be the official donut of the commonwealth.
Approved January 1, 2003.

To read a wonderful musing about the donut, try Happy National Donut Day by the Food Muse.

How to Make a Boston Cream Donut

Boston Scream (web-design on a Boston Cream Donut) photo by James Lee

Yield: 12-14 donuts
Difficulty: Advanced

Vanilla Pastry Cream Filling:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 4 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup warm milk (105° to 115ºF.)
• 1 package active dry yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 egg yolks, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 2 bars (1.5 ounces each) Godiva® Dark Chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons water
• 4 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1. Place sugar and 1 cup milk in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat until mixture boils.
2. Place cornstarch in medium bowl. Using wire whisk, gradually whisk in remaining milk and whisk until mixture is smooth. Add yolks and whisk until well blended.
3. Slowly pour 1/3 cup hot milk into yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Gradually whisk in remaining hot milk. Return milk-yolk mixture to saucepan and heat to a boil over medium heat. Boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. (If pastry cream is lumpy, pass it through a sieve.) Transfer pastry cream to a nonreactive bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto surface of cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cold.

1. Place warm milk, yeast and 1 teaspoon granulated sugar in bowl of electric mixer. Using a wire whisk, stir mixture until yeast granules are evenly dispersed. Let stand for 3 minutes until yeast is dissolved and mixture begins to foam.
2. Add 1 1/2 cups flour to yeast mixture. Using paddle attachment, beat on low speed 2 minutes. Remove paddle attachment and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let stand at room temperature 45 minutes. Sponge will have increased in volume.
3. Thoroughly grease a large bowl with 1 tablespoon room temperature butter. To sponge, add remaining butter and sugar, yolks, salt, cardamom and nutmeg. Mix on low speed until blended. Add 1 1/2 cups remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Beat dough on medium speed 5 minutes. Dough will not form a ball – it will be soft and part of it will wrap itself around paddle. If dough is very sticky, add remaining flour 1 tablespoon at a time, as necessary.
4. Scrape dough into prepared bowl, turning over dough so that top is greased. Cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise at room temperature about 2 hours, or until it has slightly more than doubled in volume. (Rising time will depend upon room temperature.)
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper and evenly dust with flour. Dust a clean work surface with flour. Turn out risen dough onto surface and gently press down on it to deflate. With your hands, flatten dough into a rectangle about 1/2-inch thick. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let dough rest 5 minutes.
6. Using a floured 2 1/2-inch round biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out about 12 to 14 rounds of dough. With a floured spatula, gently transfer rounds to prepared baking sheet, reshaping them if necessary. Leave at least 1-inch between doughnuts to allow for expansion. Let doughnuts rise for about 20 minutes, or until almost doubled in size.

1. Pour enough oil in a deep-fat fryer or large straight-sided saucepan to come halfway up sides. Oil should be a depth of 2 to 3 inches. Heat oil to 365ºF. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.
2. Dip a spatula in hot oil and use it to transfer doughnuts from baking sheet to oil. Fry doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time, for 1 to 1 minute 30 seconds or until golden brown. (The midline of the doughnut will be lighter than the rest of it, which is characteristic.) Remove doughnuts from hot oil using a slotted spoon and transfer them to paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain and cool. When cool enough to handle, use a long, plain pastry tip to poke a hole through the midline of each doughnut. Let cool completely before filling.

1. Cook water, corn syrup and sugar in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat until mixture boils.
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Let stand 2 minutes. Whisk in butter until mixture is smooth.

1. Remove pastry cream from refrigerator and whisk cream until it is smooth. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain 1/4-inch round tip with pastry cream. Pipe pastry cream into hole in middle of each doughnut until pastry cream bulges out and doughnut feels full. Wipe off any excess cream. Place filled doughnuts on rack after they are filled.
2. Dip top of each filled doughnut into bowl of warm chocolate glaze, letting excess glaze drip back into bowl. Place glazed doughnuts back onto rack to set. The doughnuts are best when prepared and served on the same day.

-recipe courtesy of Godiva Chocolate

Tasty Treats for You

Alternate Names for Indiana State Pie

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Sugar Cream Pie - photo courtesy of Mrs. Wicks Pies. Learn more about Mrs. Wicks Pies below.

How to Make a Sugar Cream Pie

Ingredients

• 1 cup lightly-packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2-1/2 cups cream (heavy cream, whipping cream or heavy whipping cream)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1 unbaked pie shell

Directions

1. Cream together butter, brown sugar, salt, and flour and spread into the prepared unbaked pie crust.
2. Pour throughly beaten mixture of cream and vanilla into unbaked pie shell.
3. Sprinkle nutmeg on top of the pie mixture.
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees F. and then at 325 degrees F. for 35 minutes.

