Family recipe Monday: more teabreads

Beauty in the snow, from the Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail site. This one is from Calhoun County, Illinois. It just glows in the blizzard.   

It was a great weekend to stay in, brew tea, read old books and bake. It certainly was not a good weekend for getting out and eyeing birds, as birds are not stupid and tend to stay in warm places where they can't be seen. Nor was it a good weekend for driving around, since the weather was erratic and kept producing icy roads and blowing snow at the strangest times. I think that everyone up here would settle for either better weather or an outright snow day or five.

There is a blueberry cobbler in the refrigerator, the fond memory of buckwheat pancakes from this morning, and another batch of teacakes ready to go off to Afghanistan. Apparently the last batch of teacakes evaporated or something over there.

My favorite snow day therapy is still a window looking out on the snow, Earl Grey tea and teabreads in the late afternoon. These are best combined with a puffy quilt and a stack of books. It's all the more satisfying in a prairie-girl kind of way, I'm finding, if the bread and the quilt are both homemade. Either I've been up here way too long or not nearly long enough. I'm opting for the latter, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Cranberries weren't always easy to get in the flatlands and drylands. Anyone who has only experienced them in the form of canned jelly at Thanksgiving is in for a pleasant surprise in using them fresh and whole. As these two recipes show, they are perfectly paired with orange juice (or any other citrus juice). You can substitute dried ones for fresh ones, but I'd soak them in orange juice for a few hours first. These are good for afternoon and evening gatherings, and also make good mini-loaves for gifts. Don't ignore the advice to let these stand for a while before slicing. Baking-powder breads need  to cool and firm up in order for the crumb to be good and not, well, crumby.

Cranberry-orange tea bread

3 cups all-purpose biscuit mix
1 T grated orange rind
¾ cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
¾ cup milk
½ cup orange juice
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped

Combine biscuit mix, rind and sugar in large bowl. Combine egg, milk and orange juice. Add to biscuit mixture and beat for about 1 minute. Stir in nuts and cranberries. Spoon into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350* F for 55 to 60 minutes. Let stand in pan 10 to 15 minutes. Turn out on rack to cool. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and let stand a day before slicing. If refrigerated, first slice, then allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Re the next one: I don't use margarine, full stop. If you are substituting butter, you may need to check both the amount of flour and the heat of the oven to make sure that the texture is good and that the bread does not burn at the edges. I haven't had many problems with this. There are heart-healthier versions out there, though.

Cranberry quick bread with sweet orange spread

½ cup margarine spread
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup unsweetened orange juice
1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries
½ cup chopped nuts

Beat spread and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add combined dry ingredients alternately with juice, mixing well after each addition. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Pour into greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pan. Bake at 350* F for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes and remove from pan.

Sweet orange spread

Combine ½ cup margarine spread, 1 T powdered sugar and 1 tsp. grated orange rind. Mix well and chill.

Happy Monday. What is your favorite bad-weather therapy?

Family recipe Monday: tea time

Almond tea

We're not quite sure what is going on with the weather up here on the prairies. It's beautiful, and that makes us suspicious and nervous this time of year, looking warily over our shoulders. By this time last year we had been socked in with blizzards at least twice and were well-braced for winter. This may all end this week, unless it doesn't, prairie weather being what it is. So we're soaking up the sun (and trying to overlook the smoky haze from a couple of weeks of prescribed burns) and gearing up for the cold times.

Smoke plume from a prescribed burn west of town. This is supposed to clear out the dead and dying trees that harbor bark beetles, which are very destructive right now.

My favorite part of a snow day is a lazy afternoon with tea, sewing and books, though maybe not simultaneously. Snow days force us to slow down and recharge our internal batteries. Right now that charge is a bit low after a frenetic year, and tea on a hushed day would do the job nicely.

Here are some cold-day wonders to save up for a snow day. They start with good black tea and/or fruit juices and spices to make a perfect blend. They pair up wonderfully with tea breads and cookies.

Almond extract arrived in West Texas at the very earliest part of the 20th century, and was used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes as well as in the kitchen. I'm guessing that the mild alcoholic content did nothing to diminish its popularity. The older girls always had vanilla, orange, lemon and almond extracts in the pantry, purchased from one of the traveling sales companies. The aromas had to have been unbelievably exotic when they were new in that dry land.

