I suppose if a ‘good’ witch stood in front of me and asked, which one person from your past life would you bring back today, that one person would be my Aunt Betty. Not my mother, who left me as a small child on the doorstep of her sister, Betty, nor my father, who had little or no interest in raising a small child, but my Aunt Betty. Aunt and uncle were in their late 60s when I arrived.
Yesterday, mothers everywhere were being honored, and while sitting in a restaurant I watched mothers of all ages being hugged by their own sons and daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all enjoying a ‘dinner out,’ and I kept thinking of my Aunt Betty, who became a mother to me when I was a four-year-old.
My aunt was what you would call a ‘sensible’ woman. Virginia-born, tall and strong, pleasant looking with greying hair and early wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, and her arms and hands weathered from hours spent in her garden. Aunt always wore an apron over her home-sewn housedress with her legs covered in long stockings and Red Cross shoes on her feet. Aunt’s favorite expression when things for me went awry was to ‘pull myself up by my bootstraps.’ If I needed tears wiped, I always turned to aunt’s husband, Uncle Eli, who would hug me saying ‘There, there, little Tootsie, things will look better in the morning.’
The old expression “you never realized what you had until it was gone” and the other, “if only,” is so true for me.
Aunt was a great cook. In the 1930s and beyond, food on dinner tables in small towns came from backyard gardens and their small chicken yards. Fish was cheap and butcher shops carried meat from the small farms or ranches nearby. Then came WWII and rationing began; troops needed to be fed overseas. Dinner tables no longer had an abundance of meat, butter, nor sweets.
Recipes changed; substitutes were developed using available ingredients. Aunt was a genius at making do, in fact, so many of her recipes I use and cook from today for the Soup and Salad lunches I provided for the senior center in Scotts Valley monthly. And the seniors love them and love talking about their memories of those recipes of long ago.
Atop aunt’s wood stove was always a huge round black cast iron soup pot with a curved handle across its top. Inside, broth made from bones of either chicken or beef was simmering, along with chunks of carrots, onions, and celery stalks. The stove also had a warming oven across its top where crocks of bread dough covered with a towel were rising.
The countertop in aunt’s kitchen held bottles of Watkin’s vanilla and lemon extract and cans of Calumet baking powder. I remember the blue round cardboard container of the little girl carrying an umbrella and the salt spilling out, unnoticed, under her arm. The metal hand eggbeater kept its place even though a new KitchenAid electric stand mixer was added to the counter with its green mixing Pyrex bowl.
Aunt’s kitchen was a workplace. The countertops were linoleum-covered and the table had an oilcloth covering. If you wanted ice in your glass, you would chip away with an icepick at the block of ice in the icebox. Refrigerators were not commonplace in the ‘40s.
Aunt’s kitchen is where I made my first pineapple upside-down cake. I believe I was seven and allowed to use the electric mixer. I can still remember the taste of the raw dough as I licked each beater clean.
As years have gone by, I have watched the absence of children being taught cooking skills by their moms. I know, moms are now working outside of the home, but I am saddened no time is being spent together, in the kitchen.
Our grocery isles are smaller, produce departments have less, while the frozen food section has grown to hold an unbelievable number of added items developed for the men and women ‘on the go.’ Too busy to cook and clean up, opening a package and popping it into the microwave or air fryer seems to be the ‘norm’ now.
The following recipe for upside-down pineapple muffins is aunt’s tried-and-true one, with one unusual ingredient: cornstarch. Adding cornstarch gives the muffins stability during their rising time. If you serve whipped cream with the muffins, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar to the cream as you are whipping it. This addition keeps the whipped cream from breaking down for at least 10 hours if kept cold. Great for making ahead of time.
Leave the boxed mix on the shelf and give the following recipe a try. Your family will love you for taking the time involved. You will be glad you did!
Pineapple Upside-down Muffins
In a bowl sift together and set aside:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 ¼ tsp, baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
For the Topping
6 Tbsp. melted butter
1 Tbsp. White Karo
1 ½ cup brown sugar, packed.
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Have Ready:
12 Pineapple Rings
12 Maraschino cherries
In a mixer bowl add:
4 large eggs
1 ¼ cup gran. sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup pineapple juice
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Mix well.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a Jumbo muffin pan with a non-stick spray. I use Bakers Joy.
2. Mix the wet ingredients with the flour mixture until just combined. Do not over mix.
3. To make the topping: Melt butter over medium heat. Add Karo, brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk for one minute. Remove from heat.
4. Spoon 2 Tbsp. sugar mixture into the bottom of the muffin tin. Place a pineapple ring on top of sugar mixture with a cherry in the middle of the ring.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Run a knife around each muffin to loosen. Turn upside down on a rack.
Colly Gruczelak, a Ben Lomond resident, loves people and loves to cook. Contact her at cz****@*****st.net.
