Blueberry Muffins

These are such good muffins, that I can hardly wait for fresh blueberry to be in season and make sure that I freeze lots.
I got the recipe from my friend Helga and they have been one of our family favorites that I would love to share with you. Just so you know that what is in the ( ) are how I changed them up to suit our families life style, the changes don't hinder the wonderful deliciously sweet muffins at all.

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil, or melted butter (1/2 c. oil)
• 2 cups sour cream (plain yogurt)
• 2 cups sugar ( 1 cup)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups flour
• ( I used 2 cups unbleached flour and mixed 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup oat bran minus two tablespoons which I replaced with ground flax seed)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 cups blueberries (you can never have too many ;^D)

1. Combine eggs, oil, sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
2. Sift dry ingredients together in separate bowl.
3. Add to wet mixture, stirring until moistened, yet still a little lumpy.
4. Add blueberries and stir lightly to distribute them evenly in the batter.
5. Pour into greased muffin tins.
6. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is the season when Zucchini's are offered by neighbors or are easily affordable. I have been making this recipe since I was married 31 years ago. I got it from my mom by love Pauline. It is easy and quick and never fails. It stores well and can be frozen.

• 4 cups of cubed zucchini ( you can see the cubes in the blender)
• 4 farm fresh eggs
• 2/3 cup canola oil . .or other light oil
• 2 cups fresh walnuts. .very coarsely chopped I like the walnuts left big. . but you can chop them fine. You can also leave them out or subsitute with another nut of your choice.
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
• 1 12 ounce bag of mini chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or maple flavouring

1. Preheat oven to 350 º.
2. Put the zucchini cubes, eggs, and oil in the blender. Blend on high speed until smooth.
3. In large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients.
4. Add the zucchini mixture and stir with a wooden spoon.
5. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts.
6. Pour into a greased tube pan or two 9 X 5 loaf pans.
7. Bake for 60 - 75 minutes. Test with toothpick.

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

What is a tea without Scones and Devonshire Cream? Devonshire Cream can be purchased in the grocery store near the cream cheese. If you can't find Devonshire Cream. . . you can substitute 2 parts whipping cream with one part mascarpone cheese and a tablespoon of sugar.


This scone recipe is easy to prepare with no butter to cut into the flour. Just a quick pat onto a cookie sheet. . score into scones and bake. The recipe takes under 10 minutes to have ready for the oven.

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

• 2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 large farm fresh egg
• the finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoons poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 425 º
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Combine all the wet ingredients in a medium sized bowl. .egg first and whisking it until light.
4. Add the poppy seeds and the lemon rind to the dry ingredients.
5. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in all the wet ingredients.
6. Stir with a fork. . .just until the dry is gone.
7. Transfer the dough onto a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. . patting it into an eight inch circle.
8. Cut the circle into 6 pieces. . .but don't move the dough to separate.
9. Bake about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Scone glaze

1. Combine the juice from the 1/2 lemon with enough icing sugar to make a thin pourable glaze.
2. Pour over the scones while still warm.

If you are making this for a tea. Double the recipe and put all the dough into a large rectangle on the cookie sheet. Cut into 3 inch squares and then cut across to make triangles.
These are best served slightly warm. . or the same day.
Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
I made some gluten free scones for my niece.
I used

• 2 cups of gluten free muffin mix in place of all the dry ingredients.
• I used the wet ingredients and the lemon and poppy seed as I listed and did the method exactly the same.
• I turned the oven down to 375 º and baked them for 15 minutes.

Bran Muffins

Betty often tells me about these wonderful Bran Muffins she is serving for breakfast. This weekend she emailed me the recipe. This yummy picture is the result of baking those for our breakfast this morning.

Bran Muffins

1/2 cup soft butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbsp molasses(optional)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 cups bran

Add enough buttermilk to make a smooth batter but still quite thick..approx 1 cup

3/4 cup raisins or blueberries

Beat butter and sugar till creamy, beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and dump in bowl alternately with buttermilk and mix just until moistened. Fold in raisins or berries.

