Another cake for history.

For the final presentation of the History SIG (Special Interest Group), I decided to make a pecan cake based upon this recipe:

The substitution is simple:  10oz of slightly toasted pecan pieces in place of the black walnuts.  I think that pecans must be lighter than black walnuts, because that is a LOT of nuts in the batter.  It resulted in two pretty cakes, plenty for whoever is at our closing session.

And once again, I didn't stop for photographs, although I took one of the circular cake after it cooled:

My mother and I went to Chicago for a week, spending time seeing relatives and old friends (including all three of my remaining godparents), and I was too busy enjoying people to photograph the food.  Except this, my dessert one night:

The "Amarena Cherry Panna Cotta" - 
vanilla panna cotta, amarena cherry gelee,
compressed cherry (a bit alcoholic), pistachio

Of course we ate plenty of Chicago specialties, such as deep dish pizza, Chicago-style hot dog (my mother and I split a footlong at a White Sox game, which they sadly and badly lost to the d@mn Yankees, but ended up splitting the series with them - then the Cubs began a series with a close loss and a solid win, before another close loss), Irish soda bread from the Hearts & Flour Bakery tent at the Daley Center Farmers Market, true bagels and lox at a family brunch, and lots of excellent meals at friends' favourite restaurants around the city.  We brought local chocolates to the neighbors and are still nibbling our way through the cookies a friend gave to my mother.

Muster Gingerbread

For tomorrow's history group presentation, which focuses on the northern part of the colonies, I decided to make "Muster Gingerbread" from the Plimoth Colony Cook Book.  It is easy, has a good story (although I think more from the 19th Century than the 18th, but no provenance was given), and makes many pieces.

I forgot to take photos when I started the process, and just have one showing how I propped up the molasses jar to drain as much as possible.  Then I went for a walk.  After I returned, I added the melted butter and buttermilk, then mixed - very carefully, because the bowl was overfull.

That might be, in part, because I was doubling the recipe.  However, I used only a cup and a half each of molasses and butter, because the proportions seemed awry if you want cookies.  Too much liquid.  And I was right as I ended up with a fluffy batter, a bit thick but definitely more for cake than cookies:

Photo taken about fifteen minutes into baking.  The chemical reaction between the baking soda and the acid in both the molasses and the buttermilk caused the rise.  My other change was to increase the ginger to a full tablespoon each, and add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon per recipe.

[Historical note:  Baking soda is a modern addition, having first been isolated in somewhere between 1791 and 1801, but not available generally until the middle of the 19th Century.  It is more likely that pearlash was used, but even so, that might be post-Revolutionary War.  I decided to bake this recipe even though I have other gingerbread/gingerbrede receipts that would be more historically accurate, because I think the group won't care and they'd like the name and find it appropriate to the discussion.]

The gingerbread baked well but took longer than the recipe said, of course, since it was written for cookies.  I would have had to add a LOT of flour to make a cooky-rolling stiffness, and I didn't want to make THAT many cookies.  Maybe if I had thought to scale everything else to 1.5 times, or even doing just a single batch with more flour.  Experiments for another day.

These came out quite tastily:

The decorative pan made distinct designs which are not terribly visible except on the bottom right quadrant of the photograph, but the cake is a bit crisper than the ones baked in the other two pans.  I now have a high-piled platter of pieces of gingerbread for people to enjoy tomorrow.

A Rich Seed Cake

I'm attending a series of history presentations around the American Revolutionary War, from the events leading to it, to the actual years of the conflict (which were several after 1776, if you didn't know), and early days of the new Republic.  Since I haven't been able to participate substantively, I asked if they would be interested in having some cakes or cookies baked from period recipes - and the organizers eagerly accepted.

For the first one, I chose a Georgian era recipe from The British Museum Cookbook, reprinting Mrs. Raffald's recipe for a "Rich Seed Cake".  I made a few changes in process, because I wanted to take advantage of my stand mixer, and it has only one bowl:

I started by whipping four egg whites stiff, and
moved them to a separate bowl to wait.

Same bowl, I was lazy and did not wash it.
Softened butter (one cup) and white sugar
(three-quarters of a cup, can be one cup).

Butter and sugar whipped until light.
I stopped to scrape the sides a couple times.

Adding the egg yolks one at a time.

Adding (possibly too many, I estimated) anise seeds, plus one
teaspoon each of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg.

