Raise your hand if you like dessert.
Thought so.
In February we celebrate love with sweets for the sweet. Their form can be anything—candy, cookies, brownies, cakes. But most important—chocolate.
One recipe from the Cowbelles’ 1951 cookbook, “Roundup Recipes,” hits the mark with the use of that confection. It came from Sally Grennan, who, along with husband Bob, operated the Rockin’ Chair Ranch outside Patagonia for 12 years beginning in 1945.
A charter member of the Elgin Sonoita Cowbelles, Sally would play a part in forming a meeting tradition that continues today.
Desserts.
“We enjoy some wonderful desserts,” said Cowbelle Lou Apperson. Monthly hostesses furnish two for the group, “and we exchange recipes whenever we find something we would like to add to our collection.”
Sharing that ranching heritage with the public comes through the sale of cookbooks, with monies raised going for such things as scholarships.
When Bonnie and Ed Peplow first sent out a call for recipes for the 1951 editon of the cookbook, the big surprise was the response.
“We anticipated the book would be top-heavy with stews, casseroles, meats and main dishes,” the Peplows wrote. “What we got were desserts. We got pies and cakes and puddings; we got cookies, and ice cream and sauces. We had to send out an SOS for more substantial fare.”
The takeaway: Ranch folk love their sweets.
“No meal is complete without dessert, at least no dinner, lunch or supper menu is, and it is far from unknown for a touch of New England to creep in at breakfast in the form of pie,” the Peplows wrote.
Sally and Bob Grennan came to Arizona from Flushing, Queens, New York, so, while not officially New Englanders, they might have enjoyed a slice or two for that morning meal in the day.
Terri Murrietta of Patagonia is a Grennan granddaughter and not only knows of Sally’s Good Devil’s Food Cake, she makes it still. A smudged double-sided index card is proof.
“They wanted to be part of the Wild West,” Murrietta said of her grandparents’ move from the East. “Particularly my grandmother.”
This was a time when frontier freedom was vividly portrayed in films like “King of the Cowboys,” “Death Valley Rangers” and “West of Tombstone.” But rather than watch it, the Grennans chose to live it.
“They loved it,” Murrietta said. “It was their dream.”
But not always a comfortable one. During renovation of the property’s original adobe, the couple resided in a two-bedroom guest house, according to a 2004 obituary published in the Nogales International. Food was cooked in an outdoor fireplace.
Eventually the Grennans moved pots, pans and three daughters—Nancy, Judi, and Vicki—down the road to Papago Springs.
But that new address is not recorded in “Roundup Recipes.” In that book, Sally will always live on the Rockin’ Chair.
Good Devil’s Food Cake
(without eggs)
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ lb. butter or other shortening
2 squares chocolate
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 8-inch cake pans.
Melt butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler.
Mix flour, sugar and soda together. Add milk to dry ingredients. Stir melted chocolate and butter into mixture. Add vanilla and mix thoroughly.
Pour into cake pans and bake for 30 minutes.
White Frosting
¾ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 egg whites
Beat two egg whites until stiff.
In a saucepan, combine the sugar and water and boil until it “hairs”*.
Beat egg whites slowly into the syrup. Frost.
*Archaic term meaning “threads” determined by dropping a spoonful of syrup into cold water, creating a spider web.
A copy of “Roundup Recipes” can be found at the Bowman-Straddling History Center located at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, 3142 S. Hwy. 83, Sonoita. The center is open Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. For access, please visit the fairgrounds’ office. For more information on the center contact SonoitaHistoryCenter@gmail.com.
Carrie White can be contacted at CarrieWhitePRT@gmail.com.