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Indiana State Pie- History and Legislation

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION urging the adoption of the sugar cream pie as Indiana’s official state pie.

[ad#Google 250 x 250 right] Whereas, The Indiana Foodways Alliance, “a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to the celebration, promotion, and preservation of the authentic food culture of Indiana,” would like to see the sugar cream pie adopted as the official state pie of Indiana and to name the pie as the Hoosier Pie;
Whereas, Sugar cream pie is simply a pie shell spread with layers of creamed butter and maple or brown sugar combined with a sprinkling of flour, filled with vanilla-flavored cream and baked;
Whereas, Sugar cream pie was created between 1810 and 1825 by the North Carolina Quakers who settled on farms along the eastern border of Indiana, especially the Richmond, Winchester, Portland, and New Castle areas;
Whereas, Despite being known as “desperation pie,” sugar cream pie required a cow in the barn and imported sugar;
Whereas, If the sugar cream pie is Indiana’s official pie, then Winchester is the sugar cream pie capital;
Whereas, Wick’s Pies, located in Winchester, has helped make the sugar cream pie famous by producing pies from a Wickersham family recipe that dates back to the family’s 19th century farm;
Whereas, Beginning more than 60 years ago as a small company, Wick’s Pies produces approximately 12 million pies and pie shells in a year, and its sugar cream pie is available in more than 25 states; and
Whereas, Food and culinary practices helped immigrants feel at home in their strange, new surroundings; it is important that we remember these practices and the foods that remain a part of our daily lives still today: Therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, the House of Representatives concurring:

• SECTION 1. That the Indiana General Assembly urges the adoption of the sugar cream pie as the official pie of the state of Indiana and its renaming as the Hoosier Pie.
• SECTION 2. That copies of this resolution be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the Indiana Foodways Alliance.

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Suggested Ingredients

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History of Florida’s Official State Pie:

The Key Lime Pie

The 2006 Florida Legislature designated key lime pie as the official state pie. The key limes (Citrus aurantifolia Swingle) used to make this dessert are named after the Florida Keys where the key limes originated in the United States. The first key lime pie was created in the 1850s in south Florida. The recipe became popular in early Florida because it was made using key limes and sweetened condensed milk and did not require refrigeration.

Key Lime Pie - photo by Ann Gav

How to Make a Florida Key Lime Pie

• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (12 to 15 key limes or 3 to 4 common limes)
• 4 teaspoons grated lime zest
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 12 graham crackers
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions for Florida Key Lime Pie
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1. Zest the limes.
2. Cut the limes in half and juice them. Be sure to remove any pits.
3. Put the butter in the microwave for about 1 minute to melt, and put it to the side.
4. Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together in a bowl until tinted light green. This takes about 2 minutes
5. Beat in the milk, then the lime juice you squeezed earlier, and set aside at room temperature till it thickens.
6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
7. Crush your graham crackers or put them in a food processor, until they are crumbs.
8. Mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar in another bowl.
9. Add melted butter and stir with a fork until well blended.
10. Pour this mixture into a 9-inch pie pan and press over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Try using the bottom of a measuring cup to make sure the graham cracker mixture forms a firm crust on the bottom of the pie pan.
11. Bake on the center rack for about 15 minutes until the crust is lightly brown, remove and let cool to room temperature.
12. Pour the lime filling into crust, spread evenly, and then bake for 15 minutes until the center sets, but still wiggles when shaken.
13. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
14. Refrigerate for at least three hours until well chilled.
15. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

-recipe from the Reluctant Gourmet


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Suggested Ingredients

History of the Cranberry

Massachusetts Cranberry Shortbread Cookie - photo by Deborah Austin

The cranberry, along with the blueberry and Concord grape, is one of North America’s three native fruits that are commercially grown. Cranberries were first used by Native Americans, who discovered the wild berry’s versatility as a food, fabric dye and healing agent. Today, cranberries are commercially grown throughout the northern part of the United States and are available in both fresh and processed forms.

The name “cranberry” derives from the Pilgrim name for the fruit, “craneberry”, so called because the small, pink blossoms that appear in the spring resemble the head and bill of a Sandhill crane. European settlers adopted the Native American uses for the fruit and found the berry a valuable bartering tool.

American whalers and mariners carried cranberries on their voyages to prevent scurvy. In 1816, Captain Henry Hall became the first to successfully cultivate cranberries. By 1871, the first association of cranberry growers in the United States had formed, and now, U.S. farmers harvest approximately 40,000 acres of cranberries each year.

