Spiced Apple Roll (1945) ★★★★

9:57 AM 1940s , 20th century , 4 stars , canada , dessert , fruit , WWII 3 Comments

Apologies for the complete lack of posts recently. With a mobile baby on top of my already busy days I have found myself completely swamped. I was flipping through my cookbooks in search of interesting recipes a few days ago and I found this recipe for a spiced apple roll from Kate Aitken's Canadian Cook Book. I have a modern copy, but the original was printed in 1945. Mrs. Aitken was apparently a huge role mole for everyday women in their kitchens and was immensely popular in her time.

Spiced Apple Roll
Temperature: 350F. Time: 40 minutes

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon mace
¼ cup shortening
1 egg
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 cups apples, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons white sugar
¼ cup raisins, chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cloves
¾ cup molasses
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup hot water

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and mace; cut in the shortening until the mixture is crumbly. Beat the egg lightly; add the milk. Add to the flour mixture and stir quickly; turn on a floured board and knead gently till smooth. Roll in an oblong ¼” thick and brush with the melted butter. Mix together the chopped apples, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, and cloves. Spread on the batter; roll up like a jelly roll. Place in an oiled baking dish, shaped into a circle. Mix together the molasses, nutmeg, butter and hot water. Pour over roll; bake in a moderate oven till done. Serves 6.
NOTE TO BRIDES: Here's a dessert with a sauce ready-made.

The Verdict:
I gave this roll four stars because it was really good! The only thing I would've done differently was rolled my dough a little bit thinner and added more apples. Otherwise this is definitely edible and sort of reminds me of cinnamon raisin bread. I ate one piece to test and then another and found myself wanting more!

Modernized Recipe:
You can easily follow the original recipe in a modern kitchen. I baked my roll for about 35 minutes. Additionally, I found the sauce to be quite a lot and it was really watery when I added the hot water, so I used maybe a quarter of it. Because it was so watery it soaked into the roll. It wasn't bad, but I was hoping for more of a glaze.