Burlington Vermont 1875

May 4th 1875

Orange Cake

Beat the whites of 3 and the yolks of 5 eggs separate.  Stir to a cream 2 cups of sugar, ½ cup butter add the beaten eggs, & ½ cup cold water, 2 ½ cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and the grated rind of one orange and all the juice except one tablespoon for frosting. 

Filling

Whites of two eggs

2 small cups sugar

Orange juice 1 tablespoon

Avondale Pennsylvania 1912

May 4th 1912

Snitz and Knep                                                   Bess

1 pint milk

2 eggs

Little salt

3 cups of flour

3 heaping teaspoons baking powder

I have found this recipe in another book; all from the Ladies Book “Godey’s” and during the Civil War.  This seems to be just the dumpling part of the traditional recipe; I guess you are supposed to already know that you use apples for the rest of it. 

The following recipe gives you a variation of this by using a bit of ham with the apples. 

“Snitz and Knep (1866)

“Take of sweet dried apples (dried with the skins on if you can get them) about one quart.  Put them in the bottom of a porcelain or tin-lined boiler with a cover.  Take a nice piece of smoked ham washed very clean, and lay on top; add enough water to cook nicely.  About twenty minutes before dishing up, add the following dumplings. 

Dumplings: Mix a cup of warm milk with one egg, a little salt, and a little yeast, and enough flour to make a sponge.  When light, work into a loaf.  Let stand until about twenty minutes before dinner, then cut off slices or lumps, and lay on the apples, and let steam through.” 

“now known as “Schnitz-un-Gnepp” or dried apples and dumplings, this is an old Pennsylvania Dutch dish, originally made without meat.” 

Quote from: Civil War Recipes; Receipts from the pages of Godey’s Lady’s Book

Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding

The University Press of Kentucky; copyright 1999