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Old Fashioned Date-Nut Bread

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DateNutBread- Old Fashioned

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (227g) chopped dates
  • 4 tablespoons (57g) softened butter
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 to 3/4 cup (142g to 159g) brown sugar
  • 1 cup (227g) hot brewed coffee
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) vodka or brandy, optional; to enhance flavor
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 3/4 cups (206g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup (113g) coarsely

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan.
  2. Place the dates, butter, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Pour the hot coffee into the bowl, stirring to combine. Allow the mixture to cool for 15 minutes.
  3. Add the egg, vanilla, liquor, baking powder, and flour, beating gently until smooth. Stir in the walnuts.
  4. Pour the batter into the pan, gently tapping the pan on the counter to settle the batter.
  5. Bake the bread for 45 to 55 minutes, tenting the loaf gently with foil after 30 minutes, to prevent over-browning. Remove the bread from the oven; a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean, and an instant-read thermometer should read about 200°F.
  6. After 10 minutes, gently turn the bread out of the pan onto a rack to cool. Cool completely before slicing. Wrap airtight, and store at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Tips from our Bakers

  • Feel free to use a flavored coffee here; caramel or vanilla are both good choices.
  • What’s up with the vodka or brandy? Alcohol is a flavor enhancer, serving to disperse flavor molecules throughout the bread; leave it out if you like.
  • Why the range in sugar? Some people like sweeter breads; some, less so. Your choice.
  • Can you substitute boiling water for hot coffee? Well, if you’re thinking substitute because you don’t like the flavor of coffee, don’t worry; the bread doesn’t taste at all like coffee. If you can’t take coffee’s acidity or caffeine, though, then substituting water is fine. The bread may be slightly denser, due to the removal of coffee’s acidity, which reacts with baking soda to produce rise; counteract this by substituting 1 tablespoon lemon juice for 1 tablespoon of the water.

Source : https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/old-fashioned-date-nut-bread-recipe

Raspberry Lemon Thumbprint Cookies

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RASPBERRY LEMON THUMBPRINT COOKIES
MAKES 4 DOZEN COOKIES
1/2 cup raspberry jam or jelly
1 tablespoon raspberry liqueur, such as Chambord
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for forming
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, stir to combine jam and Chambord; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, along with the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla and beat until combined.
Add the flour mixture, in 2 additions, and beat just until moist clumps form.
Remove dough from the bowl and gather with your hands to form a ball.
Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll to form 1-inch balls.
Place on prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.
Dip your index finger in flour and press into a ball of dough to form an indentation in the center of each ball. Fill each indentation with nearly ½ teaspoon reserved jam mixture.
Transfer to oven and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, copyright Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, LP., all rights reserved. 

 

Emeril Lagasse
Emeril Lagasse

Snowballs

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1 cup butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted flour
1 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts or pecans)
confectioners sugar to dust or roll balls in when cool

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add flavorings.  Stir in flour and chopped nuts and blend well.
Form dough into tiny balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350degrees for about 20 minutes or until bottoms of cookies are golden brown.
Roll cookies in confectioners sugar while still slightly warm. Optional dust with confectioners sugar instead of rolling.

Makes about 6 dozen tiny balls.

This recipe is also known as Butter Balls and has been in my recipe box since I was first learning how to bake. The size of the balls is actual teaspoon measuring spoon size. If larger balls are made these cookies are more similar to Mexican Wedding Cakes  or Italian Cookies but with different chopped nuts.  Original recipe called for finely chopped almonds. My recipe did not include an egg so the dough is on the dry side.  Similar recipes include an egg and then add flavoring like almond extract. I often add a teaspoon of butter extract flavoring.

 

Best Swedish Meatballs Recipe

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Meatballs:

1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
35 ml cream
1 large egg
1 clove minced garlic,
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon EACH of black pepper and ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon Grillkrydda OR all spice OR all purpose seasoning
1/2 of an onion, finely chopped
1 pound (500 g) ground beef (mince)
1/2 pound (250 g) ground pork (mince)
2 tablespoons fresh, finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons olive oil

Gravy Sauce (OPTIONAL):
1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup plain / all purpose flour
250 ml (1 cup) vegetable broth (or stock)
250 ml (1 cup) beef broth (or stock)
1 cup thickened (or heavy) cream*
2 teaspoons regular soy sauce
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Salt and pepper, to season