I added two cups of  flour one half-cup at a time,
alternating with the whipped egg whites.

I probably should have started with the egg whites and mixed
them in completely but I thought this might keep more of the air
in the mixture, since that is the only raising power in this recipe.

I decided to use a fancy pan for the baking, and forgot to take a photo before putting it into the oven.  I also forgot to tap the pan to knock out any air bubbles before baking.

While the oven was on, since I'd been successful in foraging for blackberries, I made a batch of muffins which were shared with (very appreciative) neighbors:

I used a friend's blueberry cake recipe, but instead of layering
the batter and berries, stirred the berries in and scooped.

Final results, before I packaged up the muffins to deliver to neighbors:

Of course I sampled before delivery.  All reports are that the 
muffins - which are not too sweet - are very yummy.

I wrapped the cake in clingfilm to stay moist and mellow overnight:

Pockmarked by the air holes, and hopefully not too dry or dense.

My house smells wonderful.

I might try her recipe for "Wiggs" if the presenters are talking about the similarly-named political party.

Also this week, I went to a local group's gathering, and wanted to take something interesting but not too complicated.  So I started a shawl, using sock yarn doubled.  The colours are not ones I usually like, but this will be nice and a bit of warmth, and if somebody wants it I won't be sad to pretend generosity.

The yarn was dyed by the "Little" of a local dyer in Texas, and is called "Space".  The stitch markers are leftover Turtle Tokens that I give to people who join the daily walks at some conferences I attend.  I've since seen the dyer's Fallen Moon Drops pattern and one colourway is similar to this, so since it's just been a weekend's knitting I am tempted to frog and reuse the yarn - but I am desisting.  I have another skein or two of her yarn that I can use, or of course some other.

Three Red Scarves

 I finished the last of the red scarves very late last night:

This used up an entire ball of A Pound Of Love in "Cherry", plus a small ball of brighter red that I bought when it was clear that I couldn't get a full third scarf.  In the end, I had less than 3" of the Cherry as scraps!  I do have a bit more of the brighter red (it's "COLOR/COULEUR # 15705", no name) but not enough for a single additional row.  I'll use some to tie on the washing instructions and put the rest into the box of scrap yarns.

These are closeups of the stitch patterns:

Bavarian Stitch - crochet

"Hot Frosty" or broken rib (K3P1+K1) - knit

Simple 1dc1sc repeat, worked from center - crochet

I have made not enough progress on the Advent/Channukah item, because I was focused on getting these three scarves done.  But I made some progress:

I planned to use three stitch patterns but did not like the transition from #2 to #3.  So I frogged the third stripe and now I am using just two, seed stitch and single moss stitch.  I also realized that some of the minis are longer than other minis, and decided that rather than have wildly uneven stripes, I will end each one somewhere around the 2½" width.  So I will have bits of leftover yarn, which may get added later, or put into another project.

Tonight is the holiday party for one of the local fiber groups I have joined.  They are collecting the red scarves, hence my deadline of today.  We are having a potluck and I made Grinch Cookies:

Simply dye a basic cooky dough green, roll into balls, flatten
slightly, and add a red candy heart before baking.  These were
made with a gluten-free cookie recipe, but you can use any.

For the white elephant gift exchange, I made a few stitch markers and packaged them with a hank of yarn from a mystery yarn purchase.  I love the dyer but notice this has a lot of mohair, which can be an issue for me.  I have kept all the other mystery skeins!

Later:  Party was small but fun enough.  We played a game of pull a question from a bag and answer it, which generated some interesting discussions.  The person who received my gift was very happy to have it, and I scored a Bonne Maman 2024 Advent Calendar, which I am very happy to receive!  I'm not opening it yet, in part because I scored sugarplums from Andy's Orchard and am very happily eating those.

{Also:  This is my 350th post.  A piker compared to many who have posted daily for years, or decades, or even those who posted weekly from The Beginning.  But more than I expected I'd have.}

Birthday Blueberry Muffins

My gift to Dad three birthdays ago.

Today is my father's birthday, and it's not one that ends in '0' or '5' and the family celebration is tomorrow, because today is a work day for those of us not retired.  (Or a school day for the granddaughter working on her master's degree.)  I didn't want to skip observing the day itself, so on my morning walk, when I usually stop at my parents' house to take in their newspaper (and thus my mother, checking their security camera footage when she awakens, sees that I am alive) I took over some decorations.  Now their streetside tree has dangling festive signs and there is a huge "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" strung across their porch.

