Today’s Halloween traditions are all about feasting on chocolate and sweets, but you might be surprised to learn we’ve actually been celebrating this time of year with sugary treats since medieval times. ‘Souling’, the ancient precursor to trick-or-treating, involved the giving of a small, round cake in exchange for prayers to commemorate the dead during All Hallows’ Eve (Halloween), All Saints’ Day (1 November) and All Souls’ Day (2 November). On these days, all Saints in Heaven — known and unknown — are venerated, their intercession begged, and relief is offered the Holy Souls in Purgatory through indulgent prayers and special Masses.
During the evening of the vigil of the feast of All Saints ( All Hallows in Olde English), children in cities, towns, villages, and hamlets would go ‘souling’— strolling door-to-door, calling on their extended families, friends, and neighbors, singing ancient souling hymns about the need to pray for those in Purgatory. Grateful housewives presented singers with small, round loaves of sweet quick breads, small cakes looking like muffins, or thick cookies, each marked with a cross of raisins or currants. The singers ate them warm, while saying prayers for the souls of that family’s faithful departed in Purgatory. This particular custom was popular in Britain and Ireland in the Middle Ages and was maintained for many centuries.
These small round cakes made of flour and spices were generally made with ingredients like oats or wheat, honey, butter or oil for sustenance; salt for wisdom; cinnamon to help banish negative energies; nutmeg to bring prosperity into your home; and ginger for healing.
This is the origin of the Halloween tradition of ‘Trick or Treat’. The trickery wasn’t part of the original tradition.
Print Recipe
Halloween Soul Cakes
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
|
|
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
|
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
Cream the butter & sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks. Sift together the flour & mixed spice. Add to the creamed mixture along with the milk to give you a soft dough that you can easily roll out. Stir in the currants.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into rounds with a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Using the dull side of a knife mark a light cross indentation into the tops of each biscuit. Push additional currants into the crosses. Sprinkle with a bit of coarse sugar & place about 2 inches apart on the baking tray.
Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until puffed & golden brown. Remove from oven & cool on a wire rack.
Store in an airtight container.
Recipe Notes
- MIXED SPICE:
-
Combine 1 TBSP ground cinnamon, 1 tsp each of ground coriander and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and allspice. Mix well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.
Quiche is one of those meals that appeals to me at any time of the year. The choice of ingredients is truly only limited to one’s imagination and what’s in your fridge or pantry. In this particular quiche, I opted to use bacon as my ‘crust’ since it was filled with vegetables.
I have been wanting to make some savory ‘madeleines’ for a while and think they will compliment this quiche well.
The madeleine or petite madeleine was first created in northeastern France in the Lorraine area. Technically — they are tea cakes, not cookies and are nothing like scones, very light, puffy and soft — not heavy at all.
Madeleines have a distinctive shell-like shape acquired from being baked in pans with shell-shaped depressions.
The appeal of them is how easy they are to make, how cute they are and how light and airy they are. And while they’re delicate and generally a sweet cake, madeleines hold up to having cheese and onion added to them as well. Many savory versions exist so I decided to go with a cheese madeleine today.
Print Recipe
Bacon Crusted Quiche w/ Savory Madeleines
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Ingredients
Parmesan / Cheddar Madeleines
Bacon Crusted Vegetable Quiche
Ingredients
Parmesan / Cheddar Madeleines
Bacon Crusted Vegetable Quiche
|
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
|
Instructions
Parmesan Cheddar Madeleines
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease depressions in madeleine pan. (If you are using a regular size it will have 12 or the mini size you will have enough batter for 36). It is a good idea to dust the pans with flour as well, tapping out any excess. Sprinkle dried thyme leaves in depressions of pans.
In a small saucepan, melt butter & honey; remove from heat & cool for 10 minutes. In a bowl using a hand held mixer, beat eggs until pale, thick & doubled in volume.
Using a large metal spoon, gently fold butter mixture into eggs. Next fold in flour, cheeses, yogurt & 1/4 tsp salt until combined. Divide between madeleine cups but don't smooth out.
Bake until risen & golden. The time will depend on whether you are using a regular or petite size madeleine pan. Cool in tin for 5 minutes. Firmly tap tin on surface to loosen the madeleines, then carefully invert onto a wire rack to allow them to fall out onto the rack.
Bacon Crusted Vegetable Quiche
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 8-inch round baking pan with foil paper.
In a skillet, fry bacon until lightly cooked but still pliable, 3-4 minutes. Remove the bacon from skillet & blot on paper towel. Drain all but one Tbsp of bacon drippings from pan.
