​Enter Imperial Sugar Company in Sugarland, Texas.

My interest was piqued when they offered two cookbooks for kids (girls on the cover, of course). My Mother saved labels from the sugar packages and I sent away for, “My First Cookbook,” then years later, “Teena in the Kitchen.”

Interesting how my Mother knew me. Those cookbooks are still with me, in pristine condition. In other words, she knew I was about my stage productions, not cooking. Honestly, I'm not even sure I made one recipe, but I suspect I asked my Mother to make one.

Through the years, I learned to cook and my Mother approved. I love to cook and Gerry and I do it together.

I lost my Mother when I was 38, and on her last Thanksgiving, she told me it was time for me to make Thanksgiving dinner, -- ALL of it not just some side-dishes. This missive from her included dressing (which I had never made). Under her watchful eye, I did make the dressing and although it was not her dressing, I was pleased.  She was pleased.

I am sharing photos of the little books.

By Pam Barker

Ingredients

¼ Cup Butter
½ Cup Cocoa Powder
¼ Cup Milk (whole is preferred)
1 Cup Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Melt butter in saucepan. Add other ingredients and cook over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Stir constantly. Bring to a full boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add nuts if desired. Add vanilla. Beat until creamy enough to spread. While beating, add 1 teaspoon cream to keep from getting too hard.

Looks easy, huh?

Think again.

The first thing I need to say about this recipe, the name is totally NOT accurate. A recipe sham.

It is one of my favorites both growing up and as an adult...it is like a thin, velvety fudge, but there is nothing MINUTE about it. 
.
In making this through the years, I have had many failures. My mother, on the other hand, never failed with this frosting. It's all about timing and it can not be rushed, but I have always wondered about the name. Why not call it...Cook It More Than A Minute, Beat It Until Until Your Arm Drops. Timing is ALL your call.

When done correctly, poured over a scrumptious chocolate cake, there is nothing better for a TRUE chocolate lover. Me. It is not too heavy, too thick, but like a luscious thick-ish glaze.

Like making homemade fudge candy, this frosting must not be overcooked, or under-cooked, under-beaten, over-beaten. Yes, just like in the fairy tale, it must be just right. In other words, it is all about the eye and the feel of the spatula as it is boiled, then beaten. In reality, one minute timing is not enough. Boil it longer, THEN remove from heat, and let rest a minute.

Using a rubber spatula, stir the ingredients in a figure-eight swirl, the frosting will begin to get a glossy appearance and stirring will become a bit more resistant. 

When the eye and the hand, not the timer tell you...pour onto the cake.

This handed-down recipe is worth it, and when I feel adventurous, I make it for brownies.
​

By Pam Barker

As previously mentioned, although my Mother preferred to do the cooking herself, she was very accommodating, as a rule, when it came to special requests I made in my youth.

One Friday night when I was about 11, a friend and I were having a sleepover at my house. Listening to records, gossiping and playing games can only be so entertaining. How fun would it be to make taffy and pull-it? A TAFFY-PULL! Yes.

Now, my Mother had her own busy schedule, yet she did make it happen for my friend and I. Transforming sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch, water and butter into a sticky delight with the intention of it being pulled into candy. She had wrappers and the works, but this had to have been the least rewarding thing for her to do on a Friday night. Until this moment when I checked, I never even knew the ingredients for taffy. 

As you find out as a pre-teen, things sounding fun and actually BEING fun can be vastly different. Such was the case, as this adventure was less than fun and after a few taffy candies were wrapped up, we bailed on it. I suspect my Mother, who was on duty to oversee girls with hands (protected) all into hot sugar, swiftly disposed of the...hot mess. I suspect, SHE suspected this would be the outcome from the very beginning.

Sidenote: I have not enjoyed taffy for most of my adult life. Did it start on that Friday night? Could be.

​

​Contributor, Riley Eaton, has provided us with an option we have not added to Whisking as yet...Gluten Free recipe, and it sounds delicious. -- Pam Barker

Gluten Free Hotdog Roll-ups
Contributed by Riley Eaton

A few years ago, I wanted to learn how to cook. 