Bake at 350 for 30 min

12 large muffins or 18 regular size
(note: If making regular size or smaller reduce cooking time to 20 minutes)

Alvina's Cinnamon Twists

Alvina is my cousin by marriage and has always lived about 1500 miles from us, but the visits we’ve had as families have been the best! Besides being an excellent cook and home- maker, Alvina has a wonderful warm personality and the best laugh! It’s on one of our visits to their place, that I first remember seeing these tempting little twists on her counter and enjoying them, of course. I love having sweet reminders of our times together and when I make these now and wish that the highway between our houses would not be so long.

Ingredients:

Your favorite biscuit or scone pastry. I use:

• 2 c flour
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar (optional)
• 6 Tbsp butter, room temp.
• 1 c buttermilk or milk

filling and icing:

• 2 - 3 Tbsp melted butter
• 3/4 c brown sugar mixed with 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 Tbsp flour
• 3/4 c icing (confectioner's) sugar

Method: 

 

1. In medium sized bowl, mix dry ingredients, then cut in butter with pastry blender. Add buttermilk, stirring with fork until dough holds together. Shape into a ball.
2. Divide pastry in half and pat into a rectangular shape on lightly floured surface.
3. Roll each half out to 6 x 12 inch strip.
4. Spread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon.
5. Starting from long side, fold over twice, so that you have a 2 inch strip that has 3 layers.
6. Cut into 3/4 inch slices and twist each slice so that it looks like the figure 8. (right hand twists away from you and left hand toward you)
7. Place on greased and floured (or parchment paper lined) cookie sheet.
8. Bake at 400F until golden. About 12 min. Yield: approx. 30 mini twists
9. 

Icing:
Fill a 1 c measuring cup 3/4 full of icing sugar. Stir while adding a little water at a time, until it has a good spreading consistency. Drizzle or brush over warm twists. (If you did not use

parchment paper, remove twists from sheet with lifter before sugar, that has run out, hardens.)

Moist Banana Bread

Banana Bread is the simplest of quick breads to bake but it can go quite wrong. . .too many bananas or not enough bananas. . .and well this is just one recipe of many good recipes.

Banana Bread

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Line a large 9 X 5 loaf pan with parchment paper. . leaving the ends without is fine. I just find that this helps in baking the loaf evenly. . .not too brown a crust. Give it a spray of Pam.

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup of oatmeal .. .I used porridge oats that had bran and flax added
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together these ingredients and set aside

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 2 cups of mashed very ripe bananas .. .I used 5 medium
• 1 cup of finely chopped walnuts .. optional
• 1/2 cup of fine coconut. . . optional
• the nuts and coconut just add a bit of crunch. . .if you like crunch

1. Cream together the soft butter and brown sugar .. you can use a wooden spoon or a mixer for this.
2. Add the beaten eggs and the bananas.
3. Slowly stir in the dry ingredients and the optional nuts and coconut.
4. Turn the batter into the loaf pan and Bake for 60 minutes. Poke a toothpick in the cracked top and it should come out quite clean. My toothpick still had a wee bit of dampness on it but I declared it done and once sliced .. . it was.

Chocolate Chip Zuchinni Muffins

Oh, this is the cure for an over abundance of zuchinni from the garden. These muffins are very delicious, freeze well and are a cinch to whip up.

My mom started making them for us when I was in elementary school. I think she got the recipe from my friend's mom.

Enjoy!

3 eggs

1 c oil

2 c sugar (1 brown & 1 white)

2 tsp vanilla

2 c grated zuchinni

3 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1.5 tsp baking powder

3 tsp cinnamon

1 cup chocolate chips

Combine using the muffin method...do not over-stir!

Bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Rollkuchen

What's a Mennonite cookbook without a recipe for rollkuchen?

