FEBRUARY HOLIDAYS – PRESIDENT’S DAY: Celebrate with Food
What better way to observe any Holiday than with food. President’s day is no exception and since President’s Day coincides with Lincoln and Washington’s Birthdays, a dessert to observe each Holiday would be perfect. Lincoln’s Birthday is February 12th and Washington’s is the 22nd of February.
Since Lincoln grew up in a Log Cabin, logs are often associated with the 12th President of the United States and a child’s toy was even named after him. ‘Lincoln Logs’ are and were a favorite childhood toy which helped children develop coordination and creativity. Hopefully, even with the electronic era, they are still being enjoyed by children of all ages.
A great dessert for Lincoln’s Birthday would be a chocolate ‘Lincoln Log’ cake roll. The cake roll is made with a chocolate sponge in a very shallow pan and then rolled in a clean cloth dusted with powdered sugar while it is still warm. Once it has cooled down and ‘imprinted’ the roll shape, you can unroll it and spread a filling such as sweetened whipped cream or ice cream on it and then re-roll it, garnish it and serve or refrigerate until serving time. This dessert is best served the same day it is made, but you can save the leftovers for a day or two in the refrigerator. For the recipe, please see the https://www.sylveeeskitchen.com/recipes/baked-goods/cakes-frostings/lincoln-log-cake/
Cherries are often associated with Washington, not because he cut down the Cherry Tree (he really didn’t), but because he did like Cherries and Cherry Pie was often served at Mt. Vernon, Washington’s home. Another dessert that George Washington liked was trifle, an English dessert. We all know what Cherry Pie tastes like and it is really quite easy to make or you can just purchase one at your local bakery. But think how much fun it would be for you and your children to make something different, such as trifle. Trifle is made with sponge cake, fruit and custard. It can easily be made with purchased sponge cake, canned fruit and an easy to make custard. Or you can go all out and make your own sponge cake and use fresh berries. It is certainly different that the desserts that most of us eat and it is delicious and again, can be a good family cooking project. Try the recipe below and see for yourself.
ENGLISH TRIFLE
INGREDIENTS:
6 Half Inch Slices Pound Cake ½ cup Toasted, sliced Almonds
4 Tbsps. Seedless Blackberry Jam 1 cup Whipping Cream
1 16 oz. can Fruit Cocktail 2 Tbsps. Powdered Sugar
1 batch Custard Sauce (Recipe below)
DIRECTIONS:
- Toast Cake slices under the broiler or in a toaster oven until lightly browned.
- Spread each of 4 slices with 1 Tablespoon of Jam.
- Cut each jam covered slice into 4 pieces; cut the remaining Cake slices into 8 pieces.
- Drain the can of Fruit Cocktail; spoon one fourth of the Fruit over the Cake cubes in each of the dishes.
- Spoon ½ cup of Custard Sauce over the Fruit Cocktail in each dish.
- Sprinkle 2 Tbsps. Toasted Almonds over the Custard in each of the dishes.
- Whip the Cream until soft peaks form; add the Sugar and continue whipping until stiff.
- Spoon the Cream into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe rosettes on top of the Trifles, or spoon dollops of Cream on top.
Yield: 4 Servings
CUSTARD SAUCE
1 cup Milk 2 Tbsps. Sugar
1 large Egg ¼ tsp. Vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
- Heat the Milk until steam starts rising.
- Beat the Egg and the Sugar until well blended; slowly add the Hot Milk to the Egg Mixture.
- Pour the Custard into the top of a double boiler; set the pan over gently simmering water. (Water should not touch the bottom of the top pan)
- Cook the custard, stirring constantly until it coats the back of a metal spoon; remove from the heat immediately and place the pan in a bowl of Ice Water. Stir until the Custard is cool and add the Vanilla. Refrigerate until ready to use.
YIELD – 1 ½ Cups
