Cinnamon Stars A Century Ago

To bake cookies for Christmas is a centuries old tradition dating back to the Middle Ages! Today I want to share one of the old recipes with you, not from that long ago but over a hundred years old and handed down from my grandmother.

Despite technological advances and modern ingredients for modern recipes some good old fashioned  recipes cannot be improved upon. This is one of them!

Cutting of first batch

Ingredients:

75 g butter
75 g sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1 egg
zest of 1 lemon
8 g ground  cinnamon (I use 2 tsp)
250 g flour
3 tsp baking powder
50 g ground almonds, peanuts or walnut          (I used freshly roasted and ground peanuts)
125 ml apple wine, or less, depending on consistency
 ( apple juice will do if preferred)

Ready for baking

Method:

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, add honey, egg and lemon zest and mix until smooth. Sift flour with baking powder and stir in the ground nuts of your choice. Add about half of the dry ingredients to your butter mixture and combine until absorbed. Add a little of the apple wine, stir in, then add more of the flour mix. The dough should be smooth and a little soft but not sticky. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Roll out dough to pencil thickness, cut out stars and place on ungreased but floured baking sheets. Bake on middle shelf for 7 to 10 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Transfer to cooling racks. These cookies will not be crunchy but will remain soft.

An easy way to roll out the dough without it sticking to the rolling pin is to do the rolling between two layers of clingfilm 

To decorate the stars mix 250 g sifted icing sugar with a little fresh lemon juice to obtain a fairly thick icing. Use brush to coat each cookie and sprinkle with vermicelli or Hundreds & Thousands. Or decorate according to your own preference!

Ready to be enjoyed

The cinnamon stars will keep fresh for about two weeks in airtight containers separated by layers of greaseproof or waxed paper.

Let me know your opinion when you have tried this recipe. I would really appreciate it!

Gingerbread Cookies - Pfefferkuchen

Christmas is around the corner once again and so I want to share with you some recipes which after some tweaking here and there have become my favourites. Todays' recipe is meant for cookie cutters, stars, hearts etc. But if you have a gingerbread man cutter, all the better because the cookies are ideal for decorating with coloured icing. Or coating with melted baking chocolate or couverture. Both methods are great in temperate zones but here in the tropics any icing will just melt. Nevertheless the cookies are delicious!

First batch

And now for the recipe:
500 g wheat flour                                                          2 Tbsp water
1 tsp. baking powder                                                     1 medium egg
1 Tbsp bicarbonate of soda                                           2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
100 g sugar                                                                    2 Tbsp ground ginger
200 g golden syrup or molasses                                    1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract                                                       1/2 tsp ground green cardamoms
125 g soft butter                                                            1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt                                                                                     

Ready for the oven

Method:
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the spices. Then add the soft butter, syrup or
molasses, vanilla extract, water and egg. Mix with the dough hooks on your hand mixer, use a stand mixer or do it the old-fashioned way by hand. When dough is smooth wrap in clingfilm and chill for about an hour. Then cut dough into about 4 portions for easy handling.

Lightly flour your work surface and start rolling out the dough to about 1/2 cm thickness or slightly thicker. Place shapes on lined baking trays and bake at 190 degrees Celsius (375 F) in preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Remove to cooling racks together with the baking paper and allow to cool. Initially the cookies will be quite soft but will get crisp by next day. Once they are completely cool, store them in airtight tin containers. I find that plastic containers are not as efficient in keeping cookies fresh.

On the cooling rack

If you wish to decorate your cookies, the next day will be best. This recipe yields about 90 cookies, depending on size and thickness.


I would love to hear from you if you decide to try these cookies!

It's Apple Compote This Time!

Instead of apple puree for your pancakes you could make an apple compote instead. No additional sugar is used, which makes it quite healthy.

You will need 3 to 4 tasty apples for 6 to 8 small pancakes. Peel the apples, cut into quarters and remove the core. then cut into smaller pieces, about 2 cm square. Place in a suitable pan, then add

a handful of raisins or sultanas and a little cassia bark, or if you prefer use 1/2 stick of cinnamon.

Also add 1 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of lemon juice plus a dollop of butter. Cover pan and bring to    boil. Remove cover and allow liquid to evaporate, by which time the apples should be soft. Now just   let the added butter do some caramelizing to give the apples a golden colour. Stir the fruit gently so  it wouldn't break up, making sure that all pieces are well caramelized.                                                      

Remove from heat and turn into bowl to cool. After cooling you might want to keep it in the fridge to chill until ready to use.                                                                                                                              

Finally arrange the pancakes, add the apple compote, serve and enjoy! You will find that additional sugar is really quite unnecessary in this recipe as well as in the previous ones!                                  