Almond tea

1 1/2 cups sugar
2 quarts water
2 T lemon juice
Lemon rind

Boil all together. Lift out lemon rind. Add 2 cups strong tea, 6 T more lemon juice, 1 tsp almond extract, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Serve hot.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

If you're having a winter social, this one might be closer to what you need. You can adapt this freely for a smaller group. You could also mix it up and keep a gallon jar or two in the refrigrator to heat up as needed. Use it to thaw out the sidewalk-clearers when they come in.

Spiced tea

We were guessing that this was an older recipe even before we got to the note at the end.

8 cups water
Juice of 1 dozen oranges
8 cups sugar
Add 1 ½ oz tea (¼ cup) to quart of water
12 whole cloves
7 quarts water
2 sticks cinnamon
2 quarts apple cider
Juice of 2 dozen lemons

Serves 125. $1.88. (Notes from original card)

By my count, that is something like 3 gallons of what is basically a tea punch that could be served hot or cold. It would be perfect for cool weather. I would brew the tea rather than use instant, of course, and adjust the strength as needed. Plan to spend more than $1.88, too, alas.

This recipe is typical of the instant tea mixes that people started making at home after citrus drink powders such as Tang hit the general market. Many of us went off to college with a big jar and strict instructions to drink a cup a day to keep those old Vitamin C levels up. I don't think I've had it since then. OK, now I'm homesick and nostalgic, and I need to call my mother and thank her for giving me that little much-needed bit of home every time I poured the hot water into the cup, from the hot-water heater that she also provided. (N.B. There is nothing even faintly Persian about this, and I am at a loss to account for the name, but enjoy it anyway.)

Persian tea

2 cups Tang
1 cup instant tea
1 envelope instant lemonade mix
2 cups sugar
½ tsp cloves {ground}
½ tsp cinnamon {ground}

Mix well. For 1 cup, use 2 tsp of the mix. Fill cup with hot water.

Note on card “Recipe from Olton.”
--Vada Brooks Johnson, Shirley Johnson Shelton

The snow could start here as early as Tuesday. Happy Monday, and stay warm and safe.

Family recipe Monday: tea breads and tea

Tea breads are sweet and lush, quick baking powder-rising or baking soda-rising breads, somewhere between bread and cake, best served with a pot of tea in the late afternoon. Except in August, when iced tea really should be substituted. Most of us are familiar with banana nut bread, but there are many more options out there. Here are some recipes for that afternoon sojourn on the veranda. Do try to find a nice veranda if you  can....

Strawberry bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ¼ cups salad oil
4 eggs, beaten
2 10-oz packages frozen strawberries, thawed
1 ¼ cups chopped nuts

Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, soda and salt in a large bowl. Add salad oil and eggs; mix thoroughly. Stir in strawberries and nuts. Pour batter into 2 greased and floured loaf pans and bake at 350* F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Yield: 2 loaves.

Note 1: the flavor and crumb of all tea breads improve if loaves are wrapped tightly and allowed to sit overnight before slicing.

Note 2: Please let us know if you can successfully keep a loaf of fresh strawberry bread unsliced overnight. We never seem to achieve this.

Note 3: fresh strawberries from the farmers' market work very well, too. This is best with Earl Grey tea.

Cranberry bread

Grate rind and add juice of 1 orange in a cup. Add 2 T shortening and fill cup to 3/4 full with boiling water. Put in mixing bowl and break up shortening with fork. Sift together:

2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. soda
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt

Mix with wet ingredients only enough to absorb flour. Do not beat. Add 1 cup cranberries cut in pieces with knife and 1 cup pecans. Pour into greased loaf pan. Let stand 20 minutes before baking. This is important. Bake 60 minutes in 350* F oven. Let stand 10 minutes before removing from pan. Do not cut for 24 hours.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

Pumpkin bread

3 cups sugar
1 cup salad oil
4 eggs, beaten
1 16-oz can pumpkin
3 ½ cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ground cloves
2/3 cup water

Cream sugar and oil. Add eggs and pumpkin; mix well. Sift together all dry ingredients. Add to pumpkin mixture alternately with water. Mix well after each addition. Pour into two well-greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350* F for 1 ½ hours or until it tests done. Let stand 10 minutes. Remove from pans to cool.
--Shirley Johnson Shelton

Zucchini bread

Good for when your "friends" give you the end-of-the season zucchini the size of baseball bats….

