The recipes in our final chapter represent a mélange of delicious, easy-to-make traditional desserts still enjoyed throughout the Dutch Country. Many types of puddings, especially the Victorian steamed puddings prepared in molds, have fallen out of fashion in favor of lighter fare – although many Amish families still enjoy them. The lightest of the light are the Cumberland Valley clafty puddings, which are essentially sponge cakes baked on top of stewed fruit. In the opposite direction (heading toward fulsome), we have the Schlupper, which resembles a soufflé when hot from the oven, but then assumes a dense stick-to-the-ribs texture if allowed to cool and stand overnight. The Schlupper is one of the most ubiquitous of all the traditional types of puddings still prepared in our regional farmhouse kitchens, and it is known by a variety of local names.
Schlupper is old-fashioned dialect for baked puddings made with bread, particularly stale bread or with day-old Backgnepp (see Anise Dumplings for Festive Occasions, page 7). The word came into Pennsylvania Dutch from Swabian, a term English-speaking Pennsylvanians corrupted into slump. Thus, in our part of the U.S. a slump pudding became the vernacular word for any sort of deep-dish bread pudding. This term also traveled down the Appalachians into the Upper South, where slumps of all kinds are still part of traditional fare.
The deep baking dish in question, among the Dutch at least, was a utensil called a Rutscher, illustrated on page 166. The most common ones were made of pottery, and several examples of local manufacture have come to light in Moravian archaeological sites in Pennsylvania as well as North Carolina. A typical Rutscher makes enough to feed at least 10 people, so it was supremely economical in farmhouse cookery, especially since the practical purpose of the Schlupper was to find creative ways for using up leftovers or an over-plus of fruit.
In the western reaches of the Dutch Country, where narrow valleys finger their way into the Allegheny Highlands, the Pennsylvania Dutch found themselves settling side by side with the Scotch-Irish. The two communities did not always live in harmony, but over time, as they began to intermarry, their foodways mingled. As a result, we find fascinating hybrids like this one, which hails from northern Bedford County, courtesy of the Hoenstein family.
Another version of clafty pudding from an 1881 Cumberland Valley cookbook (published in Pennsylvania Dutch Country Cooking) suggests that such cross-cultural fertilization was once common in central Pennsylvania – a cultural exchange that piqued the interest of American linguist H. L. Mencken. The puzzle lay in the Dutch name Glaafdi, which we have now identified as a term borrowed from Scotch-Irish dialect: claffie, meaning disordered, disheveled, or more humorously, a loose woman – perhaps a hidden pun in the name?
According to the late folklife scholar Don Yoder, in Centre County this same word with the same meaning was pronounced claddie and is still in use among farming families in that area. The origin of the odd hybrid name derives from the fact that once the pudding was baked, it was turned out upside down into a bowl or on a platter so that the gooey fruit on the bottom ended up on top. Thus it did look disheveled, yet when served in a bowl of cream or milk (or even better, with ice cream) and the addition of a little more stewed fruit as sauce, who would think to complain about the refreshing and intense flavors of wild-harvest berries plucked from the branch, wet with morning dew?
Yield: Serves 8
Fine breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs for dusting
3 cups (225g) fresh blackberries, capped and cleaned
1 cup (125g) fresh black currants or shadbush berries (see note)
1 tablespoon shredded lemon zest
¼ cup (65ml) crème de cassis
½ cup (125g) sugar
1 cup (125g) cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs
1 cup (250g) vanilla sugar
Confectioners (10-X) sugar
Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Grease a 10½-inch (27cm) porcelain baking dish or six 6-inch (15cm) individual ceramic baking dishes (be certain the baking dishes are at least 2 inches (5cm) deep). Dust liberally with cracker crumbs or fine breadcrumbs and set aside.
In a large work bowl, combine 2 cups (150g) of blackberries, all the currants, the lemon zest, cassis and sugar. Puree the remaining blackberries and add this to the fruit mixture. Pour the fruit into the baking dish or dishes and spread evenly.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves in a large work bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs until lemon colored and frothy, then gradually beat in the sugar until the mixture is light and creamy (about 5 to 8 minutes). Gradually sift in the dry ingredients until they form a thick, ropey batter. Pour this over the fruit and bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the batter is fully risen and the center is set. For the smaller baking dishes allow about 25 minutes. Cool on a rack and turn out on a platter (old style), or simply dust with confectioner’s sugar and garnish with fruit. Serve at room temperature.
