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Growing herbs is so easy and fresh herbs add so much to the flavor of many foods. I have a long, rectangular flower box hanging off my back porch, filled with tarragon, rosemary, curly parsley, dill, lemon thyme, basil and chives. Another box holds a variety of mint: peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, lemon, orange, and lime mint, and pineapple mint (the unusual flavors can be found at your local nursery). This month’s recipe uses fresh herbs to make a quick bread you can serve with a tall glass of iced tea, perhaps with a sprig of fresh mint for garnish.
Quick Herb Bread
3 cups baking mix (Jiffy, Bisquick, or what ever you use)
½ cup grated cheese
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 ¼ cups milk
1 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 egg, beaten slightly
1 Tbsp. fresh chopped herb(s): parsley, basil, chives, or rosemary (your preference: use one or try a combination)
Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Mix baking mix, cheese, and sugar in a large bowl. Blend wet ingredients together separately, then add to large bowl and stir only until blended. Fold in fresh herb(s), mixing gently. Pour into pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a golden crust forms and the bread tests done with a toothpick or cake tester. Cool on rack. This bread freezes well.
Days are getting longer, school is almost (or already) over, and it’s time to spend more time with family and friends outdoors. If you go for picnics in the summer, whether to the beach, a park, or your own back yard, try this recipe the next time you do your early morning baking. It makes a change from the ordinary, and when spread with your favorite complimentary flavor of cream cheese, can be a great addition to your tea sandwich favorites.
Olive Nut Bread
4 tsps. baking powder 1 egg
2 ½ cups sifted flour 1 cup milk
¼ tsp. salt 1 cup stuffed olives, sliced
1/3 cup sugar ½ cup pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9 x 5 inch pan. Sift together dry ingredients. Beat egg well and combine with milk. Stir gently into dry ingredients by hand. Fold in olives and nuts. Pour into loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Wrap while still slightly warm.
Note: Feel free to experiment with this simple recipe. You can use any type of olive you prefer, not just the green, pimento stuffed kind. Also try different nuts, such as pine nuts, for a different flavor. This bread freezes well.
Mother’s Day is a good time for children to make something good for Mom or Grandma. Here is a recipe that can be made with adult supervision (maybe Dad will help) and will be a nice treat to share with a cup of milky tea.
Chocolate Crackles
1 box devil’s food cake mix
2 eggs, beaten slightly
1 T. water
½ cup solid shortening (butter-flavored is a good choice)
Confectioners’ sugar for rolling (place in a small bowl or on a large plate)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease or spray two cookie sheets. Combine all ingredients and mix with a spoon until well-blended (This is where having Dad lend a strong hand helps!) Shape into balls about the size of small walnuts. Roll in confectioners’ sugar. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, then remove immediately to a cooling rack or piece of foil or waxed paper to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookies. These also freeze well.
Are you glad it’s spring? Ready to celebrate with fresh, lively tastes after winter’s heavier meals? Here is a recipe that will celebrate sunshine. Share a slice with a friend and a cup of a delicious oolong tea.
Orange Sunshine Cake
Cake:
1 orange, seeded and chopped into small pieces—use a food processor if necessary (Yes, peel and all!)
1 stick of butter or oleo, at room temperature
1 ½ c. sugar
2 eggs
2 c. unbleached flour
¼ t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 c. evaporated milk plus 1 t. lemon juice
½ c. pecan pieces
Topping:
¼ c. sugar (super-fine is best, but can be made with regular white sugar)
¼ c. orange juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch round or square pan. Cream butter or oleo with sugar until fluffy. Add orange pulp and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each is added. Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture, alternating with evaporated milk, which has been mixed with the lemon juice. Stir in pecans. Pour into greased pan and bake for 45 minutes. While cake is still very hot, sprinkle evenly with ¼ cup sugar. Immediately pour ¼ cup orange juice over all. Allow to cool. Will keep fresh in the refrigerator for two weeks—but it won’t last that long once you’ve tasted it!
