Family recipe Monday: holiday mornings

Part of the teacake shipment to Afghanistan

Dozens of teacakes are winging their way to a dear friend of the family who is in Afghanistan. I made two full-size batches and wound up sending 5 dozen to the war zone, 1 1/2 dozen to work, and the rest for us here at home. That was a major baking day. If you are interested in doing this, use the sturdiest peasant cookie recipes you have. Delicate doesn't cut it. I bagged the teacakes by the dozen just in case they do get broken during shipment, but am hoping that they make it there and make his day a little bit better. What I really want is an end to this war. For all sides. Next year, I want to give this man teacakes in person.

We are approaching the winter solstice very soon, and all our senses tell us that it is time to slow down, take a break, stay warm, and stay close to our loved ones. I associate holiday mornings with decadent sweetrolls and coffees, and we have some terrific recipes in the Simple Gifts files. They're even better if you eat them while you are still in your pajamas. Extra points if they have feet in them. Triple points if you actually wear the pink bunny outfit. Double-dog dare ya. By this time next week, the days will be getting just barely perceptibly longer and many of the holiday celebrations will be over. 

Cinnamon rolls and breads are worth taking a little time and trouble to bake from scratch, one recipe from each side of the family. Once you do, you'll understand why friends don't let friends buy refrigerator aisle cinnamon rolls. I would bake the rolls from the first recipe at ~350*. These are very rich and yeasty. You can refrigerate them after the first rise if you are baking ahead of schedule.

Cinnamon rolls

4 T shortening
3 T sugar
1 ½ tsp salt

Mix and add 1 cup boiling water. Cool. Add 1 egg and 2 cakes yeast which have been dissolved in ¼ cup tepid water. Add 4 cups of flour. Mix. When the dough is formed pour over it 3 T cooled and melted shortening. Let rise until double in bulk, roll out to ¼ ” thick and spread on it 1 stick butter which has been melted and cooled. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, chopped nuts or raisins. Roll and cut in slices and let rise again. Bake until done.

Glaze

¾ pkg. powdered sugar

½ stick butter

Enough milk to dissolve sugar

Heat until sugar is smooth and pour over rolls.

 --Vada Brooks Johnson

Quick cinnamon buns

Sift together 2 cups flour, 3 T baking powder, 1 tsp salt. Add 6 T soft shortening, cut in finely. Stir in to make soft dough 2/3 cup milk.

Roll into ¼” rectangle 7” x 16”. Spread with mixture of ¼ cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and raisins. Roll up tightly from wide side and seal edge. Cut into 1” slices. Place cut side down on greased cookie sheet or in muffin tins. Bake at 425* for 15 minutes.

--Dolly Shaffner Hess

Cinnamon loaf

 

1 pkg. active dry yeast

2 T warm water (105-115* F)

2/3 cup milk, scalded

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

6 T butter or margarine

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Melted butter or margarine

Sprinkle yeast into water. Let stand a few minutes, then stir until dissolved. Pout hot milk over ¼ cup sugar, salt, and 4 T butter. Cool to lukewarm. Add eggs, yeast, and half the flour. Beat with rotary beater or electric beater until smooth. Beat in remaining flour with spoon. Cover and let rise until doubled (about 1 hour). Punch down and knead lightly. Roll out on floured pastry cloth or board to a rectangle 18”x9”. Spread with 2 T butter. Sprinkle with ¼ cup sugar mixed with the cinnamon. Roll up tightly from the end and put in greased loaf pan. Brush with 2 T melted butter and let rise until doubled (about 45 minutes). Bake in moderate oven (350*F) about 30 minutes. Remove and cool.

This is another mix that is great to have on hand for visitors or lazy mornings.

Cinnamon coffee

1 tsp cinnamon

½ cup instant coffee granules

2/3 cup granulated sugar or equivalent sweetener

2/3 cup powdered milk or coffee creamer

Blend all ingredients in a blender until they form a fine powder, then store in a covered container at room temperature. To serve use 2 rounded tsp per cup of boiling water.