Rollkuchen are a tasty, deep fried pastry that are a wonderful accompaniment to cold watermelon on a hot summer day. And since I recently posted this recipe over at My Front Porch...I thought I'd share it here as well.

How well I recall childhood picnics with big tubs of fresh rollkuchen...and let's just say they are sort of like eating peanuts (you can't eat just one). Somewhere through the years, rollkuchen became paired with Roger's Golden Syrup (definitely a Canadian thing) on my table...they make a great team!

My mother-in-law made the best flaky, crispy rollkuchen....her recipe was very similar to the one posted by Lovella last summer. Mine never quite measured up...I have always made the thicker, softer variety and they have become a family favorite. Hers were all uniform in shape...mine are rather 'free-form'. Each recipe seems to differ slightly...but I've never met a rollkcuhen I didn't like!

Rollkuchen

1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
4 eggs
5 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Beat eggs, sour cream and milk together.

Add to dry ingredients...continue to add flour to form a soft dough.

Allow dough to stand in the fridge for at least two hours.

Divide the dough in half & roll out quite thin on a floured board...
if you prefer them soft, then not quite so thin.

Cut strips of dough about 2 inches by 4 inches...
with two slits cut in centre of each.

Fry in deep hot oil (over medium heat) until golden on one side...
turn and brown the other side.

The dough is quite pliable, so I usually stretch it as much as possible before dropping it into the pan.

The rollkuchen puff up beautifully while cooking and are really mostly air pockets by the time they are ready to eat...a totally a healthy choice!

Who am I fooling?

Serve with cold watermelon....
and Roger's golden syrup....
and some bbq'd farmer sausage is a nice touch!

Waffles with Vanilla Custard

 



As a young bride I searched the Mennonite Treasury Cookbook for any recipes that would impress my husband and his large extended family. I did not realize at that time how special this particular meal would become to our kids and now even our grandkids. It begins with a hot, light and fluffy Belgian waffle, gets smothered with a runny, warm vanilla sauce and drizzled with raspberry syrup. I have long felt at ease about the vanilla sauce (as opposed to the usual syrup) because it is not very sweet and is made with milk and eggs. Good for growing kids and keeping up the calcium! I like to think that some Mennonite family brought the original recipe (which I've altered to make it less fattening) from Holland or Belgium to Russia and to North America, where it has become quite Canadian/American. Since I end up tripling this recipe for our family now and we want to eat together, I place the baked waffles in the oven ( 175F) right on the rack, to keep warm and crispy until they are all done.

 

WAFFLES (makes about 5 round deep waffles)

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg and
• 2 egg whites - save yolks for sauce
• 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 5 Tbsp oil

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
3. Add buttermilk, oil and eggs; mix until smooth (with hand held mixer). It will rise as it sits for a minute. Do not stir down as you scoop out and into the waffle iron.
4. Spread onto hot waffle iron. (leave room around edge for batter to spread) You may want to spray or wipe the Teflon with an oily paper towel, just before cooking the first waffle. It should be fine then until the next time you use it.

 

 

VANILLA SAUCE

• 2 1/2 cups milk, divided
• 4 Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/8 tsp. vanilla powder or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks

 

1. In a small pot, heat 2 cups milk until it begins to boil. (med heat)
2. While you are doing this: mix dry ingredients in a small bowl, add just a little of the reserved 1/2 cup of milk, blend the egg yolks in well, and then the rest of the 1/2 cup milk.
3.  Stir mixture into the milk in the pot just as it begins to boil up (you will see skin forming) and stir with whisk until the sauce begins to bubble and thicken.

 

 

RASPBERRY SAUCE

 

I buy half a flat of raspberries when they’re in season, put them in a blender and measure them out. For each cup of berries I mix in 1 cup of sugar. Stir that for about 5 minutes and let it sit for a few hours. Pour into small jars and freeze. Thaw just before serving. Keeps a week or two refrigerated. Cut up strawberries mixed with a little sugar are also a great topping.