Bon appetit!                                                                                                                                          

Some Call It Applesauce!

After the pancakes I think you ought to have my own recipe for apple puree, which some people call applesauce. I have removed the sugar entirely so that anyone with sugar restrictions might enjoy this. But if you are not sure consult with your doctor or dietitian.

For a yummy puree choose eating apples, not cooking apples. For 1 to 2 portions take 3 medium sized apples , wash and cut into chunks. No need to peel or to remove core.

Put in a suitably sized pan adding 3 Tbsp water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice and a little star anise. Cover the pot and bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until soft.

Place a nylon/plastic sieve over a bowl and pour in the cooked apples and allow to drain for a couple of minutes. Remove the star anise.

Transfer the sieve to another bowl and using a wooden spoon press and mash the apples through the sieve. Skins, seeds and core will be left behind in the sieve and can be discarded.

Check your apple puree if the consistency is to your liking. If you feel it is too thick add a little of the drained juice and stir in.

Some people do not like star anise, in which case you can opt  for 1/2 stick of cinnamon or a piece of cassia bark.

Depending on your generosity this amount can serve for 4 - 8 medium pancakes. Leftover apple puree can easily be frozen for use next time.

Pancakes Another Way!

Last week I gave you coco yam pancakes which I hope you tried and enjoyed.Today I want to add a different recipe, again with reduced carbohydrates

For 8 medium sized pancakes you will need:

2 slightly heaped Tbsp plain flour
2 slightly heaped Tbsp wholewheat flour
2 well heaped Tbsp coconut flour (you can use desiccated coconut ground in a spice blender)
4 heaped tsp skimmed milk powder)    or use
200 - 250 ml water                           )   skimmed milk from bottle or carton
1 large egg
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Put all ingredients in  a fairly large bowl and whisk until smooth. Allow to rest for 1/2 hour and then check if more liquid is needed. The batter should be a little thicker than regular pancake batter because of the coconut content.

For frying use a frying pan not larger than 20 cm diameter, otherwise the pancakes will break when flipped over.

Heat pan until very hot, then wipe with kitchen paper dipped in vegetable oil, preferably cholesterol free.

Add a ladle full of batter and swirl around to coat the base of the pan. Fry until browned underneath then flip over to fry the other side, using a fish slice or palette knife. When the second side is nicely brown remove to a warmed plate and keep hot while frying the remaining pancakes.

In the previous recipe I used apple puree to serve which is equally good for these pancakes. But for 

this batch I chose to make an apple compote instead, cooked with raisins.

 Place some of your filling on half of a pancake and fold over. Repeat with the remaining pancakes.

Ready to be eaten.

You should give them a try, these pancakes are very tasty!

Another Visit To Grandma's Christmas Kitchen

It is almost too late to do anymore  baking for Christmas, but this recipe is utterly worth it. This is a fairly thick chocolate Pfefferkuchen baked on a tray and finished with a sugar glaze. The spice mix is milder than given in the previous recipe, so you have variety!

 What you need:

750 g flour
125 g grated dark chocolate,
3 peppercorns, finely crushed
2.5 g ground cloves
2.5 g ground cardamom
7.5 g ground cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
65 g ground almonds or hazelnuts
                   
                     ___________

340 g honey (or syrup)
200 - 250 g sugar
1/8 l water (125 ml)
65 g butter

                    ___________

2 eggs, beaten
8 g potash (1 1.2 tsp)
1 small glass of rum

                    ___________

How to make:

Sift flour into bowl and stir in all other dry ingredients. in a saucepan combine the honey, sugar, water and butter and bring to boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Pour slowly into the flour mix, stirring vigorously. Or use a mixer with dough hooks, which our grandmothers did not possess! Make sure the dough is smooth and well blended. Allow to cool completely.

In the meantime soak the potash in about 3 tbsp of warm water. When dough is cool, strain the soaked potash through a fine sieve and sprinkle all over the dough, then add the beaten eggs and the rum. Knead dough to incorporate the new additions. The dough will be fairly soft at this stage, so placing it covered in the fridge for a few hours will help it to mature and make it easy to roll out.

Lightly butter your baking tray and dust with flour. Place dough on it and using a rolling pin roll out the dough to about finger thickness. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 - 200 degrees C. gas 4 or 5, for 30 minutes. Immediately after baking cut into pieces, squares or rectangles, as you wish and brush with a hot sugar glaze which is made in the following way: Boil 140 g sugar with 1/8 l of water until a drop forms a bead when placed on a plate. Remove from heat and brush on the glaze. Finally place the pieces on cooling racks. The glaze will turn white when dry. If you wish you can add coloured sugar sprinkles before the glaze dries.I was too impatient to take pictures, so the glaze you see is still fresh and hot!