Buttermilk Syrup

3/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda

Choose a pot that is twice the size as you think you will need. I used a 2 quart pot and had to be extremely careful while making not to let it spill over as this recipe foams and triples in volume while cooking.

Mix ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and stir for 8 minutes. Do not look away, just diligently stir as this can boil over easily or harden if neglected. Enjoy pouring it over anything and everything or even eat it with a spoon.

Buttery Pancakes

2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup water or milk
1 1/2 Tbls. baking powder
2 Tbls. butter

2 Tbls. honey or sugar

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg (optional)

In a small bowl, beat the eggs until smooth. In a medium bowl, combine flour, butter, baking powder, and nutmeg. Cut the butter in with a pastry cutter until it is small chunks. Add the eggs and the rest of the ingredients, stirring until the is no dry flour.

Use 1/4 cup of batter per pancake. Cook on a lightly greased skillet over medium heat.

Cucumber Water

 

 8 cups filtered water

1 cucumber, about 8" long

Run the cucumber through a juicing machine. You should get about 1 cup of juice. Discard the pulp. Combine juice with the water. Served chilled.

For a brighter flavor, add 1/4 cup lemon juice or lime juice, and 1/4 cup sugar or honey.

Drop Biscuits

2 3/4 cup flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
 3 Tbls. Olive oil
3 Tbls. Coconut oil or butter
1 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450° F.

Stir the flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in the butter, or grate it & stir it in. Stir in the milk and yogurt. For whole wheat flour, you might need 1 or 2 more tablespoons of milk. It should be a very soft, sticky dough. Drop by large spoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes 12.

Variations:

Reduce the salt to 1/2 tsp. Add a bit of honey or sugar, and other things like nuts, oats, and dried fruit to make scones.

Use olive oil instead of butter. Add 1 tsp. rosemary and 1 tsp. black pepper and roll out into thin pizza crusts (recipe is enough for 2 medium-large pizzas). It makes a nice crackery crust.

Make vegan by using coconut oil instead of butter and water instead of milk. The biscuits still turn out soft and fluffy.

Add 3/4 cup of grated cheese.

Redwall Abbeyscones

From Legend of Luke, these scones are meant to resemble the bricks from which the abbey is built.

1 cup whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or white wheat flour
1 cup oats
pinch of salt
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbls. crystallized honey
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup preserved cherries with juice (Not cherry jam or pie filling, just canned cherries) or fresh cherries, pitted and mashed
1 Tbls. beet juice, or beet powder, or juice from any red berry, optional
allspice

Preheat oven to 425.

Stir flour, oats, and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter and honey until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add nuts and cherries. Add a few tablesoons more cherry juice if necessary to make a dough, but not too sticky. Beet juice or powder or berry juice may be added if a stronger red color is desired.

Turn onto a floured surface and knead a little until it's cohesive. Place the dough on a baking sheet that is either greased or lined with parchment, and roll or press it into a rectangular shape. Cut it into smaller rectangles. Sprinkle allspice on top.

Bake for 10 minutes.

The batch pictured here didn't turn out very red because canned cherry juice doesn't have a strong color, and I didn't have any of those other colorants on hand. Still delicious, of course.

Creamy Tomato Soup

4 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup - 1 cup diced onions
4 lbs tomatoes, diced
1/4 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 Tbls. flour
2 cups vegetable stock or chicken broth
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 Tbls. sugar
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. salt
6-10 slices of bacon

In a large saucepan, saute the onions in the butter until tender, about 10 minutes (do not brown). Add the tomatoes, thyme, basil and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes. Whisk the broth and flour together and add to the soup mixture. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, fry the bacon until crispy and let cool, then crumble. Puree the soup in a blender, then return to the stove. Stir in the baking soda, sugar, milk, salt, and bacon. Heat, stirring, to a bare simmer. Serves 3-4 people.

Upside Down Cake

For the cake pictured, the fruit was half apple pieces and half pie cherries. The syrup was a mixture of purreed cherries, water, and about 1 Tbls. of honey.

