June 7 2017

Lemon Balm Cake with Candied Flower Syrup

Lemon Balm Cake

This mildly sweet cake tastes of flowers and lemons and sunshine. And when I say it tastes of flowers, I mean that literally. Lemon Balm cake by itself is a light lemony treat, but covering it in syrup made with chamomile flowers really makes it special! This herbal cake is a great way to use the herbs in your garden. Also, Chamomile and Lemon Balm compliment each other beautifully!

I can just imagine eating this cake with tea in a lacey white dress and hat, and feeling very refined.

Lemon Balm Cake
Lemon Balm Cake with Candied Flower Syrup
Print Recipe
A simple cake, flavored with Lemon Balm. What really makes it special is the candied flower syrup which gives it extra sweetness. It also looks pretty!
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Lemon Balm Cake
Lemon Balm Cake with Candied Flower Syrup
Print Recipe
A simple cake, flavored with Lemon Balm. What really makes it special is the candied flower syrup which gives it extra sweetness. It also looks pretty!
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 slices 10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
Cake
Candied Flower Syrup
Servings: slices
Instructions
  1. Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter and flour an 8" round cake pan.
  2. Cream together butter, lemon balm, and sugar.
  3. Separate your eggs. Set aside the whites (preferably in the refrigerator!). Add the egg yokes and vanilla extract to the butter-sugar mixture.
  4. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to your butter mixture. Then add the buttermilk. You should have a thick batter.
  5. Beat your egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Fold into your batter until just combined. Do not over-mix!
  6. Bake your cake for approximately 20 minutes. When its done, the top will be a golden brown.
  7. While your cake is baking, put water and sugar in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, until the sugar is dissolved, and the water has partially evaporated.
  8. Once your water and sugar are slightly thickened (you want a light syrup), add your chamomile flowers. Stir to cover the flowers in syrup, and allow the syrup to cool.
  9. Pour the syrup over the cake once both have cooled. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes

Chamomile flowers give a syrup a lovely flavor, but you can use other edible flowers too! The orange flower in the picture is a Nasturtium. Other edible flowers include violets, and lavender.

The Lemon Balm Cake was inspired by this recipe from Magnolia Days.

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January 22 2017

Farmer’s Cheesecake

I try to keep my fridge stocked with the basics – eggs, milk, and butter. The jar of white flour should be full, and there should be extra whole wheat flour stashed away somewhere. I keep sour cream or yogurt around because I tend to cook with it, but I try not to keep multiple packages of cream cheese around. Its dangerous!

So what to do when I just have to have cheesecake? (these are the important questions)

Yes, cheesecake. Very dangerous. Very rich.

It turns out, you don’t need to use cream cheese. There are recipes for cheesecake which use a variety of other cheeses – like ricotta, or farmer’s cheese. The beauty of using Farmer’s Cheese, of course, is that you can make it yourself, and flavor it however you like while making it.

I tried this recipe using cheese made from apple cider vinegar and sprinkled with cinnamon and topped with applesauce. Awesome.

Farmer's Cheesecake
Print Recipe
Cheesecake made from Farmer's Cheese - delicious, rich, and made from ingredients already in your fridge!
Servings Prep Time
8 people 40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 40 minutes
Farmer's Cheesecake
Print Recipe
Cheesecake made from Farmer's Cheese - delicious, rich, and made from ingredients already in your fridge!
Servings Prep Time
8 people 40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 40 minutes
Ingredients
Filling
Crust
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Pour your milk into a large pot, and gently warm until it is frothy. Use the apple cider vinegar to separate the curds from the whey and drain. Add cinnamon if desired. (this is just the standard Farmer's Cheese recipe adapted; you can find more details here.
  2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Cut in butter, as if you were making pie crust dough.
  3. Beat 3 egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of sour cream together, and then add to the flour mixture. Mix until it forms dough (again, resembling pie crust dough). Roll out and place in pie plate.
  4. Beat the 4 eggs and one egg white at high speed until frothy. You will probably want to use an electric beater!
  5. Put farmer's cheese, granulated sugar, 1/2 cup sour cream, and vanilla extract in a blender. Blend well. The Farmer's Cheese will be naturally rather granular when first made; it should be chopped up until very fine and liquid. Add some of the egg mixture if necessary.
  6. Fold together the farmer's cheese mixture and egg mixtures. Pour into the pie plate.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes. The cake will rise in the oven, turn golden, and set.
  8. Cool for a few hours in the refrigerator before serving. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes

