Soda bread

Pancakes

Jon — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 14:24:00 +0000

Perfect pancakes are like perfect rice - the secret shibboleths of the kitchen. Smitten Kitchen has a great read on making amazing pancakes, adapted here:

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light wheat (we use Wade's Mill naturally white bread flour, the wheatier the flour, the more all-purpose you'll need)
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, or slightly less table salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg, separated

Simple Biscuits

Jon — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:04:14 +0000

The vintage Joy of Cooking book I have had always held the answers to almost any question in the kitchen - the last stop before a call to Mom, basically. I've always found its biscuit recipe lacking, though. So when I stumbled across this one when trying to make a biscuit-topped cobbler, I wanted to keep it for posterity:

Biscuit Dough

1 tablespoon shortening
1 cup flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk

Mix dry ingredients; cut shortening in with pastry blender or knives. Add milk gradually to make a soft dough. If too soft, add a little more flour.

Maurine's Strawberry Shortcake

Jon — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:21:28 +0000

Beat together for 15 minutes on high speed (or a little lower)
5 eggs (large,whole eggs)
1 cup sugar (add gradually as eggs are being beaten)
pinch of salt

Then fold in, carefully,
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Line 2 cake pans with waxed paper...*do not grease pans*
Spoon batter into pans
Bake 18-20 minutes at about 350 degrees...

Granny's Tea Cakes

Jon — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:06:37 +0000

1 egg
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 c. milk
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 c. shortening
Flour (see below, but about 3 cups in the mix)

Mix all ingredients except flour. Gradually add flour until the shortening is mixed in and the dough is stiff enough to roll out. Roll on floured surface. Cut cookies out and bake at 400 degrees until brown, 10-12 minutes. Top with sprinkled sugar or icing:

Black And White cookie style frosting:

(Let cookies cool completely before starting)

4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup boiling water

Turkey and Dressing

Jon — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:31:18 +0000

Turkey (prep)

1 turkey (see note)
If frozen, it will need to thaw, in the refrigerator, for several days. Follow the directions that come with the turkey.
Note: 12 to 15 lbs is a good size. It will feed 12+ people and you will have leftovers) If you will be having more folks, I find it is best to buy two (or multiples) of this size. You can cook one the day before and refrigerate it and reheat it while the first one is being eaten.

Dressing, for 1 turkey (prep)

Cornbread

Jon — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:49:33 +0000

Cornbread from scratch; this is equivalent to 1 pkg. corn kits. Useful for Turkey and Dressing (the full recipe of which requires 3 corn-kits)!

One Kit
1 c. yellow cornmeal (Not stone ground)
1 c. flour
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. milk
1/4 c. shortening
1 egg

Three Kits
3 c. yellow cornmeal (Not stone ground)
3 c. flour
4 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
3 c. milk
3/4 c. shortening
3 eggs