Long lost recipes
I'm sure someone, somewhere has the info I seek...
1) Bourbon Balls: Christmastime was the only time (as children)we ever had these little morsels of melt-in-your mouth confection. All I can remember is powdered sugar, cocoa, and of course chocolate sprinkles. I'm sure there was butter and bourbon, too. My mother is no longer alive, and my 6 siblings SWEAR they don't have her hand-written recipes. I did find a recipe that called for cookie crumbs ... Yuk! Definitely NOT the same.
2) Banana Bread: Sure, I have Mother's recipe for this, but it's not as good as one I discovered ... Sorry, Mother. I found it in a thin, magazine-size, soft covered cookbook. The title was something like Foods to Give as Gifts or Foods made for Gift Giving. It might have been published by Better Home and Gardens or Time-Life Books; am pretty sure it's not from Betty Crocker. Recipes included in this publication had things like pickles, cookies, breads, maybe even vineagars. I'm thinking this was late 70's or early 80's. So one divorce, one college degree, and many moves later, my recipe book collection has dwindled.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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5 Comments:
For the old cookbook, I suggest you go to a used book site like Alibris and type in some keywords (like food gift) and see if any of the titles that pop up are the one you're looking for. The cover photo may jog your memory when you see it. Some of the old books like that sell for $1.99 (plus shipping of course) so it's not a big investment.
As for the bourbon balls, I'll bet someone took a recipe for rum balls and just substituted bourbon. You might want to look for rum ball recipes and see if any of those seem like what you're looking for,
dbcurrie at 11:31PM on 11/17/08
I agree with db, although the recipe that immediately comes to mind does indeed call for cookie crumbs. I made these last Christmas, so I can say from experience that as odd as it sounds, they are really good and don't taste like cookies. I used the one on Joy of Baking: Rum Balls. Very good, although I think I might use a little less rum next time -- mine were somewhat boozy, haha.
kfarrel3 at 12:12AM on 11/18/08
I made bourbon balls in the '60s that I boxed and gave for Christmas (like your Mother, the only time of the year that I made them) - everyone loved them, including me. I substituted Grand Marnier one year, and they were really great! But my recipe called for crushed vanilla wafers in addition to cocoa, corn syrup, bourbon (rum, brandy, or whatever), powdered sugar, and finely chopped pecans - no butter as that would have been in the cookie crumbs. I can't imagine what else except crushed cookies would be used as a base for these little gems as they are not baked. You don't taste the cookies crumbs at all, so perhaps you didn't realize they were there in your Mother's recipe (?)
JaneGF at 11:20AM on 11/18/08
Found this recipe in a collection of old-fashioned recipes submitted by members of a Tennessee farm organization... no cookie crumbs, no flour, no nothing:
I'm thinking the paraffin is unnecessary. I'm sure it's used to make the chocolate shiny, and possibly as an added preservative (which seems redundant with all that booze).
If you're going to roll them in sprinkles anyway, I tend to think you could just omit the paraffin. But one of our resident candy experts would have to comment on this opinion, as I'm totally inexperienced.
BTW, this particular collection contains two recipes for bourbon balls, and they are virtually identical. The only difference is that one calls for a whole pecan half to be inserted into the middle of the ball in lieu of the chopped nuts.
Hope it helps!
LoCo at 12:01PM on 11/18/08
For JaneGF: Good point about my perceived memory versus the actual experience. Might you still have the recipe to which you referred?
For LoCo: I'm going to try the recipe, but without the paraffin as you suggested, and probably whirl the pecans in the blender first for a smoother texture overall. Thanks
Also, I hadn't thought of a used book site. Great idea!
Off to the kitchen ...
Callie at 1:46PM on 11/20/08