One thing I like about this recipe is that it does have instructions on making its own crust. You could definitely still do a typical graham cracker crust with this, but if you don't keep graham crackers around either, this makes it simpler.

As long as you have eggs. Lots of eggs.

Based off of Country Cheesecake.

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December 28 2016

Choco-Cranberry Almond Biscottis

Biscottis

Biscottis are just the cookie for the holidays. They are hard, but soften when dipped into coffee. Mmm. . .breakfast. . .

This recipe can be adapted to any flavor combination you like. Pure Almond, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry, Cherry. . . you name it. The result is a substantial cookie.

If you buy biscottis at the store, you’ll notice that they’re very light and almost always fall apart when introduced to coffee or hot cocoa. These will not immediately fall apart. They are also not -quite- as hard. Both of these traits are pluses as far as I’m concerned.

Biscottis
Choco-Cranberry Almond Biscottis
Print Recipe
Biscottis - a hard cookie perfect with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.
Servings Prep Time
2 Loaves 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
40 minutes 10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 Loaves 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
40 minutes 10 minutes
Biscottis
Choco-Cranberry Almond Biscottis
Print Recipe
Biscottis - a hard cookie perfect with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.
Servings Prep Time
2 Loaves 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
40 minutes 10 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2 Loaves 20 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
40 minutes 10 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: Loaves
Instructions
  1. Cream your butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix well.
  2. Add dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, salt. Combine into a soft dough.
  3. Add your chocolate chips, almonds, cranberries, or other chosen biscotti ingredients. Mix until they are evenly dispersed through the dough.
  4. Form your dough into two loaves. Place the loaves a few inches apart on a medium baking sheet, and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The loaves should be lightly brown.
  5. Let the loaves cool for about 10 minutes (or longer, as desired), and then slice into inch thick slices. Slice diagonally for larger biscottis.
  6. Lay the slices out on baking sheets, and bake again for 15 minutes. This will dry out the cookies. For a harder biscotti, bake longer (but don't burn them!).
  7. Enjoy with coffee!
Recipe Notes

You will get awkwardly shaped end pieces from each loaf. You should absolutely eat these to test your biscottis during the baking process.

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Category: Cookies, Sweet Things | 1 Comment on Choco-Cranberry Almond Biscottis
December 7 2016

Moctobabucta

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
Print Recipe
Braided poppyseed bread - pretty, sweet, and perfect for the holidays!
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 2 1/2 hours
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 2 1/2 hours
Moctobabucta
Print Recipe
Braided poppyseed bread - pretty, sweet, and perfect for the holidays!
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 2 1/2 hours
Servings Prep Time
1 loaf 30 minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
30 minutes 2 1/2 hours
Ingredients
Servings: loaf
Instructions
  1. Scald milk, then add butter and stir until melted. Let cool to lukewarm.
  2. Mix together sugar and yeast.
  3. Add milk to yeast mixture, and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Then add eggs, vanilla and stir until blended
  4. 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.)
  5. 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).
  6. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cover with glaze after it comes out of the oven (while its still warm).
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December 4 2016

Sweet Potato Pie with Pecan Crust

As part of my great pie experiment, I decided to try Sweet Potato Pie. The verdict? Its yummy, but very heavy. . . in a potatoey way. If I were to make it again, I’d probably try to go lighter on the sweet potato part.

