Those of you who follow this blog know I was born and raised in Indiana where native hickory trees were prevelent. Hickory nuts were our favorite nut of choice for baking and making candy. It was a Fall tradition to go pick up hickory nuts and spend long cold evenings around the heater cracking the nuts and picking the meats out. We didn't mind or consider it work. It was just something my sister and I knew we were expected to do. Dad would use his smaller hammer to crack the nuts on a rock. My mother, sister, and I would pick out the nutmeats. And then we would get some special treats such as a hickory nut pie (like a pecan pie), fudge with hickory nuts and sometimes wonderful Hickory-Nut Bread. If you don't have hickory nuts in your area, use pecans. That is what I do now that I live in Texas which is pecan country.
1 egg
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 tbsp. margarine, melted (you know I now use butter)
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup hickory nut pieces
Beat the egg and mix with the brown sugar, margarine, and milk. Add the flour and baking powder. Stir in vanilla and mix well. Add the nuts and stir. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes. Bake in loaf pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
Hickory Nuts
This is like reading another memory of my youth. There was a giant hickory nut tree right out in the front yard and when it was 'time' grandpa and dad did the nut whacking and grandma, mom, my brother and I did the nut meat picking. The first treat was the pie, then the bread and later toward Christmas cookies with hickory nuts and the like. Sigh! Thanks for the memory! xoLinda
ReplyDeleteLinda,
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much our childhood days were alike even though mine was in Indiana and yours in New York. I have lived in 5 states 1 of them NY, by the way, and I find that people are mostly the same everywhere.