Cheddar Scones

When I mentioned these scones in my last post, I went to link to them and discovered I hadn't posted the recipe yet, so here they are! These are a delicious savory scone, and go perfectly with soup and italian dishes!



Cheddar Scones

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup cold butter
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 Tblsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, dry mustard, and salt into a large bowl; mix well. Cut butter into chunks, and cut into flour mixture with a pastry blender or rub in your fingers, until the mixture looks like fine granules.
Add cheese and toss to mix.
Break egg into milk and beat with a fork to blend well. Pour this over flour mixture and stir with a fork until a dough forms. Turn out dough on a lightly floured board and give 10-12 kneads. Form dough into a round, and cut into wedges. Seperate the wedges a bit so the inside will cook properly
Place on an un~greased cookie sheet.
Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown

Enjoy!

Old Fashion Banana Bread

Hello everyone, sorry I've been rather absent of late, not much time for blogging recently, but I'll try to update periodically. I made banana bread today, so I thought I might post the recipe, this is a nice easy recipe, one of those that you can memorize quickly and whip out in just a few minutes.

For the flour, we prefer to use freshly ground pastry wheat or Kamut, but feel free to use just plain ol' all purpose, it turns out fine either way! Make sure your bananas are nice and ripe, if you have ripe bananas, but aren't ready to use them, just put them in the freezer, and use them when you're ready. If the batter turns out too thick, you can thin it down with a bit of milk or cream, but take it easy, a tablespoon or two should do!
This recipe make 1 loaf - since we often can eat a loaf in a day or two, I usually double or triple the recipe and make bread, muffins, and banana chocolate chip muffins




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Old Fashion Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
3 ripe bananas
1 generous teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350* spray loaf pan** generously.
Put all ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and mix until thoroughly combined, Thin with milk or cream if too thick. Spoon into greased pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool slightly before removing from pan.


**If you have pans that you can double up, it's a good idea to do so with banana bread so the sides and bottom don't get burnt while the insides cook.

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I hope you all enjoy the recipe, be sure to tell me if you try it out, right now I'm going crazy smelling it in the oven, I can't wait to have a warm slice smothered in butter with a nice cup of tea!

So what's on your menu for the week? Tonight we're having goulash and cheddar scones. I may possibly try to start back up with the weekly menu thing that I was doing last year, so be sure to check back soon.

Have a fantastic week!!
~Elissa

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust /Originally posted 6/20/08

Recipe Update 6/26/10
The original recipe didn't call for it, but this dough really needs to rise for about an hour and up to three hours. I've now included that in the recipe, but if you happened to save this recipe to try, you might want to update it! If you don't let it rise, the dough is tough and hard.



Whole Wheat Pizza Crust
Makes two crusts

4 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour (or spelt or Kumut)
1 TB yeast
1TB olive oil
1 TB honey
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 -1/2 cups very warm water (110*)

In a mixer add water, and then remaining ingredients, adding enough flour to clean sides of bowl. Knead dough 3-5 minutes or until gluten is developed. Cover bowl and let dough rise for at least an hour, and up to three hours.
Pre heat oven at 500 degrees. Remove from bowl. Use about one pound of dough per crust Make the pizza dough more stiff than normal bread dough so that it will be easy to roll out with out stickiness. Roll out on pizza paddle or pan (you can roll it out on cornmeal, but I just grease my pan) Brush crust with oil and prick with a fork. Prebake 5-8 minutes. After it's prebaked turn oven down to 350, to bake your topped pizza.

Crust variation
Herbed dough: (this is what we make)
While dough is kneading, add 4-10 TB minced fresh herbs or 2-6 TB dried herbs. Such as oregano, basil, tarragon, sage, rosemary, marjoram, or Italian Seasoning



Enjoy!

~Elissa

Cinnamon Rolls for a BIG crowd!

Cinnamon Rolls for a BIG crowd

May be halved, and rolls may be frozen!

Sweet Dough
3 Tblsp. Yeast + 1 Cup warm water
3 ½ Cups milk
10 eggs
1 Cup butter
1 Cup Sugar
4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp cinnamon
up to 20 Cups Flour, adding a cup at a time after 15 cups.

While the yeast softens in the water; (put the whole eggs in a bowl of hot water ---this is to warm them up before breaking them and adding them to the mixture) and heat the milk to very warm and add all the other ingredients with 5 cups of the flour to mix in your large mixing bowl, along with the yeast/water and mix well and knead for 10+ minutes. Oil bowl, place dough in and turn to cover, cover with a damp towel and put in a very warm place to double. Punch down, divide into 4ths and let rest ten minutes... then begin rolling out one piece of the four into a rectangle. Spread with ¼ of the filling mixture, roll up the long side and slice** into one inch pieces. Place cut side down on prepared baking sheets (sprayed or foiled and sprayed) and set aside in the warm place to double. Then bake for about 20 minutes at 375. When slightly cooled, frost. Wrap well or serve.This may seem like way too many, but if you make this recipe up, you can freeze some for different breakfasts.
Filling: Blend:
2 Cups Butter
1 ½ Cups Brown Sugar
1 ½ Cups Sugar
4 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Salt
1 Cup Flour
¼ C milk
4 cups raisins or nuts (optional)
Frosting: Whip:
4-6 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Butter
½ tsp Salt
¼- ½ Cup Cream or milk
Frost a few minutes after you remove the rolls from the oven.

What I do with this recipe is make the entire batch. When I have gotten the cinnamon rolls rolled and cut, then I place a few in a pan to rise to eat for dessert that night and then I flash freeze the rest. That way I can take a few out the night before I want them, put them in a pan, cover with plastic wrap and let them defrost and rise and they are ready to bake in the morning. I even make up the entire recipe of frosting and place it in small containers, freeze and take it out and place in the refrigerator to thaw when I need it.These are the yummiest cinnamon rolls that I have found. I found the recipe somewhere on the Internet.
Enjoy!
Love, Heather


**Tip If you have trouble slicing the dough with out mangling it, try taking a peace of sewing thread, put it under the dough, bring up the two halves of the thread, and criss-cross them and slowly pull tight until the dough is cut.