Corn Dogs

Kathy
Well, this recipe calls for packaged pancake mix but I don't use pancake mix since I went on my mission where I got used to making pancakes from scratch.  Anyway, I used my favorite Pancake/Waffle Recipe but I cut it in half because I only had 3 hotdogs.  Here is what I did:  this is the measurements of my 1/2 recipe
Mix together
3/4 c flour
1 t salt
2 t baking powder
1/4 c sugar
to this I added 3 T corn meal
set aside
Mix together
1 egg
1/2 c water (would have used milk if I had it on hand)  for pancakes I would use more liquid
1 t vanilla
1 T margarine melted
add to dry ingredients
Okay this made a nice pasty batter which was a bit more corny than I expected.  As I added the cornmeal to the flour, I thought it looked too white so I added more.  However, once I added the wet ingredients, it seemed to activate the cornmeal.
I laid my hotdogs into the batter and turned them in order to coat them well and placed them into hot oil
But I forgot to test the oil so when I laid the first hotdog, the oil was not actually hot. Then I remembered to drop small sprinkles of water into the oil to know whether it is hot or not.  Anyway, the 2nd dog came out better.  The batter held to it better and I dripped a bit more over the area that was bare.  On the 1st dog the batter slid off of it on the oil side.
I decided to cut up the 3rd dog, I cut it into 3 pieces and made bite size corn dogs.
The flavor was good but the shape looked just plain silly.  I have no idea how to fix that problem.
Maybe a good hot oil that is not too hot.... I finished up by dropping the remaining batter into oil in clumps which made nice hush puppies

Chocolate Frosting (Evy)

In saucepan:
1/2 cube oleo
6 T cocoa
1 t vanilla
3 T milk
few grains salt

Add sifted powdered sugar (about a box) and if needed add more warm? milk.

12/15/12
This was easy to make.  I think I added too much powdered sugar though because it was hard to work with on the cake.  It tasted great and I would make this again.  ****

However the cake was pretty dry.  I think it was in the oven too long even though I removed it 10 minutes sooner than the recipe called for.  It did not have the bad cocoa flavor that happened 35 years ago, but my Betty Crocker cake mix always turns out just right, is light and airy and never dry.
The mix is also so much simpler.  In the end, I think I might be willing to try the cake once or twice more to see if I can do better, simply because I would enjoy the challenge.

Real Chocolate Fudge Cake

 

2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
1 cup boiling water, divided
1 cup sugar
2 Tbs salad oil
1 egg
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate over hot water.  Add 1/2 cup boiling water; stir until custard like in consistency.  Remove from heat.  Add sugar and salad oil and mix well.  Beat egg; add vanilla.  Add remaining hot water.  Bake in 8" square cake pan, 350 degrees, 45 to 50 minutes.  Cool on cake rack.  Split into 2 layers.  Fill and frost.

Becky:  First of all, I make a lot of substitutions when I cook.  I'm not going to run out to the store with my 3 kids to buy something crazy (but probably delicious) like liquid smoke.  I make do with what I have or add the ingredient to my regular shopping list and make the recipe later.  Since unsweetened chocolate is not a pantry staple for me, I did a quick search and found that 3 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips is the same as 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate plus 1 Tbsp sugar.  Perfect, I have tons of chocolate chips.  In this recipe I used 6 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips and a little less than the 1 cup of sugar called for.
I also don't have a double boiler, so I put some water in a stock pot and used a bowl set on top to melt the chocolate.  After the chocolate melted and I adding the boiling water, I waited patiently for it to become "custard like in consistency."  It never quite made it, so after about 15 minutes I decided it was thick enough and moved on.
I didn't realize the directions didn't mention adding the dry ingredients until I'd already begun the cake.  I decided to assume Grossie meant to type "Add remaining hot water and dry ingredients."  After adding the rest of the hot water I added the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  After cooking for 45 minutes, the cake was done, but the center had fallen in.  After flipping it over onto my cutting board and frosting it you couldn't even tell it had collapsed.  Okay, maybe you could still tell, but my kids were so excited about having dessert they didn't notice.  In fact, they requested the middle of the cake and were very upset when I explained you can't start with the center.
I thought this cake was pretty good, but I'd like to try it again before I make a final judgement.  Maybe I'll even buy unsweetened chocolate and measure my flour a little more carefully (did I mention I'm a lazy measurer?).

1/15/12
The first thing I have to say is that I have always made my chocolate cakes using a mix, since my only attempt at a scratch chocolate cake, the first year I was married 35 years ago, was awful. This recipe did not give directions concerning dry ingredients.  I traded the oil in for margarine which I melted with the chocolate in a double broiler.  Once it was melted, I added the boiling water and after it thickened, I added the vanilla and 3/4 c sugar allowing it to dissolve.  Then I let it continue cooking until it thickened once again and set it aside to cool.
Next I mixed the dry ingredients along with the other 1/4 c of sugar together.  I beat the egg and added it to the other 1/2 c water and added to dry ingredients and then added the melted chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients as well.  I mixed it with a wire whip.  The batter seemed rather thick and it did not have the taste I am used to mixes having.  I baked it at 350 for 35 minutes.  At this point, it had pulled away from the sides and was very dense, not having a bouncy feel when using the light touch to the top I usually use to check for doneness.  It would not even give the slightest bit.
This cake recipe had mocha frosting recipe but since I do not use coffee, I used a chocolate frosting recipe from our collection instead.

Beef Stroganoff - May's Recipe

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. lean beef
1/2 lb mushrooms or 1 can but dried is better
1/2 pint sourcream
1 T flour
salt
paprika

Cut beef across the grain.  This IS important so it won't be stringy and tough.  Cut 1 inch long, 1/2 width of pencil. (Mom, that's really tiny, almost like ground beef, right?)  In frying pan, place 2 Tbsp butter, beef drippings, or other fat.  Cook slowly with lid on for 15 min, turning occasionally.  Then add mushrooms, cut in small pieces.  Cook 10 min.  If pan becomes dry add a little fat or butter.  Place meat and mushrooms in top of double boiler.  Put in frying pan 1 Tbsp butter.  Melt and mix the flour   Then add sour cream.  Stir with fork.  Pour into beef and mushrooms.  Cook for 5 - 10 min.  Season to taste.

1/8/12      I prepared this recipe using only 14 ounces of beef and about 6 ounces of mushrooms and 1/2 pint of sour cream.  It took some time to get the beef cut up and cutting it up that small made it difficult to know if I was cutting across the grain or not.  I was concerned that this recipe would be rather dry but the beef had quite a bit of liquid in it at the end of the 25 minutes.  I enjoyed using the double broiler because I really did not have to stir the mixture and it did not stick or scorch at all.  I let it simmer in the double broiler for closer to 15 minutes.

After all was said and done, I would prepare this recipe again because it tasted really good.  The beef was not stringy or tough so I must of cut across the grain.  However, it was a bit much beef for my liking.  I served it over egg noodles and would have preferred more sauce and less beef.  ***

*May was Evy's mother-in-law. May Townsend Roe 1893-1976