Mother's Home Made Bread

Mother baked bread every week when I was little and because we were five children she always made a lot. When I first got married I asked her for the recipe and she said "hmmmm...let's see if I can write it down." She always baked from memory and did not often pull out the Danish cookbook she had.

Here is what I have!

1. In a big big bowl:

• 5 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

2. In another bowl heat in microwave (or as she did it in a pan on the stove) until lukewarm:

• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup margerine

3. Treat 2 packages of yeast according to their package instructions

4. Put 2 and 3 up into 1 and knead, cleaning hands with flour and adding flour if it seems too wet...

Allow to rise in a warm dry place with a tea towel draped loosely over the bowl. Knead again. Form into buns or place in bread forms and allow to rise again.

Whisk an egg and brush over bread just before baking at 325 F . Checking to see when the bread sounds hollow when you tap it. If I remember right then at least 30 minutes...I will make this in September and come back to tell you how long to bake it! :-)

Finnish Butter Cookies

(Note I borrowed this photograph...I will post my own when I make them next time)

Mother made these cookies at Christmas time.

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 pound butter (Mother used margerine)
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs

Knead dough and roll out with baking pin and cut into small rectangles an inch by two inches each.

Whisk an egg and swab the top of the cookies, then shake a little sugar on top ( the Finns shake a little ground almonds too) and bake at 400 degrees til light brown.

Apple Pie

We had a little apple orchard on the farm with about 6 trees I would say. The apples were very good in the fall but Mother's apple pie was the best!

Piecrust (Makes 4 or 5 piecrusts)

6 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 lb Margerine

In a mug put

• 1 egg


• 1 tsp vinegar

Beat with a fork and then fill the mug with water and mix

Combine all ingredients together and mix it up.
Refrigerate for one hour and then roll it out on a floured surface. Cut the piecrusts to fit your pans.

Apple Filling (Per Pie)

Peel and cut up 5 - 6 large apples per pie

• cut up apples


• 1/4 cup brown sugar


• 2 tbsp corn starch


• 2 tbsp flour


• 2 tbsp butter


• 1 tsp cinnamon


• 1/ cup berries (optional)

Stir the ingredients together and pour into the pie shell, top with crust.

Mother's Easy Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 lb margerine or butter
1 egg

Directions

Knead all ingredients together and roll into a log. Refrigerate overnight and next day cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. Bake until golden in oven.

Mother did not always tell me the times for baking because she did so much from feel, smell and memory. Plus she baked on a wood stove which heated quite differently from today's conventional ovens. So try it a couple of times and write down the optimal time if you find one. (And let me know please!)

Chocolate Coconut Cookies - Christian's favourite!

Christian (I am pretty sure he is the one who did this but he might swear it was Fred!) loved these cookies so much that once he tiptoed into the kitchen in the night and took a few for himself leaving a penny in place of the missing cookies!
:-)

Ingredients and Directions

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup coconut
6 tablespoons cocoa

Stir in bowl and set aside

In a pot mix

2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup margerine or butter (1/4 lb)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Warm to boiling point but do not boil. Stir this into the dry mixture and drop spoonfulls onto cookie sheets (optionally lined with waxed paper) then cool in fridge overnight.

Raspberry - Muffins or Loaf

Okay so we had so many raspberries this year that got tired of eating them just as berries. They have been organically grown in the garden in the back yard of Fernwood! Fresh sweet, tart and beautiful! I remember picking raspberries on the farm many many years ago. They were plants that Mother had bought from a `traveller`and they produced so many berries that Mother had us post a sign at the end of the lane that the berries were for sale. Tony remembers fistfulls of dollars in Mother`s hand as the cars streamed down the laneway for fresh ripe raspberries!