Source: Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association

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Adoption of the Massachusetts State Berry

Ingredients for Cranberry Filled Cookies

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• 1 cup Sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 4 cups Fresh or Frozen Cranberries
• 1 (3”) Cinnamon Stick
• 1 tablespoon Lavender
• 1 teaspoon Cardamom, ground
• 2 pkg. Pre-made Sugar Cookie Dough

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Directions for Cranberry Filled Cookies

1. Combine cranberries, sugar, lavender, cardamom, and cinnamon stick in a saucepan and bring to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring.
2. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have burst, about 10 minutes.
3. Remove and discard cinnamon stick, then carefully transfer the cranberry mixture to a blender and puree until smooth (use caution when blending hot mixtures).
4. Cool the mixture in the refrigerator until completely cold.
5. Roll out 1 log of cookie dough until 1/4” thickness is achieved consistently.
6. Using a small round cookie cutter, cut out dough and transfer to a baking sheet, leaving 1/2” space between each cookie.
7. Place 1-2 t of the cranberry mixture in the center of each cookie.
8. Place another piece of round dough on top of the mixture and pinch the edges of the cookie together. (center of top piece can be cut out in a shape, if you choose.)
9. At this point the cookies may either be frozen to be baked at a later date, or bake in a 350*F oven for about 10-15 minutes or until a light golden brown.

Yield:
25-35 servings

Source: Jessica Drakulich, Johnson & Wales University


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Cranberry Goodies

In 2001, the North Carolina General Assembly named the Scuppernong the official state fruit.

“All Scuppernongs are Muscadines, but not all Muscadines are Scuppernongs.”

Scuppernong Grape - Photo by MGShelton

Muscadine grapes are native to North Carolina and… are large, thick-skinned grapes that typically contain four large seeds and grow in loose clusters. Unlike bunch grapes, that are harvested by clipping whole bunches from the vine, muscadines are usually harvested as individual berries.

Source: Excerpted from a North Carolina Muscadine Association brochure
Visit www.ncmuscadine.org for more information.

Ingredients for the NC Muscadine Dump Cake

• ½ stick margarine
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup prepared NC muscadines
• ¾ cup self-rising flour

Directions for the Muscadine Dump Cake

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1. To prepare muscadines, remove pulp; cook pulp until seeds loosen, then press through sieve to remove seeds.
2. Add pulp to skins and cook until tender.
3. Add sugar to taste, some grated lemon peel and a sprinkle of apple pie spice.
4. Melt butter in glass pie plate.
5. Mix flour, sugar and milk in another bowl.
6. Pour flour mixture over butter.
7. Carefully pour prepared muscadines over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
8. Do not open oven until baking time is up.
9. Cake should be brown on top.

Yield: 8 servings.

Learning Links for the Scuppernong (Muscadine) Grape

Scuppernong Grape – North Carolina’s State Fruit
Learn more about the history of North Carolina’s state fruit.
Source: ClassBrain’s State Reports

Tasty Muscadine Treats For You

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History and Legislation

Maryland State Dessert

Maryland’s legislature approved Smith Island Cake as Maryland’s Official Dessert in Senate House Bill 315, which was passed on April 24, 2008.

The Smith Island Cake is an amazing confection consisting of up to 15 layers of thinly sliced cake with delicious layers of chocolate frosting in between.

According to Wikipedia:

The most common flavor is yellow cake with chocolate icing but other flavors such as coconut, fig, strawberry, lemon, and orange are also common. Known simply as the Smith Island Cake, the dessert is baked for any occasion and not reserved only for holidays.[11] The cake is also baked as the feature prize for a local fundraising tradition called a cake walk which is a game played like musical chairs where donated cakes serve as the prize. Great attention is paid to the perfection of the layers and form of the cake. Before each round, the prize cake at stake is cut in half and shown to the players who pay to participate in the game. A poorly stacked cake may not attract many players and as a result, not raise as much money as a more perfectly executed cake.

Maryland State Dessert

How to Make a Smith Island Cake

Frosting – Ingredients
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• 2 sticks butter
• 2-12 oz. cans evaporated milk
• 8 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa
• 2 lbs. confectioners Sugar

Frosting – Directions

1. Melt butter. Stir in evaporated milk (off heat).
2. Whisk in Cocoa until smooth, return to heat and cook for approximately 10 minutes. DO NOT BOIL or Scorch.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in confectioners sugar slowly.
4. Cook slowly until thickened and will stick to back of a spoon or to the whisk (It will form a ribbon when you drizzle a spoonful onto mixture while cooking).
5. Approx time: 45 minutes.

