EXLINE — For the most part lately, hasn’t the break in the weather been great? We do not need any more of those days with excessive heat. 

I hope everyone that got to go to the Iowa State Fair had a good time. Tracy took two friends from out of state up there last weekend. One of the girls that went, was originally from Massachusetts. She had never been to a state fair before. She was surprised at how much there was to see and do. She said any small fair she had ever been to, was nothing like this big state fair. She also said there was a lot more to see than just Midway rides, like at most fairs.

The other friend, was originally from the state of Mississippi. She told me she had been to five other state fairs and this was the best one she had seen. They enjoyed all there was to see and do, including the Butter Cow and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs carved in butter because of the 75th anniversary this year, of that original movie coming out in 1937. They also got to try new and different foods, especially the array of things you can buy on a stick, at the fair.

The recipe this week is an award winning recipe that won a Blue Ribbon at the Appanoose County Fair, here in July. It also just recently won another Blue Ribbon at the Iowa State Fair. It was submitted by McKinley Maletta of Moravia.

 

Snicker Doodle Muffins

Ingredients

2 sticks regular butter (melted)

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2-¼ c. flour

¾ tsp. baking soda

¾ tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. cream of tarter

¾ tsp. nutmeg

1-1/4 c. sour cream

 

Topping

½ c. sugar

1 Tb. cinnamon

 

Directions

Using a mixer, blend the sugar and melted butter together. Then add the vanilla and each egg, one at a time and blend well, about two to five minutes.

In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tarter and nutmeg and mix together. 

Once that is completed, slowly add a little of the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and mix slowly with the mixer. Alternate adding the sour cream and a little flour. Continue adding the ingredients of each one that way, ending up adding the last bit of flour at the end.

Once everything is blended together, prepare your muffin pan. Spray the cups of the muffin pan with cooking spray and place your mix into the muffin cups. You may use a small scoop if you desire.

To prepare the topping, mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Once the batter is in the muffin pan, gently spoon some topping onto the top of each muffin, before you place them into the oven. 

In a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees, bake the muffins until done, between 20 to 22 minutes. This should yield 12 muffins.

 

Since it is still summertime, a further discussion about ice cream is warranted. Next to regular ice cream, another popular treat is known as frozen custard. It is similar to ice cream but is made with some different ingredients. The difference in the recipes for ice cream and frozen custard, is the addition of eggs and at least 10 percent of butterfat, along with air that is incorporated into the product as it is made. The taste of frozen custard, seems to be creamy and smooth, with a silky taste.    

One of the first families to produce this frozen dessert was the Kohr brothers in York, Penn. in 1917. The family owned a local dairy and to expand their business they purchased an ice cream machine that had a gasoline engine on it to give it power.

The brothers, Archie, Elton and Lester modified the machine to produce their ice cream. After a few failed attempts at trying to sell their ice cream at different places, the boy’s uncle Sylvester, encouraged them to take their ice cream machine to the seashore, where they were sure to have a waiting crowd to try their sweet treat.

Following his advice, the brothers got a small booth on the Boardwalk at Coney Island in New York in 1919. Their product was well received and on the first weekend that they were open for business, they sold over 18,000 cones of ice cream at five cents each of their frozen dessert.

To prevent their frozen treat from melting too fast in the summer heat, the brothers modified their recipe to include eggs. This helped to stiffen the finished product and made it taste more like custard, thus frozen custard was created. The family owned company, continued to expand and now sells frozen custard in 10 different states, with many locations at seashore resort towns up and down the east coast, on many seaside resort boardwalks. The family continues to adhere to the original family recipe to produce their product to this day.

Another entrepreneur eventually came up with a concept for a product known as soft serve ice cream. A Greek born immigrant, Athanassios Karvelas, was brought to America by his parents in 1910, as a young boy and settled in New York City.

As an adult Tom Carvel as he became known in later years, moved to Westchester, N.Y. to get out of the city because of his health. After trying different professions he finally borrowed $15 off of his wife and began to sell ice cream from an old truck on Memorial Day weekend in 1934 in Hartsdale, N.Y.

During his route, he got a flat tire on his truck. As his ice cream began to melt he pulled into a local businesses’ parking lot and began to sell his melting, soft ice cream of which he soon sold out his entire supply.

The business owner let him set up his ice cream stand and use his electricity at first. Within two years, Tom bought the businesses’ building and converted it into his first ice cream store and sold his soft serve ice cream from that location.

He eventually improved his recipe and equipment that he patented in 1939 to produce a superior quality of soft serve ice cream using the freshest of ingredients.

Soon he began to sell his soft serve ice cream making machines to other companies as well as his expertise in making the treat. Through continued business deals, he was one of the first people to franchise a business in 1947 and had 265 soft serve ice cream shops open by the early 1950s.  

As his business grew he began to do his own commercials on both radio and television. His gravelly voice soon became his trade mark, as he promoted his soft serve ice cream shops. The company was also one of the first ones to produce and sell ice cream cakes for birthdays to try to get people to try those instead of the traditional, regular cakes for those types of occasions.

