Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sandwich. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query sandwich. Sort by date Show all posts
The recipe I am sharing with you today for an Old Fashioned Molasses Cookie is one which has been in my family for years and years. I fear if I don't document it here, it will be lost forever.
This is a tried and true (through several generations) recipe for old fashioned rolled molasses cookies. This is the recipe our great grandmothers would have used. It was certainly the recipe my great grandmother used.
The original recipe was written in my grandmother's hand written scrawl on the back of an envelope and tucked into my mother's old red Lawrencetown co-op cook book. There were no instructions on how to make them.
No instructions on how to bake them, and the measurements for the ingredients were rather vague. For instance it says simply, enough flour to make a stiff dough.
It was very much taken for granted in those days that a girl would know how to cook, at least the most basic things anyways. Most were taught at their mother's knees how to do these things and they would have started cooking at a very young age.
I have many, many fond memories of my Grammy Woodworth making these cookies. She would let me stand on a chair at the counter and help her. What a blessing to have these precious memories.
My mother, bless her heart, had not the patience nor the tolerance for little hands helping with the cooking. We were free to watch from a distance, but not to participate or to get in the way.
That's just the way it was. We never questioned it, and we never minded enjoying the fruits of her labors.
Mom only ever really made two kinds of cookies. These and her Butterscotch Cookies. You can find that recipe by clicking on the name of the cookie. They are a slice and bake cookie and very good.
At Christmas she might bake us some shortbread cookies, and occasionally she would make her cousin Lydia's Junior Cookies. Again click on the name. These spicy drop cookies were always a real favorite of mine.
I checked online to see if there were many recipes for molasses cookies such as this one to be found. All I found pretty much were recipes for the type you roll into balls and then into sugar.
These are the cookies I always knew as Molasses Crinkles. If I had a dollar for every one of those I have baked through the years, I would be able to retire.
They were a real favorite with my children, but then again so were these. My father loves these as well. So he will help me to eat these for sure.
He has been asking me to bake him some molasses cookies for a few weeks now. I love that I am in a place now where I can do these things for my father.
I can't really do much for my father as my sister does most of what he needs doing, but I can do the odd thing for him like this.
Little things do mean a lot, and to be honest I suffer so much from arthritis it is probably better this way anyways, as much as I would like to do more. My heart is willing and all that, but my body lets me down.
I have some days when I can walk for England, and others where I can barely hobble from my chair to the bed. Getting older is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
I don't think the damp climate in the UK did me much good, so maybe it will improve now I am back here, or maybe the damage is done. Time will tell.
Back to the cookies. Mom always baked a tin of these when we came home for a visit. You could count on it, and they were one of the first things we looked for.
She would bake these cookies, and we could look forward to having home baked beans at least once, her homemade pea soup, (the French-Canadian version with the whole yellow peas) and wiener rolls.
Weiner rolls were our family's version of sausage rolls. Mom would make pastry and roll it out, cutting it into rectangles large enough to wrap around the wieners.
Each rectangle would be spread with North American mustard and then wrapped around the wieners, pressed shut and then baked until the pastry was golden brown.
Oh but that wasn't half a treat for us! Oh my. If wiener rolls were on the menu when I was a child, I was in seventh heaven.
I am going to make some tomorrow actually. My brother loves them as well, so tomorrow I am going to make some homemade baked beans (In the crock pot, a first for me) and weiner rolls.
Weiner rolls are not something any of us eat very often these days. Let's face it, you are taking fatty hot dogs (even though I use all beef) and wrapping them in something else fatty, so not the healthiest of foods.
None of that prepacked weiner wrap stuff for us! We like them with real pastry. It's the only way to go.
I did make some wiener rolls a few weeks back when Eileen and Tim were coming over. Our Eileen really loves them too, but never gets to have them.
They were a rare treat for both of us and Tim, too, although I did have to make his without mustard.
Anyways, these cookies . . . sorry I got distracted, which seems to happen very easily. You will love these. They are like soft molasses pillows. Sweet bit not too sweet.
They go perfectly with cold glasses of milk but are as equally at home being dunked into hot cups of tea. I dare say they would even make great ice cream sandwich covers, if you know what I mean.
Two molasses cookies put together with a nice thick layer of vanilla ice cream in the middle. What could ever be wrong about that!!
Family food traditions are as individual as families, and every family has them. My father's mother made them crepes instead of pancakes and they all loved to eat flaky pastry with Vachon caramel and thick cream.
What are some of your family food traditions? I would be truly fascinated to hear them. Lets share!!