2 cups of apples, pears, stone fruits, and/or berries--fresh, canned, or frozen
1/4 cup or to taste of honey
1 1/4 cup water, fruit juice, or a combination
2 Tbls. flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce
1 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk or nut milk
1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350.

If using canned fruit, drain the liquid. Use the liquid to partially replace the water, if desired. Place fruit in a buttered 9x13" pan.

Place water in a small saucepan. Add honey to taste and stir in the 2 Tbls. flour. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 minute. Pour over the fruit and set in the oven.

Beat together eggs, applesauce, and 1/2 cup honey.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add in 3 alterations with the milk to the egg mixture. Pour over the fruit and bake for 35-45 minutes.

Wild Cherry and Meadowcream Pie

Pastry for 2-crust 9-inch pie
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbls arrowroot powder
3 cups various cherries (tart pie, Queen Anne, and black). If using canned, drain syrup
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
Sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350ºF (220ºC). Prepare the pie crust in the baking tin. Line the bottom of the crust with a single layer of sliced almonds.

Mix flour and spices in large mixing bowl. Stir in cherries and honey. Pour into a pastry-lined pie plate. Cover with the top crust.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble.

Serve with Meadowcream.

Honey Bread

4 cups whole wheat flour or white wheat flour
2 cups warm water
1 Tbls. salt
2 tsp. Dry yeast or .6 oz fresh yeast
about 1/4 cup honey

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve 2 tsp honey in the water. Stir in the yeast. When it is starting to foam, add 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time, mixing completely after each addition. On the third cup, add in the salt as well.  Dump the fourth cup of flour onto the clean counter, then dump the dough on the flour and knead it. You may not need to knead in all of the flour, just until the dough is no longer sticky clumps. Knead the dough until it is smooth and stretchy. Coat the inside of the bowl with oil, coat the outside of the dough with oil, put it in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled.

Roll out the dough into a large rectangle between 1/2" and 3/4" thick. Drop globs of honey randomly onto the dough. Don't spread it in an even layer. Roll up the dough into a log and form into a loaf. Grease the inside of the bread pan and put in the dough. Cut a slash along the top of the loaf. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30 minutes.

Put the bread pan in the oven, then set the temperature for 350° f. Bake for 40-50 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown & the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.

Irish Soda Bread

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup soft butter
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with a bit of vinegar)
1 tablespoon melted butter


Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease a small baking sheet or dust with coarse cornmeal.

In a large bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Cut in the softened butter with pastry blender or fork until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Add buttermilk. Mix with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Turn out on a lightly floured board and knead gently until smooth - about 1 minute. Shape into a ball. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten into a 7 inch circle. Dough will be about 1.5 inches thick. Press a large floured knife into the loaf (almost cutting through to the bottom) making quarters.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove to wire rack to cool. Brush top with melted butter. Can be dusted with flour at this point if you wish (authentic, but not to everyone's taste).

White Mountain Frosting

A classic and old-fashioned frosting that's thick and marshmallowy.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 Tbls. water
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan. Cover, heat to a rolling boil over medium heat. Uncover and keep boiling rapidly until it reaches 242 on a candy thermometer, or is forms a firm ball which holds its shape until pressed when dropped in cold water.

As mixture boils, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Pour the hot syrup very slowly in a thin stream into the egg whites, beating constantly on medium speed. Add vanilla, beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Variations!

Use any fruit juice instead of water.

Use honey instead of corn syrup.

Cherry Nut: stir in 1/4 cup candied cherries and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Chocolate Revel: stir in 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 1 ounce of baking chocolate, coarsely grated.

Cocoa: sift 1/4 cup cocoa over finished frosting and fold in.

Lemon: Substitute 1 Tbls. lemon juice for the vanilla and beat in 1/4 tsp. lemon zest.

Maple Pecan: Stir 1/4 tsp. maple flavoring and 1/2 cup chopped pecans into Satiny Beige frosting (below).