By 1989 the Carvel Company was sold to an international investment bank and the next year in 1990, Tom Carvel died at the age of 86.

The company began to expand its ice cream sales into different venues, including grocery stores and stadiums, along with other retail shops.

In 2001, the business was sold to a private equity firm. Eventually by 2004, a new corporation was created called, Focus Brands Inc., which combined Carvel, Cinnabon and Seattle’s Best Coffee International, into a brand new food service company. 

Today the Carvel Company continues to sell its signature soft serve ice cream in over 400 Carvel stores and in more that 8,500 supermarkets nationwide.

At the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933, frozen custard was sold in the midwest for the first time at that exhibition. It became quite popular in towns throughout the midwest except for right in Chicago. 

Eventually, another company came up with the idea of selling soft serve ice cream. It was created by a man named J. F. McCullough and his son Alex, who also lived in the state of Illinois.

Mr. McCullough owned the Homemade Ice Cream Company in Green River, near East Moline, Ill. He thought ice cream tasted better when it was served soft, instead of frozen hard. So they bought an ice cream machine from a vendor in Chicago. After the father and son experimented with the ice cream making machine and their recipe to produce a soft ice cream, they thought they were on to something. 

In 1938 they opened their first ice cream shop in Joliet, Ill. where they sold and produced what he referred to as the "queen among dairy products.”

They then went to see Sherb Noble, who owned a walk-in ice cream store in Kankakee, Ill. They asked him to hold what was called the "All the Soft Ice Cream You Can Eat for Only 10 Cents!" promotion. The day of the sale, they dished up 1,600 servings of the soft serve ice cream on Aug. 4, 1938. The sweet treat was a big success with the public.

By June 22, 1940 Mr. Noble officially opened the first Dairy Queen store in Joliet, Ill. They called it Dairy Queen because of Mr. McCullough calling his soft serve frozen custard, the "queen among dairy products.”

By 1941 they opened another store to sell their frozen custard and a third one later that same year.

Soon Mr. Noble owned 35 stores and you could order any flavor you wanted as long as it was vanilla. It became known as the “Cone with the Curl on Top.”

After World War II, they began to franchise the Dairy Queen stores and by 1947 there were 100 in existence. By 1950 there were 1,446 of them, and by 1955 they had expanded to 2,600 stores, selling their soft serve frozen custard ice cream.

By 1985, the company came up with the idea of the DQ Blizzard, which is ice cream served in a cup, with bits of your favorite candy bars mixed in. In the first year they were introduced, they sold over 175 million of them.

Today, the American Dairy Queen Corporation is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. The Dairy Queen system, is one of the largest fast food systems in the world, with more than 6,000 restaurants in the United States, Canada and 18 other countries.

Frozen custard continues to be a big taste treat nationwide. Now a company called Scooter’s, sells frozen custard in Chicago. They use the same dairy that supplied the custard ingredients to the 1933 World's Fair that was held there years before.

In the Dairy State of Wisconsin, a fast food restaurant chain in the midwest, known for its frozen custard, called Culver’s, is headquartered in Prairie Du Sac, Wis.      

Also located in Wisconsin is the Stoelting LLC, company. They are the largest producers of custard machines, with their home plant in Kiel, Wis.

The city that consumes the most frozen custard in the entire country is Milwaukee, Wis. They are also home to three of the biggest, locally owned frozen custard shops in that city. They are Leon’s Frozen Custard, Gilles Frozen Custard and Kopp’s Frozen Custard.

That city is also noted for having the most frozen custard shops in the world, in one area and is also known as the "unofficial frozen custard capital of the world."

With the craving by Americans of ice cream, more than $25 billion is spent on the delectable treat each year. Whether you go to a local or a chain owned ice cream shop to get your frozen custard, you are carrying on a tradition of a delicious summertime treat that has been enjoyed for generations.

Last week the Vacation Bible School was held at the Exline Church of Christ, from Monday, Aug. 6 until Friday, Aug. 10. Then on Sunday, Aug. 12, was the program and dinner at the church.   They had a nice turn out for the event. 

The significance of them all wearing hats with buttons on them was part of what they learned that week.

“How many buttons in my cap? Let’s take a count and see! I got these because I have an excellent memory! I memorize the word of God. I hide it in my heart. So, as I learn to live my life. His path I’ll not depart!”

Do not forget that the Exline Royal Neighbors Chapter 3000, is going to hold an Ice Cream Social at the community center on Saturday, Aug. 25. It will begin at 5:30 p.m.

If you would like to come early, you may watch and help them cook cobbler in Dutch Ovens over the open fire outside. Plus, they will be making homemade ice cream.  Along with the ice cream and cobbler, they will also have cake and cookie bars available. So come down and join in the fun. Everyone is welcome. They are hoping to also have some live music. A free will offering will be accepted.

Their guest speaker that evening will be someone from the Women’s Crisis Center in Ottumwa.