If you too decide to try out Sweet Potato Pie, I definitely recommend having it cold, and with whipped cream. Mmmmmm, yummy!

Sweet Potato Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Sweet Potato Pie
Print Recipe
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Ingredients
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Peel and chop your sweet potatoes, and start them cooking with a little water on the stove over medium heat.
  2. While your sweet potatoes soften, put the pecans, 2 tbsps of butter, and 2 tbsps of karo syrup in the food processor. Pulse until the pecans resemble crumbs, and press into the bottom of a deep dish pie plate.
  3. Once the sweet potatoes are soft, mash them. Add butter, brown sugar, karo syrup, eggs, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix well.
  4. Pour your filling into your pie plate.
  5. Cook at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes. The pie should be firm, and not like a custard.
  6. Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!
Recipe Notes

Based on a recipe from the Sage Trifle.

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November 30 2016

Almond Custard Upside-Down Pie

In my pie making adventures, I’ve tried quite a few recipes whose results were questionable (Shoofly Pie with blackstrap molasses; do not do this!) or which mysteriously morphed into something else. Such it was that I started with the notion of making chess pie and ended up with this Almond Custard Pie.

I’m not entirely sure how one thing led to another anymore, but this is a delicious almondy confection. I’m not entirely sure it counts as a pie, as the almond crust has the interesting habit of rising to the top of the pie instead of remaining on the bottom as crust.

Almond Custard Pie
Print Recipe
A delicious almond custard which may or may not be a pie. . .
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Almond Custard Pie
Print Recipe
A delicious almond custard which may or may not be a pie. . .
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 people 15 minutes
Cook Time
60 minutes
Ingredients
For Crust
For Filling
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
  2. Chop your almonds up in a food processor. Once they are finely chopped, add the butter and almond extract and continue processing until well mixed. If the butter starts out soft, then the almonds should start clumping together in a loose dough.
  3. Press your almond dough into the bottom of a pie plate, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
  4. While your crust is cooking, cream together your butter and sugar until smooth.
  5. Add in the eggs, flour, whey, almond extract, and nutmeg. Mix well.
  6. Pour the filling into your pie plate, and bake for an additional 60 minutes.
Recipe Notes

On the whey - the first time I made this recipe, I had really thick whey from one of my cheese-making experiments.. It was a bit like soft yogurt. You can also use buttermilk, OR 1 cup of whey/milk with 1/2 cup of yogurt.

On the pie crust - 1 cup of almonds only makes enough to cover the bottom of the pie plate. I like limited crust, but if you want it to go up the sides as well, double the crust recipe.

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November 16 2016

Deep Dish Coconut Vinegar Pie

When I was growing up, pie was made with fruit. There was peach pie, cherry pie, apple pie, and maaaaybe berry pie (that was exotic!). But then, one day, I ventured into the wilds of Indiana and discovered that not all pie was fruit. Some pie was weird. Some pie was. . . vinegar.

Rock Run Cafe & Bakery - the place of the inspirational Vinegar Pie.
Rock Run Cafe & Bakery – the place of the inspirational Vinegar Pie.

Intrigued, I ordered the mysterious vinegar pie. It smelled like vinegar, but it didn’t taste like vinegar. It was creamy, and different, and interesting! So I decided to make it for myself.

While searching for vinegar pie recipes I discovered a whole host of different pie ideas that I’d never heard of; chess pie, mock apple pie, oatmeal pie, etc. I resolved there to broaden my pie horizons!

So first up, in the Great Pie Experiment is Vinegar Coconut Pie. I ran across this recipe under the name “French Coconut Pie” and it seems to basically be vinegar pie with coconut. Its definitely outside of Vinegar Pie’s “poor man’s pie” roots, but its delicious.