I also left a card, and for a proper observance, a small gift of blueberry muffins.  I debated corn muffins because I have a good boxed mix in the pantry, but it makes a dozen and I wanted just a few.  So I pulled out one of my old cookbooks:

  

This book was well-used before I acquired it, and I've cooked out of it before.  It has several muffin recipes including a basic one that I knew I could play with to make it a bit special.  Since I have some fresh blueberries from the local farmstand, I thought I would add some of those.  So I started with the first recipe:

Because I didn't want many muffins and I guessed the recipe would make around a dozen, I cut it in half.  I didn't want to deal with half an egg, so I used the smallest one I have (my brother and sister-in-law's chickens lay various sizes) and adjusted the liquid accordingly.  And forgot to take photos of the process.

For my half-batch recipe, I used the following:

• one-half cup of whole-wheat flour
• one-half cup of all-purpose flour
• two teaspoons of baking powder
• about a half tablespoon (generous) of white sugar
• one egg (medium-sized, approximately)
• one tablespoon of cooking oil
• vanilla water to make a batter
• enough blueberries

I mixed the dry ingredients in a bowl, added the egg and oil, and stirred just to get the egg broken up and mixed in a bit.  'Vanilla water' is the result of my finishing a bottle of vanilla extract and filling it with water, so I have flavoured water to use in baking and get a bit more goodness out of the bottle.  I didn't measure, I just added until the consistency was about right.  I had to add a little plain water at the end.  Then I washed and stirred in blueberries until it looked like enough of them.  Maybe half a cup?  Or so.

I didn't grease the muffin tins, I used festive papers, and I filled them quite full.  If I had done the recipe amount in each cup I would have had six, but I ended up with five - one for me, and four for my parents:

I sprinkled some sparkling sugar on top of the muffins before baking, to give a bit of a bakery touch.  They took almost 25 minutes at 400°F.  I happened to have a four-muffin box handy so packed them up fresh out of the oven and left them on my parents' porch.

Later in the day they reported that the muffins were delicious.  😋😘

Meeting and Eating.

This weekend I attended two of the local fiber groups.  I've tried to join, but with one thing and another (including travel and the online cinemas courses I keep taking, plus work which often doesn't end until well into an evening) it's not easy.

One group meets on Saturdays, plus the occasional Thursday evening.  It's Twisted Threads NC so mostly spinners, but other fiber arts as well.  This was the Annual Meeting, Potluck, and Swap and you had to be a paid-up member to bring things to swap.  I paid and decided to see what happens.  I took the duffel of yarns I'd sorted for a tag sale, that didn't sell, and I thought about putting on eBay but hadn't done so yet.

For my potluck contribution, I decided to make stuffed baked buns.  I've wanted to make bread, but was finishing some loaves I'd put into my freezer.  One of my bread books has instructions for stuffed buns, and I thought that would be a good finger food to take.

Saturday morning, between my yoga class and Torah study, I made the dough, using a mix, with oil for the fat and oat milk instead of water.  I was a bit worried about the timing to fill and bake them, allowing for a second rise, because my mother and I planned to go to the local farmstand.  She was running a bit late, so I used the time to do the filling and shaping:

For the filling, I scrambled two eggs in butter, adding a large spoonful of my garlic scapes pesto.  I let this mixture cool for a few minutes, then added about an ounce and a half of finely shredded cheese.  I divided the dough into fifteen pieces, rolled each one out, and put on a spoonful of the filling.  

   

I had very little filling left by the time I reached the last one, so I added a slice of the cheese.  Then I pinched the dough around the filling and rolled it into a ballish shape; the final one was more of a fat log:

Resting on the baking tray, with parchment paper.

  

No glaze before baking. Oats in the dough
remained very chewy - to remember for next time.

They came out quite yummy, and a few returned home with me, to become a breakfast one day and lunch another, after a brief warming.  With the breakfast one I had some fruit from the farmstand; with the lunch I ate a chopped tomato and cucumber salad seasoned with a splash of vinegar and a decent amount of Salsa & Pico.

