I recently received two recipe requests that were tied to fond childhood memories.
Jayden, a young friend of mine, asked if I remembered when we made snow toffee. He would have been about three years old when he and his brothers came to our home one winter’s day and I made a batch of toffee that we took outside and poured in the fresh snow. He said he could still remember the fun they had doing that. I could remember the taste of the warm toffee mixed with the cold snow. This memory and search for the recipe led my daughter Katherine and I and another friend to try snow toffee again, which made another memory.
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Another friend recently asked me if I had a tea cake recipe. This brought back memories of afternoon outings with my grandmother, whom we called Nanny. She immigrated to Canada in 1913 from England as a 21 year old to marry her fiancé, who had come to Canada a year earlier. Nanny kept her English accent and a love for many of her homeland foods and traditions.
When I was a child I would often spend an afternoon with her and we would go for a long walk that would end at the Little Pie Shop where we would have tea and toasted tea cakes – two foods I still love.
Before she left England, some of her friends from where she worked made her a notebook with some of their favourite recipes that she could bring to Canada. I treasure this old, well-used book for the memories it represents, as well as its old recipes. As I was looking through it the other day I discovered Nanny’s tea cake recipe.
I share these recipes with you with the hope that you will take a moment and reflect on your special memories and share them with your children or grandchildren so they learn more about you and your past. Or take these recipes and make a memory with your family.
Toffee in the snow
Make on a winter’s day after a fresh snowfall.
English toffee candy
1 cup sugar 250 mL
3/4 cup corn syrup, light brown 175 mL
3/4 cup cream 175 mL
1/8 teaspoon salt 0.5 mL
11/2 tablespoons butter 22 mL
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 2 mL
Mix together sugar, syrup, cream and salt in a heavy saucepan. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cook, stirring constantly until a firm ball forms when dropped in cold water or reaches 246-250 F (119-120 C). Add butter and vanilla. Take outside immediately and pour a thin stream of the candy in fresh snow. Allow to cool and harden. Be careful because the candy can be really hot. Eat and enjoy.
If making in the house, pour a thin layer on a greased cookie sheet. Be careful because the syrup is hot and it can spatter. While warm, mark in squares. Wrap in paper when cold.
Molasses taffy
This taffy has a stronger molasses flavour but also works well as snow taffy.
2 cups sugar 500 mL
2 cups fancy molasses 500 mL
1/4 teaspoon soda 1 mL
1 tablespoon vinegar 15 mL
2 tablespoons butter 30 mL
Mix sugar, molasses, vinegar and butter in a heavy saucepan. Over medium heat stir until the sugar is dissolved. Boil without stirring until a firm ball forms when dropped in cold water or syrup or reaches 246-250 F (119-120 C). Stir in soda.
Take outside immediately and pour a thin stream of the candy in fresh snow. Allow to cool and harden. Be careful because the candy can be really hot. Eat and enjoy.
Or pour into a buttered cookie sheet. Allow to cool. When it is easy to handle, butter hands lightly and stretch the taffy between them, folding it without twisting. Work in a cool room, pulling and folding until the taffy is creamy white. Twist into a rope, cut in small pieces with a heavy knife or scissors and wrap each piece in a waxed paper square.
English tea cakes
I have updated Nanny’s recipe to use quick rise yeast and Canadian measurements.
4 cups flour 1 L
1 teaspoon salt 5 mL
2 tablespoons butter 30 mL
2 tablespoons sugar 30 mL
1/2 cup currants 125 mL
1 tablespoon quick rise yeast 15 mL
1 cup lukewarm milk 250 mL
1 egg (optional)
Sift three cups flour and the salt into a bowl. Add and mix in quick rise yeast, then rub in butter. Add sugar and currants, toss together lightly. In a separate bowl, beat egg and add milk. Add all at once to dry ingredients. Mix and add the rest of the flour as needed to make a firm dough. Knead for 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and leave to rise for 10 minutes. Knead well again and divide into six pieces. Using a rolling pin, flatten into six inch (15 cm) rounds. Cover and leave to rise until almost double in size.