Peppermint: stir in 1/3 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy, or 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract.

Pineapple: Substitute 1 tsp. lemon vest for the vanilla, and stir in 1 can (8 ounces) of crushed pineapple, drained.

Pink Mountain: use maraschino cherry juice instead of water.

Raisin Nut: Stir in 1/4 cup chopped raisins and 1/4 cup finely chopped nuts.

Satiny Beige: Use packed brown sugar instead of of white sugar and use 1/2 tsp. vanilla instead of 1 tsp.

Tutti Frutti: Fold in chopped nuts and dried and candied fruits equal to 1/4-1/2 cup.

Fruit Cobbler

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
1 cup apple sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
4 cups chopped fruit

Preheat oven to 350° F. Melt the butter in a 9"x13" pan in the oven. 

Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, apple sauce, and salt. 

Pour half of the batter into the pan with the melted butter. Pour the fruit over the top in an even layer. Spread the rest of the batter over the top. 

Bake at 350 F for 45-60 minutes or until crust is golden.

Use any kind of fruit you like!

For gluten-free, replace 2 cups flour with 1 cup almond meal and 1 cup gluten-free flour mix.

No-Bake Cookies

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2/3 cup peanut butter
3 cups oats
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, milk, butter, salt and cocoa in a pan and bring to a boil. Once it has reached a full boil, time it for 1 minute and remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla until the peanut butter is all melted in, then add the oats. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened (it should only be a few minutes).

Artisan Whole Wheat Bread

For 3 loaves of bread:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk or evaporated milk
1 1/2 Tbls. yeast
1 Tbls. + 1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup honey
5 Tbls. oil

6 2/3 cup whole wheat flour

For 1 loaf of bread:

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup milk or evporated milk

1/2 Tbls. yeast

1/2 Tbls. salt

3 Tbls. honey

1 1/2 Tbls. oil

2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

In a very large bowl with a lid, or some other lidded container, mix together the water, milk, yeast, salt, honey and oil.

Stir in the flour (without kneading it).

Cover it (not airtight) and let it sit for 2-3 hours, until the dough has risen and fallen.

Either use it now, or refrigerate it (with the lid on, but not airtight) to make several loaves of dough throughout the week. It's easier to handle when it's cold.

When you want to bake it, scoop out about 1.5 lbs of dough (the size of a cantaloupe, or about 1/3 of the dough). Have your hands be wet with water to prevent the dough from sticking. Form the dough into a ball. Place the ball of dough into a greased loaf pan (it should fill the pan just over halfway). Let the dough rest/rise for 1 hour 40 minutes.

Coat the top of the dough with flour and cut slashes into it. Preheat the oven to 350. Place the loaf into the middle of the oven, with another pan on the side with some hot water in it. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until very brown and firm.

Let cool completely before slicing, to prevent crumbling.

Hamburger Stuffed Buns

Hamburgers with everything on the inside and only bread on the outside.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Take some bread dough, of any kind you like, after it has mostly risen. For every bun you'll need a large handful of dough, like the size of a grapefruit. With wet hands, grab a piece of dough and put it on a well-floured surface. Dig out a little hollow in the middle, not making the bottom too thin. Fill the hollow with whatever you like on hamburgers. I did beef, mushrooms, onions, cheese, and green bell peppers (all chopped up). I got pineapple, pickles and tomatoes specifically for this, but forgot to use them.



Then, with hands still wet, fold up the edges of the dough to cover all the inside food, forming it into a ball. Roll the ball around to coat all the wet surfaces with flour. Place on a greased baking sheet or stone. Cut shallow slashes in the top of the buns.



Put the buns in the oven along with a small dish of hot water. Bake until the crust is quite browned, almost an hour.



Clearly, this concept can be taken very far. These "hamburgers" are merely a step away from being calzones, pasties or turnovers. Or, imagine using sugar cookie dough and filling it with fruit. The possibilities are restricted only by your imagination and palate.

Canadian Molasses Cookies

These are the best molasses cookies ever! They have a really strong flavor and are soft and chewy. However I have no idea if they are actually Canadian; that's just what they're called.

