If you are one of the millions of people who love to read cookbooks, you know that there are some pretty weird sounding names for recipes.
In researching food history, sometimes the answer as to how a name attached itself to a list of ingredients can be found. Sometimes it isn’t so easy.
Personally I would hesitate to pick up something called Poor-Doo or Tarballs, no matter how much the hostess smiled at me. No Thanks would also go to Mousse of Sweetbread, which has nothing at all to do with light airy desserts or sugar or bread.
I might take a chance with a Bag Pie or Ace Rent a Cake only because I recognize that they might have something to do with one of the four basic food groups. (In case you’re wondering, those important groups are pie, cake, coffee and Pepcid.)
Even so, I would definitely pass up even a pie with a name like Neets Foot Pie. The dictionary isn’t on my shelf just to look at: Neets is archaic for Neat, Neat is of the genus Bos, and Bos is a cow or ox.
But to be fair, there are some pretty good dishes behind some pretty funky names and well, sometimes you’ve just got to make the thing to figure out why someone would eat the likes of Goober Chocks or Billy Goats.
If you’re game, here are the Chocks and Goats, along with a Pennsylvania Dutch pie named after two draft horses, Bob and Andy.
Goober Chocks
1-1/2 sticks margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons water
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Cream margarine and peanut butter. Add sugar, egg, vanilla and salt. Beat well. Add cinnamon and water and beat well again.
Sift together flour, baking powder. Add to creamed mixture, mixing well. Stir in peanuts and chips.
Press into lightly greased 9-inch square pan. You can use a larger 10-inch square or 13 x 9-inch but the chocks will be thinner. The smaller the pan the thicker the chocks.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until firm. Time varies with thickness.
Cool completely and cut into chocks — bars or squares.
Billy Goats
1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of ground cloves
2 tablespoons buttermilk
3 cups chopped pecans
1 pound chopped dates
Cream butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add to creamed mix along with buttermilk. (If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, stir a teaspoon of cider vinegar or lemon juice into 1/2 cup of milk; this makes sour milk which can be substituted for the buttermilk.)
Stir in nuts and dates. Original recipe called for mixing them in with clean hands. If this works for you, go for it. We opt for stirring it all in with the mixer.
Drop by teaspoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake in 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until set and a light golden brown. Makes a large batch — 7-8 dozen.
Boss and Penbrook, two goats with an attitude, love these cookies.
Bob/Andy Pie
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Dash of salt
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
One unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat all ingredients together well and pour into the pie shell. Bake about 45 minutes. Pie is done when it puffs up and quivers slightly. (It should not appear liquid or slosh in pie pan.) Top will deflate as it cools. Serve at room temperature. Slice in very thin wedges as this pie is rich.
NOTE: Other Bob/Andy recipes call for the egg whites to be beaten separate and folded into the filling. I opted for this easier version. It is rich and like a pecan pie without the nuts.
