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Apple Gems
Chop fine 4 sour apples, add 1 beaten egg, 2 tablespoonfuls molasses, 1 1/2 cupfuls Indian corn meal, 1 1/2 cupfuls flour, 1/2 teaspoonful salt, 2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder. Add sufficient milk to make thick drop batter, and bake in hot greased gem-pans.
A cornmeal-and-apple drop batter baked in cast-iron gem pans. The batter is stiffer than a modern muffin batter, and the pans must be hot before it goes in.
- Gem pansGem pans are heavy cast-iron muffin tins with shallow oval or round cups. Grease them and set them in the oven to heat while you mix; the batter should sizzle faintly as it drops in. A standard 12-cup muffin tin works, but preheating it still matters for the crisp exterior.
- Hot ovenThe recipe calls for a hot oven but gives no temperature. A modern equivalent is roughly 400-425F, hot enough that the gems set quickly and rise on the baking powder before the coarse meal weighs them down; bake until set and browned, roughly 18-22 minutes in standard muffin cups.
- Indian corn mealPlain yellow or white cornmeal, not a self-rising mix and not masa. Medium grind gives the texture intended here; fine grind makes a softer, more cake-like gem.
- Sour applesTart cooking apples such as Granny Smith, Bramley or Northern Spy. Four apples chopped fine come to several cups, a large proportion of fruit and a significant source of moisture along with the milk. Peel or not as you prefer; the recipe does not say.
- Milk quantityThe recipe leaves this open because the apples vary. Start with about 1/2 cup and add by the spoonful until the batter drops thickly from the spoon and holds a mound rather than spreading.
- MolassesTwo tablespoons of unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap, which is bitter and would dominate. It is the only sweetener in the recipe, so the gems will be barely sweet.
- YieldA dozen or more, depending on the size of the cups. They are best soon after baking; the apple keeps them moist and they do not hold well.