---

Cake – Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks
• 5 – eggs
• 3 – cups flour
• ¼ – teaspoon salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• ½ cup water

Cake – Directions

1. Cream together sugar and butter.
2. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder.
3. Mix into egg mixture one cup at a time.
4. With mixer running, slowly pour in the evaporated milk, then the vanilla and water. Mix just until uniform.
5. Put three serving spoonsful of batter in each of ten 9-inch lightly greased pans, using the back of the spoon to spread evenly.
6. Bake three layers at a time on the middle rack of the oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. A layer is done when you hold it near your ear and you don’t hear it sizzle.
7. Start making the icing when the first layer goes in the oven.
8. Let the layers cool a couple of minutes in the pans. Put the cake together as the layers are finished. Run a spatula around the edge oft he pan and ease the layer out of the pan. Don’t worry if it tears; no one will notice when the cake is finished.
9. Use two or three serving spoonsful of icing between each layer. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the rest of the icing. Push icing that runs onto the plate back onto the cake.

To ice the cake

1. Take one slightly cooled layer and spread with cooled frosting. Add crushed candy randomly on layer. (Reese cups, snickers, milky ways, or whatever your favorite is—candy is optional as well )
2. Add next layers, frosting, candy, and repeat process till the 10th layer.
3. Do not add candy to final layer.
4. Finish frosting the cake and sides. May have to wait to ice top and sides until the icing cools.
5. Enjoy!

From Mrs. Kitching’s Smith Island Cookbook by Frances Kitching and Susan Stiles Dowell. Copyright ©1981 by Tidewater Publishers. Used by permission of Tidewater Publishers, Centreville, Maryland (800-638-7641).

Tasty Treats For You

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Raspberry Granita courtesy of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission

Red Raspberries – Top Washington Agricultural Crop

Granita is an Italian version of ice or sorbet, but with large, crunch crytals. It’s very easy and great for a simple dessert. We’ve given the traditional recipe an update by freezing the fruit blend in a zip top plastic bag instead of in a shallow pan. Just squeeze the bag several times during the freezing process to break up the large ice crystals.

According to the Washington Red Raspberry Commission:

Washington red raspberries are delicious and nutritious, packed full of ellagic acid, vitamins, antioxidants and fiber, and produced on some of the most beautiful farmland in the United States. Washington accounts for nearly 95 percent of the U.S. production of processed red raspberries, at about 70,000,000 pounds per year.

Ingredients for Raspberry Granita

• 2 (12-ounce) bags IQF Washington raspberries
• 1/2 cup sugar or honey
• 1/2 cup cranberry-raspberry juice
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced

Directions for Raspberry Granita

1. Process all ingredients in food process or blender just until mixed.
2. Spoon into zip top freezer bag and place bag flat in freezer.
3. After 30 minutes, remove bag and squeeze to break up large ice crystals.
4. Repeat until completely frozen.
5. Stir with fork to break into smaller chunks to serve. Spoon into serving glasses to serve.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Nutrition Information per serving: calories 91, fat 0.05g, saturated fat 0.0g, % calories from fat 1%, protein 1.14g, carbohydrates 22g, cholesterol 0mg, sodium 7.29mg, fiber 2.27g.

Recipe and image courtesy of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission

Tasty Raspberry Treats for You

Photo courtesy of sleepyneko -Flickr

According to the New York State Library:

The apple was adopted as the State fruit in 1976. Apples are sweet and crisp, and many varieties are grown in New York.

Apples were introduced in the 1600s by European settlers who brought seeds to New York. Dried apples were a staple for colonists and hard apple cider was a popular drink.

In addition to New York, the following states have also designated the apple, or a specific apple variety as their state fruit: Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia.

Ingredients for Baked Apples

• 4 medium apples
• raisins
• 1 cup water
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions for making Baked Apples:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Remove the core from the apples, leaving 1⁄2 inch of the core at the bottom of the apple. Peel top 1/3 of apple.
3. Arrange apples in baking pan. Then fill the core of the apple with raisins, and sprinkle with cinnamon.
4. Pour water into pan.
5. Bake 45 to 60 minutes or until tender. Spoon liquid from pan over apples one or two times during baking.

Nutrition info for 1 serving:
Calories: 110 • Total Fat: 0 g • Saturated Fat: 0 g • Cholesterol: 0 mg
Carbohydrates: 27 g • Protein: 1 g • Sodium: 5 mg

provided by University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension

Tasty New York Apple Treats for You

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