POTATOES IN CAKES AND DESSERTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 65, 20 September 1940, Page 43

POTATOES IN CAKES AND DESSERTS

the many and various ways of using potatoes, we offered prizes in the ZB Competition for the best recipes, including potatoes in cakes, and puddings, and sweet dishes. The response was excellent, and the original ideas most ingenious. It is plain that the resourcefulness of New Zealand women would be a match for any reasonable shortage in the pantry. I suppose they have inherited this quality from their pioneer grandparents, who managed to keep the meals interesting even when dependent on sailing ships for fresh supplies. It is a fact that country housewives are "never stuck"and it was not so long ago that I received an interesting letter from a listener, who apologised for the peculiar colour of her writing, saying that as she had neither ink nor pencil, she was writing with cochineal! Here are some of the recipes: | NOLLOWING up our research into Potato Sweet Two cups of mashed potatoes, 2 cups of milk, 1 small cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon of gelatine, the grated rind and juice of a lemon. Soak the gelatine for a few minutes in one tablespoon of cold water. Add the milk gradually to the other ingredients, making a smooth paste. Then bring this to the boil, with the gelatine. Pour it now, into a large bowl. When cold, and just beginning to set, beat briskly for ten minutes. Then lightly stir in some fresh or stewed fruit. Pile it in a sweet dish, and leave for a few hours. Before serving, decorate with whipped cream, and serve with any kind of fruit in season. If you add two lemons, it can be used as a delicious sweet on its own, without the stewed fruit. This same mixture makes a delicious filling for cakes, or it may be put on top of a sponge cake and decorated with strawberries or pineapple.-("Olive," of Lower Hutt), Potato Fruit Cake One cup of butter, 1 cup of light brown sugar, 1 cup of white flour, 1 cup of wholemeal, 1 cup cool mashed potatoes, 1 small cup of milk, 4 eggs, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 tablespoon of cocoa; 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a little nutmeg,|1 cup mixed sultanas, raisins and dates, 1 cup of walnuts, and 1 ripe mashed banana. Beat butter and sugar to a cream, blend in potatoes, then the whipped-up eggs, beat well; add flour and other ingredients, and the milk. Sift the baking powder, cocoa and spices with the flour. Bake about 1144 hours in a moderate

oven. This cake is equal to any Christmas Cake, and is a good family size. It will keep well.-("Faithful Link,’ Hikutaia). Potato Coconut Snaps One cup of freshly cooked : iashed potatoes, ¥2 cup each of flour and rolled oats, 4%4lb. of butter, 1 cup of coconut, 1 tablespoon of golden syrup, 1 small teaspoon of carbonate of soda, 1 cup of sugar, a pinch of ground ginger, and 2 tablespoons of boiling water. Mix the dry ingredients, first sieving the mashed potatoes and the flour well, adding rolled oats and coconut. Melt the butter a little, add the syrup, beat well, with the 1 cup of sugar, till creamy, then add the dry ingredients, and lastly the soda dissolved in the boiling water. Drop in teaspoonfuls on to a greased baking tray, and bake in a moderate oven.-("Timaru"). Potato Pancakes Three ounces of flour, 20z. of potatoes, cooked, mashed and sieved, a pinch of salt, 1 egg, 4% pint of milk and water, fat for frying and sugar to taste. Put the flour and potato into a basin, add salt and mix well. Make a well in the centre, put in egg and a little milk, then stir with a wooden spoon, and add gradually the remainder of the milk, beating all the time. See that the batter is quite smooth, and allow to stand for about 1 hour. Melt a little fat in the pan, and when it is hot, pour in sufficient batter to cover the pan, and fry over heat for a minute or two. Turn and fry the other side to a golden colour. Roll up each pancake, sprinkle with castor sugar, and put on a-hot dish. This batter can be used for Yorkshire Pudding, Toad-in-the-Hole, etc. — ("New Brighton’’) Welsh Potato and Cheese Cake Quarter of a pound of butter, 2 eggs, 3o0z. of sugar, 1 cup of mashed potato, Y2 cup of flour, 4% cup grated cheese, pinch of salt, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, juice and grated rind of half a lemon. A few sultanas can be added if liked. Cream the butter and sugar, add the beaten eggs, the lemon juice, the mashed potato mixed with the grated cheese. Sift in the flour and the baking powder. Turn it into a greased tin lined with paper, and sprinkle with nutmeg and sugar. Bake 40 to 50 minutes in a moderate oven. Ice with lemon icing, made with 1 cup of icing sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice, a little grated rind of the lemon, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and a little grated cheese if liked.("Christchurch"). Chocolate Potato Biscuits Four ounces of cooked, mashed potato, loz. of flour, 40z. of ground rice, 42

