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Mincemeat Cake

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What is it?

Mincemeat pie is a British dessert filled with raisins, currants, candied peel, apples and brown sugar. It is normally cooked together with suet. If you are unfamiliar suet is a hard animal fat either beef or lamb. I’m not certain where to get Suet in the states so I used vegetable shortening. The pie has an origin that dates back to the 1400’s when the pie actually had mincemeat in it. It was a way to preserve meat without having to go through the usually methods of drying and curing.

Today Mincemeat Pie doesn’t have meat in it anymore. It is a spiced fruit pie served during Christmas time. I didn’t want to make pastry so I didn’t end up making pie. I made a simple square cake that made my whole house smell like Christmas.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. pumpkin spice
  • 3 tbsp. melted butter
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs beaten

Mincemeat Mixture

  • 1 apple diced
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1/3 cup candied mixed peel
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. pumpkin spice
  • 1/4 cup vegetable shortening

Directions

  1. In a saucepan on medium heat place all your mincemeat mixture and cook until the apples have softened and the shortening and brown sugar melt together. Lower the heat and simmer while putting the rest of your batter together.
  2. Preheat your own to 370 degrees.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl whisk your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, pumpkin spice.
  4. Melt your butter in the microwave for a minute.
  5. Put oil and butter into the dry ingredients.
  6. In a small bowl beat the two eggs together and add to rest of your batter.
  7. Add your warm mincemeat mixture and whisk until the batter is well combined.
  8. Put batter in a 8×8 square cake tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

British Cranberry Scones

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tbsp. Sugar
  • 4tsp. Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Salt
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 3 tbsp. Unsalted cold butter
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberry
  • Egg wash: 1 egg yolk and 1 tbsp. Milk

Directions

  1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Combine all the dry ingredients (not the cranberries) and butter. Using your fingers combine the butter into the flour until you have a bread crumb like consistency.
  3. Add your milk and whisk until all the lumps are gone.
  4. Fold in your cranberries until well combined.
  5. Onto a floured surface turn out your dough and knead your dough 2-3 times until flour has coated the whole surface.
  6. Using a dough cutter cut your dough into 8 equal triangles.
  7. Lay them onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and egg wash the tops of them all.
  8. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
  9. Serve with jam and our amazing clotted cream for the traditional experience.

The Difference between American and British scones

The biggest difference between American and British scones that I have found is the amount of butter. American scones have upwards of a stick and a half of butter while the British variety have only 2-3 tablespoons.

The American scone recipes that I have seen also contain a lot more sugar in the form of mix ins and icing. They are more akin to a pastry then a biscuit. British scones tend to be plain so they can pile the sugar on with jam and clotted cream. A strategy I can definitely get behind.

Potato Bacon Soup and Dinner Rolls

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In our quest to explore the world of food through the origin of Disney stories we have found our way to germany next. The world of snow white, tangled and sleeping beauty. From what I have noticed of German food it is made of easily attainable ingredients and warm spices that fill the home and the bellies of the people that live there with happiness. This bacon potato soup and hot roll combo is my interpretation of snow white feeding supper to the dwarves.

Tip: you will need to start your hot rolls about two hours before you start your soup. Your rolls and soup take the same amount of time to cook so you want to get all the proofing and dough forming out of the way.

warm soup and fresh bread can’t be beat

Ingredients

Soup

  • 6 slices of bacon, chopped
  • bacon grease/butter
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups milk
  • 8 red potatoes, thick dice
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper

Bread

  • 2 tsp yeast (active dry)
  • 3/4 cup water (warm, 95 to 110 degrees F)
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • 2 1/2 cups bread flour

Directions

Soup

  1. Dice your bacon into small chunks and place in a large pot. Cook on medium high until crispy then remove the bacon and set aside. Leave the bacon grease in the pot.
  2. Turn the heat down to about medium low and add a tablespoon of butter.
  3. Add you shallot and garlic and cook for about 4 minutes until your shallots have some color on them.
  4. Add your flour and stir continuously for about a minute until fully combined.
  5. Add stock, milk and potatoes. Cook for about 15-20 minutes until potatoes are cooked through.
  6. Add cheese, sour cream and bacon and cook until cheese is melted.

