- Nun's puffs
-
Nun's puffs are a dessert pastry from the United States and England. The recipe is included in an 1856 "cook book" and Oxford University's Household encyclopedia from 1859.[1].[2] They are made from butter, milk, flour, sugar, eggs and sometimes honey is added.[3] Recipes call for pan frying (traditionally in lard), frying and then baking, or baking straight away.[4][5] The most well established recipes suggest cooking the butter, milk, and flour in a pan then adding the eggs (whites last) and sprinkling sugar on the mixture before baking.[3] Choux paste is also cooked twice, to prepare the paste and to "transform it into puffs". It dates to medieval times and is a cross between a batter and a dough.[6] A cream filling can also be prepared.[4]
They have been described as "light tender morsels" that are "heavenly".[3] Another description describes them as a "cream puff batter (cooking) that bakes like a popover.[7] A butter mixture is called nun's butter, made with butter, sugar, wine and nutmeg.[8] And nun's puffs are one of several foods that give a shout out to the church (others include nun's sighs, angel food, cardinal mousse, hermits (food), twelfth-night cake, scripture cake, Christmas cake, Quaker cake, Jerusalem pudding, and devil's food).[9] The lightness of deep fried beignets in said to have inspired the pets de nonne "nun's farts",[6] though the origin of the nun's puffs name is said to be a mystery.[3] Recipes for nun's puffs are also included in two Virginia cookbooks.[5][10]
See also
References
- ^ [1] The household encyclopedia Published 1859 Original from Oxford University Digitized Jun 10, 2008 page 257
- ^ Hannah Widdifield Hannah Widdifield Widdifield's new cook book; or, Practical receipts for the housewife Peterson, 1856 Original from the New York Public Library Digitized Aug 7, 2008 410 pages page 181
- ^ a b c d Tricia Laning New cook book Edition 12, illustrated Meredith Books, 2005 ISBN 0696227320, 9780696227325 639 pages Better Homes and Gardens page 126
- ^ a b Mrs. C. M. Crawford Houston Civic Club cook book Authors Houston Civic Club (Houston, Tex.), Publisher s.n., 1906 Original from the New York Public Library Digitized Jul 22, 2008 128 pages
- ^ a b Mary Stuart Smith Virginia cookery-book (from a South Carolina lady) Compiled by Mary Stuart Smith Harper, 1912 Original from Harvard University Digitized Jun 29, 2007 352 pages page 29
- ^ a b Harold McGee [2] On food and cooking: the science and lore of the kitchen page 552
- ^ REDISCOVER GREAT HOME- BAKING Architecture v. 63, nos. 1-6 - 1985 Better homes and gardens
- ^ [3] page 135
- ^ Lucy Maynard Salmon, Nicholas Adams, Bonnie G. Smith Editors Nicholas Adams, Bonnie G. Smith The family cookbook (1923) History and the texture of modern life: selected essays Edition illustrated University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001 ISBN 0812235878, 9780812235876 Length 276 pages page 66
- ^ [Housekeeping in old Virginia: containing contributions from two hundred and fifty of Virginia's noted housewives, distinguished for their skill in the culinary art and other branches of domestic economy] Compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree Favorite Recipes Press, 1965 Original from the University of Michigan Digitized Aug 28, 2009 528 pages
Categories:
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
