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.   

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. 

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.

Forbidden Rice

I was at a health food store a couple of weeks ago and happened to spot Forbidden Rice in one of the bulk bins.  What is it about those bins that makes me want to buy a little of everything I see? What is forbidden rice, you ask?  It's that black/purple stuff along with the carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, and navy beans.  According to legend, only the Emperors of China could partake in such substance to enrich health and longevity (taken straight from the link above). 

Apparently I'm the only one in our house with a royal palate.  Oh well, more for me!

Heritage Food: Hulobzi, Halupsy, Pigs in a Blanket, or Cabbage Rolls

My mom used to make Pigs in a Blanket.  Sometimes her German would come out, and she would say Halupzi, just like when she would say they used to "schlegga the bones", which meant "lick/suck the bones" of the chicken when growing up.  She would also make a messier version in which the "bed wasn't made" where everything was mixed together and not tidy.

This recipe is from my aunt's recipe book on my dad's side.  It was my grandma's recipe.  She died when I was 3, and I don't remember her.  I also found another recipe for them in another cookbook that added raisins.  Weird. 

Hulobzi

For cabbage rolls:

1 head cabbage                  2 c. cooked rice
1 small onion, chopped     1 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. lean pork                1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper

For topping:

2 T. brown sugar
1 c. water
1 c. catsup
1 c. tomato soup 

Remove outer, wilted cabbage leaves and core.  Place cabbage in large pot of boiling water; simmer gently for 10 minutes.  Remove, drain.  Gently pull off leaves; set aside.  Mix meat, onion, rice, salt, and pepper until it holds together well.  Place a tablespoon of rice mixture on a cabbage leaf and wrap.  Place in a greased casserole.  Combine topping ingredients and pour over rolls.  Bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours. 

p.s.  Do you say catsup or ketchup?  I like ketchup better.

Heritage Food: You Say Plachinda, I Say Blachenda

I'd like to share on this blog some of the foods that my mom made that are part of the Germans from Russia heritage.  Since my mom and grandma aren't around (and other relatives live in another state) to share these with my son, I feel that it's important to share them with him myself.  If I don't make them every year, at least I will have them recorded somewhere.

The first recipe I'd like to share is taken directly from an in-law family reunion cookbook from my sister, Marcia.  Basically it's for pumpkin turnovers or tarts.   There are different versions of the filling, but basically it consists of pumpkin with the usual spices of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.  Sometimes pepper is added.  Speaking of different versions, there are also different versions on the spelling.  In the church cookbooks I have, I've seen it called plachenda, blachenda, plachinda, or blachinda.

I highly approve of this recipe!  I usually don't make my own pie crust (or pies for that matter) and figured out it was easier to handle the dough after it is chilled.   Since I made very small tarts which were easier for my son to handle, I had a lot of filling left over and improvised by adding an egg and making a pie.  Yum!

 

Dough:  

2-1/4 c. flour                               1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder               2/3 c. shortening
1/2 tsp. salt                                 1/4 c. milk

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and shortening as for pie dough.  Add milk and mix lightly. 

Filling:

2 c. cooked pumpkin                  1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. sugar                                1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt                                1/4 tsp. allspice

Mix filling ingredients thoroughly.  Divide dough into six equal parts; roll out to about 7 inch rounds.  Place 3 heaping tablespoons pumpkin filling in the center of each round.  Fold over and seal edges.  Prick tops with fork.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until nicely browned.  

When my mom would make them, I remember the dough being less sweet with less shortening.  She would always try to make a recipe healthier, so I guess that's where I get some of my habits from.  She probably would've tried it with Splenda or Agave nectar nowadays, maybe even would've added chia or ground flax seeds.

A local Asian market

I went to our local Asian market between the holidays. I would recommend it if you are bored with your local grocery store and need a little "vacation". Some people claim that specialty items are cheaper there.

Here's what I picked up and finally cooked last night:




My husband and I thought we didn't like curry because I made something once with JUST curry in it. I was introduced to a local Thai restaurant and found out it's great with other spices and I must've used it wrong before.

The dish on the left is a red curry and tomato paste concoction. There is a recipe on the back for beef curry. It seems to be a little westernized, as it says "Tastes of India" on the front...Aren't cows considered to be holy there?

The second dish on the right side is a beef and chili and coconut milk seasoning packet for Randang from Indofood. It was a little less spicy and also very good. Somewhere on the internet, it said that this dish was Malayasian.

They were both very good!

Also, thought I'd share this interesting description found on a box of a ceramic bowl set. Please click to enlarge and read. If you buy one, it might change your life!

Speaking of Asia, my new sister in law is Chinese! Congratulations Brittany and Clark if you ever read this!!!