teaspoon of cocoa, 11440z. of butter, 12 egg, 1 tablespoon of treacle, 12 teaspoon of baking powder, and a little vanilla essence. Mix the flour and ground rice, and rub in the butter. Add the potatoes and cocoa, and stir the dry ingredients together. Then put in the half egg, treacle, and flavouring, and beat thoroughly. Finally, add the baking powder, and mix well. Turn the mixture on to a floured board, roll out Yin. thick, and cut into rounds. Bake in a hot oven 15 to 20 minutes.-("New Brighton’). Boiled Potato and Apple Pudding Two cups of mashed potato, 1 cup of flour, pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 5 large apples, sugar to taste, a few cloves, 1420z. of butter. Make a paste with flour, potato, salt and baking powder. Add a little milk if necessary.

Line a buttered bowl with the paste, reserving a little for the top. Fill with cut up apples, sugar, cloves, and butter, Cover the top with the paste. Steam or boil for 242 hours or more. Serve with cream or milk. This is a good pudding. -("Otane, H.B."). Oatmeal Biscuits Three ounces of oatmeal, 20z. of flour, 20z. of mashed potato, ¥20z. of dripping, pinch of salt, and 42 teaspoon of baking powder. Mix the oatmeal and flour together in a basin, add the baking powder and the salt, and rub in the fat. Next add the potatoes and mix well. Add sufficient water, about a gill, and work to a fairly stiff dough. Turn out on to a floured board, roll out Yin. thick, Cut (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) into round or square biscuit shapes. Place on a greased baking sheet, and bake in a moderate oven for fifteen to twenty minutes.-("New Brighton"). Potato and Apple Squares Place in the oven about 3 large potatoes, in their jackets, and when cooked, peel and mash. They should be quite dry when mashed. Take two cups of this potato, and sift in 14% cups of flour, 2 large teaspoons of baking powder, 2 tablespoons of icing sugar, and a good pinch of salt. Add 1 teacup of finely grated cheese, and mix to a nice dough with 1 beaten egg and a little milk. Roll out, and on one half place slices of thinly

cut apples, sprinkle them with sugar, and fold the other half over. Press the edges all round, mark it off into squares with the back of a knife, prick it all over with a fork, and bake in a fairly hot oven for about 30 minutes, While hot, spread with butter and sift a little castor sugar over the top. Cut into squares and serve. This may be served hot as a pudding, with whipped cream, or taken in lunches as cake.-(Cameron Street, Onehunga). R.A.F. Pudding One pound of flour, 1lb. of stoned raisins, 1lb. of currants, % to. Wlb. of mixed peel, according to taste, llb. of grated raw potato, 1lb. grated raw carrot, llb, of breadcrumbs, a good pinch of

salt, and a pound of shredded suet. A small cup of sugar may be added if desired. Prepare the fruit, mix all the ingredients together, and boil for four hours or more. This is a good Christmas Pudding for our soldier boys!-("Sea-toun"). Potato, Date, and Nut Short Squares Have ready cooked 2 large potatoes, mashed with a little butter and salt. They may be left plain, or a dessertspoon of cocoa may be added. Beat until nice and fluffy. Add egg yolk, and beat well. Add sugar if desired. Then make a short crust of 114 cups of flour, 42 cup of sugar, %lb. of butter,

1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1 egg. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the egg, and other ingredients. Divide into two parts. Roll out and put one part in a buttered sandwich tin, or on a buttered oven tray, and cook a little. Then spread on chopped dates, and on the dates spread the mashed potato. Spread another layer of dates, and then lay on the other part of the crust, rolled out to the right shape. Cook nice and brown, about 20 to 30 minutes, in a moderate oven. Beat the white of egg, with a little sugar, and spread on top. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts, and put back in the oven to set. Cut into squares. — ("Mt, Albert, Auckland’’).