Bread

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment (You can also just do this in a medium bowl) add your yeast and water. Stir until the yeast dissolves.
  2. Stir in the honey, salt, butter and egg. Add the flour and mix well. You want the dough to stick to the hook. If your mixing in a bowl you want the dough to follow the spoon around the bowl.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes. You want the dough to be smooth and elastic. If you poke it you want it to spring back slowly.
  4. Place the dough in a clean oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for one hour till it doubles in size.
  5. Punch dough down to knock the air out of it. Turn it back out onto your floured surface and knead for about five minutes.
  6. Divide dough into about ten equal pieces. Take each piece and roll it into a ball. Tucking the edges in underneath the dough to make a nice round surface. Place in a round greased pan and over with a clean kitchen towel for about 45 minutes. Don’t let them rise too high or they will be hard to turn out once you cook them. (Speaking from experience)
  7. Bake in a 375 degree over for about 20 minutes. Till the tops are golden brown. Turn them out onto a rack to cool.

If you do manage to let them rise a little long I ended up having to use a paring knife to cut them out. They were still warm and delicious. Just not nice and round.

Smoked Bean Duo

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Spicy and Fragrant

The pantry panic is real folks. Stores look real empty and the list of available ingredients is real short. So I created a series of recipes using what happens to be the most available protein in my grocery store…smoked sausage! Here is my smoked bean duo. Now this recipe is one where you can use whatever veggies you have on hand. I used the halves of two different onions you obviously can use a whole onion of whatever variety you have or no onion at all. My hope for the pantry panic series is to give people a framework for inspiration.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound smoked sausage
  • 1 half red onion, chunky dice
  • 1 half yellow onion, chunky dice
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 teaspoons mixed fresh herb(I used basil, thyme, rosemary)
  • 1 can diced tomato
  • 1 can pinto beans
  • 1 bag frozen black eyed peas
  • 3 mini sweet peppers, sliced
  • 3 cup water
  • 2 beef stock cubes
  • salt/pepper
  • 2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions

  1. Put 3 cups of water and 2 beef stock cubs into a large pot. Bring it to a boil.
  2. Add the bag of frozen black eyed peas and stir. The ones I bought had to cook for 45 minutes.
  3. While that’s cooking put your sausage, onion and pepper into a pan with the vegetable oil. Cook for about ten minutes on medium heat till your sausage and onion get some color on them.
  4. While that’s cooking cut your aromatics(garlic and mixed fresh herb). Put half in the stock pot with the black eyed peas and the other half in with your sausage mixture.
  5. Put pinto beans and canned tomato into sausage mixture and cook down for about 5-8 minutes. It allows the juices from the canned tomato to cook down with the juices in the pan.
  6. Put your sausage mixture into the stock pot and stir to combine. Cook down for the remaining time till the black eyed peas are cooked through. Salt and pepper to taste.

Crisper Drawer Spice Cake

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So the other day I did a recipe lab for my Beef Ragout, and I had left over carrots and parsnips in my crisper drawer. Unlike lumiere I was not trying to feed a whole castle instead just 3 teensy weensy people, but Walmart won’t sell you these particular root vegetables individually.

Cut to last night as I’m standing in my kitchen craving carrot cake and thought…

“Why not put parsnips in it too?”

This sparked the best cake I think I’ve baked so far…Crisper Drawer Spice Cake.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 2 tbsp. pumpkin spice seasoning
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cups mixed carrot/parsnip, grated (I used two parsnips and one carrot)

Directions

  1. Add all your dry ingredients to the bowl of your stand mixer or a medium size mixing bowl. Mix on low setting to combine.
  2. Add oil, eggs and root veg mixture and stir until well combined.
  3. Place in a bread pan in a 350 degree oven for one hour.

Cheese Enchilada Casserole

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Cheesy Melty Delicious

Ingredients

  • 12 corn tortillas
  • 1 package spanish rice (any brand)
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 small can red enchilada sauce
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 2 cups shredded mexican cheese blend

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Cook rice according to package instructions.
  3. While rice is cooking open can of black beans and dice bell pepper into half inch pieces.
  4. Mix pepper and beans into bowl with rice.
  5. Open up enchilada sauce.
  6. Place six tortillas on bottom of 13 x 9 pan.
  7. Put half your beans and rice mixture on top.
  8. Put 1 cup of cheese blend on top of that.
  9. Pour half the can of sauce evenly over the mixture.
  10. Put your other 6 tortillas on top of the mixture.
  11. Now place the other half of your bean mixture on top of tortillas.
  12. Pour other can of sauce over beans.
  13. Top with 1 cup of cheese blend.
  14. Cook for 20-22 minutes. Until cheese is melted and tortillas are cooked.
  15. Top with salsa, sour cream, chopped avocado or whatever you like.