2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups grated fresh zucchini
2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp mace
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
1 cup dried cherries, cranberries or raisins, or a mix

Preheat the oven to 350*. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, a third at a time. Sprinkle in the cinnamon and nutmeg and mix. Fold in the nuts and dried fruit. Divide the batter equally between 2 buttered 5”x9” loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour (check for doneness at 50 minutes) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.

Final note: Make your iced tea with as much care as you make hot tea, and sweeten it to taste while it is still hot. Sweetening it once it is chilled is more difficult and tastes very different. If you are using Earl Grey, try buckwheat honey as the sweetener.

Happy Monday. See you on the veranda.

Family recipe Monday: bananas

It's hard for me to realize just how exotic bananas were to my great-grandmother and her generation in Arkansas and Oklahoma. I find myself wondering when they first became available, how costly they were, and how they got to the dry rural areas for the first few years. They were a breath-taking luxury. Naturally, they were not to be wasted, so there were soon recipes for using the older, softer, overripe ones in cooking.

Banana nut bread is a classic teabread, a dense, sweet bread leavened with baking powder or baking soda, or both. Teabreads were kept on hand for dessert and for company. It was unthinkable to receive a visitor without providing refreshment as part of the hospitality.

I have two versions of banana nut bread in the Simple Gifts family recipe files. The first one is above. It is lovely and delicious, but not exactly heart-healthy. You can experiment with the fat and egg proportions and substitutions to your satisfaction.

Banana nut bread

½ cup Crisco
1 ½ cups sugar
2 beaten eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
2 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp [baking] soda
1/2 tsp salt
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup nuts

Bake at 350 F.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

Another recipe with cryptic directions. I cream the Crisco, sugar and eggs, mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, mash the bananas, and combine everything in that order: creamed, dry, wet, mashed. This is for hand-mixing; I change the order for the kitchen mixer.

Here is a second, similar version.

Banana nut bread

Mix:
½ cup Crisco
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, one at a time

Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, ¼ tsp. salt. Add to first mixture. Add 2 cups mashed bananas, ½ cup chopped nuts, 1 tsp. vanilla. Bake at 350 F.
--Vada Brooks Johnson

The result either way is a rich teabread with that unmistakable banana fragrance.
 
Notice that there is no time for baking given. That's something else you're just supposed to know, apparently. Banana nut bread will rise a bit in the oven and needs to bake thoroughly, or else the interior will be soggy. I usually give this 30 uninterrupted minutes--that is a low temperature; it's going to take a while--and then test for doneness with a cake straw or pie pin every 5 minutes or so. This needs to cool thoroughly in the loaf pan (you did use a bread loaf pan, right?) before being removed. Wrapped and refrigerated, it will last a long time, and will be there when visitors next show up on the horizon. It reheats beautifully in a low oven; never microwave it. I like it with Earl Grey tea and cold grey weather. Right now, I have all three on hand in abundance.
 
Finally, here is another one from the old days. This is one of my great-grandmother's specialties and favorites, I understand. I have not changed the measurements or directions.
 

 

Cressie cake with hot banana topping

1 ½ cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 ½ cups shortening
2 rounding tsp baking powder
1 ½ cups sour milk
1 level tsp soda
4 eggs
pinch of salt

Filling
2 cups sugar, enough sweet milk to wet well and butter the size of an egg. Let boil and add 1 T flour and 2 T sugar mixed together. Let this boil until thickness desired is reached. Use mashed bananas for banana filling.
--Mary Marcella Walker Brooks. Cressie was a cousin of the family who provided the recipe.

You are supposed to know how to make the cake, for goodness sake. The tricky part was the filling/topping. It seems that bananas were optional, but, if you had them, you used them, however much you had. This can be either a 2-layer or a sheet cake, with that lovely hot banana mixture lavished on top and between the layers. This was a family favorite.
 
Happy Monday. If you make any of these, do let us know how they turn out.