Deep Dish Coconut Vinegar Pie
Print Recipe
Buttery coconut pie, with just a hint of vinegar. Delicious!
Servings Prep Time
8 pieces 30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
8 pieces 30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Deep Dish Coconut Vinegar Pie
Print Recipe
Buttery coconut pie, with just a hint of vinegar. Delicious!
Servings Prep Time
8 pieces 30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
8 pieces 30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Ingredients
Servings: pieces
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Melt butter. I did this in the heating oven, but the microwave will do just as well.
  3. Beat eggs, then add the coconut, sugar, vinegar, vanilla extract, and salt.
  4. Pour a little of the coconut mixture into the melted butter to cool it down (otherwise you might start cooking the eggs with the hot butter!). Mix the butter into the coconut mixture.
  5. Pour the filling into the pie crust, and put it in the oven for 1 hour. The top should be golden brown and firm.
Recipe Notes

I made the crust with 2 cups flour, 2/3 cup shortening, a bit of cold water. Rolled it out, put it in the deep dish pie plate, and forked the bottom. It came out really well!

Based on French Coconut Pie.

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October 23 2016

Fried Chicken Tenders

An adaption of a KFC copy recipe. It doesn’t taste like KFC, but it is really good!

Fried Chicken Tenders
Print Recipe
Shown here with fried sweet potato chips, and dip!
Servings Prep Time
16 pieces 15 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
16 pieces 15 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Fried Chicken Tenders
Print Recipe
Shown here with fried sweet potato chips, and dip!
Servings Prep Time
16 pieces 15 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
16 pieces 15 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Ingredients
Coating Mix
Meat
Servings: pieces
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients together. If you're not going to use all the coating mix, then just mix it up in a quart ziplock bag to store in the fridge until you want to use the rest of it.
  2. Beat two eggs and the milk in a bowl.
  3. Put about an inch of oil in a medium saucepan, and put it on the stove on medium heat.
  4. Cut up the chicken breasts into tender-sized strips. Dip each strip into the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, and then the flour mixture again.
  5. Fry your chicken tenders into the oil until light brown. For pretty chicken, turn it after a few seconds so that both sides of the tender get a nice bubbly texture.
  6. Let the chicken drain on paper towels after removing from the oil. For best results, place them on a slatted surface above the paper towels, so they don't sit in the drippings.
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October 2 2016

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Carrot cake is great. Its nice, and moist, and cakey. But it has a veneer of healthiness. After all, it has carrots! And. . theoretically less sugar!

Its cake. And veggies. And cake!

Carrot Cake
Carrot Cake
Print Recipe
A lovely moist carrot cake. If you don't put any icing on it, you can pretend its healthy and eat it for breakfast.
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Carrot Cake
Carrot Cake
Print Recipe
A lovely moist carrot cake. If you don't put any icing on it, you can pretend its healthy and eat it for breakfast.
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Servings Prep Time
9 pieces 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour
Ingredients
Servings: pieces
Instructions
  1. Prepare your carrots. Finely grating them in fine, but so is cooking them down and mashing them. Put to the side.
  2. Beat your two eggs. Add in oil, sugar, pumpkin puree, molasses, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
  3. Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in another bowl. Combine your wet and dry mixtures.
  4. Add carrots to your batter. Mix well. Pour the carroty mixture into a buttered 8x8 baking pan.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about one hour. Make sure the cake is done by inserting a knife into the center; it should come out clean.
Recipe Notes

Its fairly common to cut the oil required in a carrot cake recipe with applesauce, but pumpkin puree works well too! Its especially practical if you've been cooking down a lot of pumpkin recently.

Blackstrap molasses actually tastes acceptable in this cake - possibly because it is not the main sweetener, it just gives the cake a nice brown color. You could probably also use brown sugar and no molasses.

This cake is good enough to be dessert for sure, especially if you ice it with cream cheese frosting. But I like to leave it plain and have it for breakfast with my morning coffee. Yum!

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Category: Cake, Sweet Things | 2 Comments on Carrot Cake