Variations

• To ½ cup instant coffee granules, add ¾ cup sugar, 1 cup powdered milk and ½ tsp dried orange peel. Blend in blender until powdered.
• To ½ cup instant coffee granules, add ½ cup sugar, 1 cup dry milk or coffee creamer, and 2 T cocoa.

If you are REALLY feeling decadent and don't need to drive anywhere, and the occasion is really festive, try this. Shirley is a Bailey's fan and we need to make this for her soon.

Bailey’s Irish Cream eggnog

12 eggs, separated

1 ½ cups superfine sugar
1 quart milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 bottle Bailey’s Irish Cream
4 cups (1 quart) heavy cream
Freshly grated nutmeg

In a large bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and pale yellow in color. Gradually add sugar; mix with whisk or mixer. Beat in milk. Pour in 2 cups cream. Add Irish Cream, stirring constantly. Pour in large punch bowl. Just before serving, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into mixture. Whip remaining cream until stiff and fold in. Beat. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Serves 16.

Happy, merry, jolly, joyous, y'all!

Family recipe Monday: biscuits

We missed the snowstorm that has blanketed everything up here east of the Missouri River. There was one night with high winds that blew old dry snow around, but so far that is all we have had, and that is fine with us. Nevertheless, it's cold out there, so we have stayed in except for a brief expedition to get baking needs and library books, not necessarily in that order of importance.

The result of a two-day kitchen weekend are as follows: two gallons of lemon- and garlic-infused chicken stock, 8 dozen teacakes, and a loaf of honey whole-wheat bread that is just now starting to bake. The place smells like home. At least 4 dozen of those teacakes will be on their way to Afghanistan as soon as they are ready to go, to bring a tiny bit of thanks to a group of heroes who don't need luggable things like quilts right now. It's so little. It's all we can do, sending food from home. All of us, whether we are part of one of the peace churches or not, wish that the holidays next year will be happier on this front, that everyone will be safely home with the people who love them. Instead of exchanging gifts, we are all pitching in for a contribution to the Wounded Warrior Project and to a project supporting teachers and classrooms in Afghanistan. We have so much, and so much is needed.

We'd send biscuits if we could. Biscuits are one of our all-time favorite comfort foods. We're not comfortable with anything from the refrigerator section of the grocery store, not when they're so easy to make from scratch. Here is a recipe for making a big stock of dry biscuit mix that will keep forever and be there when you need to have biscuits first thing in the morning. You can use buttermilk powder in place of the dry milk. All of these are rolled out and cut with a biscuit cutter or a smooth-rimmed water glass, and baked in a preheated hot oven. Don't let them burn on the bottom.

All-purpose baking mix

A true time-saver and the basis for several of our recipes for breads and cakes. Great for large groups, or for small groups that eat like large groups...like our family.

Large batch

5-lb. bag or 20 cups flour (all-purpose, whole wheat, or combination)
2½ cups nonfat dry milk
¾ cup baking powder
2 T salt
3¾ cups shortening

Combine dry ingredients in very large bowl. Sift. Using a pastry blender, cut shortening into mix until mix is consistency of cornmeal. Store in airtight container in cool, dry place. To measure, spoon lightly into cup and level off with spatula. Yield: 27 cups mix.

Small batch

8 cups flour (all-purpose, whole wheat, or combination)
1 cup nonfat dry milk
¼ cup plus 1 T baking powder
2 tsp. salt
1½ cups shortening

Use the same procedure as for large batch. Yield: 11 cups of mix.

Basic biscuits

For 6 biscuits:
1 cup All-Purpose Baking Mix (above)
¼ to 1/3 cup milk

For 12 biscuits:
2 cups All-Purpose Baking Mix (above)
½ to 2/3 cup milk

Gradually add milk, mixing with a fork, adding just enough to make a soft, nonsticky dough. Turn onto floured board and knead about 10 times. Roll or pat out to ½” thickness. Cut out with floured biscuit cutter. Bake on cookie sheet at 450* F 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned.

