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Brown sugar cornstarch pudding.

Well, if you know me, and I think you do by now, you know I am going to use that brown sugar from yesterday and make something today. The other day, Van, our son, had his tooth out, and I am making him brown sugar cornstarch pudding. It is more pale than a store bought one, because there is no coloring added, natural or otherwise. But it is a mild, clean, butterscotch flavored pudding.

Starting with 1/4 cup of butter in a double boiler. This was my grandfather’s. It has served our family well. Anyway, if you don’t have a double boiler, put a heatproof bowl over summering water.

Add 1/2 cup brown sugar and a generous pinch of salt, and mix until it is all smooth.

Meanwhile, I added a tsp of vanilla to 1 cup of milk and 3 tablespoons of cornstarch to 1/2 cup milk in a small jar with a lid.

Mix the vanilla milk with the butter sugar until smooth, and let warm up tightly cap the cornstarch milk and shake it like heck.

When the milk is warm, add the cornstarch milk while stirring. Cook until it thickens, about 5 minutes, stirring often, then pour into a bowl to chill. If you don’t want to have a skin form, top with plastic wrap. We love skin here, so no plastic for us!

Brown sugar

All commercial brown sugar is is molasses and sugar. If you ever need brown sugar and you normally purchase it, that’s good to know. If you have molasses.

Me, I would rather have sugar and molasses on hand and just use that. But those days you want brown sugar straight, it’s nice to have it on hand.

But I can’t bring myself to purchase it. We buy molasses by the gallon and sugar in 25# boxes. So, I have started to simply make some in advance.

Since I recently learned that not everyone knows this, here’s a how to.

I am going to start with 6 cups of sugar. No reason. I have my two cup measure out, so that’s where I am. Now, I know I am lucky to have have a kitchen aid, and not everyone does. It is 30 years old, though. if you can find one, please consider it. This is still possible, just not as easy.

I love playing with molasses. It’s a cool non Newtonian fluid!

I can’t say it’s my favorite, because whipped cream, ketchup, and nail polish are all up there.

Anyway, that’s 2 tablespoons of molasses to six cups of sugar, or 1 teaspoon per cup. Let the mixer work for 6 minutes and viola! Brown sugar! Want it darker, add more. Lighter? Add less. Baking cookies? Remember 1cup + 1tsp to simply add while creaming. And you never need to rely on commercial brown sugar again.

Italian Onion Soup

So, two days ago, I made a batch of caramelized onions, because Hex was getting a tooth pulled and wanted onion soup. Today I am using a third of the onions to make the soup.

I don’t know what makes Italian onion soup different from French, except this does not have gobs of cheese and toast in it. But it does have brandy.

Here is the soup stock. It’s a mix of chicken carcass soup and store bought beef base, to make it richer and tastier.

This is the base I like if I have no stock:

And here is my collection. Mmmmmm…

Anyway, there is about two quarts overall of stock in here. I will add the two and half pounds worth of onions I caramelized earlier.

That will simmer for 25 minutes. After that, it will be hit with a quarter cup of brandy and cooked a couple of minutes more.

(This is my cooking and liquor making brandy.)

And served with a spoonful of grated cheese in the bottom of the bowl. Romano in our house, what ever you want to in yours.

And that’s it. Simple, rich, and easy to throw together if you have the onions on hand. 🙂

 

Affiliate link: Amazon does carry the base! I get it locally, though.
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