Misc. Recipes

The first recipe this week is one that my mother made while I was growing up and was one of my favorites.

Date Filled Cookies

Filling:
2 c. dates, chopped
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. chopped nuts
Boil first 3 ingredients over low heat, stir often then add nuts, cool.
Cookie dough:
3/4 c. margarine
2 c. firmly-packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3 1/2 c. flour
1 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 t. baking soda
Sift dry ingredients together, add to creamed butter, sugar and eggs. Add buttermilk. Drop by level tablespoonfuls on greased baking sheet. Put scant teaspoonful of filling on, cover with 1/2 t. of dough. Bake for 12-15 minutes in 375 degree oven. Remove from pan and cool.
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Usually when I make Hot Buttered Rum I use Apple Cider, brown sugar, butter, rum and a cinnamon stick; at Christmas time this year I went to a friends house and she shared her recipe for Hot Buttered Rum that her family has enjoyed for years. I added the cinnamon and nutmeg and then tried it in coffee, which was very good. I think it would also be very good using apple cider instead of water.

Hot Buttered Rum Mix

2 c unsalted butter - softened
8 oz confectioners’ sugar - sifted
8 oz. light brown sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 qt vanilla ice cream - softened
In a large bowl cream the butter and the sugars together until smooth. Add the softened ice cream and mix until a creamy consistency is obtained. Transfer this to a freezer container with a tight fitting lid. Place in the freezer for up to 1 month.
To Serve: Place a heaping 2 tablespoons of the frozen mix in a highball glass or coffee mug.
Add:
1 to 2 tablespoons dark rum
Pour over the mix:
6 oz. boiling water
Stir until the mixture is melted.
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I really enjoy shrimp cocktail when I eat out; recently I discovered this recipe and can now enjoy a really good shrimp cocktail at home.
In 1940 a group of high school friends would go to the Harvey House in the Frisco railroad station in Springfield, Mo., every Saturday to have a shrimp cocktail for 50 cents. On Sundays, a lot of their mothers and fathers would go there after church and the mothers would try to analyze and figure out the ingredients of the cocktail sauce. The chef would not divulge the recipe until he retired in 1942. He gave the recipe to the Binnie Clements Guild of First and Calvary Presbyterian Church for their cookbook. This recipe sold a lot of cookbooks!

Shrimp Cocktail Sauce

1 cup chili sauce
1 cup catsup
2 teaspoons A1 steak sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
4 drops hot sauce
1 teaspoon horseradish
1/2 teaspoon chopped chives -can substitute green onions
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 stalk celery, chopped
Mix in order given. Will make a little over 1 pint.
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The following recipe is one that my B&B guests have really enjoyed. I really like it as I can make up the batter as soon as I get in the kitchen and while it is sitting I can start on the other things. These pancakes are very light and taste fantastic!

Blueberry Pancakes

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons white sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed
In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat together egg and milk. Stir milk and egg into flour mixture. Mix in the butter and fold in the blueberries. Set aside for 1 hour.
Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot
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A few years ago a friend of mine brought me a “sharing” - it was a package of Ciabatta Rolls. At the time I had an exchange student from Brazil staying with me and he really like grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast so I used some of the rolls for our sandwiches the next morning and we both decided the sandwiches were much better using them as opposed to regular bread - the only problem was they were hard to find in the stores so I decided to go on a quest for a good recipe. After quite a search on the Internet, reading cookbooks on baking breads and watching videos I settled on this recipe.

Ciabatta Bread

500g (3 1/2 c.) bread flour
475g (~2 cups) water
2 tsp. yeast
15g (2 t.) salt
1. In Kitchen Aid style mixer: Mix all ingredients roughly till combined with paddle, let it rest for 10 minutes.
2. With the paddle attachment and mixer set at medium speed, beat batter well, it will start out like pancake batter but in anywhere from 7 - 10 minutes it will set up and be a very sticky dough. Switch to the hook attachment. Turn the speed up to high and mix. You’ll know it’s done when it separates from the side of the bowl and starts to climb up your hook and just coming off the bottom of the bowl. About 6 min. The dough will be ~ 80 degrees when measured by an instant read thermometer. When the dough clears the bowl go for another minute. It will still be super wet! If you wet your hands the dough won’t stick to your hands as much.
3. Place into a well oiled container, (I use a straight sided plastic container with a lid. Place a rubber band at the top of the dough. Measure the distance from the counter to top of dough - triple that and place another rubber band.) cover and let it triple in warm place! It must triple! (I put 2 cups water in a glass measure cup and microwave on HIGH for 3 min. to heat up the microwave.) This takes from 1.5 hours - 2 hours. The large honey-comb texture of the finished bread is due to large amount of liquid used.
4. Empty on to a very well floured counter (scrape if you must, however you gotta get the dough out of the bowl), cut into 2 loaves or 8 smaller pieces. Take fingers and press down lightly and over the top surface. If you don’t do this the bubbles will get too big in the dough. Spray with oil and dust with lots of flour. Cover with a plastic bag and let them proof for about 45 minutes, which gives you enough time to crank that oven up to 500 F.
5. After 45 minutes or so the loaves should be puffy and wobbly, now it’s iron fist, velvet glove time. Pick up and stretch into your final ciabatta shape (~10” oblong rectangle) and flip them upside down (this redistributes the bubbles, so you get even bubbles throughout), and onto floured parchment or a heavily floured pizza peel. dust off as much flour from tops as possible. Try to do it in one motion and be gentle, it might look like you’ve ruined them completely, but the oven spring is immense on these things.
6. Place a pan in very bottom of oven and pour in about 1 cup hot water. This will add steam to the oven as the bread bakes.
7. Slide dough on parchment onto preheated pizza stone.
8. Bake at 500 F until the bread is 205 F in the center (about 15-20 minutes).
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Every Christmas Southern Baptist churches across the United States take up a “Lottie Moon” offering. All the money goes to many different needs that missionaries have in foreign countries. Lottie Moon was a missionary in China from 1873 - 1912.
As a way to earn the trust of the people and show her goodwill, Lottie Moon made tea cakes for the children in her village in China. Once the children ate the cookies, they would take Lottie to their homes where she would share the gospel with their mothers. The children began calling Lottie “the cookie lady” instead of “foreign devil.”

Tea Cake

2 cups flour
½ cup butter
1 heaping cup of sugar
1 well-beaten egg
1 tablespoon cream
Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and mix well. Add the flour and cream. Dust a board with flour. Roll the dough very thin. Cut cookies with a round cookie cutter. Place on a buttered or nonstick cookie sheet. Bake at 475 degrees for about 5 minutes. Print this post