Absolutely THE most amazing pie crust EVER!!! A found recipe that dates back to around the Civil War period.

I was scouring the recipe files of my 2nd great grandmother(I should add here that my grandmother was very sentimental and saved everything), and I found a recipe for pie crust in there that was titled "my mother's pastry". So doing the math, I quickly figured out that the mother of my 2nd great grandmother had to have been alive well before the Civil War period. I read through the recipe and it all seemed pretty easy...so I tried it. This was the most amazingly, light, flaky, and richly tasty pastry crust I had ever tasted. It was dummy proof too! All well and good for me when trying new recipes. This pastry was not "moody" like salad oil pie crusts, where if you knead it too much it can get tough, and another plus, it did not stick to the wax paper. It peeled off perfectly.

Here are the basic ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 pound of butter (2 sticks NO substitutes...this is the key ingredient)
1 table spoon of fine sugar (white granulated)
1/4 tsp of leavening powder, (baking powder)
1/2 tsp of salt
3 to 6 tablespoons of cool water.

Add all of the dry ingredients into a bowl and sift together with a fork. Cut the two sticks of butter up and chop them into this mixture...the mixture should look like a crumbly topping. Start pinching the butter down with your fingers, pressing and mixing back into flour. Begin adding the water but do not exceed 6 tablespoons of the liquid. Now here is where I experimented. I threw all of this into a mixer and mixed until this looked like cookie dough! I know, I know, my 3rd great gram didn't make it this way, but I like modern conveniences! But for all of you purists our there....go ahead and keep mixing and kneading the dough until it reaches the dough ball stage. Then the recipe states, set in a cool place and prepare fruit compote. I made an apple pie with it.

Recipe donated by Mary from Oak Hollow Primitives

Dressing for one big fowl. From: The Farmer's Guide Cookbook, 1900

1 small onion, cut up into fine grounding.
1 pound of pork sausage.
2 t, butter
salt and pepper
4 t of dried crumbs of bread rhine or flesh, ( simply dried bread crumbs, crust and all)
4 dozen chestnuts.

Boil chestnuts, remove skins. Mash 2 dozen of the chestnuts and leave 2 dozen whole. Cook sausage with butter and onion and add the 2 dozen mashed chestnuts. Add the dried bread and whole chestnuts. Add salt and pepper to taste. Rinse cavity of raw hen out with salt brine, (hot salt water). Stuff raw hen and bake.

NOTE: This was really good! Our family just devoured it and it has earned itself a permanent place in our recipe box. The dressing has a wonderful, savory, rich flavor.
TIPS: When harvesting, look for chestnuts with firm, uncracked shells that are heavy for their size. Store them in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator for two weeks or in the freezer for several months.

Candied Violets. From: The Cook's Own Cookbook, 1824

This is an old Victorian recipe that is still occasionally used in Europe as a treat. Here today, candied violets are usually only found as garnishment for cakes.

Things needed:

Violets

egg white

1-2 teas. cold water

granulated sugar

Pick the violets while still dewey in the morning. Allow them to dry on a towel. Stir in egg white causing as little foam as possible. Beat in 1-2 teas. of cold water. Hold the flower in your fingers and paint this mixture over it with a very soft brush. Dust the sticky flower with thoroughly with the sugar. Let sugar fall on waxed paper for re-use. Put blossom on a screening rack to remove moisture. When dry, store in a dark tin box.