LUCY BURDETTE: Seeing a bowl of blueberries in the fridge that were just about to get soft, I had a powerful urge to make blueberry muffins. As far as I’ve experienced, there are none better than the recipe in Once Upon a Chef. As I was gathering the ingredients together, I remembered taking home economics in junior high school. We learned some sewing skills (made an apron!) and also did some cooking. That teacher was strict! We were afraid of her, and afraid to make mistakes. I remembered making muffins—she cut into them at the end and if they had air tunnels inside, our grade was lowered.
For one class, she had us all take part in a baking process exhibition. My assignment was to research and present the water displacement method which I was to explain to the class the next day. I had no idea what this was and there was no Google to look it up. I asked my mother, who was not a big baker except for Christmas cookies and birthday cakes, she didn’t know either. She showed me the way she measured shortening (usually Crisco), and that was to measure a half cup of water and drop Crisco in to bring the liquid up to a one cup line. (That is if you wanted a half cup of shortening.) So I brought that to the class next day.
“I don’t know what water displacement method is, but this is how my mother measures shortening,” I said.
“That is the water displacement method,” the stern teacher said.
Anyway, that’s neither here nor there, but it got me thinking about home economics and how it’s too bad today’s kids don’t have that class. A little instruction in cooking and sewing could only be a good thing!
And here are Once Upon a Chef's blueberry muffins.
Ingredients
One stick (8 ounces) butter, softened
One cup sugar
Two large eggs at room temp
One and a half teaspoons vanilla
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup of milk
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups fresh blueberries
Beat the butter with the sugar until light and pale yellow. Beat the eggs in one at a time, spending a couple minutes on each one.
Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Alternate mixing some of the dry ingredients with milk into the rest of the batter. Until everything is gone. Don’t overbeat!
Stir in the blueberries.
Grease a muffin tin, and add paper muffin cups. Distribute the batter between the 12 of them. Bake at 375 for half an hour-ish. Mine were browning at 28 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan. Here’s one broken open. No air tunnels there!
Did you take home economics as a young person? Do your kids or grandkids study the art of home making? Is this a lost art or are we just as glad to see it gone out of the schools? And what should I do with all those amazing peaches?
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USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.
Back when I was in junior high - 9th grade, it was a requirement that all girls AND boys had to take a semester of home economics and auto mechanics. It was emphasis on teaching boys to do the basic cooking and sewing things like making pudding and sewing up a rip in a shirt. For the girls it went a bit deeper in the sewing and then taught them to change a tire, read the gauges and other basics. I learned a lot that carried me well in adult life through the typical boys class. Yes, it should be a requirement for all in school at some time of other.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite peach dish is this one.
FRESH PEACH DELIGHT
The magic of his favorite dessert is that it is versatile for whatever fruit is in season at the time. To change it up with different fruit (strawberries, blueberries or peaches), you just change the flavor or jello or use your own homemade pie filling.
Here's the recipe using peaches. It was the original recipe my Mom started using decades ago.
Ingredients for crust
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup butter softened, 1 stick
¼ cups finely ground pecans
Ingredients for creamy layer
1 cup sugar
8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
9 ounce tub of cool whip (As you can see old recipe. You can use the small tub or part of big tub. I usually use big tube and add a bit more than half of it.)
Fruit layer
3 cups of fresh, sliced peaches
Top layer ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons of cornstarch
1 ½ cup of water
1 package of peach flavored jello (3 ounce size)
Directions
Mix crust ingredients until well blended. Spread in 9x13 pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven until light golden brown. Cool.
For creamy layer cream the sugar and cream cheese until smooth and blended. Fold in cool whip. Spread over cooled crust.
Top with the sliced peaches and put in refrigerator
For top layer combine the sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water. Cook until thick. Stir in jello until thoroughly blended. Cool. (I often speed this up by placing pan in sink with water and ice. Constantly moving pan around while stirring so it doesn’t just cool on mixture closest to the pan. You don’t want it to set – only getting thick or it won’t spread properly.) Spoon glaze over peaches covering them completely. If they stick up, take your finger and push them down into the cheese layer. If you don’t, the fruit will turn dark.
Chill until serving.
