Hearts of Palm are an interesting vegetable. They are, as the name suggests, the center of certain types of palm trees, and considered a delicacy. Heart of Palm doesn’t have much flavor by itself, but it goes wonderfully with onions. Some people also put them with salads or fruit.
This dip pairs heart of palms with green onions for a really delicious treat. I highly recommend serving with pita chips or bread!
With the holidays coming around, it seems the right time of year to consider making Moctobabucta, or poppyseed bread. Now, I’m not really sure I’m spelling its name right, or pronouncing its name right. I can’t find mention of anything called “moctobabucta” on the internet, anyway. I just know that its a family recipe, and its good!
The key to getting a pretty braid is in portioning out the poppyseed filling evenly, and then securely folding the dough over it. It is so easy to overfill one part, or not seal it properly, and then have poppyseed going everywhere. It still tastes good, its just not as impressive!
And really, with the red icing and pretty braided presentation, the finished loaf is pretty impressive looking. . .
Moctobabucta
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Braided poppyseed bread - pretty, sweet, and perfect for the holidays!
Scald milk, then add butter and stir until melted. Let cool to lukewarm.
Mix together sugar and yeast.
Add milk to yeast mixture, and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Then add eggs, vanilla and stir until blended
Turn onto floured board. Knead to elastic. Place in greased bowl & clover with a slightly damp cloth. Let rise to double (1- 1.5 hours approx.)
Roll into 1 rectangle 12”x18”. Cut into 3 parts. Divine filling equal parts on the 3 dough sections. Roll each section around the filling. Then braid the rolled sections and place on the pan. Let rise to double (around 1.5 hours).
Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cover with glaze after it comes out of the oven (while its still warm).
A soul cake, a soul cake, a penny for a soul cake!
In honor of All Souls Day
These sweet biscuity-cakes are a traditional food for Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day; the cakes were given out to beggars and children who went door to door on All Hallow’s Eve. There’s not really one “official recipe” for soul cakes; I imagine that people used different combinations of sweet spices and dried fruit over the years. But this recipe is nice!
Soul Cakes
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A slightly sweet and spicey biscuit, traditionally given out on Halloween.
Cut butter into the flour. Do yourself a favor and use a food processor. That way, you won't warm up the butter too much, and it goes faster.
Add sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger to the flour mixture. Mix well.
Beat the egg, apple cider vinegar, and milk together in a separate bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry, and then mix / knead until it forms a stiff dough.
Roll the dough out to about 1/4 of an inch in thickness. Cut out rounds with a glass or cookie cutter. The number of cakes you get will of course depend on how big your glass or cutter is!
Poke your cakes 3-4 times with a fork. This will make them a bit fluffier.
Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
The original recipe called for Allspice. I bet it tastes great, I just can't ever seem to find it in my cabinets! (or remember to buy it)
I have always loved pita bread. Gyros were a childhood obsession. Its bready but not overwhelming, and delicious wrapped around a sandwich or dipped in tzatziki sauce (or wrapped around a sandwich WITH tzatziki sauce. . .mmmmm).
Pita Bread
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Pita bread with just a little whole wheat added in for healthiness!
Heat up your water in the microwave or the stove until its hot to the touch. Pour water into medium sized mixing bowl, and add yeast. Mix the yeast and water until the yeast is dissolved, and then let it sit for 5 minutes.
Add flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil. Mix well! Don't stop stirring until its all clumped together.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface, and knead for 5-7 minutes. More is better.
Clean out the mixing bowl, and put some more oil in it. Coat the dough and the sides of the bowl with oil, so it won't dry out. Let it rise for one hour. For speedy rising, heat the oven a little, and cover the bowl with a damp towel. Set the dough to rise in the oven.
Remember to turn the oven off before you put the dough in the oven!
Divide dough into about 8 sections (you can get 9 if you just eyeball it). Roll each section out as large as you like. Thinner pita won't bubble as much or be as fluffy.
Heat up a nonstick pan on the stove - at about medium heat - and put a tiny bit of oil in it. Wipe out excess oil, unless you are ok with oily pitas.
Set a pita in the pan to cook. Let it cook for about a minute; it should start to bubble. Flip it over, and cook for a few more seconds on the other side before taking it off the heat to cool. Repeat until you have no more pita!
I used to hate mushrooms. I would pick them off of pizza, and make exaggerated faces of disgust in their direction. This is the recipe which convinced me that I should give them a second shot.
I usually make my stuffed mushrooms in my little toaster oven, and there is always some stuffing left over. It tastes great on chicken!
Its fall, and I happen to have quite a bit of pumpkin. I have my favorite favorite pumpkin recipe, but why not branch out? So this year, I decided I would experiment with a few other uses for pumpkin.
These scones are the result of several failed attempts at pumpkin bready things – including pancakes (they didn’t cook properly), and an overly hard set of biscuits. At last, I think I have found the correct ratio of pumpkin to scone ingredients!
Please note – I always think of scones as sweet due to the “scones” for sale at grocery stores, and some bakeries. These are not particularly sweet.
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. You may want to sift the flour, though I have been happy with the results of non-sifted flower.
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients, until it resembles coarse sand.
Add the pumpkin, milk, and egg to the dry ingredients. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until fully combined.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll or press the dough out until its about an inch thick.
Use a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut out individual scones. I used a short glass and got about 10 scones. Form the left over scraps of dough into rounds by hand.
A delicious custard for autumn dinners. Please note that after the pumpkin and sweet potato, the most important ingredient is the rum. The entire thing will fall flat without it. Don’t forget the rum!
Also, while some may consider this desert, that’s silly. Pumpkin is healthy, right? You can absolutely eat this with your main meal. 🙂
Pumpkin Sweet Potato Custard
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A yummy mix of pumpkin and sweet potato. By itself, its a custard. With a crust, it could be a pie.
Peel and chop up your sweet potato. Put it in a saucepan with a bit of water and cook until tender.
If you processed your own pumpkin and were keeping it frozen like I do, you probably want to defrost it now. Better yet, throw the frozen chunks in with the sweet potatos and kill two birds with one stone.
Once your sweet potato is soft, mash it up and combine it with the pumpkin puree.
Add sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir well.
Beat your egg(s) and add to the mixture, along with your milk. If your sweet potato / pumpkin mix is still warm enough, you can chop up the 1/4 cup of butter and melt it in with everything. If not, then melt the butter in the microwave, then add it to the mixture.
Add the rum! Mix everything together well.
Pour your mixture into 1-2 casserole dishes. I use varying amounts of sweet potato and pumpkin, so it often exceeds one 8x8 dish.