Bake just above centre in a hot oven, 400 F (200 C) for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Split open and spread thickly with butter and jam or they can be sliced in half and toasted and then served with butter.
Here is a recipe from Jodie.
Berry freeze
Crust:
3/4 cup butter or margarine 175 mL
11/2 cups all-purpose flour 375 mL
1/2 cup brown sugar 125 mL
3/4 cup chopped nuts 175 mL
(I used pecans)
Filling:
2 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar 175 mL
15 ounces frozen sliced 425 g strawberries or raspberries, partly thawed
2 tablespoons lemon juice 30 mL
1 cup whipping cream 250 mL
Crust: Melt butter in medium sized saucepan. Stir in flour, sugar and nuts. Spread in a large ungreased pan. Bake at 375 F (190 C) for 15-20 minutes, stirring twice, until browned. Remove from the oven and break up any chunks. Scatter two-thirds crumbs into an ungreased nine x13 inch (22 x 33 cm) pan or a 10 inch (25 cm) springform pan.
Filling: Put in a large mixing bowl the egg whites, sugar, strawberries and lemon juice. Beat on high speed until thickened and volume is increased. This will take about 10 minutes.
Beat the cream until stiff. Fold into berry mixture. Turn into crumb-lined pan. Sprinkle with reserved crumbs over top. Cover and freeze overnight or until needed.
Fighting identity theft
This information is from the Ontario Association of Credit Counselling Services Connections newsletter, summer 2003. Shannon Hurley, manager in the policy branch of the Ontario consumer and business services ministry, provided this information on how to protect yourself from identity theft.
Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your knowledge or consent to commit fraud or theft. There are three types of identity theft: financial, criminal and identity cloning.
There are many ways of getting people’s personal information and we need to be vigilant in protecting our information:
- Watch your bank and credit card statements and report discrepancies.
- Keep identity documents in a secure place.
- Be careful of what you toss in the garbage.
- Report lost and stolen cards immediately.
- Provide personal information only to known parties.
- Check credit files at least once a year.
Identity theft is on the rise. Visa, MasterCard and Amex reported $181 million in credit card fraud in Canada in 2001. Cheque and debit fraud is also becoming more prevalent.
You will know it has happened to you if your credit card or bank statement does not arrive in the mail or mail stops altogether. Other clues may be bills that arrive for accounts you did not apply for or you are denied credit, even though your credit rating is good.
Most identity theft cases involve financial crimes. This means you are asked to pay for debts you did not incur and the debts could be recorded on your credit report. Having false information on your credit report could impede your ability to obtain credit, rent an apartment or obtain a loan or mortgage.
If you have been a victim of identity theft, you should notify the police, request a copy of your credit report and ask to have a fraud alert placed on it, contact financial institutions and any other companies where the impostor opened accounts, and report the fraud to the PhoneBusters national call centre at 888-495-8501.
PhoneBusters is the central agency in Canada that collects information on telemarketing, advanced fee fraud letters, commonly known as Nigerian letters, and identity theft complaints. The information is disseminated to the appropriate law enforcement agencies. PhoneBusters’ data is a valuable tool in evaluating the effects of various types of fraud on the public. For more information, visit www.phonebusters.com.
PhoneBusters also has an identity theft statement to help victims notify financial institutions, credit card issuers and other companies that an identity theft has occurred, and give them information needed to begin an investigation. Copies of the form can be printed from the PhoneBusters website.
To get information on your credit report or to put an alert on your files, contact the two major credit bureaus.
- Equifax: 800-465-7166.
- Trans Union: 877-525-3823, except Quebec residents 877-713-3393.
Betty Ann Deobald is a home economist from Rosetown, Sask., and one of four columnists comprising Team Resources. Send correspondence in care of this newspaper, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or contact them at team@producer.com.