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 large egg, beaten
1 c. milk
1/2 c. melted butter
1 to 1 1/2 c. raspberries


Directions

Preheat oven to 375 F.
Grease 12 muffin cups, or use paper liners or make it in a cake pan at least 6 " by 8 ".
In a large bowl, mix flower, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a smaller bowl, beat egg, milk, and butter.
Mix egg mixture into flour mixture.
Fold in raspberries, distributing relatively evenly.
Fill muffin cups or baking dish.
Bake 25 minutes, until muffins are golden brown OR a toothpick inserted into their centers come out clean.

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

crust

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup melted butter

2 tablespoons sugar

filling

2 -14 oz cans Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed milk

1 cup lime juice

meringue

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Mix crust ingredients together and press into pieplate. bake for 10 minutes on 325 F

let cool completely

Combine filling ingredients together and mix with wisk until blended..pour into cool crust

Whip meringue ingredients until soft peaks form adding sugar at the end on spoonful at a time and then beat again.

Put meringue on top of filling and bake in 325 F for 20 minutes. Let cool in fridge at least 8 hours before serving.

Southern Corn Bread

INGREDIENTS

1 cup corn meal

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1 pinch salt

1 egg

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients until batter is smooth. I do the mixing with a spoon and it works just fine.

Pour batter into a greased baking dish. Bake at 400 F in a preheated oven for 25 minutes. Cool before serving.

Ebelskivers Cookbook | Williams-Sonoma

Ebelskivers Cookbook Williams-Sonoma

Danish Leverpostej (Liver Pate)

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1 cup cream

1 cup milk

1 lb pork (although I think Mother used Beef) liver cut is small pieces

1/2 pound bacon fat or lard chopped up

1 chopped onion

2 eggs

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

(note that many Danish recipes call for 4 anchovy fillets but Mother never used that: also you can add other spices if you like i.e. 1/2 tsp ground cloves or mixed spices as well)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a frypan melt the butter and add the flour to it and cook under a watchful eye for 2 minutes. Then stir in the cream and milk. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Keep close watch so nothing burns. Remove from the heat and allow this sauce mixture to cool.

Combine the sauce with the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss to combine.
Process in batches in a food processor until smooth. (Mother used the meat grinder to chop the liver finely before conbining everything so her's was a little coarser consistency than this will be using a food processor of today)
Pour the liver mixture into a one quart loaf pan. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in a larger deep baking dish.

Fill the outer baking dish with enough water to come halfway up the side of the loaf pan, and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Cool on a wire rack before refrigerating for at least 2 hours.

Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo..not Danish but Good Anyway!

Adapted from the Coastal Living Cookbook for a crockpot!

INGREDIENTS

A list

1 pound large fresh (or frozen peeled and deveined) shrimp (add to pot an hour before serving)

2 cups of broth (vegetable or chicken)

1 pound breakfast sausage (cut in quarter inch slices)

1 chopped onion

1 chopped bell pepper

3 celery stalks chopped

1/2 cup chopped green onions

B list

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons creole seasoning ( mix up black, red pepper, paprika, oregano, cayenne pepper,chili pepper, dash of salt if you can't find this seasoning)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon worcesteshire (spelling?) sauce

2 to 3 teaspoons hot sauce

C list (add after 3 hours for the last hour of cooking)

1/3 cup flour mixed with a spoon or fork in a cup with 1/4 cup soft margerine or butter

1 pound fresh or frozen peeled shrimp

1 teaspoon gravy colour

Place all A and B list ingredients in crock pot , stir well and cook on high setting for 3 hours)

Add C list items to pot and let cook on high for another hour.

Add a dollop of cooked rice (your choice) to each serving. Serve with rye bread and water (lots of water - could be spicy hot).

Really Easy Banana Bread

Banana Bread Made Easy !

INGREDIENTS

3 ripe mashed bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 beaten egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 F

With a spoon mix butter, egg, sugar and vanilla into the mashed banana. Sprinkle the baking soda and the cinnamon on the batter and mix in add the flour and walnuts last and mix with the spoon. Transfer mixture to a greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Cool on a wire rack before enjoying!