Come on in! Let's talk FOOD!

"Bacon grease makes pretty much anything taste better!" is the local philosophy and I grew up on good, down home country cookin'! Although I've ventured into a healthier way of eating (some of the time) I still enjoy many of the favorites of my childhood. I also have a passion for Italian food and I'm slowly but surely learning the pleasures of cooking with fresh herbs. Here I'll share with you a broad spectrum of recipes...some healthier than others, but all of them guaranteed DELICIOUS! : )

*I have imported posts from my other blog. These posts may involve topics other than food, but they do include recipes or food related information at some point in the post. Future posts to this blog will be more strictly food-related but I did want to include these recipes here.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Jelly Roll


So many things remind me of my Mama Jones. She absolutely loved red currant jelly rolls and I used to make them for her, starting when I was still a teenager. My little Tucker Man had his first jelly roll last year and I suppose he got to thinking about them again recently because he put in a request for one. So today I made this one and I thought I'd share the recipe with my favorite folks in Blogland. : )

*I copied this recipe from a Betty Crocker cookbook (at least I think it was Betty Crocker) many, many years ago. I know that sometimes recipes get altered over the years and I have no idea if this is how it appears in the latest edition, but I tend to stick with the tried and true anyway. ;)

Jelly Roll

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup water
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup jelly (any flavor you like), beaten with a fork
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375*. Lightly grease a 15"x10"x1" pan. Line with waxed paper and lightly grease waxed paper, too.

With a hand mixer beat the eggs until light and lemony in color, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the sugar. Mix in vanilla and water on low speed. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix in by hand. Pour into waxed paper lined pan and spread evenly. Bake at 375* for 12-15 minutes. (Bake only until you see no wet spots in cake. It will still be very light in color.)

While cake is baking, sprinkle a light kitchen towel or cheesecloth generously with powdered sugar. When cake comes out of oven, immediately invert onto towel. Remove pan and then gently peel waxed paper off of cake. Roll up with towel and place on cooling rack until cooled. (App. 30 minutes.) Unroll, spread with jelly and re-roll without towel. Place on serving plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cover and chill if not serving immediately.

And seriously, please pardon these pitiful pics. They were taken with my phone and they stink.

For illustrations as to how to handle the rolling and unrolling of this cake, please refer to this pumpkin log recipe. It uses the same technique.



Tips and Tricks

*Red currant jelly is a favorite with old timers.
It is very tart and is balanced nicely by the sweetness of the powdered sugar.

*Jams and preserves work for this recipe as well. I've used them all at one time or another. But do take into consideration the fact that preserves (such as the raspberry I used here) contain seeds and may not please some palates.
*Typical favorites are strawberry, raspberry, red currant,
and I'd love to try peach but never have. : )

*This is basically a sponge cake baked thinly enough to allow for rolling. While you don't have to handle it as if it is fragile, you also don't want to be overly rough with it. It will crack. (Which won't hurt the flavor but it won't be as pretty.)


1 comment:

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