One variation to this are to use fresh strawberries cut in half (enough to cover the creamy layer) and use strawberry jello.
Another variation is to use a layer of blueberry pie filling instead of the fruit and jello layer. I make my own blueberry pie filling for this using fresh picked fruit. (Another way of using those blueberries.)
Blueberry Pie Filling
2 cups sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups water
8 cups of fresh blueberries.
Stir together the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan. Wisk in the water until smooth. Stir in the blueberries and bring to a boil. Boil stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Kay I'm so impressed that your school had the girls taking auto mechanics! Why they heck not? Thanks for the recipe suggestions.
DeleteI do think they should teach home economics. Make a peach cobbler. Deborah
ReplyDeleteGood idea!
DeleteYour blueberry muffins look delectable, Roberta! I wish I could reach through the screen and grab one for my breakfast right now :) I took several years of home ec, but sure wish the school had made girls take auto mechanics like Kay! I spent a lot of time with my granddaughter teaching her to cook and a little bit of time teaching her to sew. Now that she's grown and on her own, she's quite the cook and super proud of it. Over one summer she even went through all my recipes, made photocopies, and we organized them into binders... yes plural... for her to take with her.
ReplyDeleteAuto mechanics! Yes. Everyone should be able to change a flat tire at least.
DeleteI'd welcome some muffins! I took s home economics class, one semester in high school (isn't that what high school cooking classes are called?) Ouch. As for the peaches, you could make a pie
ReplyDeleteMy mom measured Crisco the same way. I taught both my sons how to at least thread a needle and sew on a button, and one asked to learn how to use the sewing machine.
ReplyDeleteIn high school, they both took World Foods - aka cooking class. Each week for homework they had to make the recipe of the week for their family. I loved it! Souvlaki one week, pizza with sliced fresh tomatoes another, and a lovely Chinese stir fry are the ones I remember. They are both excellent cooks as adults.
Also, I grew up sewing with my mom, so when it was part of home ec in eighth grade, I was totally bored and put in a sloppy zipper almost on purpose. Our junior high school had a graphics arts class for all kids, where Mr. Koumachian taught us about a printing press. We used it to print and bind personalized note pads.
DeleteDid you get called out on the sloppy zipper Edith? i vaguely remember learning to print, but I love the idea of the note pads!
DeleteIt was a requirement for everyone in 7th grade- cooking/baking, nutrition, sewing, laundry. Then there was an elective cooking class in high school. A far as I know it's still the same.
ReplyDeleteI suggest a peach orgy!
ReplyDeleteI had home ec. I don't remember much about it.
I think all kids should get some essential, basic skills: cooking, sewing, balancing a check book or whatever today's equivalent is, etc.
The muffins look lovely.
thanks Libby. What would the checkbook be these days, quikbooks?
DeleteI cut up peaches and freeze them in third-cup containers, then all winter I pull one out and nuke it with my oatmeal, flaxseed meal and chia seeds for breakfast. Makes the oatmeal easier to choke down ;-)
ReplyDeleteGood idea, I did freeze some but should do more!
DeleteMy mother insisted I take Home Ec in ninth grade. It was a waste of time. The teacher was lazy. If you had a sewing question she referred you to a folder on the bulletin board. She did not offer advice or hints in the cooking portion. She just sat at her desk. The only thing we (Mom and I) got out of her class was a hidden hem stitch that Mom liked and began using.
ReplyDeletesuch a shame to have a bad teacher!
DeleteI made these blueberry muffins today! They turned out so good. Wish I could post a picture of them! I took Home Ec in school. I loved it when we got to sew and learned how to make pies. I taught my kids how to sew and cook/bake since their school didn't offer it. I think schools should offer it if they don't already!
ReplyDeleteWe'd love to see them!
DeleteI already loved to cook and sew in junior high. However, I refused to take Home Ec because girls were not only forbidden to take Shop, we were not even allowed to set foot in the Shop classroom. I worked in the office and could not go into to pick up attendance sheets or to take a message to the instructor. Girls had to stand outside and ring a bell. I really wanted to take Shop!
ReplyDeleteI love to freeze sliced peaches in the summer to make a pie in January.