Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baking. Show all posts
This is a cookie I used to bake for my children quite often when they were growing up. I used to try to have some kind of a treat waiting for them every day when they got home from school.
Funny enough I never saw myself as a baker, more of a savoury cook, but when I look back I can clearly see that I did both with an equal passion.
My original recipe for Amish Sugar Cookies makes a lot of cookies, which is great when you have five hungry children snapping at your heels, but not so great when you are staring at an empty nest.
Sigh . . . empty nests. Wish I lived closer to my grandchildren.
That doesn't mean however that we can't still enjoy these delicious treats that we used to bake for our families, and yes . . . I did enjoy them as well.
I am on a quest to try to small batch as many of my old favourites as I can. Smaller recipes to suit the smaller household.
It just makes sense and it means there is far less temptation laying around and actually a bit less waste as well.
This is a great recipe. I actually won a ribbon at the county fair back home one year with them, so you know these are really good cookies.
You can leave them plain, or you can glaze them if you like.
There used to be these cookies that we could get from Ben's Bakery back
home that were like a thick sugar cookie with jam in the centres. I used to love them.
They were my favourite, but I have never had a recipe to make my own. Today
I added some jam to the centres of some of these to see if they might be similar . . .
Although they were very good, they were not the same, so I am still on my quest.
I strongly suspect the difference is that those ones are made with shortening. These are all butter . . .
You can leave them plain of course, but a simple glaze is a great way to dress them up just a bit, with a few sprinkles.
There is no need to go crazy. Children love sprinkles, even the big children. 😉 Not naming any names.
If you do decide to do some with jam in the middle don't go crazy. You only need a tiny bit. I just pushed my index finger into each cookie I was adding jam to making a small identation . . . and then added about 1/3 tsp of my favourite strawberry jam . . . yes, Bonne Maman.
Not quite the traditional Amish Sugar Cookie, but then again I am quite fond of breaking barriers and stretching the realms of possibility . . .
I even glazed a few of the ones with jam in the middle just to see how it would work. It worked rather well actually . . .
In any case these worked out really well. You get about 2 1/2 dozen which is still a lot!
As with any cookie they go very well with an ice cold glass of milk, or a hot cuppa!
Petunia approves 100%!!
Small Batch Amish Sugar Cookies
Yield: Makes 2 1/2 Dozen
Easy to make, old fashioned and delicious. A smaller batch for the smaller family.
Ingredients:
For the Cookies:
- 120g butter softened (1/2 cup)
- 120ml vegetable oil (1/2 cup)
- 95g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 65g icing sugar (1/2 cup)
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
- 315g plain flour (2 1/4 cups all purpose flour)
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
For optional Glaze:
- 130g icing sugar, sifted (1 cup)
- few drops vanilla
- warm water to thin
- cake decorating sprinkles
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.
- Beat the butter, oil and both sugars together until well blended. Beat in the egg and the vanilla. Sift the flour, soda and cream of tartar together and then stir this into the creamed mixture a bit at a time until well combined.
- Drop by walnut sized balls onto the prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.
- Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the glaze allowing any excess to run off. Sprinkle with the sprinkles and allow to set.
- For optional jam sugar cookies, using your forefinger make a dip in the centre of the cookies prior to baking and fill with 1/3 teaspoon of your favourite jam. Bake as above.
These cookies are simple to make and they literally melt in your mouth. I highly recommend!
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My best friend when I was in high school was a girl named Linda Wilson. We met in Grade 10. She lived across the back yard from myself in a house that backed onto ours.
We did everything together. We were in the same class at school.
There was only her and her younger brother and she had her own record player and got a generous allowance, which she used to buy 45 records.
She had just about every popular record on the Hit Parade. On Friday nights we would sit up in her bedroom listening to the records, talking about boys and dreaming about a time when a boy might finally ask us out on a date.
We would practice slow dancing with a hanger hooked onto the back of her closet door, with her bathrobe draped over it. (Embarassing but true.) I mean . . . God forbid we went to a dance and didn't know how to actually dance with a boy!