Observation: If you do not have black currants, just substitute another cup of blackberries, or use huckleberries if you want to heighten the flavor.
Sometimes ornamented with little coils of dough or tiny pretzels, Boskie Boys are baked ball-like dumplings that were made for Christmas, New Year’s or for other special occasions. Like clafty pudding, their name came into Pennsylvania Dutch from the Scotch-Irish. In Scottish dialect boskie means drunken, and that is precisely what these dumplings are: soaked and aged a few weeks in rum, wine or whiskey. In the eastern parts of the Dutch Country, in the area around Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for example, Boskie Boys are known as Bowlers or Bowler Boys (Bohler Buwe), since they were said to resemble the balls used by the “wee folk” (die gleene Leit) when they played ten pins. For good luck, toss a Boskie Boy over the house at twelve on New Year’s Eve – and don’t forget to make a wish when you do it.
Special equipment: For this recipe you will need fritter pans with half-spherical cups (see photograph).
Yield: approximately 72
1 tablespoon dry active yeast
2 cups (500ml) lukewarm milk (98F/37C)
1 cup (250ml) warm potato water (98F/37C)
8 cups (1 kilo) bread flour
4 large eggs
1 cup (250g) sugar
8 tablespoons (125g) unsalted butter (soft)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons (30ml) whole milk
Proof the yeast in the warm milk. Once the yeast is foaming, combine it with the warm potato water. Put 3 cups (375g) of bread flour in a deep work bowl and make a valley in the center. Add the yeast mixture and stir to form a thin batter. Cover and let this rise in a warm place until it forms bubbles on top (at least 2 to 3 hours). Once it is covered with bubbles, in a separate bowl beat the eggs until lemon colored and frothy. Add the sugar and beat until creamy, then add the butter, salt and nutmeg. Pour this into the batter and stir to fully combine the ingredients. Gradually sift in the 5 cups (625g) of flour, only enough to make soft dough that no longer sticks to the fingers.
Cover and let this rise until double in bulk (1 to 2 hours, depending on the weather). Knock down and knead until spongy, dusting the hands and work surface with flour as you knead. Mold the dough into 1-ounce (30g) balls and set them in greased fritter pans with small round cups. If you prefer, reserve one or two balls of dough and make small coils of dough or tiny pretzels; moisten the undersides with egg white and “glue” them to the top of each ball. Brush the ornaments with 1 egg yolk whisked into 2 tablespoons of milk. Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). While the oven is heating, cover the dough and let it recover for 25 minutes. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the balls tap done. Cool on a rack.
Once cool, transfer the dumplings to a non-reactive container, dip cheesecloth in rum, whisky, brandy or wine of your choice and wrap the dumplings in the cloth. Sprinkle additional rum over the top, seal with a tight-fitting lid and let the dumplings age for 2 to 3 weeks in a cool place before serving. Check from time to time in case additional rum is required – the amount is a matter of personal taste.
Alternate Suggestion: If you prefer not to age the dumplings in alcohol, you can glaze them as soon as they arrive hot from the oven. For the glaze: while they are baking, combine:
1 cup (250ml) water
1 cup (250g) sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Boil these ingredients in a saucepan over a high heat until they form thick syrup. As soon as the Boskie Boys come from the oven, brush them with this syrup. As they cool, the syrup will form a shiny glaze.
Gribble comes from Grimmel, a dialect word for large crumbs. Gribble pudding is a rich custardy dish tracing back to the Middle Ages. It resembles rice pudding, except that it is made with pasta chopped to the consistency of oatmeal. Buckwheat gribble, a key ingredient in this recipe, was made with buckwheat flour and water and resembles Grape-Nuts in texture, thus giving the dish its characteristic texture. Historically, buckwheat gribble and gribble made from rye flour were often mixed with the flour of black spelt; this type of gribble went by the name of Semmeda in Pennsylfaanisch to distinguish it from pasta-based gribble. Regardless, the pudding was labor intensive, and since it contained eggs and cream, gribble pudding was originally reserved for special occasions or, in the Dutch Country, as a Sunday dinner dish in country hotels.
Clara Lutz Bowman (1864-1957), longtime cook at the legendary Black Horse Hotel in Reinholds, Pennsylvania, reinvented the dish in the 1920s and put Chocolate Gribble Pudding on her menu to attract clientele from cities in the area. She enjoyed an enthusiastic following among Pennsylvania Dutch gourmets, including Frederick Klees, Cornelius Weygandt and J. George Frederick, who sometimes mentioned her in their books.