Instructions
In a large bowl, mix the breadcrumbs together with the milk, cream (If using), egg, garlic, salt, peppers and spice. Allow the milk to soak into the breadcrumbs for at least 10 minutes.
Once the milk has absorbed some, add in the onion, meat(s) and parsley. Mix well with your hands to combine.
Roll meat into about 24 small balls, or 16 larger balls.
Heat 1 tablespoons of butter and 2 teaspoons of oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Fry meatballs in batches of two so they don’t stew or simmer. Transfer to a warm plate and cover with foil.
Add the 1/3 cup butter to the juices in the pan to melt. Whisk in the flour until it dissolves and turns brown in colour. Pour in the broth (or stock), cream, soy sauce and dijon. Bring to a to simmer and season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix the sauce through well to combine all of the flavours together.
Continue to simmer until thickened.
To serve:
Non Swedish way: Place meatballs into the gravy in the pan and serve
Traditional Swedish way: Do not make the cream sauce at all. Serve meatballs over plain or stewed macaroni, plain or mashed potatoes, and lingenberry jam (optional)
Notes
*Replace heavy or thickened cream with reduced fat cream if you wish to reduce calories)1) I use a mixture of ground beef and pork (mince) in may recipe, but you can use all beef is you don’t have or like pork 2) To make the meatballs lower in carbs, use almond meal to replace the breadcrumbs. Also, use 1 tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of water to replace the flour in the gravy sauce. Just add the cornstarch mixture at the end, while continuously stirring, over low heat until sauce has thickened.3) I like to grate my garlic clove with the small part of a grater. You can use minced garlic if you prefe

Two Ingredient Cream Biscuit

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Two Ingredient Cream Biscuit Recipe

recipe uses just two ingredients to make biscuits.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups self rising flour
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Lightly coat rimmed baking sheet or cast iron skillet with vegetable shortening. Set aside.
  • Add flour to a large mixing bowl. Slowly pour heavey whipping cream and stir unitl just combined. Do NOT Overmix.
  • Pour biscuit dough onto a floured board. Gently part or roll to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out bisuts using about a 2 inch butter.
  • Place biscuit on baking sheet, leaving about an inch between biscuits to allow them to rise and cook fully.
  • Place in a pre-heated oven and bake about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

Notes

These taste really great. They did not rise as much as I expected and I wondered about having the biscuits touching each other rather than spread apart. The recipe says to leave apart. 

Moose Hunters Cookies

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" Moose Hunters" or Cape Breton Molasses Cookies

Testing out a recipe found on the internet for Molassess Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
  • 1 cup butter (soft)
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 tsp soda
  • 1 egg egg
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 5 cups flour, all purpose

Instructions

  • Mix the soda with the milk
  • Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix till forms soft dough
  • Roll out and cut on a floured board using a round biscuit cutter. Need to make "fat" or thick cookies since these are often called "Fat Archie" cookies
  • Bake moderate oven 350 degrees F until done.

Notes

Found  recipe in the FB group for Christmas Cookies.  
These were okay but not what I expected based on reading the post in the FB group. Did an internet search and found similar recipes called Cape Breton Molasses Cookies or Archie's.  Was expecting much fatter cookies so not sure if I needed to have thicker rollout before cutting. Taste was fine but sort on bland side. Prefer a more spicy black pepper taste in a molasses cookie.  

Cranberry Fruit Nut Bread

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Cranberry Fruit Nut Bread

Family Favorite Made Every Year
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 3 loves
Author EFNEP Aide Cooperstown 1977

Ingredients

  • 6 cups flour sifted all purpose (2 cups)
  • 3 cups granulated sugar (1 cup)
  • 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder double acting (1 and 1/2teaspoons)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (3/4)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (1 teaspoon)
  • 3/4 cup shortening (1/4 cup)
  • 2 1/4 cups orange juice ( 3/4 cup)
  • 3 tablespoons grated orange rind (1 tablespoon)
  • 3 eggs well beaten 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (1/2/cup)
  • 6 cups fresh cranberries cut berries in half and sorted (2 cups)

Instructions

  • Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt.
  • Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal
  • Combine orange juice and grated rind with well beaten eggs
  • Pour liquid into dry ingredients all at once and mix just enough to dampen
  • Carefully fold in chopped nuts and cranberries
  • Spoon into greased loaf pan 9x5x3. Spread corners and sides slighly higher than center.
  • Bake in moderate oven 350 degrees F for about an hour. Bake until crust is golden and toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  • Remove from pan after 5 minutes and cool completely. Store overnight for easy slicing. Makes three loaves if using complete recipe. Freezes wll also. Single recipe is in () for just one loaf.
  • ( one loaf measurement)

Notes

This recipe came from EFNEP Nutrition aide that lived near Cooperstown while I worked as Cooperative Extension Agent for Otsego County in  1977. Has been a family favorite for years now. 

Thanksgiving Pie Cookies

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Thanksgiving Pie Slice Cookie

I love to read all of the  recipe posts in a Facebook Group for Christmas Cookies that I follow.  One of the posts shared a picture and a cookie recipe for  a Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie Slice cookie and had it decorated to look like it had a crust and whipped cream.  I was taken with this idea since I love Pumpkin Pie and the idea of a pie cookie was very attractive. The original poster said she found the cookie cutter at a yard sale.  I did some internet sleuthing to track down the cookie cutter to see if it was offered for sale anywhere on the internet.  I had success and bought the cookie cutter for Thanksgiving Pie from a vendor on ETSY.   Looks like the cookie had a royal icing flooded and then a butter cream frosting piped for the crust and whipped cream. A second cookie in a plaque shape with handwriting for the holiday completed the look. This will be a keeper for sure. Offering a tray of these cookies to the neighbor for the holiday is sure to be a hit.  Use the standard cut out sugar cookie recipe or my shortbread recipe for a richer cookie.

Thanksgiving Pie Slice Cookie