Oatmeal Cookies

My first attempt at a gluten-free adaptation of a recipe and it worked! Again, this is from the white recipe book, and it's a very nice, basic cookie. Oatmeal is always comforting and perfect for coffee or tea. I like to make these cookies little.

Sift together:

1 cup flour (to make it GF, I dumped 1 cup of oats in the blender until they were powder)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Add and beat until smooth:

1/2 cup brown sugar (I didn't add this amount)

1/2 cup soft shortening

1 egg, well beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp water (yes, that's correct)

Stir in:

1 cup oatmeal

Shape into balls and flatten on baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.

Notes:

One of the times I made these cookies, I used 1/2 cup of applesauce to replace the shortening. I found it was too sweet (sweetened applesauce) and the texture was too tough. I wouldn't replace more than half of the shortening with applesauce.

Added 1/2 tsp cinnamon.

Baked Oatmeal

I made this for breakfast today. Delicious. It was submitted to the white recipe book by Daphne Thiessen, who added these comments:

This is a favourite Saturday morning breakfast at our home. This recipe can easily be halved and baked in a 9 x 9 pan.

3/4 cup oil
1 2/3 cups sugar (white or brown)
3 eggs, beaten
5 cups rolled oats
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups milk

Combine oil, sugar, and eggs. Mix well.

Add remaining ingredients. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until set and golden. Serves 6 - 8.

Notes:
Daphne also suggested chopped apples and cinnamon are good additions in the recipe.

I like to make these as individual servings, so I make them in muffin tins. What I did today that worked well was to bake it, 20 minutes, in silicone pans and I allowed them to cool in the pans before removing them.

I also made apple, cinnamon syrup, which was delicious. Approximate: 2 cups water, 1/2 of an apple cut into small pieces, 1 cup brown sugar, heat on stove until apples are cooked and the syrup has been reduced by about half. Add 1/4 cup butter before serving. It was like having apple pie for breakfast.

Chicken Noodle Soup

This may have originated in the Mennonite Treasury, and adapted as I learned how to make it. This version is in the White Recipe Book, page 67.

Drop the chicken parts into a stock pot. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, skim off all the scum that comes to the top. After the scum stops rising, throw in a small onion (or large one) and simmer slowly for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Add salt to taste. It takes a lot of salt to make it taste good! I don't know how much water I use but it's a lot, and I start with 1 Tbsp salt.

Add the following spices to the soup 1/2 hour before serving:

1 bunch parsley, cut fine (2 Tbsp dried)
12 whole peppercorns, at least (20+ or 1/2 tsp)
1 bay leaf (1 large, 1 small)
1 whole star aniseed (1/2 Tbsp pieces)
1 2" piece of cinnamon stick

Tomato Soup

This recipe comes from Mennonite Girls Can Cook and I made a few small (I thought insignificant) changes but this just ended up bland for me...

Soup Ingredients:
2 Tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped very fine
1/2 green pepper, chopped fine
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine
1 tsp basil
1 tsp dill weed
28 oz canned whole tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
pepper, to taste
2 cups chicken stock (1 Knorr chicken bouillon cube + 2 cups water)

White Sauce:
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
2 cups milk

Blend tomatoes in blender until just blended. (Do not substitute whole tomatoes for pre-blended) Heat first 6 ingredients in large pot until onion softens. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper; simmer 10 minutes. Add chicken stock; simmer 20 min.
In a small pot, melt butter, using whisk, blend in flour and milk to make a white sauce. Stir sauce into tomato soup. Serves 4 – 6

Notes:

I didn't have a green pepper so I used a whole red one.

I think I did about 3 cups of stock, so I increased the basil and dill to 2 tsp each.

I didn't use canned tomatoes or tomato paste. I blanched a whack of tomatoes (Roma maybe?) threw them in the pot. Maybe this is where I went wrong... too much juice from the tomatoes and I diluted the rest of it???

I did one fairly small onion, I could have done a large one for the amount of soup I have. 

I didn't do the final steps with the white sauce because there's no point in continuing if the first part isn't tasty. I'll work on what I have and then do the final step.

Grandma Elias' bun recipe

I don't know if the VMA (Valley Mennonite Academy, one of the private Christian schools in the Winkler area) does a recipe book every year or if they just have the one, but the copy I have (March, 1995) is great! I got it as a wedding gift from my Taunte Anne Friesen (and Joanne and Laura). It was my first favorite recipe book, my standard and go-to for anything I wanted to make; and for good reason, half the recipes in the book are submitted by my relatives! There's a bun recipe that I tried February 4, 2006 that was my Taunte Anne's recipe. I talked to my Grandma today and when I asked her for her bun recipe, she told me it's the same one my aunt uses. So here it is!

