Some friends of ours have a granddaughter getting married (and she's a friend of ours as well) and so I agreed to help out with the shower. Apparently this is to be a "southern" shower, full of tradition and elegance, but not too far over the top.
Among things that are needed for a shower are punch with great grandma's punch bowl, sandwiches with cream cheese and green pepper jelly, and southern pulled butter mints. "Ah, nobody can make those anymore. We used to know someone, but the tradition needs to be passed down." Like a fool, I said that I'd be happy to give it a try. I suffer greatly from "I got a PhD in math, how hard could X be?" where X is something like gardening, or quilting, or cleaning, etc. It's always harder than I think it will be.
"We'll call Mrs. X who makes these, maybe she'll pass down the method. I hope you don't hate me!" I was actually planning on doing research online, watching a few videos, and trying it to see what happens.
Here are some resources I found:
So I tried my first bunch. It hasn't creamed yet, but I am eagerly waiting. I think we didn't pull it enough since it didn't get "ribbons" in it. We will see. The chewy mints are actually pretty good, all things considered.
I'm always up for a cooking adventure. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!
Among things that are needed for a shower are punch with great grandma's punch bowl, sandwiches with cream cheese and green pepper jelly, and southern pulled butter mints. "Ah, nobody can make those anymore. We used to know someone, but the tradition needs to be passed down." Like a fool, I said that I'd be happy to give it a try. I suffer greatly from "I got a PhD in math, how hard could X be?" where X is something like gardening, or quilting, or cleaning, etc. It's always harder than I think it will be.
"We'll call Mrs. X who makes these, maybe she'll pass down the method. I hope you don't hate me!" I was actually planning on doing research online, watching a few videos, and trying it to see what happens.
Here are some resources I found:
- https://www.journalnow.com/archives/making-mints-pulled-butter-mints-are-a-dying-art-but/article_23013b19-0a6c-5e86-8ef2-b2774fd94895.html This may in fact be the person who my friends knew. I used his recipe, although I might use a smaller batch for future experiments.
- A video from a TV show in 1986: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RdioIES61c
- This video definitely is more casual than my friends implied, but it does show when the mints "cream". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60fkvKeVa8Q
- This has nice hints, I might use this recipe next: https://www.ourstate.com/nitas-buttermints/
So I tried my first bunch. It hasn't creamed yet, but I am eagerly waiting. I think we didn't pull it enough since it didn't get "ribbons" in it. We will see. The chewy mints are actually pretty good, all things considered.
I'm always up for a cooking adventure. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!
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