One time we even pooled our money to buy a book, "How to Get a Teenage Boy" (and what to do with him when you get him.) by Ellen Peck. For several weeks at least this was our Bible!
It didn't work. It would be another year or so before I managed to capture a teenage boy and Linda never did until she finished high school and was out working.
Linda's mother was this really short Acadian French woman. She worked at the Metropolitan store and was small just like a bird. Her name was Cecile. Swas an excellent cook and she used to make this chocolate cake called Wacky Cake.
It was a chocolate cake that you mixed right in the cake in. You mixed together all of the dry ingredients in the cake tin and made three dips in them. You added water to one dip, and oil to another dip and then vinegar to the third.
Then you beat it all together with a fork and baked it. There was a lush icing to spoon over top of the finished cake as well. Oh boy but it was some good.
Sadly Linda and I lost touch when I moved out to Winnipeg to begin my life with my ex husband. I looked for her for many years but couldn't find her.
It was about eight years or so ago now I found out that she had passed away from cancer when she was 55. It made me very sad to discover that.
I discovered this recipe the other day on the Land O Lakes webpage. It reminded me of Linda and our friendship.
And her mother's Wacky Cake. It, too, is mixed together right in the pan.
It asked for an 8 inch square baking tin, which I don't have, but the equivalent is a 9 inch round, which I do have, so I baked it in that.
Lemon and ginger are a beautiful flavour combination which I love.
My husband is not so fussed about lemon, but he does love ginger, so I thought he would enjoy it.
I used my nine-inch enamelware baking tin and the cake did not stick at all. It baked up beautifully light and moist.
The glaze is really nice. Not too thick and not too sweet . . . its basically butter, icing sugar and lemon juice whisked together.
I did toy with the idea of adding some of the syrup from my preserved ginger jar, but in the end didn't. Instead I settled for just sprinkling a bit of the preserved ginger over top.
This was a simple and moist ginger cake with just a slight lemon flavour in the batter. Most of the lemon flavour is in the glaze. You don't need to add the preserved ginger on top, but if you have it I highly recommend that you do. It adds a really nice touch!
Yield: 9
Lemon & Ginger Snack Cake
A deliciously moist snacking cake that is mixed together right in the pan prior to baking.
Ingredients:
For the cake:
- 210g plain flour (1 1/4 cups)
- 95g sugar (1/2 cup)
- 100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup, firmly packed)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 60g dairy sour cream (1/4 cup)
- 60ml milk (1/4 cup)
- 1 large free range egg, beaten
- 60g butter, melted (1/4 cup)
For the glaze and finish:
- 90g sifted icing sugar (3/4 cup)
- 1 TBS butter, melted
- 1 to 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
- chopped preserved ginger to garnish (Optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready an 8 inch square baking tin, or a 9 inch round baking tin.
- Whisk the flour, both sugars, baking powder, ginger and lemon zest together in the cake tin, making sure it is completely combined.
- Whisk the milk, egg and sour cream together.
- Make two wells in the dry ingredients. Into one pour the milk mixture and in the other pour the melted butter.
- Using a fork or tiny whisk, mix everything together until well combined, smoothing the batter out when done.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely in the tin.
- For the glaze, whisk together the icing sugar, melted butter and lemon juice until you have a smooth mixture. Spread this over the top of the cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped preserved ginger if desired.
This simple cake is pretty wonderful. I loved its flavours and I also loved that it wasn't overly huge. With just the two of us, we don't ever really get large cakes eaten. This was just perfect!
One thing we both love in this house is figs. Fresh, dried, in baked goods, diced on top of our morning oats, fresh in a salad, etc.
Figs are a favourite in our home.
Todd really loves Fig Rolls. Do you know the ones I mean? In North America they are called Fig Newtons. Here in the UK they are called Fig Rolls.
I suppose that is because they are basically a cookie/bar dough rolled around a sweet fig filling, flattened and cut into bars.
They can vary drastically from one brand to another. Some might have more filling than others, but I think they are all a bit stingy with the filling to be honest.