Add the leeks, mushrooms & thyme; cook over moderate heat until veg are tender crisp but not browned, about 5 minutes. Microwave potatoes & slice; drain corn (or cook corn on cob & remove kernels). Grate cheese. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk & remaining spices.
Line the sides if baking pan with slices of bacon. Layer bottom with sliced, cooked potato & half of the cheese. Top with corn kernels & leek/mushroom mixture. Pour egg/milk mixture carefully over vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
Bake for 40 minutes, until the quiche has puffed up slightly & browned. Test middle to make sure eggs have set. Remove from oven & allow to cool for 2-3 minutes. Remove from pan & serve with savory madeleines.
Dumplings mean different things to different people. Wrap veggies, meat, seafood in dough or just leave them plain …. bake, boil or fry them. Dumplings are what your mother made and that is what you love and consider true comfort food.
The other thing that makes them amazing is that they aren’t necessities …. just pure culinary luxury, there to just enhance the meal.
The dough for most dumplings, has always been based either on cereals such as oats, wheat, corn, etc. or on one of the vegetables from which bread dough can be made from, like potatoes.
Originally made by shaping small portions from a batch of bread dough before specific mixtures were developed. I recall my mother making a big cast iron pan full of dumplings for us on her bread baking day. Its strange how a little ball of dough can evoke such a wonderful memory.
Being a lover of ‘all things corn‘, I decided to make some cornmeal dumplings for our beef stew today. Their still ‘dumplings’, right!!
Print Recipe
Beef Stew w/ Cornmeal Dumplings
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Ingredients
Beef Stew
- 900 grams lean beef, cubed
- 4 tsp oil, divided
- 2 cups onion, chopped
- 2-3 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp EACH ground cumin, coriander, ground ginger, dried crushed red pepper flakes If you don't care for these use other choices such as thyme, rosemary or marjoram instead.
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup carrots, chopped
- 3/4 cup celery, chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
Ingredients
Beef Stew
- 900 grams lean beef, cubed
- 4 tsp oil, divided
- 2 cups onion, chopped
- 2-3 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 tsp EACH ground cumin, coriander, ground ginger, dried crushed red pepper flakes If you don't care for these use other choices such as thyme, rosemary or marjoram instead.
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 cup carrots, chopped
- 3/4 cup celery, chopped
- 1/4 tsp salt
|
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
|
Instructions
Beef Stew
In a large saucepan, heat 2 tsp oil. Stir fry beef in 2 batches until browned. Transfer to Dutch oven pot, cover & keep warm.
Heat remaining 2 tsp oil in saucepan, add onion & garlic; cook until tender crisp & browned. Add spices; heat & stir for 1-2 minutes.
Add flour & 1/2 cup beef broth to onion mixture; stir for a few minutes to blend. Add beef, remaining broth, carrot, celery & salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover & cook about 30-40 minutes, until beef is tender.
Cornmeal Dumplings
While your stew simmers, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cheese & green onion in a mixing bowl & set aside. In another bowl whisk the yogurt, eggs, oil.
Preheat oven to 350 F. When stew meat is tender, combine wet dumpling ingredients with dry ingredients, stirring batter until blended. (If you wish, you can transfer tender stew into individual ramekins or a casserole dish at this point).
Roughly drop scoops of the cornmeal batter onto each filled ramekin (or casserole). Place them onto a baking tray & cook in the oven for about 20 minutes or until dumplings test done.
The fall season seems to orchestrate a return to the kitchen, to lure us who enjoy to cook, back to the stove. With the cooler days and nights, heating up the oven to cook or bake becomes conceivable once more.
Like many baked desserts, the self-saucing pudding is a combination of mystery and chemistry. In the baking process, the flour/baking powder, rises to the top and the heavier sauce falls to the bottom.
Not quite a pudding and not exactly a cake, self saucing pudding has a souffle-like quality. It’s origins are unclear, but there is evidence that the concept of pouring hot water (or sauce) over the cake before baking to partially steam it as it bakes may be an Australian innovation.
It really doesn’t matter where the concept came from. What matters is that it works brilliantly to create a dessert with lightness and richness all in one pan. A simple dollop of whip cream on the top and there you have it … home baked goodness!
Print Recipe
Caramel Pear Pudding Cake
Votes: 2
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
|
|
Votes: 2
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
|
Instructions
Caramel Sauce
In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water & butter; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover & set aside.
Pudding
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter 4 oven-proof custard dishes ( 1 1/4 cup capacity) & place on a baking sheet. Place half of a pear in each dish.
In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, butter, spices, milk & vanilla; mix well. Spread the mixture evenly over pear halves in dishes. Sprinkle batter with pecans. Carefully pour HOT caramel sauce over pudding batter in custard cups.
Bake for about 25 minutes or until puddings are firm. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.
