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.