Southern raised biscuits

2¼ oz pkg. dry yeast
¼ cup warm water (105-115* F)
2 cups buttermilk
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1¼ tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup shortening or unsalted butter

Combine yeast and warm water; let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Add buttermilk and set aside. Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Add buttermilk and yeast mixture gradually, gently combining with a fork. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead lightly 4 or 5 times. Roll dough to ½” thickness. Cut out biscuits and place on greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. Bake at 450* F for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

To freeze: Bake only about 6 minutes; cool, freeze, and wrap airtight. Finish baking on a greased baking sheet at 450* F for 6 more minutes, or until browned. Yield: 2 dozen.

Ranch biscuits

2 cups presifted flour
¾ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ rounded cup shortening
¾ cup buttermilk

Sift together the dry ingredients and cut in the shortening until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Stir in the buttermilk slowly with a fork until a soft dough is formed. Scrape out onto a well-floured board and knead a few times. Roll dough about ½” thick and cut out the biscuits. Bake in preheated oven at 450* F until golden brown (8-10 minutes). Makes 10-12 2 ½” biscuits.

Happy Monday. Take a minute to think about everyone who is overseas for us.

Catching up

Light on the drive home from Piya Wiconi

It's a cold, lovely Saturday morning with snow showers in the forecast, a perfect day to catch up on a number of deferred (OK, procrastinated) tasks and assignments. I've made tea strong enough to stand a spoon in, because I'd rather hibernate, honestly. Yesterday morning, though, stumbling awake at the usual time, I saw the thinnest rim of blue-light sunrise for the first time since the winter solstice. Spring is creeping over the horizon. Time to get things going; no time to laze.

So I will spend the day writing, with perhaps a detour to make teacakes. Baking and writing are interconnected for me, and the baking forces me to take breaks and let the subconscious work on the writing. The aroma is a magnificent bonus.

In the meantime, here are some shots from a couple of recent trips: a birding trip last Saturday to the Hammerquist Road area east of Rapid City, and a lovely drive through early morning fog and late afternoon light to the Piya Wiconi campus of Oglala Lakota College yesterday.  The light on the prairies in its endless permutations may be the most spectacular part of the scenery. The prairie architecture isn't bad, either.

FWIW: I was trying to show some of these online albums to our friend Pat last week, hoping she'd enjoy the views. Instead, she and Gene were tickled by my late-night fumble-fingered typos, spellos, grammos and punctos. By "tickled," I mean, of course, convulsed in hysterics on the floor. So I hope that nothing on here is still labeled Sputh Dakora. If it is, I'll kindly thank you to keep quiet about it. Just enjoy the views. Happy weekend from Sputh Dakora.

Cattle and sharp-tailed grouse, Hammerquist Road

Frozen pond, Hammerquist Road

Barn, Hammerquist Road

Light through the fog, Sheep Mountain Road area

Our Lady of the Sorrows, Kyle

Wild turkeys near White River Visitor Center

Tatanka Trading Post, Scenic, South Dakota

Scenic, South Dakota

Stone house in snowbank, Scenic, South Dakota

Shed, drive to Rapid City. I love the diamond pane window.

Family recipe Monday: teacakes

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be....
--Simple Gifts, Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett, Jr., 1848
 
 
On Mondays, I'll make it a point to post selections from the family recipe project, Simple Gifts. We have all been working on this off and on for 12 years. Gene has been scanning the actual handwritten recipes to go along with the text. As you can see from this first one, some are quite cryptic. You know how to do it or you don't....

Teacakes

Original card: at right

Slightly later version:
2/3 lb. butter
2 ½ cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
5 to 7 cups flour

Directions added for family recipe book:
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing well. Add buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough. Roll out in batches on floured board, adding more flour to the dough as needed. Cut out cookies and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 F until bottoms are just browned. Makes 4 to 6 dozen.

--Nancy Ellinor Honnoll Walker, Mary Marcella Walker Brooks, Vada Brooks Johnson
(NB: I know it says sour milk, but I never saw my grandmother use anything but buttermilk. And, yes, I know that there's a difference.)