1 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbls. fresh grated ginger root
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. In a large bowl, stir together the molasses, brown sugar, vinegar, and egg. Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger and salt; add to molasses mixture. Mix until well blended. The dough is very sticky, so keep your hands wet with water to roll the dough into little balls. Place balls on cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. They spread a lot while baking and you don't want them to meld into one huge cookie because then they don't bake to the proper texture. Bake until edges are golden, about 8-11 minutes, you'll have to check. They should be kind of gooey still but noticeably cooked. Let cool on pans for 5 minutes before removing, they use this time to set/finish cooking.

Peanut Butter Muffins

2 cups flour
1/2 cup oats
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter

Preheat oven to 400° f. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add the wet ingredients, excluding the peanut butter, and stir until just mixed. Let the batter sit for a minute or so, so the baking powder can start working it, then stir in the peanut butter. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12.

These are like, the perfect muffins. The peanut flavor is not overpowering, nor is it grossly sweet. The texture is light and fluffy, and perfectly moist. They kept the moisture for a number of days after baking them (yeah, it took me a while to get through a dozen muffins). For a stronger peanut flavor, you can just add more peanut butter.

Variations:

Add 2 Tbls cocoa powder.
Use any nut butter you want, even nutella!
Use flavored apple sauce.

Sweet Potato Fries

A sweet potato/yam
olive oil
salt
pepper

Set the oven to 450.

Wash off the sweet potato and make sure you dry it very well. If it's wet the coating won't stick and the fries won't be delicious.

French the sweet potato and dump them all onto a baking sheet. You can peel it if you want but I usually don't. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto them, then a small amount of olive oil. Mix it all up so that all the fries are coated. Make sure to use all the coating mixture that puddles on the bottom of the sheet. You can use more olive oil just as long as the fries aren't sitting in a pool.

Space the fries out so they are not touching (this will make them more crispy) and bake for 15 minutes, flip them, and bake for 10 more minutes. (Cook them just a few minutes less on each side if you want them less dark and crispy.)

Apple Scones

2 cups flour (white wheat, whole wheat, or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup - 1 cup finely chopped apple
3 tablespoons honey
1 cup sour cream
1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder
cinnamon and sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir together flour, salt, and baking powder. Cut in butter until crumbly and there's no more dry powder. Stir in apple, honey, sour cream and egg until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease the sheet. Use an ice cream scoop with one of those levers that helps remove the ice cream (or in this case, dough) to make round, small scones. Gently press down the tops of each scone to make them flat. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon sugar.

Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes until the bottoms of the scones are light brown.

Remove from oven, cool slightly on the sheet pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Variation: Use pears instead of apples, add 1/4 tsp dried rosemary to dough, and exclude the cinnamon sugar. 

 

 

Soft Flowerbread

2 cups warm herbal tea
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbls. yeast
4 cups white wheat flour
1 tps. salt
1-2 Tbls. edible flowers, dried or fresh

Dissolve the honey in the tea and sprinkle the yeast in. When the yeast is foamy, add it to 2 cups flour. Let rise until about doubled (big and spongey).

Add the rest of the flour, the salt, and the flowers. Knead for about 10 minutes, with more flour as necessary.

Coat the bowl and dough with a thin layer of oil and let rise, covered, in a warm place until about doubled again, but not for too long.

Form into a loaf. Spray the inside of your oven or put in a pan of water. Put loaf in oven while it's preheating to 350, and bake until for about 1 hour.

Edible flowers can sometimes be found at grocery stores in the refrigerated section with the fresh herbs. Also look for herbal teas that are made with flowers. Also check out herbs that are from the flowers of plants. Small, aromatic seeds such as fennel seeds are a good addition, or seeds from flowers like poppy seeds.

You can also harvest flowers and blossoms from you garden. Not all of them are sweet. I like chive flowers and squash flowers. Be sure you look each flower up to see if they are edible.

Info on edible flowers