4 1/2 cups warm water

3/4 cup melted lard

1 egg, beaten

3 Tbsp sugar (Grandma said she does 2 Tbsp, but Taunte Anne's buns are always better so maybe she should try 3 Tbsp too)

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp instant yeast

5 cups of flour

6 1/2 to 7 cups flour

Beat the first 7 ingredients with a whisk until smooth. Put the dough hook onto the machine. Add 6 1/2 to 7 cups more flour; knead until smooth and elastic. Let rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour. Put on pans; let rise for about 1 hour. Bake at 400 degrees for about 17 to 18 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen buns.

Notes:

I also had a conversation with her about lard. I asked if she always used lard. (short answer = yes) She said she sometimes used chicken fat that was rendered after chicken slaughtering. I've never heard of people keeping it and using it in baking or cooking! She said my great-grandma used to like that very much, and used it instead of butter. Isn't that interesting?!

She said she would store the pail of lard in the freezer and just keep a smaller portion in the fridge for easier access.

Used 8 cups white flour, 4 cups whole wheat.

Made 2 full pans of buns with 2 dozen on each pan, plus a large handful of dough leftover which I made into bite-sized pieces, deep-fried them, and rolled them in (2Tbsp) sifted icing sugar and (1 tsp) sifted cinnamon.

Put the buns in the oven to rise and set a small pot of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to aid in the rising. Worked well!

Baked at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. (My oven would probably have been closer to 400 degrees because it's hotter than what the dial is set at.)

The buns are a great texture, even though I haven't eaten one yet.

Orange Muffins

I'm bored of all the usual things I have for breakfast, like toast with cinnamon and sugar, or cereal, so today it was muffins! I wanted to try something different, I already made banana muffins a couple of days ago and I knew I had a bowl full of oranges I could use. I wonder what allrecipes has for orange muffin recipes! This is the first one that came up, and wouldn't you know, the comment posted by the person who contributed the recipe said, "An old Mennonite recipe". Say no more!

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

2/3 cup orange juice
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup ground walnuts (optional)

1 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, white sugar and grated orange peel. Stir in orange juice, 1/2 cup melted butter, eggs and chopped nuts.

Pour into 12 muffin cups.

Blend 1 tablespoon melted margarine, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve hot.

Notes:

I didn't have white sugar, so I used 1/3 cup brown sugar. (I prefer to reduce sugar in most recipes.)

I pulled the insides out of the orange and used a hand blender to mix it with butter and eggs. May as well keep the fiber of the orange, not just the juice. I should have measured the orange juice because the muffins were a tiny bit dry, so I may have been a little short on juice. 

I made a small mistake with the topping. I did extra butter (of course!) so the topping wasn't crumbly. It still turned out okay (not ideal, just okay), but you'll definitely want to maintain that crumb texture with the topping.

This would probably work just as well with whole-wheat flour, to make it just a little bit healthier with a little more fiber.

Roll Kuchen

This is from the white recipe book, but I believe originally from the Mennonite Treasury. If you roll them quite thin, they are very crisp. If you prefer them softer, do not roll them too thin. Also good served with a tart jam or syrup.

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

1 cup milk

4 eggs

Sift flour with salt and baking powder into mixing bowl. Make a well in the flour and put in the rest of the ingredients, mix well with hands. Add more flour to eliminate the stickiness of the dough, approximately 2 cups. 

Knead on a floured board or counter top, roll out, cut into 2"x4" strips, cut one or two slits in each strip. Fry in deep fat, turn when one side is completely done, then brown the other side. Good served with watermelon. 

One recipe is plenty for one meal plus leftovers.

Air Buns

I found this recipe on Mennonite Girls Can Cook dot com. The picture looks wonderful! This makes a fairly big batch.

• 4 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 tbsp. quick rise yeast
• 1 cup oil
• 1 tbsp.vinegar
• 2 tsp.salt
• 1/2 cup sugar ( I use 1/4 cup)
• 10 cups flour/ a little more if needed

1. start with about 6 cups flour, add the yeast salt and sugar and stir together.
2. add the warm water, oil and vinegar.
3. stir together with a wooden spoon adding more flour till it is hard to stir.
4. add remaining flour a bit at a time till you have a soft, smooth and elastic dough that is no longer very sticky when kneading.
5. knead for a few minutes by hand on a floured surface.
6. let rest in greased and covered bowl in a warm place for about 40 minutes. I use my oven with the light on.
7. Make into buns and let rise for another 40 minutes.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Watch your oven, temperatures vary.
9. Share and enjoy!!!!!

