Stollen Or Christmas Bread

About 30 years ago a neighbor, Jackie Fossum, made this bread and gave us a loaf.  Now that I make it, I realize what a gift it was.  She moved away many years ago, but I think of her every Christmas when I make this bread. It is pretty labor intensive, but I love it so it is worth it to me. She got it out of "Farm Journal."  It makes 4 loaves.






Printable Version

Ingredients:

2 cups milk                          1 teaspoon salt                     1 pkg. mixed fruit (I used 2 pkg. apricots
1 cup sugar                          2 pkg. active dry yeast         1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup lukewarm water      2 eggs                                  1 teaspoon nutmeg
8- 81/2 cups sifted flour
Method:
Scald milk. Pour over sugar, butter, and salt. in a mixing bowl. Cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast on 1/2 cup lukewarm water and stir to dissolve. Add yeast, fruit, eggs, nutmeg and 2 cups of the flour to milk mixture. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth about 2 minutes. Scraping the bowl occasionally.  Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough that leaves the side of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and Kneed until smooth (about 8-10 minutes).

Place in a lightly greased bowl, turning dough over once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 1-1 1/2 hours.

Divide dough into 4 portions. Divide each portion into thirds. Roll each into a 10 inch strip. Braid the strips and place on 2 greased cookie sheets.  Let rise until doubled.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. While warm, drizzle with Almond glaze. (Blend 2 cups confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, 1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring.) Decorate with cherries.  I didn't do this.

Buttermilk Spoonbread

This is a very light souffle'-like cornbread. I liked it much better than cornbread because of its lightness. This will become my go-to cornbread. This recipe is from Nancy Vienneau -- a food writer in Nashville, Tenn.







Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup stone-ground yellow or white cornmeal
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 4 cup souffle' or casserole dish
2. Warm buttermilk in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in cornmeal. Cook, stirring often, until mixture is thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Stir in butter and salt. Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Whisk egg yolks into cornmeal mixture. Add green onions and Cheddar cheese. Stir well.
4. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add to cornmeal mixture, a little at a time, folding gently to avoid deflating.
5. Scrap mixture into prepared pan. Bake 25-30 minutes until puffed, golden brown and set. Serve immediately.

Lemon-Raspberry Muffins

We are in Oregon and I picked these raspberries and then came in and made these for breakfast.  We are going hiking early this morning and decided this would be a good idea. I clipped this out of Southern Living magazine.  I read the recipe wrong. Instead of  or, I assumed it  was both, so I added 2 1/4 cups of raspberries.  I don't think it was wrong.  How can you have too many raspberries? I'm sure there is a point where it would mess with the science of cooking, but 2 1/4 cups did not.


Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour -- divided use
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (8oz.) container lemon yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 (6oz.) package fresh raspberries (about 1 cup) or 1 (6oz) package frozen raspberries, unthawed
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon cold butter
Combine 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.
Stir together yogurt and next 3 ingredients; add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.
Toss together 2 T. flour and 3 T. sugar, cut butter into mixture until crumble. Spoon evenly over batter in muffin pans.
Bake at 375* for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Remove muffins from pans immediately, and cool on wire racks.