You can serve this pudding in a soufflé dish or, as was the common custom among country cooks, in a pre-baked pie shell. This makes it easier to serve as “pudding-pie” – the ideal crust is Uncle Penny’s (recipe opposite). However, if you choose to use the almond crust (page 110) or the egg yolk crust (page 139), the end result will be equally sinfully delicious.
Yield: Two 9-inch (23cm) pies serving 12 to 16
¼ cup (30g) baking cocoa
½ cup (125g) light brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cassia
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon grated zest of orange (optional)
1½ cups (375ml) half-and-half
½ cup (125ml) strong black coffee
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
3 eggs, separated
1 cup (125g) buckwheat gribble (see Gribble Iron in glossary, on page 164) or substitute Grape-Nuts
Two pre-baked 9-inch (23cm) pie shells (½ batch of Uncle Penny’s Tender Pie Crust, recipe opposite)
4 tablespoons (60g) caster sugar (bar sugar)
Shreds of bitter chocolate
Stovetop Method: Combine the chocolate, sugar, salt and spices and set aside. Take a deep saucepan and add the half-and-half, coffee and butter. Stew over a low heat until the butter is melted, then add the chocolate and spice mixture. Whisk continuously until thick and creamy. Beat the yolks until frothy and lemon colored, and fold them into the batter; whisk vigorously until they thicken. Remove from the heat and let the filling mixture cool, then add the gribble or Grape-Nuts. Pour this into the pre-baked 9-inch (23cm) pie shells or the equivalent size well-greased soufflé dishes until they are 2/3 full.
Preheat the oven to 275F (135C). Beat the egg whites until stiff and forming peaks, sweetening them with 2 tablespoons (30g) of caster sugar (bar sugar) and whisking vigorously until glossy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons (30g) more caster sugar. Spread the meringue over the top of the filling, dust with additional caster sugar and bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until the meringue begins to turn golden brown on top. When cool, garnish with shreds of bitter chocolate.
Uncle Penny’s Tender Pie Crust
Uncle Penny, as he is popularly known, is Francis Jacob, a sparkling-eyed old gentleman with the kind and generous spirit of Santa Claus. Uncle Penny resides in Macungie but grew up at Fruitville, a tiny crossroads near East Greenville, Pennsylvania – old maps will prove its existence. Uncle Penny is well known locally for his out-of-this-world pies, especially cherry pies with fruit harvested from his own trees. Francis donates most of his legendary pies to charitable causes, and lucky they are, because the pies bring phenomenal prices. Uncle Penny developed this crust recipe as an improvement on one created by his mother, Annie Brey Jacob (1883-1959), and it has been a closely held family treasure until he recently shared it with me.
Yield: Sufficient dough for four 9-inch (23cm) bottom crusts
3½ cups (445g) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons (30g) sugar
1½ cup (375g) unsalted butter
6 egg yolks
2 tablespoons (30ml) spring water or bottled water
Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Work this into crumbs with the butter. Beat the egg yolks until lemon colored and frothy, and combine with the water. Make a valley in the center of the dry ingredients and stir with a horn fork until it forms soft, sticky crumbs. Divide the crumbs into four equal parts and form into balls. Place one ball in the center of a 9-inch (23cm) pie pan and press it with the fingers until it fills the pan. Form an edge along the rim by pinching the dough. Prick with a fork and bake in an oven preheated to 350F (180C) for 15 minutes. Allow the crust to cool before adding a pre-cooked filling.
Watch Point and Observation: Baking weights (traditionally a linen bag filled with old beans) can be placed in the empty shell to keep it from warping or shrinking while it bakes. Keep unused crumbs or portions of dough in the refrigerator until needed. Otherwise, make the additional pie shells and freeze them unbaked for later use.
The Germans call them Spätzle, the Pennsylvania Dutch call them Gnepplin (“mini-dumplings”), and in the nineteenth century, the English-speaking neighbors of the Dutch called them poprobins. The term poprobin is a clumsy translation of Spätzle, adjusted to the popular misconception that the name of the German dumpling refers to a small bird or sparrow. In fact, Spätzle is the medieval Germanized equivalent of Latin spatullus, the tiny spatula originally used the make these Ancient Roman-era dumplings. Just to add to the linguistic confusion, the term poprobin also refers to rivvels, at least in the Anglo-dialect of Southeastern Pennsylvania. Thus, depending on the historical context, a poprobin was just some type of doughy dumpling regardless of size or shape. The Dutch, however, knew the difference.
