Heritage food: Peffer Nusse (the North Dakota way) also known as Pfefferneuse or Pepper Nuts

 

These cookies are soft and at least larger than a walnut as opposed to the Kansas version which is hard and small like a peanut. They are preferably made after Thanksgiving and placed in a container stored in a cold garage until needed so the flavors can bloom or increase more.  I'll always remember the time I got to make these with my sisters after a very big life change!  Without further adieu...

Ingredients

1/4 c butter
1 c sugar
3/4 c honey
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
2 eggs
1/4 tsp anise
1/4 c strong cold coffee (I use instant expresso)
3/4 tsp baking powder
3-1/2 c flour

Steps

1. Mix butter, sugar, honey and spices. Heat until dissolved. I usually do this in the microwave. Let cool.
2. Sift dry ingredients together.
3. Beat eggs well and add to honey mixture, then add coffee and dry ingredients.
4. Chill for 3 hours or overnight.  This way it's easier to handle.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
6. Cool then roll in powdered sugar or coat by shaking in a container or bag with powdered sugar in it.  

Rhubarb Blueberry Dream Dessert

This is my favorite dessert my mom used to make (without the blueberries and just rhubarb).  Whenever my mom asked if I wanted her to make me something before I came for a visit, this was on the list.  Sometimes it was Cloverdale Summer Sausage.

Looks like I was going to post this 8 years ago.  A lot has changed, but I will still look for this recipe and might try an eggless version.  

Crust
1-1/2 c. flour
7-1/2 T. powdered sugar
3/4 c. butter, room temperature preferred

Whisk together the flour and powdered sugar.  Cut the butter in like a pastry dough.  Press mixture into ungreased 9 x 11 pan.  Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. 

Topping
1-1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. salt
2 beaten eggs
2 c. chopped rhubarb
1/2 to 1 c. blueberries

Whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt.  Add beaten eggs.  Add fruit and spoon onto crust.  Bake for 35 minutes in a 350-degree oven. 

Brown Butter Cake

Do you love Butter Brickle ice cream?  Do you love cream cheese?  Then you'll love this cake, too!  There have been a lot of brown butter recipes floating around the web recently, and I thought I should check it out.  I used ingredients from one cake recipe, substituting brown butter for regular, and tweaked the standard cream cheese frosting recipe.  See the little brown bits in the frosting and cake?  Those provide the yummy nutty flavor!

Make brown butter earlier enough to let it solidify in the fridge.  You'll need 2 sticks, one for the cake and one for the frosting.  How to brown butter.

Ingredients:

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, sifted after measuring

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt 

1 + 1/4 cup sugar 

1/2 cup brown butter, room temperature

1 cup buttermilk or milk with 1 T. vinegar added 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until thoroughly combined and possibly fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time. Combine thoroughly, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla.  On slow speed, mix in half of the buttermilk/sour milk and half of the flour, then the remaining.  Beat on high speed for at least 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl. 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

8 tablespoons brown butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar, plus extra if needed

Beat cream cheese and brown butter together.  Add vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar.  

NOTE:  I've been meaning to post this for awhile now.  I've listed the ingredients and general instructions, but didn't go step by step, etc., assuming you've baked before.  Please disregard any small errors and alert me to large ones.   

Four pieces, five pictures.

Three plates to hang.

Closeup of plates, 10 to 12" in diameter.

Bowl.

Bowl, 11 inches in diameter.

Closeup of bowl.

It's about time for a pottery post again!

Bowls for the Souper Bowl!

In early December, there was a  Bowl-A-Thon at the pottery studio, an opportunity to make bowls for a local charity event.  The lovely owner and friend donated the clay, and we could make as many bowls as we could in 3 hours.  My mother-in-law watched my son, and I threw for 2 hours.  It was really fun to see how many I could do! Another potter offered to clean the wheel for me!  What a treat!  The bowls were finished and donated for the event the Friday before the Super Bowl. 

Here are some photos from the last couple of months. 

Vertigo candle holders and maybe pencil holders?

More vertigo totems, this time for the front yard.

Totems in their natural habitat.

Remember these from the totem exchange? 

Felt Food Exchange

I had the pleasure of participating in a felt food exchange with 14 other mommies! We started projects in the summer, and they were delivered through the mail by Christmas.  I think I enjoy them more than my son!

This is some french toast I made.  It wasn't part of the project, but B kept playing with the frying pan and eating french toast.  

Part of my contribution.

I also made popcorn.  Unfortunately, my sewing machine broke again so my great-nieces didn't get bags when I sent them the leftovers.

 

 

Chicken leg, mashed potatoes, and carrots.

Donuts!  B's favorite is the blue one!

Tacos anyone?

A hot beverage and cinnamon rolls!

Cheeseburger and gold fish!

Sushi and fortune cookies.

Salad and watermelon.

Bread, pasta, and tea bags! 

Linguini and clams.

Heritage Food: Kuchen

Crust

 Having recently fallen in love with the smell of dough rising and the feel on my hands, it's about time I made kuchen myself, especially since I'm trying to introduce what I call heritage foods to my son. 

Never heard of kuchen?  Most Kansans aren't familiar with it, either.  It's supposedly a German coffeecake and consists of a doughy crust made with yeast, filling of either fruit or cheese, and a sweet custard on top.  My mom would make it for Christmas, Easter, and many times in between.  I remember her even buying frozen bread dough and cutting out some of the sugar to make it healthier. 

Making the custard with Rum Babas in the background.

This is rhubarb.  Please excuse me not color-correcting this. 

I used the recipe for the dough and custard that was in my sister's married family's cookbook.  This makes six or more crusts.  Since the intent of this post is mostly to share what I ate growing up, I'm not going to write out a step-by-step process on how to make it.  Luckily, I had some rhubarb in the freezer and used the Streeter Centennial Cookbook to make that filling.  It consists of 3 cups cut-up rhubarb, 1-1/2 cups sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/3 cup cold water, and 1 tablespoon of vanilla.  The rhubarb filling went on two of the crusts, and I used blueberry pie filling for two others.  The last two pies were made with a cottage cheese filling.



Dough:

1/2 c. warm water.                          2 tsp. salt
2   packages yeast                           2 eggs
1-1/2 c. lukewarm water                 1/2 c. shortening (I use butter)
1/2 c. sugar (or honey)                    7-8 c. flour


Custard:
1 c. cream
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Put in saucepan until thickened.  Add cinnamon.














In case you wondered if my son liked it, the answer is no.  He's 2 years old.  It has more than two ingredients touching each other. 

Out of the kiln

Who's thirsty?

Glaze dud, but it still holds water.

Thanks to Melanie for the stamp!!!

Who's thirsty?

Who's hungry?

Trying to decide if I want to try to sell just a little to help buy clay.  What do you think?

Heritage Food: Zwieback

My husband's grandma was Mennonite, and since I enjoy baking bread I thought I'd try to make these for Thanksgiving. I've seen them spelled as Zweibach, too. Here are the recipes his aunt gave me that were from his mom's mom.

Ran out of time to take a picture of the finished product. Please use your imagination for what they would look like when baked. Please don't use your imagination to associate them with a certain part of the female anatomy.

More owls and vertigo

I'm jumping on the owl-loving bandwagon!  I'm even making felt ones.  Was thinking of giving them away for Christmas ornaments, but that just be too rambunctious this year. 

One of these was shipped to Seattle for a friend's husband!