Fair-winning recipes

After a nine-year hiatus, the Langola Livewires 4-H Club is back. We’re “plugged in” and ready to roll. After Austin graduated, the club became inactive because we had no young families in the neighborhood. We were between generations. Finally, the area kids had kids, and we have a club again.  Since no one has any 4-H experience, they asked if I would help them get started. I forgot how energizing it is to work with and encourage young people in discovering new passions and skills. 

We just closed out our first Benton County Fair, and I must say — the kids did great. Several blue ribbons and a few state fair trips were earned. We survived our first shift in the 4-H Lunchstand, too. Many are already planning what they want to take for projects next year. 

Our young neighbor boy, Jackson, buys our bull calves for his feeder steer business. At 12, he has a very good handle on calf care and economic returns. When he’s not out with the calves, he likes to bake. When he picked up the last set of bull calves, Mark teased that he wanted a taste of the cake he was baking for the fair. Sure enough, Monday night after judging, there were 3 pieces of cake waiting for us to taste. It is probably the best German chocolate cake I’ve eaten — even better than mine. He earned Reserve Champion for his efforts. He even agreed to share the family recipe with us.

German Sweet Chocolate Cake

Reserve Champion by Jackson Kasella, using his great grandmother Leona Kasella’s recipe.

4 ounces Baker’s sweet chocolate

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

4 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Melt chocolate in boiling water and cool. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each. Blend in vanilla and chocolate. Sift flour with baking soda and salt; add alternately with buttermilk to the chocolate mixture, beating after each addition until smooth. Fold in beaten egg whites. Pour into 3 – 9 inch layer round pans lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool and frost tops only with coconut-pecan frosting

Coconut-Pecan Frosting for German Sweet Chocolate Cake

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

3 slightly beaten eggs

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

Cook milk, sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla over medium heat until thickened (about 12 minutes).

Add coconut and pecans. Cool until thick enough to spread, beating occasionally. Spread on tops of cakes and stack.

If you’re talking ribbon winning recipes, you can’t forget the pickle competition. My mom makes the best dill pickles, but I can’t seem to make them as good as hers. I think I’m missing a few tricks she’s not sharing because they’re just things you should already know. My niece, Jamie, is big into making Cinnamon Pickles these days. She shared the recipe she found online, plus a few tricks. 

Here are a few things I will have to try this year. Jamie strongly suggests soaking any cucumbers in a lime solution overnight. The calcium in lime will help firm pickles. However, lime also lowers the acidity, so you must soak cucumbers in water multiple times following the soaking in the lime to remove the excess lime for safety. I always used to use alum, but according to Penn State Extension, that really doesn’t work. 

If you’re not canning right away, leave them in an ice bath or in your refrigerator to maintain firmness. Doing this before you start canning will give you the crunchiest pickles ever. Don’t forget to cut off the blossom end at least 1/16th inch from the end. The blossom end contains enzymes that can cause softening. This is why some old recipes add a grape leaf to each jar of pickles. The leaves contain tannins that inhibit the enzyme that makes pickles soft. If you remove the end, you don’t need the grape leaf, according to Penn State.

Cinnamon Pickles by Jamie Dowell

8 pounds cucumbers

1 cup pickling lime

1 gallon water (well water is best)

1 gallon pomegranate juice

1/2 cup white vinegar

a few grape leaves

1 cup simple syrup infused with cinnamon and a bit of ginger 

1/2 tablespoon pickling salt

1 1/4 cups red wine vinegar

1 1/4 cups water

4 cups sugar

3 sticks cinnamon

Peel cucumbers. Cut in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds just as you would make a cucumber boat. Slice into chunks. Soak the cucumbers in pickling lime overnight (12 hours). This is what helps make the crunch.

Strain, rinse and soak in a fresh batch of water for a half hour or so. Rinse again. Now rinse a third time to be sure you get all the lime off. If the lime isn’t rinsed off, it can neutralize the vinegar, causing an improper pH for canning.

Next, soak the cucumbers in a mixture of pomegranate juice, the first amount of vinegar and the grape leaves. The leaves will turn gray looking after all the pickling. There is no amount of water given for this soaking phase, as it’s just whatever amount it takes to submerge the cucumbers. Let them sit in the colored water for a few hours, just enough to turn to the color you want. Drain.

In a saucepan, mix the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer until all the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the cucumbers and let sit for 24 hours. This will give them the flavor they need. Drain and save this liquid. Bring the liquid to a boil again.

Place cucumbers in sterilized jars. Pour the hot liquid over them. Leave 1/2 inch head space. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, let cool in water bath, then pull the jars out.  

If any jars didn’t seal, no problem — just put in the refrigerator and enjoy now.

Simple Syrup for Cinnamon Pickles

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

Cook till thickened. Put in jar and store in refrigerator until ready to use in drinks or recipes. Can infuse flavors in the syrup by placing mint leaves, cinnamon sticks or bits of freshly chopped ginger in the jars while storing.