Linguistics aside, poprobins were at one time fairly common in southeastern Pennsylvania cookery and remained on country tables well into the 1950s. The need to find an appropriate use for leftover dumplings gave rise to pudding recipes like this one, which was dictated orally to the late folklife scholar Alfred L. Shoemaker by Ida Fry (1865-1960) of Fry’s Mill, in Lancaster County. By coincidence, this is the same garrulous and generous Mrs. Fry who shared her popular shoofly pie recipe with my grandmother.
Aside from oral tradition, poprobin pudding is often found in regional manuscript cookbooks, because it could serve both as a practical supper dish and as breakfast fare eaten with Sunday morning milk – or even better, sliced and grilled or lightly browned in a skillet and drizzled with honey. Like the Schlupper in the recipe following this, poprobin pudding is best when served hot from the oven. While the recipe provided here is more or less basic, you can add chopped fruit, dried cherries, sausage or mushrooms (leave out the sugar and cream), or chicken and corn (eliminate the sugar, add sweet basil); the variations are almost infinite. Just reduce the amount of dumplings equal to the weight of added fruit or meat.
Yield: Serves 8 to 10
Fine breadcrumbs or cracker meal
5½ cups (625g) pre-made packaged Spätzle (or make your own)
3 eggs, separated
1½ cups (375ml) whole milk
½ cup (125g) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Grated zest of ½ lemon
2 teaspoons anise (optional)
½ cup (125ml) cream or half-and-half
Grease a 2-quart (2 liter) loaf pan and dust liberally with breadcrumbs. Set aside.
Bring 3 quarts (3 liters) of lightly salted water to a full boil in a large stewing pan. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the Spätzle; cook uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until the dumplings float and are tender when tested with a fork. Strain and discard the cooking water. Place the dumplings in a deep work bowl.
Preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Beat the egg yolks until lemon colored, and add the milk, sugar, spices and lemon. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved, then pour this over the cooked dumplings. Beat the egg whites until stiff and forming peaks, then fold into the dumpling mixture. Pour this into a well-greased loaf pan and pat smooth with the back of a large spoon or wooden paddle. Distribute the cream evenly over the surface of the dumpling mixture and bake uncovered for 10 minutes on the middle rack in the oven preheated to 400F (200C). Reduce the baking temperature to 350F (180C) and continue baking for 25 to 30 minutes or until the pudding is set in the center and golden brown on top. Send to the table while hot and serve sliced with ice cream or stewed fruit.
Observation: If there is pudding left over, it can be turned out of the pan and refrigerated overnight on a platter or glass dish. Slice like polenta and brown lightly in a well-buttered skillet. Serve hot like pancakes with honey or maple syrup.
This recipe will provide you with the basic proportions for creating an authentic Pennsylvania Dutch Schlupper. While cherries may be the national fruit of the Pennsylvania Dutch, with sour cherries taking place of honor when they are in season during the final weeks of June, any small fruits will work in this recipe. Raspberries are a natural, yet if you want a truly sensational mixture, try red currants, sour cherries and raspberries together. For something different, mix rhubarb and gooseberries; and instead of lemon zest, use orange zest.
The secret to a perfect Schlupper lies in the bread: always use the best quality sourdough loaf. Commercial white bread will only degrade into insipid mush; you must demand real bread made from non-GMO organic grains. The most traditionally correct choice would be sourdough spelt bread, but bread made from other ancient health grains will work just as well.
Yield: 8 to 10 servings (minimum)
1 pound (500g) sourdough bread trimmed of crusts
4 tablespoons (60g) unsalted butter, soft or semi-melted
2 cups (400g) pitted sour cherries, coarsely chopped (save the juice!)
⅓ cup (90g) light brown sugar
Grated zest of ½ lemon
2 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
4 large eggs
2½ cups (625ml) whole milk
½ cup (125ml) sour cherry juice
2 tablespoons (30ml) vanilla flavoring
Preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Grease a 4-inch (10cm) deep 3-quart (3 liter) Le Creuset stewing pan or an earthenware baking dish like the traditional Rutscher shown here. Slice the sourdough bread as thin as possible. Brush half the slices with 3 tablespoons (45g) of semi-melted butter. Coarsely chop or dice the remaining bread and set aside. Combine the cherries, sugar, lemon and nutmeg in a small work bowl. Make a layer of buttered bread on the bottom of the well-greased baking dish and cover this with 1/2 cup (100g) of the chopped cherries. Make another layer of buttered bread and cover this with the remaining cherries. Cover the cherries with the chopped bread.