Slow Cooker Pork Ramen

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Perfect winter meal

Ingredients

  • 7 cups chicken stock
  • 3 lb. pork shoulder
  • 2 inch piece of ginger grated
  • 5 cloves minced garlic
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1/2 cup button mushrooms
  • 2 bunch baby bok choy
  • soy sauce for seasoning
  • sesame oil for seasoning
  • garlic chili paste for seasoning
  • green onion
  • ramen noodles
  • 4-6 eggs

Directions

  1. Put sesame oil and salt in a non stick pan on medium high heat. Brown the fat layer on the outside of the pork shoulder. Roughly five minutes. Put the pork in the slow cooker.
  2. Dice yellow onion and cook for 3-4 minutes in the same pan. Put in the slow cooker.
  3. Roughly chop the mushroom and put it in the slow cooker.
  4. Mince the garlic and peel and grate the ginger. Roughly chop the bok choy. Put it all in the slow cooker.
  5. Put in the chicken stock.
  6. Cook on low for 8-9 hours.
  7. In the last half hour pull out the pork and shred into small pieces. Put it back in the broth.
  8. Put in soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic chili sauce to taste.
  9. During the last half hour of cooking boil 4-6 eggs (depending on the amount of servings) for 5-6 minutes. The white will be cooked, but the yolk will remain slightly soft. Chop the green onion.
  10. Cook the ramen according to the package instructions.
  11. Place the ramen in your serving bowls. Spoon ramen broth over noodles and dress with soft boiled egg cut in half and green onion.

Bottomless Chips Steak Fry

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Crispy and Delicious

Ingredients

  • 2 large russet potatoes
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. Oregano
  • 1/4 tsp. Parmesan Cheese
  • 1/4 tsp. Red chili flake

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut potato in half and cut each half into four triangle shaped steak fries. Each potato should make eight fries. Place olive oil and spices into bowl and lightly toss fries in seasoning. Place fries on baking sheet and cook for 25 minutes. Flip them half way through so you get that delicious crispy outside on both sides. Serve with whatever dipping sauce you like.

Potato Chips

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Who made them first?

So today I decided on a whim to try and make potato chips at home. I’d never done it before so in my search online I discovered that air fryer BBQ chips would be the easiest one for me to try. I had all the spice ingredients in my pantry and an air fryer I hadn’t used in awhile. All I needed was the potatoes. This is gonna be easy were the words ringing in my head as I dumped to large russet potatoes worth of burnt chips in the garbage.

Defeated I decided to turn my failure into a learning experience. Where do potato chips come from? What I found out was that in 1853 a chef by the name of George Crum was working at the Moon Lake Lodge in New York. A wealthy customer named Cornelius Vanderbilt happened to be in that day. He ended up sending his order back saying the fries were cut too thick. George in response cut and fried thin sliced potato shavings and sent the order back out. To his surprise Cornelius Vanderbilt loved it.

He began selling them in New England under the name Saratoga Chips and Potato Crunches. He eventually opened up his own restaurant putting baskets of those chips on every table. Unfortunately due to the nature of the time George was not allowed to patent his culinary genius due to being half black and half native american.

Chips From The Trunk

In 1895 a man named William Tappenden began manufacturing potato chips in his home kitchen and selling them to local grocers in Cleveland Ohio. As far as my research states he was the first person to sell what he called Saratoga Chips wholesale.

In 1920 in the southern united states a man named Herman Lay (yes Lays chips Herman Lay) began delivering his version of Saratoga chips out of the trunk of his car. His company grew quickly due to a strange claim that potatoes were an aphrodisiac. Clearly false but if you’re making money who cares right?

Keeping It Fresh

Before 1926 if you wanted to have potato chips outside of a restaurant you had to eat them out of barrels or tins. Then Laura Scudder tasked the employees of her potato chip company with an extracurricular task.

“Take sheets of wax paper and make a bag to keep our chips fresh.”

She had success! Laura Scudder and her company revolutionized the way Saratoga chips were sold across the country. The other thing she gifted the chip game with was a freshness date on the bag. Thanks Laura!

Is It All True?

Is the legend of a passive aggressive dish coming out of a kitchen in New York really the true origin? Not entirely it seems. A doctor by the name of William Kitchiner published a cookbook with a recipe for fried potato slices in 1822. An attempt to make a potato dish slightly healthier. Who knew potato chips were supposed to be a health food?

In Conclusion

So there you have it. The legend of the potato chip began either in 1853 with George Crum in the Moon Lake Lodge, or with William Kitchiner in his cookbook promoting proper nutrition. I suppose you should go with what your heart tells you. Mine says chips are amazing and snacking hasn’t been the same since.

Sources:

enchantedlearning.com

mashed.com