Whipped Cream, George and Gracie Style

With the anniversary gifts of candy and flowers that my husband gave me this year, he had also wrapped up a manual whipper/chopper gadget “As Seen On TV” and a set of George Burns and Gracie Allen videos. I’ve been a fan of Burns and Allen’s TV shows from the ’50s for a long time; my daughters have learned to like their old-fashioned comedy, too. The taped shows include the commercials for Carnation Evaporated Milk, their sponsor. They were written right into the dialogue as part of the show.

As I watched them talk about how this canned milk whips like cream, I decided I should try some in my new beater gadget. I needed to make a dessert for a picnic for my Monday Club.

I chose a pie that I could serve with the whipped cream. The Hawaiian Pie in the latest Farm and Dairy Cookbook sounded wonderful. It baked to a golden brown. I wished I would be able to taste it, but since there was so much going on at our house, I wasn’t going to club. I would send it with Mom, who is also a member. (Editor Susan and administrative assistant, Georgeanne, are in Monday Club, too. I knew they wouldn’t mind trying something from our cookbook.)

I looked to my Julia Child’s Way To Cook to check proportions for sugar, vanilla, etc. I had put the can of milk in the ice bin of my freezer for a while. Julia said the colder the cream, the easier it whipped. She added confectioners sugar and vanilla and noted that whipped cream doubles its volume.

Now to warm up the elbow grease – I cranked that beater… and cranked! I turned as fast as I could. After checking a couple of times and finding foamy liquid, it suddenly started to get thicker.

When it felt like it would stay in a blob on a serving of pie, I folded in the sugar and spice. It looked nice enough for Gracie to serve George on their show. My gifts coordinated better than I could have imagined.

I heard from my club that the pie is pretty good. (So, why do my pies rarely stay home for my husband? They always go out to some “do”.) The recipe is on the opposite page (you really should get this cookbook!)