For the swap, they had three long tables set up.  By the windows went all the spinning fiber.  Middle table for books and equipment.  Third table for yarn:

After business meeting and elections (really, approval of the slate of officers and since I didn't know people, I was fine with the volunteers) the president passed out numbers.  We had eighteen persons and I drew number ten.  First person got to choose an item, then you would call out the next number, that person chose, and so on.  After a couple rounds you could take two items, and some skeins of yarn went in groups or packages.  I was surprised that the books didn't go quickly, and I was able to get three of the four I had eyemarked.  I also got a bunch of yarn, and at the end everything left was being collected for a 4-H group, but I took home two of the skeins I had taken because I like them too much to donate, and one is from a long-retired indie dyer.  Most of the yarn I took went to people in various rounds, or the free-for-all at the end.  This is what I brought home:

The bag is thirty balls of aran weight wool from the UK, so I have plenty for various projects and will likely dye some.  Top row is a skein of handspun; one of the ladies brought a number of skeins she'd made, and somebody grabbed an armload of them, but was willing to let me have one.  It's a gorgeous combination of deep blues, teals, and purple.  Next is something that looks like taupe angora, which I will burn-test and may or may not dye.  The unlabeled taupe ball next to it was in a bag with the grey, which is really what I wanted, and likely will end up in a charity something.  Next row is a ball of Taos for a charity hat; a hank of Alice Starmore Scottish Campion that I was surprised nobody had snagged; two hanks of sock yarn in "Strawberry Fields"; and the grey yarn which is designed for an easy pattern.  Mine is mostly white and grey, not grey and pink as the website shows, and I may do something else with it.

Below that, the books:

• Knitting Lace: A Workshop with Patterns and Projects
• Alice Starmore's Glamourie - I have most of her books but didn't know about this one, and took it as my first round pick
• Twisted-Stitch Knitting: Traditional Patterns & Garments from the Styrian Enns Valley
• A pair of Elsebeth Lavold books that were together, Designer's Choice Book One and Book Eight

My duffel bag was not as full going home about which I am happy.  I need to find a Miami Dolphins fan for the car magnet.

Then on Monday evening, I went to the Triangle Fiber Guild meeting.  I'd attended one a few months ago but work nights can be difficult for me and this was no different.  I arrived late, and luckily they didn't turn me away.  Part of being late was getting rerouted by construction and a traffic jam, but part is just the difficulty of leaving work early enough.

No photos from this one; people worked on projects, discussed all kinds of things, and generally it was a casual event.  At some others they have presentations and they do charity work; when I arrived people were suggesting new projects for the fall and winter.  I suggested Knit Your Bit, Warm Up, America!, and the Morganton Blue Elves.  Another person mentioned the Red Scarf Project and somebody suggested a group that makes Disney-inspired hats for children undergoing chemotherapy.  The leader is going to set up a poll for voting.

π day 2024

I wasn't sure what I would do to celebrate today, but a plan came together.

I had trouble deciding what type of pie to make, and how large.  I'm still not sure I can find all my pie plates, or should I use a small cake pan?  If I made a big pie, who would want to share it?  It came down to a chicken pie or a peach pie, because I have both in the freezer.  Then I got the crazy idea to try both.  Together.  In one dish.

I wasn't feeling excited about making pie crust, and when I took the peaches and chicken out to thaw, noticed a roll of puff pastry I'd stashed over the holidays.  Perfect solution!

The chicken part would be a riff on b'stilla, with a bit of some 14th-16th Century as well.  The peach pie would be much more traditional, other than the crust.  For the b'stilla I checked a couple of recipes, scaled them down, and decided to use some Penzy's Pie Spice in addition to the saffron and a bit of black pepper.  Most recipes just use cinnamin, saffron, and pepper.

First step is to cook chicken with onion, saffron, butter, and water:

  

While that simmered I lined the dish with pastry and saved the rest for on top:

I also mixed the peaches, about half the full recipe:

   

I made a wall of pastry to keep the two sides apart.  Yes, I should have chilled the pie, but I was heating the oven and didn't want to put a cold Corning Ware® item into a hot oven, just in case.

Next, I chopped almonds and added raisins (which are not traditional in b'stilla, but I like them and they fit with the additional spices), then chopped up the almost-cooked chicken, and put everything back into the pot to cook until the liquid was gone:

When that happened, I let it cool a bit, then added a beaten egg and the spices, stirred it all together, and spooned the filling into the other side of the dish, where it fit perfectly:

   

I added a suitably marked top and it was time for the oven - 350ºF for about 45 minutes.

It was very yummy, and the two sides hold together nicely:

I've got suppers covered for two more nights.