Beat the eggs until frothy and lemon colored, then add the milk, cherry juice and vanilla. Drizzle this over the bread and set aside to allow the bread to absorb most of the liquid (about 5 minutes). Dot the top with the remaining butter and bake in the preheated oven for approximately 1 hour or until the top begins to turn golden. Serve hot from the oven or at room temperature with slightly sweetened whipped cream.
The appearance of pawpaws in the Dutch Country in late August through September and even into early October is always a special event. They flood the local farm markets, and then almost as suddenly, disappear. Pawpaws have always been part of our regional food culture. At one time, impenetrable thickets of the trees grew in the rich bottom lands along local rivers and streams. Development has mostly pushed pawpaws out of their native habitats, but many market farmers have planted them in impressive numbers, so finding pawpaws is only a matter of making the right connections.
It was on a brilliant, sunny Labor Day weekend in 1989 when I first connected with the recipe that follows. The pudding was featured at a picnic on the grounds of a Church of the Brethren meeting house in Franklin County. It was being served as a side dish with steamed crabs and fresh clams. The combination is classic and the unique flavor of the pudding is unforgettable. However, a word of caution: a small minority of people is allergic to cooked pawpaws, so if you have never eaten pawpaws, start off your experiment prudently with a trial tasting.
Yield: Serves 8 to 10
4 cups (1 liter) fresh sweet corn
3 cups (750ml) pawpaw puree
3 eggs, yolks and whites separated
1 cup (250ml) milk
4 tablespoons (60ml) melted unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (30g) light brown sugar or to taste
Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 9 by 12 by 2-inch (23 by 30 by 5cm) porcelain baking dish or a large earthenware Schales pan. Grate and puree the corn in a food processor and set aside. Puree the pawpaw in the food processor and add the egg yolks, pulsing the mixture until thick and creamy. Then add the milk, melted butter and salt. Pour into work bowl and fold in the corn. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, and fold them into the batter. Adjust sweetness with the sugar, more or less depending on the ripeness of the pawpaws. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake 45 minutes or until fully risen and set in the center. Serve at room temperature.
Years ago, peppermint puddings and peppermint pies used to turn up regularly in the York and Adams County farmers markets, especially around Easter. These custardy milk puddings, very similar in texture to soufflés, are particularly refreshing when served chilled and flavored generously with peppermint. The secret to their flavor is black peppermint, a popular variety among the Pennsylvania Dutch – much sought after for its intense taste, which is also well suited for peppermint tea and anything else calling for this herb.
I have included a picture of black peppermint (below) because it is distinctive: the stems are black and the leaves dark black-green. If you can get a patch of it started in your garden, you will be well supplied throughout the growing season with an abundance of fragrant cuttings for all sorts of creative recipes – even the flowers can be infused in vinegar and used for flavoring in salads.
Yield: 4 to 6 individual servings, depending on the size of the baking cups.
Fine breadcrumbs
½ cup (35g) freshly minced peppermint leaves
4 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
1½ cups (375ml) organic yoghurt or sour cream
½ cup (125g) caster sugar (also called superfine sugar)
2 tablespoons potato starch
8 drops peppermint oil (optional)
Preheat the oven to 325F (165C). Grease your baking cups and dust them liberally with fine bread crumbs, then scatter the minced leaves over the bottom of each cup, making certain that the peppermint is distributed evenly. Beat the egg yolks until frothy and lemon colored, then combine this with the yogurt. Sift together the sugar and potato starch, then sift this into the egg mixture. Once these ingredients are well blended, add the optional peppermint oil to taste. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, then fold them into the peppermint batter. Fill the prepared baking cups with the batter and set the cups in a glass casserole dish. Fill the dish with hot water so that it reaches over half way up the sides of the baking cups. Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until fully set in the center. Carefully remove the cups from the water and cool on a rack. Serve slightly chilled with a garnish of peppermint leaves.
Watch Point: Due to its delicate texture, this pudding is best baked in small earthenware or china cups. Pyrex cups tend to bake hot, so baking time may be shorter.
St. Gertrude’s Datsch