I submitted the following expanded version of the teacake recipe for The Monkeygiving Cookbook, or How to Save the World One Meal at a Time, a compendium of college friends' recipes edited by Yvonne Dailey. And they actually published it....


Teacakes


This recipe is the oldest one I have. It goes back a good 150 years, to my great-great grandmother Nancy Ellinor Honnoll Walker . I think it may be the only recipe of that vintage in that line of the family that anyone ever wrote down. It’s part of the large number of recipes that her daughter, my great-grandmother Mary Marcella Walker Brooks, relied on when as a widow she ran a boarding house in Altus, Oklahoma, during the Depression years. Gran Brooks didn’t write much down, either—didn’t need to, ever—so whatever we didn’t learn to cook is now the stuff of legend . But the teacakes have come down unchanged. They are basically sturdy homemade shortbread cookies, plain and simple. Efforts to tart them up with orange extract, sugar topping and the like can be done, but are basically regarded as heretical. They can be thought of as the Quakers in the holiday cookie wars.

This recipe starts with butter and sugar, so it does not get a seal of approval from the American Heart Association. It is smoothed with buttermilk, leavened with baking soda (not powder), elevated with vanilla, pulled together by a couple of eggs, and then given structure by white flour. Lots of flour. Part of it is mixed in and part of it is then kneaded and worked in to create a stiff dough that will roll out without sticking.

Both my grandmother and my great-grandmother always said “Teacakes is a half a day’s work” when requests were made for baking them. Never failed, at least with my grandmother. You ask for teacakes, you get that response. You give up on the request, guiltily. The next day you get the teacakes. Never failed. I have never had any trouble making 3 to 5 dozen (depending on the batch and on how thinly I rolled them out) in 2 hours. Part of the half-day problem may be that the unbaked dough is wonderful and is subject to thieving by children (and unscrupulous adults) sneaking into the kitchen. Or so I hear. I wouldn’t know, myself, obviously.

I usually roll the dough out between ¼” and ½”. You can use a biscuit cutter for these if you have such a thing, but the approved and strictly correct tool for cutting out the teacakes is a water glass with a smooth rim. Anything else is a bit too effete for Altus, Oklahoma. I use one of my grandmother’s wooden rolling pins, because if the dough does not stick to wood I know it’s got enough flour. If I’m feeling like a Depression boarding house re-enactor, I use a hollow glass rolling pin filled with ice chips (not ice water) for verisimilitude. That’s a good strategy in a very hot kitchen. Please do not talk to me about silicon rolling pins, not unless you want to see that tic go off under my eye.

These go on an ungreased cookie sheet in a low oven (350 F) and are baked just until the bottoms are a light to medium tan. Too much browner, and the teacakes will taste like burned flour. Ungreased because they are made with 2/3 of a pound of butter, low oven because of the same thing. They need to be cooled completely before they are ready to go. They will keep for weeks in a closed container, and are sturdy enough for sack lunches and field supplies. The longer they are out in the air, the crisper they get. You’ll have to experiment to determine where the magic ideal crisp point is for you. I give them a day or so before I put them into any kind of closed container.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add them in. Add the buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla extract. Start mixing in the flour a cup at a time until the dough is too stiff to stir. Scrape the dough onto more flour on the work surface and continue working flour in by hand, kneading gently, until the dough is stiff and no longer sticky. This may be quite a bit of flour. Don’t try to work it in all at once; add about a cup at a time and work that in thoroughly before adding more. It should roll out without sticking to a wooden pin when it is ready. At this point it is just delicious, so defend your arena of operations as appropriate. Tell your kitchen thieves about the mortal dangers of raw eggs. Didn’t work for my grandmother at all, but it might work for you. Maybe.

Roll out the remaining dough in batches, ¼” to ½” thick, and cut out teacakes with a biscuit cutter or water glass. Place teacakes on ungreased baking sheets about 1” apart (they will expand a little bit). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bottoms are light brown. Remove and cool thoroughly on wire racks for several hours or overnight. Makes anywhere from 3 to 5 dozen. Store in closed containers at room temperature. Serve to survivors of the dough theft wars.