Irish cooking through the years has been known to be good, wholesome, and filling. Irish farm families made use of the ingredients at hand, many of them using dairy products straight from barn to kitchen. This recipe, although updated, is reminiscent of the sweet curd pies that graced many an Irish farm house table when it was time for a hearty cup of tea and a good “chin-wag”. Note: this recipe can be mixed by hand with a large wooden spoon, just as it has been done since the 1750’s.
“Irish” Cheese Cake
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
1 8-inch pastry crust, home-made or store-bought
Filling:
2 cups large curd cottage cheese, drained
¼ cup fine sugar
2 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ tablespoons freshly grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (OR Irish whiskey if you are so inclined)
Topping:
1 egg
1 tablespoon fine sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon flour
To make filling, beat egg yolks till smooth and lemon colored. Mix in the drained cottage cheese, sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, softened butter and blend well. Slowly add the vanilla extract or whiskey and mix thoroughly. Set aside. In a separate, grease-free bowl, beat the egg whites till stiff (You might want to use an electric mixer for this step). Add these to the cheese mixture and stir well. Pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell. In a small bowl, mix together the last whole egg, melted butter, fine sugar, and flour to make the topping. Pour this mixture over the filling in the pie crust, spreading evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is evenly golden brown. Serve it cooled; if chilled in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature before serving. Serves 8.
If chilly temperatures and views of snow or ice are part of your world during the month of February, you can make a treat for yourself and your family which incorporates the flavor of tea into a familiar dessert. Long before instant pudding made its debut in the American kitchen, I remember stirring a pot of cooked pudding on our stove. It was something that my mother felt a seven-year-old could do, especially since the pot and spoon were ripe for licking after the pudding had been poured into individual serving dishes. Here’s an update on that memory, with new tastes to try out on your family and friends.
Tea Pudding Pie
1 pkg. cooked pudding mix (not instant), any flavor you choose to pair with a tea flavor
2 cups milk
1 pie shell, your choice of flaky pastry or cookie crust
Whipped topping (optional)
2 teabags flavored tea to compliment the pudding flavor (try Stash’s Decaf Chocolate Hazelnut or Crème Caramel with chocolate pudding, Bigelow’s Vanilla Chai with vanilla or chocolate pudding, Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger with lemon pudding, or any peppermint tea with chocolate or vanilla pudding)
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If using a flaky pastry crust, pre-bake according to directions, then cool. In a large, heavy-duty or non-stick saucepan, pour 2 cups milk. Heat gently, until steam rises and tiny bubbles appear at edges—do not allow to boil! Remove heated milk from burner, and place two flavored teabags in pan to steep for about 10 minutes. Remove teabags, squeezing out excess milk. Return milk mixture to burner, stirring in pudding mix, and follow directions on package to cook pudding, stirring constantly. When pudding is cooked, remove from heat and pour into prepared pie crust (If you want to prevent a “skin” from forming, place a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap directly on top of the pie). Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Before serving, top with whipped topping.
Slice and serve. Makes 6-8 servings.
With the last of the holiday celebrations behind us for awhile, the time has come to slow down and savor the peaceful beginning of the new year. If you live in colder climates, hot tea and crumpets can be a welcome treat after a day of shoveling snow—or just looking out the window at the winter landscape. Crumpets are not really hard to make. If you double the recipe, you can freeze some for another day that calls for buttery, toasted crumpets, savored with a lovely Darjeeling or Assam.
“American” Crumpets
(Makes about 10-12 crumpets)
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons “double-acting” baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup whole milk
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
Melted butter or PAM for the skillet
Mix together dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, blend in melted butter. Add milk slowly, until batter is thin enough to pour from a ladle; use more milk if it is not. Using a stovetop pancake griddle or electric griddle (set at 350 degrees), grease with extra melted butter or spray with PAM. Grease or butter crumpet rings or poached egg rings (these are readily available in kitchen shops or even your local K-Mart or Wal-Mart). Place the prepared rings on the griddle, then fill each no more than half-way with crumpet batter. Crumpets may rise over the ring-tops, but this is normal.
