Apple-Night.

After a long break, The Old Foodie is back. I wont promise at this stage that I will return to five posts a week as I did without fail for ten years, but will begin with one only - a single little story for your delectation – each week. How is that for starters?

Thanks to all of you for your messages of love and your many requests for my return.

As it is Halloween, I thought I would begin with a few recipes from old Aussie newspapers, to make the spooky scary night even more fun. I have chosen a couple of apple-centric bakery-type dishes, because everyone likes bakery goods, and because apples are associated with autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Of course, here in the Southern half of the globe, spring has truly sprung and apples are well past their peak and already being usurped by mangoes and stone-fruit - but as a population we have not as yet managed to disentangle ourselves from the handicap of seasonally inappropriate  wrong-hemisphere ingredients when it comes to ‘traditional’ celebrations.

I have also included a Hallowe’en beverage in the style of liquid fruit salad, or the alternative style of a couple of bottles of ruined cider, and leave you to make up your own minds about its potential deliciousness.  I dedicate this recipe to all who still think of England as “The Motherland.”

HALLOWE'EN APPLE CAKE.

1lb. flour, ¼ lb. golden syrup,6oz. moist sugar, 2oz. citron peel or crystallised ginger, 1lb. apples (stewed, but not watery), 2 eggs,1 teaspoon each ground ginger and mixed spice, cinnamon, grated rind of 1 lemon, I gill sour milk, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda.

Sift flour and spice, and rub in the butter. Add the sugar, chopped peel, and lemon rind. Stew the apples to a pulp in a very little water. When they are soft, stir in the golden syrup, milk, and bicarbonate of soda, use for mixing the cake. Add the eggs, and beat the mixture for a few minutes before pouring into a greased tin and baking for about 1 ¼ hours.
 

When the cake is cold spread with coffee butter icing, then stand it on a sheet of paper containing 2oz. hundreds and thousands. By lifting the sides of the paper they can be made to stick to the cake.

Stick coarsely chopped walnuts round the edge, and decorate the top with crystallised fruits.

Queensland Times (Ipswich) 26 October, 1936

HALLOWE’EN PUDDING.

One pound of cooking apples, 2 oz. breadcrumbs, 1 ½ oz. ground almonds, ¼ lb. sugar, 3 dessertspoons butter, 1 egg, a few almonds. Peel and core apples, cut into quarters and cook in a little water till tender. Mix crumbs with the apples, and put into a greased pudding dish. Mix sugar, butter, ground almonds, and beaten eggs, put on top of apple mixture, decorate top with almonds and bake 40 minutes. Serve cold.

Chronicle (Adelaide) 12 October, 1944

HALLOWE’EN CUP.

To-morrow is Hallowe’en – party time for those in whom English sentiment stirs deeply.

This recipe is for Hallowe’en Cup, with which to toast distant friends in the Motherland.

Into a glass jug place a cup of castor sugar and the strained juice of six lemons and an orange. Leave until dissolved, stirring occasionally.

Add a cup of pineapple cubes, a cup of unpeeled apple cubes, a peeled sliced banana, six maraschino cherries or whole strawberries, with two cups of crushed ice.

Leave for five minutes, and then add two large bottles of ginger ale and two bottles of cider.

The Sun (Sydney) 30 October, 1941

Here are the links to previous Halloween blog posts:

Two Excuses to Celebrate.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2008/10/two-excuses-to-celebrate.html

Fourth Blogoversary

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2009/10/fourth-blogoversary.html

A Mysterious Stew for Halloween [FOR 3 MEALS]. 1906

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/10/a-mysterious-stew-for-halloween.html

Theme it Orange: A Halloween Menu and Recipes, 1928.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/10/theme-it-orange.html

Queen Victoria’s Hallowe’en, 1879

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/10/queen-victorias-halloween-1879.html

Pumpkin Wine, Grown on the Vine.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/10/pumpkin-wine-grown-on-vine.html

Witch Cakes and Goblin Sandwiches.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/10/witch-cakes-and-goblin-sandwiches.html

Recipes for Goblin Sandwiches, Witch Cakes, Witches Brew.