[Sca-cooks] Pretzels and Rock Candy

[Robert Downie]

Is she thinking of  jumballs?  They are a cookie rolled out into thin ropes and
twisted into knots, letters, figures, etc.

Here's the redaction from _Sallets Humbles and Shrewsbury Cakes_
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp anisseed
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp rosewater
Approx 1 T water

Sift flour sugar and salt into a bowl.  Add the anised to the flour, rubbing it
between your hands to release the flavour.  Beat the egg whites till stiff and
flod them carefully into the flour mixture.  Add the rosewater and just enough
water to make a workable dough.  With floured hands, shape the dough into long
rools.  Shape the rolls into letters and figures.  Place on a greased cookie
sheet and prick them with a fork for decoration.  Bake the cookies in a preheated
350 degree oven for 10 - 15minutes or until done but not browned.  Remove to a
rack immediately.  The cookies are best fresh, but will keep well in a tightly
covered jar for a couple of weeks.  Yield about 10 large cookies.  (we used these
to make snailshells for our sausage snails - inspired by Olwen's escargo from a
couple of months ago).

Peter Brears also has a redaction in _Banquetting Stuffe_

1 1/2 oz butter
1 T rosewater
4 oz sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp ground mace
1 tsp aniseed
1 tsp caraway seed
8 oz flour

Beat the butter with the rosewater; then cream with the sugar.  Mix in the beaten
and spices, then wqork in the flour to make a soft dough.  Make into long rolls
about 1/4" in diameter, and form into knots, rings, or plaited strips, etc before
baking on a lightly greased baking sheet for15 - 20 min at 350 degrees.

If anyone wants the unredacted originals, just ask and I can send send them too.
I'm just a really slow, two  finger typist so haven't included them here for
conveinience and speed's sake.

I also seen to recall a Spanish(?) version of a boiled, then baked pastry in the
florilegium - rosquilas (sp) I think, but they are probably more bagel like than
pretzel like.

As for the rock candy, there are various references to moulded sugar scuptures
with the sugar cooked to the hard crack stage (again, from leafing through my
brand spanking new copies of Banquetting Stuffe and All the King's Cooks).  I
suppose you could use commercial hard candy molds for hard sugar candy.

Faerisa

Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:

> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Passing along two questions from shire members not on the list:
>
> 1. Our A&S mistress believes that she has seen a recipe for pretzels from
> within our period of study, but cannot find it again.  She'd like to give it
> to our mistress of children to use with the kids in a newly formed children's
> activity group.  Can anyone point me to such a beast?
>
> 2. I seem to remember someone saying something about rock candy being
> donelate in our period of study.  Does anyone have anything on that?  That
> would also be a good thing to do with kids.
>
> Brangwayna