Old Fashioned Molasses Cookies (small batch)
Yield: Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 12 MinTotal time: 27 Min
Handed down through four generations of women in my family, this is the cookie that would have always held place of pride in the larder. Wonderfully fragrant when they are baking, a couple of these and a tall glass of cold milk are a truly special treat. I have small batched the original recipe.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (95g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) molasses (see note)
- 1/2 cup (110g) vegetable shortening, melted
- 1 medium free range egg
- 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 teaspoons of baking soda, stirred into 1/4 cup (60ml) of hot water
- enough flour to make a stiff dough (approximately 2 - 2 1/2 cups/280g-330 grams)
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375*F/ 190*C. Lightly grease several baking sheets and set aside.
- Put the sugar and the molasses into a large bowl. Pour the hot fat over them and mix it all together very well. Allow it to cool until it is just warm to the touch and then beat in the egg.
- Mix in the ginger and the salt, along with the water and soda. Stir in the flour a little at a time until it is all incorporated. No amount of flour was given in the original recipe but I find that it ranges anywhere between 2 and 2 1/2 cups. (not including the flour for rolling.)This seems to depend on the weather and humidity. Some days 2 cups is enough and others I need more. You need a dough that is pliable without being sticky.
- Dust the counter with some flour and roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a floured 3 1/2 inch fluted cookie cutter.
- Place onto the greased baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space in between each. Gather the scraps and re-roll until all the dough is used up.
- Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until dry to the touch and lightly browned on the bottom. Don't overbake. They should be nice and soft to the bite. Delicious!
Notes:
In the UK, molasses can be hard to come by. I find a suitable substitute to be to use half dark treacle and half golden syrup.
A totally Delectable White Chocolate and Ginger Cheesecake and Cocoa Meringues
Thursday, 17 October 2013
It’s
our favourite themed week of the year, Chocolate Week has arrived and
The English Provender Co. has put together a selection of delectable
chocolate recipes for all you
chocoholics!
This
year why not try making some tasty desserts using The English Provender
Co. Luxury Ginger Curd to make a luxurious White Chocolate and Ginger
Curd Cheesecake or chocolately
Cocoa Meringues. These simple yet exquisite recipes will be sure to
keep your chocolate cravings satisfied!
*White Chocolate and Ginger Curd Cheesecake*
Serves: 8
Printable Recipe
If you like ginger you will love this!
75 g butter (1/3 cup)
150 g plain chocolate digestive biscuits, crushed (1 2/3 cup)
200 g good quality white chocolate (7 ounces)
500 g mascarpone cheese (2 cups)
315 g jar The English Provender Co. Luxury Ginger Curd (about a cup and a half)
Grated white chocolate or chocolate curls, to decorate
*Cocoa Meringues with Luxury Ginger Curd*
Makes about 15
Printable Recipe
Crisp chocolate flavoured meringues filled with a ginger cream. Delicious!
2 large free range egg whites
100 g caster sugar(1/2 cup)
2 teaspoons cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
150 ml double cream (2/3 cup)
3 tablespoons The English Provender Co. Luxury Ginger Curd
Place the egg whites into a large spotlessly clean mixing bowl and using an electric whisk, beat until they form stiff peaks. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, whisking well after each addition, until the mixture is smooth, thick and glossy
Sift the cocoa powder over the top and using a metal spoon fold it over a few times until the mixture is streaked
Using a teaspoon, place heaped teaspoons of the mixture, spaced a little apart onto the prepared baking sheets, until you have 30 meringues. Flatten slightly
Bake in a preheated oven for 1½ hours, or until the meringues peel easily away from the baking paper without resistance. Leave to cool.
Whisk the cream with the ginger curd until thick. Spread a little cream on the flat side of a meringue, then sandwich together with another meringue. Repeat with remaining meringues
Place on a serving plate, dust with a little cocoa powder. Serve immediately.
Uniquely indulgent The English Provender Co Luxury Ginger Curd is completely free from artificial flavour and colours, and is available in a 325g bottle for £2.49. It has a wonderful flavour. If you like Ginger you will love this. It's wonderful on pancakes or drizzled over ice cream, but be sure to check out their page for some other delectable recipes to use it in such as a St Clements Cake and a Chocolate Roulade with a Ginger Curd Mousse Filling!
new,
totally unique & indulgently delicious Luxury Ginger Curd. It's
perfect drizzled over lemon sponge cake or swirled through ice cream. -
See more at:
http://www.englishprovender.com/product/53/luxury-ginger-curd#sthash.CNBbueK8.dpuf
I really love simple things . . . time and time again, I am reminded that it is the simple things in life which truly are the best . . . things like the sound of rain falling on the roof when I am laying all toasty warm in my bed, or the smell of roses, or the sound of the dawn chorus when I wake up in the morning. All simple things, and all things which money can't buy and that we, more often than not, take for granted.