At this point, you may cover the rings with a large sheet of foil or some other cover, or you may leave uncovered; covering helps “bake” the crumpets while they are browning, but you may experiment to see what you prefer. After about 5 minutes, check to see if the bottoms of the crumpets are evenly browned. Remove the rings, flip the crumpets over, and brown the other side, greasing the skillet again to keep crumpets from sticking. When browned, remove the crumpets to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cooled, crumpets can either be split and toasted until crispy (but not too brown), or wrapped tightly and frozen to be toasted later. When you do serve them, make sure you have plenty of butter to drip from the top and sides, your favorite jam to spoon on top, and plenty of napkins, too!
In our house at holiday time, we would pull out the tried and true recipes from the family cookbook. My grandmother loved to bake, and would sit with a mug of tea waiting for her cakes or cookies to come out of the oven. Here is one of her recipes that still offers a home-made taste and goes well with a spiced tea of your choice.
Graham Cracker Cake
6 tablespoons butter or margarine 30 graham crackers (your choice of flavor), crushed fine
¾ cup sugar ½ teaspoon cinnamon (omit if using cinnamon graham crackers)
2 eggs, separated ¼ teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease (or spray) a 13 x 9 inch pan. Cream together the butter and sugar until light. Add egg yolks and blend mixture well. In separate bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, cinnamon (if using), and salt. Now add this mixture to the creamed mixture, alternating with adding the milk; beat together thoroughly. In another bowl, beat egg whites till stiff; fold into other blended ingredients. Add vanilla as final ingredient, mixing well. Pour into greased pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, checking for doneness with cake tester. Remove from oven and cool completely. May be frosted, using your favorite butter cream or simply dusted with confectioners’ sugar. For a different flavor, spread with applesauce or even pudding. Cut into squares. Makes 9-12 servings, depending on size.
As the holiday season approaches, plan to bake some wholesome treats that you can freeze, then pull out to enjoy with a bracing cup of tea. A quick “pick-me-up” will have you ready to head back into the cooking, cleaning, shopping, and visiting in no time.
Scotch Fingers
2 cups rolled oats, ground in food processor or blender (plus some for rolling out the dough later, about ¼ to ½ cup)
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup molasses
¼ cup milk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine rolled oats, salt, baking powder, and sugar in bowl; mix well (can be done by hand). Stir in butter, molasses, and milk; again, mix well. On a flat surface covered with waxed paper (onto which you have sprinkled some more ground rolled oats), roll out the dough to a very thin layer. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into narrow “fingers”, about 2-2 ½ inches long and ½-1 inch wide. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove by spatula from cookie sheet and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Amount made will vary depending on the length and width of slices.
The month of “trick or treat” brings a lot of sugar into the house in the form of candy. If you feel yourself cringing about your sugar intake (because who can resist “just one little piece”?), then try this old-fashioned recipe that uses a small amount of sugar, paired with a similar amount of honey, to make a cookie that will make you and your dentist happy.
Honey Drop Cookies
¼ butter or margarine pinch of nutmeg
6 tablespoons sugar, divided 2 cups sifted flour
1 egg 1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup honey* ½ teaspoon cinnamon, divided
¼ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup blanched, halved almonds (for cookie tops)
*If you desire, try a flavored honey in this recipe
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or spray cookie sheets with Pam. Cream together butter or margarine and four (4) tablespoons of the sugar until light. In a separate small bowl, beat the egg, honey, and vanilla together; add to butter mixture. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon of the cinnamon. Gradually add to the creamed mixture, beating well. Drop by teaspoonful onto greased pans. Place one halved almond on top of each cookie, then sprinkle with a mixture of the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon. Bake for about 10 minutes. Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies. Serve with your favorite tea, perhaps also sweetened with honey.
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