82-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, April 1, 2000
Maryland Holstein Ladies Enjoy Easter
Ruth Snow, Sharon Hollingsworth, Nona Schwartzbeck,
and Mary Ellen Leaverton all visited the teddy bear
maker’s house during the Maryland Holstein Convention
craft shop tour.
Sandra Crissinger, dessert and diatetic specialist at
Penn Alps Restaurant, made this diatetic cake to show
guests how easy it is to get taste without sugar.
Jane McCracken, head kitchen supervisor at Penn Alps
Restaurant, made split croissants with filling and glazed
strawberries during the food demonstration.
GAY BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
GRANTSVILLE (Md.)
24 ladies who attended
the Maryland Holstein
Convention ladies pro
gram learned how to create
an “Easter Parade” during
food demonstrations pre
sented on last Friday.
Held in the Great Hall
over Penn Alps Restau
rant, the demonstration
was presented by Jane
McCracken, Penn Alps
head kitchen supervisor,
and Sandra “Sam” Criss
inger, dessert specialist.
They prepared boy and girl
Easter bunnies, an Easter
basket cake, and
strawberry desserts.
McCracken chose Easter
as the theme and featured
fresh strawberries in her
creations. She created the
first Easter bunny by cut
ting a round cake layer
through the center and
placing the haves on end,
side by side, with filling
holding them together.
She used buttercream
liquid filling and icing mix
ture to cover the entire sur
face. Then Crissinger
coated the cake with tinted
coconut. The tinted coco
nut was made by tossing
coconut with food coloring
in a plastic bag.
Using blue coconut for
the first “boy” bunny, she
added jelly bean eyes and
bent pipe cleaners for the
ears. The “girl” bunny was
made using yellow-tinted
coconut.
McCracken also made
filled croissants as one of
her desserts. Over the
B J he ?f te ™P|' n 9 desserts were part of the food demonstration in the Great Hall of
enn Alps Restaurant and Craft Shop during the Maryland Holstein Convention’s Ladies
Program.
bottom half, she put on
white filling with a icing
funnel. Then she added
glazed strawberries pre
pared earlier with corn
syrup and dextrose. The
strawberries were then
topped with more filling.
McCracken sprinkled
powdered sugar on to com
plete the picture.
“This is. nice and easy to
do if company comes,”
said McCracken.
Strawberry pies were
next. McCracken used four
pastry shells to make
enough for every attendee
to try some of the dessert
later.
While McCracken com
pleted the strawberry pie
demonstration, Crissinger
shared her extensive
knowledge of diabetic and
dietetic desserts, which
have recently been added
to the Penn Alps menu.
“Diabetic and dietetic
are two different things,”
she said. “Diabetic means
no sugar, and dietetic
means low amounts ol
sugar.”
“A person has to know
how much sugar they can
have,” said Crissinger,
who has several grandchil
dren with diabetes.
“If you tell someone it’s
sugar-free, they think it
won’t taste good,” she
said. “Try blending
whipped topping and, if a
cheesecake, more cream
cheese to add flavor.”
A favorite made with
Desserts
sugar-free vanilla pudding
mix and whipped topping
is banana cream pie. The
combination is poured over
bananas already sliced at
the bottom of the pastry
shell.
Crissinger recom
mended using applesauce
in baking so long as you
know what kind of apples
the sauce came from.
“Many people who are
trying to avoid sugar do
not realize how high the
sugar content is, especially
in red and yellow delicious
apples,” she said. “Eat a
tart apple instead,”
Crissinger also sug
gested trying Aspartain.
“It is a natural sugar de
rived from fruit,” she said,
adding that no aftertaste
remains. Many supermar
kets and health food stores
carry Aspartain.
Following the demon
stration, everyone enjoyed
a luncheon in the Great
hall. Favors included a bar
of shampoo and condi
tioner wrapped in spring
colored tissue.
After lunch, everyone
spent the remaining after
noon hours visiting local
shops, such as Four Sea
sons Stitchery, Yoders
Country Market, and
Spruce Forest Artisan Vil
lage on the Penn Alps
campus.
The ladies program for
the Maryland Holstein
Convention was coordi
nated by Fannie Bender,
Alice Bender, Glenda
Maust, and Julia Bender.