I prefer a much higher filling to cookie ration.
There are quite a few copycat versions of them around the world wide web.
Today I adapted the best of all of them, threw in my own interpretations and made a small batch, from scratch.
Let me tell you . . . these are infinitely better than the fig rolls that you buy.
No, the filling isn't totally encased and rolled up in a biscuit dough . . .
These are more like a bar. There is plenty of filling to cookie dough ratio I think it is the perfect amount.
You get the sweet brown sugar dough, crumbly and buttery . . . both on the bottom as a bar and on the top as a crumble.
NO oats in this I am afraid, but there is whole wheat and plain flours, so a bit more fibre.
The filling is perfectly ample . . . not too much, not too little. Just right.
These are moist and crumbly and incredibly moreish, from that buttery crust to that sweet and sticky filling.
They are filled with sweet fibre, both in the crust and in the filling. These will help to keep you regular which reminds me of an interesting story about my mom.
Mom always kept a special jar of this fig spread in the refrigerator. She bought it at the drugstore I think, or maybe it was the health food store.
She called it her medicine. Nobody was aloud to touch it upon pain of death.
Nobody wanted to to be honest. Medicine? Who would take medicine on purpose!
Now that I am an older woman I begin to appreciate the importance of fibre and figs to help keep things working smoothly.
These are a fabulous way to get in some of that fibre, and in a most pleasant way.
Incredibly moreish. Trust me on this. So much so that I am wishing I had not baked a small batch.
Never mind . . . I just get to bake them again. Fresh, as and when we need want them!
Trust me when I tell you, having tasted one of these, you will never settle for a ready made Fig Newton Roll again! Never!
Homemade Fig Bars, small batch
Yield: Makes 8 bars
This small batch recipe, if anything, is more delicious than the fig bars you can buy. They are also very delicious.
Ingredients:
For the filling:
- 4 ounces dried Turkish or Calimyrna figs (1/4 pound)
- 240ml cloudy apple juice (1 cup)
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
For the crust:
- 53g all purpose flour (4 TBS)
- 35g whole wheat flour (1/4 cup)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 3 TBS unsalted butter, softened
- 83g soft light brown sugar (6 TBS, packed)
- 1 large free range egg yolk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
Instructions:
- First make the filling. Trim the hard stem from the dried figs and discard. Cut the figs into quarters and put them into a small saucepan. Add the apple juice and salt. Cook over medium heat until the figs are very soft and the juice is syrupy. This will take 15 to 20 minutes. There should only be about a tablespoon or two left in the pan. Stir in the lemon juice. Puree them in a small food processor until smooth, or use an immersion blander. You should have something with a thickish jam consistency.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line an 8 by 4 inch loaf tin with some aluminium foil and butter the foil.
- Whisk together the flours and baking powder. Set aside.
- Beat the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture to combine well. Divide in half and press half of the mixture into the bottom of the loaf tin. Spread the fig mixture over top of this. Scatter the remaining batter evenly over top and lightly press down to help it to adhere to the filling.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.
- Leave to cool completely in the tin before lifting out and cutting into bars. Store any lefovers in an airtight container.
Does anyone know the story behind Fig Newtons? Here is what I found out. I thought you might also find it intersting: (Source, the Inventors.org)
A machine invented in 1891 made the mass production of Fig Newtons possible. James Henry Mitchell invented a machine which worked like a funnel within a funnel; the inside funnel supplied jam, while the outside funnel pumped out the dough, this produced an endless length of filled cookie, that was then cut into smaller pieces. The Kennedy Biscuit Works used Mitchell's invention to mass-produce the first Fig Newton Cookies in 1891.
Originally, the Fig Newton was just called the Newton. There is an old rumor that James Henry Mitchell, the funnel machine's inventor, named the cookies after that great physicist, Sir Isaac Newton, but that was just a rumor. The cookies were named after the Massachusetts town of Newton, which was close to Kennedy Biscuits. Kennedy Biscuits had a tradition of naming cookies and crackers after the surrounding towns near Boston."
So now we both know.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan@aol.com
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