Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Watch Out for Bear Sign! – and a Giveaway




When I was big enough to peek over the edge of my grandmother’s kitchen table and draw a bead on her silver-plated, big-eared sugar bowl, I was old enough to spend the entire drive out to her house with my parents hoping she’d made apple fritters for desert.

By the time I was old enough to make them myself, she was gone.

But I still remember that deep-fried bread sprinkled with powdered sugar and chock full of tasty apple chunks. Maybe that’s why I’m such a fan of Bear Sign, the closest thing I’ve had to Grandma’s fritters.
Not Bear Sign.
Bear Sign is code for cowboy donuts, and any trail Cookie worth his keep knew how to make them.
Nope, still not Bear Sign.
Any cowboy that knew up from down also knew to stay on Cookie’s good side if he wanted his share of those deep-fried, cinnamony hunks of sweet bread.

Of course there are no chopped apples or any other fruit inside bonafide Bear Sign. It’s a pretty basic recipe, simple enough for the trail Cookie to have everything he needed on hand.

In my recent release, An Unexpected Redemption, Elizabeth/Betsy Beaumont/Parker (there’s a whole name-thing going on there) stops by Bozeman’s Café and discovers that Bozeman is a former trail cook and makes a mean batch of Bear Sign.

Elizabeth is a fan because she grew up eating Bear Sign made by Deacon, the older ranch hand, and she doesn’t mind puffing powdered sugar off her lip after biting into a delicious helping. (Hungry yet?)

One recipe is pretty much like the next, but I’ve included what I use when I’m frying up a batch. Mind you, this is half a batch so I don’t end up with too much must-eat goodness. If you want to feed the whole bunk house, just double the ingredients.

Warning: Proceed with caution. These are delicious!

                                              
Cow-camp or trail cooks may have been the most important person on the cattle drive or roundup, and they weren’t always called Cookie. A few of their more colorful handles were Sourdough, Greasy Belly, Biscuit Roller, Old Lady, Pot Russler, and more.

My grandma, well, I just called her Grandma. She was awfully important to our family, too, and fritters weren’t the only thing she did well.

She also gave a mighty fine bear hug.

In An Unexpected Redemption, Elizabeth is a fan of Bear Sign - aptly depicted in this picture
of my cowboy doughnuts.  They may look rough, but I fried all the odd shapes as well as the
round pieces to give them that bear-sign look. And I must warn you, they are delicious.
Excerpt from An Unexpected Redemption:

Snowy powder lifted beneath Elizabeth’s nose as she bit into a sugar-dusted bear sign. Nibbling and chuckling, she made her way back to the boarding house, savoring Hoss Bozeman’s thunderstruck look. He’d thought he was pulling a fast one, but the joke was on him when she flicked not an eyelash at the name he gave his pastries.

She’d grown up eating Deacon’s bear sign on roundups. The best doughnuts she’d ever had.



GIVEAWAY!

I’m giving a reader-choice e-copy of AnUnexpected Redemption, Book 2 


or An Improper Proposal, Book 1 of my “Front Range Brides” series. Enter for a chance to win by sharing today’s post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or whatever social media you prefer. Leave a comment below telling me where you shared this post and I’ll toss your name in the skillet. I mean hat.

You can enter a second time by signing up for my quarterly newsletter here. Leave a comment below telling me you signed up, and I’ll enter your name again in the random drawing.



Wife and mother of professional rodeo bullfighters, Davalynn Spencer writes cowboy romance. She is an ECPA and Publisher's Weekly bestselling author and winner of the Will Rogers Gold Medallion for Inspirational Western Fiction. And she’s fairly certain her previous career as a rodeo journalist and crime-beat reporter prepared her for life in Colorado, wrangling Blue the Cowdog and mouse detectors Annie and Oakley. Connect with her at http://davalynnspencer.com/

19 comments:

  1. Sounds wonderful! I love that your memories of your Grandma. My Nana was a VIP to me, and I have many food-related memories of her. I think I inherited my love of cooking from her. One of the things that come to mind on this humid summer morning is a jello salad she used to make with tiny diced veggies in it! Thanks for the post.

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    1. Connie - Yes, Grandmas hold a special spot in our hearts. I've often wished I could make pot roast as good as my grandmother did. But the memories that cling to my taste buds are always better than my efforts.

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  2. I had a similar love that my Aunt Mildred made. It was a refrigerator cake made with strawberry jello, vanilla wafers, pineapples, bananas and Cool Whip. Mmm...I called it "pink stuff."

    Do you know where the name "bear sign" came from?

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    1. Vicky, I haven't found an origin for the term "bear sign," but considering the cowboy's colorful language and tendency to slap his own names on things he comes in contact with (such as mountain oysters), I imagine some creative Cookie or drover decided the odd-shaped sweet bread looked like bear scat. With powdered sugar added!

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  3. Recipe sounds wonderful...reminds me of food my German Grandmother made...Fastnachtkeukle…(spelling?)...she never followed a recipe and all came out delicious...her home was always filled with the most wonderful smells!

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  4. Davalynn, those sound amazing. And I loved the history behind them, too. Especially your history with your grandma making the apple fritters. What a precious memory. Thanks for sharing! I've got to try that recipe.

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    1. Hope you enjoy it, Kathleen. (I enjoyed it too much!)

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  5. I'm hungry for Bear signs with the powdered sugar. Yum.
    Thank you for sharing. I definitely follow my grandmother and mother with the delightful recipes that our family gatherings must have.
    Shared post on Facebook

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    1. Thank you, Marilyn. That share enters your name in the drawing! It's hard to beat our families' heirloom recipes.

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  6. Tried to post this earlier, but it didn't go through. I love Bear Signs, but haven't had any for a long time. My grandmother tied a dishtowel around my neck and taught me to cook when I was 5 or 6 years old. I still use her old recipes when I want to make things special or have family over for dinner. My grandfather bragged on my childish endeavors of misshaped cookies with the comment that they were the best he'd ever eaten. Grandpas are the greatest. Your mention of pot roast reminds of her recipe. The last step for pot roast was: Place in oven and GO TO CHURCH! Yes, it was in caps. :) I still do that today.

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    1. Oh, Martha, I love that bit about oven and church!

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  7. I shared on pinterest.
    My grandma used to make bear paws. They were a special treat and so delicious.
    A great post.
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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    1. Thank you, Lori. You're in the drawing twice with the share and the newsletter sign-up. Our grandmas sure knew what they were doing.

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  8. subscribed for your newsletter.
    quilting dash lady at comcast dot net

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  9. I shared this informative and interesting post on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and signed up for your newsletter. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity and good luck everyone. princessdebbie1_2000(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  10. Thank you, Debbie. You've got a double entry!

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  11. Debbie Clatterbuck - you were chosen by Random.org as the winner for the giveaway. Congratulations!

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