Chocolate Cashew Sorbet

 

 1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup chocolate chips

2 cups water

1 cup cashew butter (no salt or sugar added) 

tiny pinch of salt

tiny pinch of baking soda 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Combine all ingredients except vanilla over low heat. Stir until the chocolate chips and cashew butter are melted and completely mixed in.

 

Remove from heat into a large container. Stir in the vanilla. Chill in the fridge or freezer until totally cold.

 

Churn in ice cream machine for 20 minutes. 

Soft Orange Sorbet

 

 

 1 lb oranges, peeled and pith removed

 1 cup sugar

1/2 Tbls unflavored gelatin powder 

2 Tbls cold water

1/2 cup hot water

1/2 cup cold water

 

Puree the orange flesh until as smooth as possible.

 

 Combine 2 cups orange puree with sugar over low heat and stir until sugar is dissolved.

 

In a large bowl, stir together the gelatin with 2 Tbls cold water. When it seems smooth, add in the hot water and stir until it's dissolved. Then stir in the 1/2 cup cold water. Stir the orange mixture into the gelatin mixture until homogenous. Cover and chill in the fridge or freezer until totally cold.

 

Churn in an ice cream machine for 20 minutes. It will have a slushy texture. Transfer to a lidded container and freeze until desired hardness.

Strawberry Sherbet

 

 

1 1/2 lb strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbls butter 

1/3 cup strawberry jam

1 cup 2% milk

1/2 cup cream 

 

Cut tops off strawberries. Combine strawberries, sugar, and butter in a pot. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

 

In a large bowl, combine milk and cream.

 

In a blender, puree the strawberries with their syrup, and the jam, until totally smooth. Stir into the milk mixture.

 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in fridge or freezer until completely cold.

 

Churn in ice cream machine for 20-25 minutes. It can be served soft at this point, or transferred to an air-tight container to freeze harder. 

 

This recipe makes 2 batches for my machine. 

Bisket Bread

 

 Recipe from Country contentments, or The English huswife. by Gervase Markham, published 1623. Above you can see a scan of the original text. The book can be read at archive.org

 

Very unusual for a historic recipe to have specific quantities listed, so that is helpful. I based my baking instructions on an analysis of the recipe found on cupcakeproject.com  This is known to be the oldest found recipe for pound cake.

 

I cut the recipe in half because it is huge, and I used only whole eggs, for the sake of convenience. To be more medieval, the flour should be whole wheat but soft and finely milled. (I used to be able to buy whole wheat pastry flour. It was perfect for medieval recipes. I miss it.) The sugar should be raw sugar, or brown sugar if that is more available. Sugar was crystallized in this time period, but from what I can tell it was another 100 years or so before sugar was so purified that it resembles the white granulated sugar of today.

 

1/2 lb flour

1/2 lb sugar

6 eggs

1/4 oz fennel seeds or star anise

1/4 oz coriander

1/8 oz dried orange peel 

Grind the fennel/star anise, coriander, and orange peel in a mortar with a pestle, until the spices are as fine as you can get them.

 

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and spices. 

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until mixed. Slowly add the flour mixture while beating on medium-high speed with an egg beater. (A stand mixer is good too, probably better.) Continue to beat for 10-20 minutes (my egg beater was getting worryingly hot at 10 minutes, so I stopped).

 

Grease a 9"-10" circular cake pan and preheat oven to 350 F. Bake cake for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Goblin Bread

 

 

2 cups spinach, cooked or frozen

1/4 cup dried fruit 

1/2 cup warm milk

3 cups flour

2 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

1-2 tsp herbs or spices as desired

2 Tbls oil

1 egg

 

If your spinach is frozen, warm it up before mixing. Combine the spinach, dried fruit, and milk in a blender and puree until smooth. Take out 1 1/2 cups of puree (add more milk if necessary).

 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, salt, and seasoning. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg with the oil.

 

Stir the spinach mixture and egg mixture into the flour mixture. Knead it thoroughly. It will seem dry but the spinach will continue releasing moisture as it is kneaded, so don't add more liquid until you're sure it needs it.

 

Put the dough in a bowl coated in oil, cover it, and let rise until doubled (about 45-60 minutes).

 

Lightly knead the dough, then form it into rolls and place on a baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled. While rising, preheat oven to  375 F.

 

Bake for 17-20 minutes.

Perfect Brownies

 

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 Tbls water or fruit juice

1/2 tsp almond extract

Optional: 1/2 cup mix-ins (chocolate chips, fruit, nuts, marshmallows, etc)

Preheat oven to 325F. Line an 8" cake pan with baking parchment and spray the parchment with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together all ingredients until mixed. It is a very thick batter. Pour the batter into the baking pan and spread it out with a spatula.

Bake for 30 minutes if your pan is a little larger. For smaller pans (thicker brownies) go up to 40-45 minutes. If a toothpick comes out mostly clean, it is done. It's better to take them out of the oven sooner than later, as they will repose and firm further in the hot pan.