Notes:

I read the notes for the recipe on the MGCC blog and it says the vinegar is used to preserve the buns so they last longer, not to change the taste or texture. Interesting!

Päpanät

Mennonitegirlscancook.ca has loads of great recipes, Mennonite and not-Mennonite foods. Here's a recipe they posted recently. If you're not familiar with it, it's a small, hard bite-sized cookie that's packed with Christmas spices. There are pictures on the site. Here's what they wrote:

I think when it comes to Mennonite food there are as many recipes for each dish as there are Grandmothers. My recipe for Pfeffernuesse is quite different than the ones posted previously. These tiny cookies are quite hard and are meant to be sucked or dunked. I was told that in years past, the grandmothers would bring them to church for the children to suck on - ensuring they would keep quiet during the sermon.

I like to bake them around this time of year so that the flavours have a chance to mellow before serving them in December. However, once my family knows I've made them, they disappear by the handfuls. The original recipe is a very large one - I think it usually makes about 3 ice cream buckets full. I've halved the recipe to make it easier for smaller families.

It's a good time to invite someone to help - there are a lot of very small cookies to put on the pans.

Speaking from experience, it's good to read the whole recipe through once before starting.

• 2 cups golden cane syrup (in Canada it is made by Rogers) this has a unique flavour somewhat different than regular corn syrup.
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup milk

1. Place above ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil.
2. Cool to room temperature.

• 1 beaten egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (yes that's right)
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground star anise
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 7-8 cups flour

1. Add egg and extracts to sugar syrup mixture, mixing well.
2. Into a large mixing bowl, sift together 4 cups of the flour with the spices and baking powder.
3. Pour liquid mixture over and mix thoroughly.
4. Continue adding flour - dough will be sticky and still somewhat soft.
5. Cover bowl with lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or up to 5 days.
6. Spoon out about 1 - 2 cups dough, leaving remainder in fridge.
7. On a floured board or pastry sheet, roll into long logs about the thickness of your index finger.
8. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces and place on parchment paper covered cookie sheets. (this makes it much easier to remove the cookies after baking.)

• Bake at 350º for 15 minutes or until set. (if you have a convection oven, the baking goes much faster as you can bake 3 cookie sheets at a time)
• Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
• When cookies are baked, remove from cookie sheets and allow to cool completely before storing in ice cream pails.
• These store best in a cool place like a garage. They do not need to be in the freezer. They will keep for months.
• If you bake them early in November, the flavours have a chance to mellow.
• Warning - these can become addictive.

Notes:
The first half of the dough, we made the pieces too large. The second half I made them much smaller. I'd say... maybe the size of a nickel.

Also with the first half of the dough, the pieces ended up being square. I grew up with round ones, so square just wasn't going to cut it for me. So, for the second half, I rounded the corners, each piece individually, with well-floured fingers.

I was surprised to find they were still soft when I took them out of the oven, but they harden as they cool.

Worth noting as well, once you've mixed the dough, before you put the ingredients or coffee grinder (which you'll need to grind the anise) away, fill your coffee grinder with cloves and the syrup. Just for fun. Well, not so much fun for me, but it was for Ella.

Update, December 11, 2017:
After having added 8 cups of flour, I thought the dough was still too sticky; almost like a thick cake batter. I squeezed in nearly another full cup of flour, but as I'm working with the dough, I think I shouldn't have added that last cup.

The first day after baking the cookies, they tasted bland, but by the second day, the flavour really showed up.

Ruehrei (Scrambled Eggs)

This recipe is a classic from as far back as I can remember. It's from the Mennonite Treasury and can also be found in the white recipe book.

3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
4 Tbsp cream
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients into a smooth dough, except eggs, which you beat well, and fold into first mixture. Put 2 Tbsp butter in frying pan and heat, put in egg mixture, brown on both sides, cutting and turning while browning. Some like the reuhrei in larger chunks, others finer, depends on how you are used to it. Serves 2.

Notes:
I don't think I've ever done the two-part mixing process as written above. Sheesh. Chuck it all into the Kitchen Aid and whisk the tar out of it!

If you are making more than one batch of this stuff, divide it between two frying pans, or like I tried today for the first time, I poured it into my baking stone pan and baked it for about 20 minutes. I did the cutting and turning as suggested in the recipe. It worked great!

Here's my favorite thing! I've revised this recipe a handful of times. I've fried a little bit of onion and meat before adding the eggs and continuing to fry it. Today I fried half a pound of bacon, scattered it over the eggs in the baking stone pan and then after it was done baking, I sprinkled the top with diced tomatoes and a little green onion. Makes for a full meal.

These eggs (the plain version) are a perfect side for watermelon. MMM!