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How To Make Classic Thousand Island Dressing 

mayonnaise

ketchup

apple cider vinegar

onion

sweet pickle relish

salt

chili powder black pepper

hard-boiled egg, peeled

chives,

Mix the dressing: In a large mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, ketchup, cider vinegar, onion, relish, salt, and chili powder or pepper and mix until well-combined.

Add the egg: Press the egg through a fine-mesh sieve into the bowl and mix well.

Customize the dressing: If you wish, add any combination of optional ingredients (pimientos, chives, and/or hot sauce) and mix well.

Serve: This dressing can be served immediately, but tastes even better if refrigerated in a covered container for 12 to 24 hours. It will keep for about 4 days.

A recipe for homemade Gooey Butter Cake, complete with its signature crispy-chewy foundation, fantastically sloppy, sweet filling, and snowy blanket of powdered sugar. 

How a Glorious Mistake Resulted in Gooey Butter Cake: A St. Louis Tradition Since the &#8217;40s

instant yeast

milk

unsalted butter, melted

sugar

eggs,

vanilla extract

lemon zest

unbleached all-purpose flour,

Cooking spray

unsalted butter,

full-fat cream cheese,

brown sugar

corn syrup

egg,

all-purpose flour

Powdered sugar,

Reprinted with permission from Midwest Made by Shauna Sever, Running Press, 2019.

The Kitchn

Shauna Sever

Step 1: Make the dough:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the yeast and milk. Set aside for a couple of minutes. Whisk in the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the flour and salt. Fit the bowl onto the mixer along with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until shiny. It will be a very loose dough-batter hybrid. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl well about halfway through the mixing time. 

Step 2: Make the dough:

Spray a medium bowl with cooking spray or oil it lightly. Scrape the dough into the bowl and dust the surface of the dough with a couple of teaspoons of flour. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 45 minutes to 1 hour. 

Step 1: For the cake and topping:

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 325°F. Spray a 9x13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. 

Step 2: For the cake and topping:

Flour your hands, transfer the dough to the baking dish, and pat dough into an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise a second time for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the topping.

Step 3: For the cake and topping:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the granulated and brown sugars, vanilla, and salt, and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the corn syrup and egg and beat until smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually beat in the flour. Fold the batter by hand a few times with a large flexible spatula until well blended. 

Step 4: For the cake and topping:

When the dough has finished its second rise, dollop the topping over the dough. Use a small offset spatula to spread it evenly. 

Step 5: For the cake and topping:

Bake until puffed and golden, but still quite loose in the center, about 40 minutes (it will appear almost liquid under the surface in spots, but will quickly set upon cooling. Have a peek at the bottom of the cake through the glass dish; if it’s deeply golden, you’re in good shape). Let cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar before slicing and serving. 

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/mRtkXqDL

When I set out to write my new cookbook, Midwest Made, I spent countless hours paging old PTA and church cookbooks, digging through the recipe boxes of my grandmother, mother, and aunts, and asking for tips from extended family to get certain treats just right. But it wasn’t as simple as just curating a cohesive recipe list from the thousands of recipes I collected in my research and travel across 12 midwestern states. I wanted to bring all of these recipes into the present and give them a refresh, while keeping their roots intact. To me, that called for eliminating pre-packaged ingredients as much as possible, and let me tell you — even as a born and raised Midwesterner, navigating the sheer volume of cake mixes, day-glo gelatin, packets, and non-dairy whipped topping in retro recipes was really something else. 

I knew there would be a handful of iconic midwestern recipes that might present more of a challenge than others. One of those was the beloved Gooey Butter Cake, which hails from St. Louis. With its unique hybrid structure of crispy-chewy foundation, fantastically sloppy, sweet filling, and snowy blanket of powdered sugar, it just wasn’t possible to create a book of home baked Heartland favorites without it. The problem was that the majority of available recipes for it run on boxed yellow cake mix, pudding mix, and other instant ingredients. Now, I’m not a snob about boxed mixes (I blew half my bank account on Betty Crocker Triple Fudge Brownie Mix during both my pregnancies), but my goal for the book was clear, and a Gooey Butter Cake formula like this wasn’t going to cut it. Luckily, history was on my side. As it turns out, the most common version of “gooey butter cake” is just a shadow of what this midwestern classic was truly meant to be.

The Best St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

"Goop" Great Depression Dinner

beef

salt and pepper

white onion, chopped

mushrooms

green bell pepper, chopped

celery,

white rice

orzo or short vermicelli

chicken bullion

onion powder

water

Cook meat stock pot over medium heat until just beginning to brown. Season beef with salt and pepper. Add chopped onion and mushroom. Cook until onions begin to turn translucent.

Add the rest of ingredients and bring to a boil. Cook for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to simmer and cook (covered) for 35-45 minutes. If mixture becomes dry in cooking add 1/4 cup of water at a time until rice is cooked and meal is moist. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve piping hot.

Spotted Pup

salted butter

nutmeg

cinnamon

eggs, beaten

raisins

Preheat oven to 325˚F. Combine milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, and eggs in a mixing bowl. Beat until uniform in color. Add rice and raisins and stir. Pour into a greased 8”x8” baking dish.

Place a pan of hot water on the same rack as the spotted pup pan will go, then add the pudding pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until mixture is no longer watery. Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!

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