Its the same with food . . . it is often the simple things we eat which bring us the most pleasure. Things like the crisp and sticky skin of a perfectly roasted chicken, tasting of salt and pepper and, well . . . chicken. Properly baked potatoes with crispy skins and fluffy insides, broken open and topped with a pat of butter along with some salt and pepper . . .
A crisp grilled cheese sandwich, golden brown and cut into fingers, dipped into hot tomato soup on a rainy day . . . the smell of beans baking in the oven, or . . . and this is the best of all, the smell of a freshly baked loaf of bread, and then a slice of it still warm, with cold butter melting into it . . .
See??? Simple things . . .
Slices of sweet and rich brioche bread, soaked in a mix of cream, eggs and sugar, and then gilded until golden brown in a buttery hot pan . . .
Ddshed up and served warm on china plates . . . topped with dollops of ice cold clotted cream . . . rich Cornish clotted cream . . . scattered with fresh berries and dusted with icing sugar . . .
the heat of that golden eggy brioche melting that cold clotted cream until it runs in milky buttery rivulets . . . deliciously down over those golden buttery crisp edges of bread . . .
pooling into delicious little puddles . . . rich and creamy . . . so good with the sweet/tartness of those cold fresh berries . . .
Oh yes, it IS definitely the simple things in life which bring us the most pleasure, especially when you are sharing them with the people you love. You really can not beat them . . . you really can't . . .
*Pain Perdu with Clotted Cream & Berries*
Serves 4
Melt a knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan until it begins to foam. Add the slices of soaked brioche and cook first on one side until golden brown and then on the other. (while you are cooking them, you can be soaking the others. Repeat the soaking and cooking until it is all golden brown, keeping the browned slices warm in a low oven until you are done.
To serve divide the toast between four plates, topping each with a dollop of clotted cream and a handful of raspberries. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
This is fabulous, even made with ordinary bread. Just make sure you choose a bread with a soft crust. Your family will love it, wether you choose to have it for breakfast or for dessert. Either way, its the bomb! Bon Appetit!
These Chicken Caesar Wraps make a really lovely and quick light supper or lunch for those days that its just to hot to cook, or when you are lacking in time and inspiration. Wit a bit of salad on the side, you have a delicious meal that is really very simple to make.
I just love, love, LOVE the traditional recipes of the UK. All those years I spent ensconced in Enid Blyton books, drooling and dreaming over what sounded like exotic foods . . . well, those dreams and imaginations have come true for me since I arrived in the UK.
I am enjoying so much exploring the traditional, and sometimes not so traditional foods . . . and sometimes I do confess . . . I add my own twist to them, so they are somewhat traditional, but also somewhat new. I love that!
Some people might define a Gypsy Cream as a chocolate or orange version of a custard cream biscuit (cookie). Traditionally though the recipe includes neither one of those additional flavourings. Squidgy cocoa is what is called for . . . although in my house I pimp for plain coz I have a chocolate hating husband and . . . trust me . . . these biscuits are SOOO SO SO GOOD, it would be dangerous to have them in the house if only me was eating them. Oh so bad . . .
These are crisp and moreishly buttery. Oh so scrummy. Perfect with a hot cuppa of whatever your poison is . . . in my case it's Twinings' Black Currant and Mint herbal tea . . .
Oh . . . this was the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I dare say Sunday will be much the same . . . ahem . . .
*Gypsy Creams*
Makes 24 double cookies
Printable Recipe
Crisp, buttery and moreishly addictive biscuits (cookies) with a yummy cream cheese filling.
For the biscuits:
6 ounces butter softened (3/4 cup)
2 ounces white shortening (1/4 cup)
6 ounces caster sugar (1 cup minus 2 TBS)
2 tsp golden syrup (In north america use dark corn syrup)
8 ounces plain whole meal flour (approximately 1 1/3 cup, you may need a bit more)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
For the filling:
4 ounces butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 ounces cream cheese (1/4 cup)
4 ounces icing sugar, sifted (2/3 cup)
2 ounces cocoa powder, sifted (1/3 cup)
(You can choose to use all icing sugar in which case use 6 ounces or 1 cup)
Preheat the oven to 150*C/300*F/ gas mark 2. Butter several baking trays. Set aside.
Cream the butter, shortening and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the golden syrup. Sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Stir this into the creamed mixture, mixing together thoroughly. Roll out on a lightly floured board, with a floured rolling pin, 1/4 inch thick. Cut out with a 2 inch round cutter. Place onto the baking sheet, leaving some space in between for spreading.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until firm and golden. Let cool on the sheets for a few minutes, before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
For the filling, beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffy. Use this to sandwich two biscuits together. Store in a tightly covered container.
I was looking to make us a delicious lunch today, that was not only scrumptious, but also fairly healthy. Todd and I both are on medication for high cholesterol and I am a diabetic, so eating healthier is the order of the day around here most days. It is a real pain getting older, but then again its a blessing as so many people don't get the chance to do just that.