Coincidentally, my mother had come up with a very simple recipe around that time that is perfect for teaching someone the fundamental flow of putting together food and operating an oven: Hotdog roll-ups.

Simple and quick, I find this a go-to meal, even a comfort meal.

It's extremely customizable as well for quantity and ingredient composition: If I want one for myself, I can make one, and If I needed to serve ten people, I can make ten or fourteen or however many my friends may eat. 

Likewise, if someone hates beef, I can simply use traditional pork hotdogs or a sausage of some kind; if someone is allergic to almonds I can use chickpea-based tortillas, and so forth.

Ingredients (makes 4):

4 almond flour tortillas
4 slices of colby jack cheese
4 beef hotdogs
Mustard or ketchup (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place two layers of parchment paper on a baking pan.

Lay tortillas open on a plate.

Place one slice of cheese on each tortilla at an edge of the tortilla.

Place one hotdog on each cheese slice near the edge of the tortilla, leaving enough room to tuck the hotdog end of the tortilla underneath when you roll it.

Roll tortilla forward, wrapping the cheese and hotdog (roll tight enough to keep the seam closed but loose enough that you don't encourage your roll-up to unroll itself).

Set roll-ups on your baking pan where the seam's end is poking out of the underside so the roll-ups don't unroll themselves while baking (see photo).

Bake for 15 minutes at minimum, baking until tortillas have hardened and cheese has melted.

Enjoy plain, or dipped in a favorite condiment. Mustard is my favorite.
​

Our friend, Ann Zimmer, is sharing two recipes with us in Whisking, and they sound delicious.

One of my favorite things about her is how she makes food even more appetizing because she bothers with presentation. As we all know, the enjoyment of food begins with our senses, including sight. Ann takes the time, even when sitting in a comfy chair at the beach with her husband, to make the food look so inviting.

So pleased to have her recipes here! --Pam Barker

Nana's Seeded Quick Bread for
​Bread Crock or Loaf Pan
​
Ingredients:

• 3 cups self-rising flour*

(*You can substitute whole wheat or all purpose flour if you don't have self-rising flour but use these measurements: 3 cups flour, 4 1/2 tsp baking powder & 1 1/2 tsp of salt)

• 1/3 cup sugar
• Additions as preferred can be added, about 1/4 cup of each one: pepinos (pumpkin seeds), flax seed, sunflower seeds, raisins or craisins. You can use any nuts or seeds but these are the ones I use.
• 1 can of lemon lime pop (which is a neutral flavor), or you can use diet coke or beer. Room Temperature.

Instructions:

Mix ingredients in separate bowl

Grease pans liberally.

Add mix to Bread Crock or bread loaf pan.

Place in oven and heat to 350F

(Do NOT pre-heat oven)

Bake 45-60 minutes (I usually go 60 minutes) 


​

As visitors to this website know, Pam and I enjoy our evening cocktail hours, and I love playing the role of mixologist. Why? Maybe it harkens back to my childhood, when I mixed chemicals from my Glibert Chemistry Set to see what might happen. News flash: Mixing cocktails is way more fun, and safer!

While I may never earn a spot in the Mixology Hall of Fame (like Henry Ramos, whose Ramos Gin Fizz, a gin and egg white cocktail, required 12 minutes of shaking and employed dozens of "shaker boys" to meet the demand in the 1890s), we enjoy going "out of the box" from time to time and try something new.

Our preferred spirit is vodka, and our "go-to" cocktails include lemon drops, French martinis and Cosmopolitans, always served in a martini glass or coup. Nothing else will do.

This recipe is a variation on a Cosmo, which I call the "Tropical Cosmopolitan." Since we live in the tropics for all practical purposes, why not?

Here it is:

Tropical Cosmopolitan

Ingredients:

2 oz. vodka
1 oz. cranberry juice
1 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. Triple Sec or Cointreau

Combine and shake vigorously -- but not for 12 minutes unless you want to.

We create our own ice cubes from various juices, and usually top with one or two of those.
​
Salud!