Monthly Archives: January 2020

FIERY LITTLE CRACKERS

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I recently saw a post inquiring about where to buy Savory Party Cracker Seasoning:

I’d never heard of this, but then someone responded with a recipe, and I was intrigued.  This is a quirky little snack, spicy and quite addictive, and an excellent example of factory-to-table cuisine.  You don’t even need a kitchen to make it.

The recipe has two key ingredients — Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix and Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix:

These are mixed together with vegetable oil, garlic powder, and a healthy dose of crushed red pepper, then poured over mini Saltine crackers.

After sitting overnight, the crackers absorb the oil, yet remain crispy.  These are a snap to prepare and make a great game day snack.  I test drove them at my office, and brought home an empty container.  If spicy isn’t your thing, you can scale back on the crushed red pepper.

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FIERY LITTLE CRACKERS
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
  • 0.7-ounce package Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix
  • 1-ounce package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
  • 2 11-ounce boxes of Mini Saltines (or 1 16-ounce box regular Saltines)
Instructions
  1. Place the oil, garlic powder, red pepper, Italian dressing mix, and Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix in a small bowl, and stir together until thoroughly combined.
  2. Place crackers in a 2-gallon Ziploc bag. Pour the oil mixture over the crackers. Turn the bag over repeatedly to evenly distribute oil mixture, and then turn over every 5 minutes for 30 minutes. Allow crackers to sit overnight to soak up the oil.

 

Whoa, those are spicy!

Snack game on!

SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE

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I found this fancy mesh cigarette case at an estate sale.

I don’t smoke — hardly anyone I know does.  But when I was a kid, it seemed like everybody smoked — at least pretty much everyone I knew did.

Weekday mornings in my community, women used to gather at neighboring homes for coffee klatsches — “a social gathering for informal conversation at which coffee is served.” The phrase comes from the German kaffeeklatsch — kaffee (coffee) and klatsch (gossip or noise).  These were the real housewives — stay-at-home moms, if you will — of Smithtown, New York.  Make no mistake — these were not dainty tea parties.  These coffee klatsches involved the 4Cs — coffee, conversation, cigarettes, and cake.  Hot coffee, gossipy conversation, clouds of smoke, and cake.  Delicious cake, to be specific.

Leisurely coffee klatsches are largely a thing of the past.  I saw an article suggesting that they still exist today in the form of working women getting together for coffee at a nearby coffee shop.  But it’s not the same thing — it’s a sterilized version.

Maybe when I retire I’ll try having a coffee klatsch at my house, without the cigarettes.  But I can definitely have delicious cake.  And the one that I will have is Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  The recipe is from the original Silver Palate Cookbook, and although I hadn’t made it in probably 20 years, I remembered how good it was.  Inspired by the fancy cigarette case, I made one, and my memory did not fail me — this cake, with its sweet cinnamon and pecan ribbon, is incredible.  Easy, moist, and crazy good, everyone who’s tried it asks for the recipe.  Give it a try, and invite some neighbors to your house to share it over coffee and conversation for a good old-fashioned coffee klatsch (minus the cigarettes).

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SOUR CREAM COFFEE CAKE
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Ingredients
  • 2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature
  • 2-3/4 cups sugar, divided use
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups chopped pecans
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place butter and 2 cups of sugar in a large bowl, and using an electric beater, cream together. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla. Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt, just until combined.
  3. In a separate small bowl, combine ¾ cup sugar with the pecans and cinnamon.
  4. Sprinkle a few tablespoons of the nut mixture into a well-greased 10-inch bundt pan. Cover with half of the batter and sprinkle with half of the remaining nut mixture. Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining nut mixture. Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from pan.

Ready for the oven

Hot out of the oven

It smells soooooo good

Coffee, cigarettes, and cake — all that’s missing is conversation