This week I was craving a cake. Oh, we still have Christmas cake left, but I wanted cake cake. Something without raisins and currants and peel . . . just cake.
Something that I could just sit down and enjoy a slice of with a nice hot cup of herbal tea.
It didn't have to be fancy smancy . . . just pleasant and satisfying. I toyed with making a Victoria Sandwich Cake (which is our favourite cake).
I also though about making a Coffee Walnut Cake (another favourite), but they just weren't ticking the boxes of my desire.
I wanted something spicy and dense, dark and delicious. I then remembered this gingerbread cake recipe.
I have had the recipe in my big blue binder for about a bazillion years. In fact I think its been about a bazillion years since I have made it.
You cannot call it a pretty cake by any stretch. It is the ugly step sister of pretty cake.
It is like the country cousin of the city mouse. This is a cake you might be tempted to overlook when glancing upon it sitting in the glass case of a bake shop.
Were you to do so you would be making a grave mistake. This is the kind of gingerbread cake that sonnets could be written about, poems . . . novels.
This is the kind of gingerbread cake that you could imagine Meg, Amy, Jo and Beth sitting down to enjoy on cold winter's evening while the fire burns low in the grate, whilst Marmee reads to them the latest missive from their pa . . .
It is a gingerbread cake that gets more delicious with each day that it stands. Like magic it gets denser, moister . . .
It is just like magic. Trust me on this . . . just leave it sit, you will see.
This is the cake you will find yourself sneaking down the stairs to steal a smidgen of in the middle of the night. Midnight feast cake has no calories, everyone knows that!
Don't burst my bubble if that is not true.
This is the kind of cake as a child I imagined Mary Poppins picking up for Michael and Jane Banks. Decorated with shiny gold stars stuck to its surface, all wrapped up in brown paper . . .
I love the Mary Poppins Books when I was a child, did you?
Oh, I know I do have a fanciful mind. It comes from a lifetime of reading books. I come by that habit honestly.
My father inspired a love of the written word in me when I was very young . . . I can still hear his voice reading to me in my mind's eye. He would change his voice with each character in the story. It is a beautiful memory that I hold dear and close in my heart.
In any case I do hope you will bake this lovely ugly step sister of a cake. I hope that you will enjoy it.
The ginger glaze icing is quite tasty . . . and it would be lovely spread with softened butter as well, or . . . dare I suggest it, lemon curd.
Today I fancied a little bit of indulgence with a small squirt of squirty cream . . . .
They do say a little bit of what you fancy does the body and the mind good . . . I believe that's true.
Yield: 16
Deep, Dark & Delicious Gingerbread
A moist, sticky and dense slice with plenty of ginger spice!
ingredients:
- 250g butter (1 cup +1 1/2 TBS)
- 250g soft dark brown sugar (1 1/4 cup, packed)
- 250g molasses or dark treacle (9 fluid ounces)
- 300ml whole milk (1 1/4 cups)
- 2 large free range eggs
- 5 knobs of preserved ginger in syrup, chopped finely
- 375g plain flour (2 1/2 cups + 3 TBS)
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
instructions:
How to cook Deep, Dark & Delicious Gingerbread
- Preheat the oven to 165*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Butter a 9-inch square baking tin and line it with baking paper. Set aside.
- Put the butter, sugar, and molasses into a saucepan. Cook over low heat to melt the butter and sugar. Whisk in the milk. Set aside to cool some.
- Whisk together the flour, soda, ginger, allspice and cardamom in a large bowl. Stir in the chopped glace ginger. Make a well in the centre.
- Beat the eggs into the liquid ingredients thoroughly. Pour into the well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, stir together, gradually drawing in the dry ingredients from the side of the bowl until you have a smooth and thick batter. Pour into the prepared baking tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, until well risen and firm to the touch. Do NOT be tempted to open the door prior to that time or the cake may sink in the middle. Once an hour has passed, check the cake. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. If it doesn't cook for a further 10 minutes and try again. The cake is done when the skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool completely in the tin. Once cold remove from the tin and either wrap tightly and store in an airtight container for up to a week.
- Optional Icing - Whisk together 65g of sifted icing sugar (1/2 cup) and enough ginger syrup to give you a smooth drizzle icing. Drizzle decoratively over the cold cake.
NOTES:
Note - if you can't get preserved stem ginger, you can use candied ginger. I would say about 12 pieces, chopped finely. Instead of syrup in the glaze icing use some fresh lemon juice
I enjoyed this with a hot cup of Taylor's Spiced Apple Tea. It was definitely a "Home Sweet Home" moment and made for a great beginning to my year.
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 at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
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