I use my Zojirushi bread machine to make the dough for my rolls. I put 1 cup lukewarm water into the machine, 1/4 cup butter-cut into chunks, 1egg beaten, 3 1/4 cups bread flour, 4 tbsp sugar, 3 tbsp powdered milk, 1tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp yeast. Set the machine to dough cycle and walk away. It takes the machine l hr 50 min. to run through this cycle. Then I take the dough out, punch it down and form the rolls. I get about 15 rolls from 1 batch. Then I spray them with olive oil and let them rise for about 1 hr. Bake 12 min. at 425 degrees. When I take them out of the oven, I brush them with melted butter(being generous with the butter). Half of these never make it to the table. They get eaten as soon as the butter is spread on them. One thing I do a little different from this recipe is I put 1 1/4 cup fresh ground wheat flour and 2 cups bread flour instead of using all bread flour. I also have lowered my heat to 400 degrees because the pans I use are darker pans. I have just discovered they do so much better using 3 round cake pans-8 rolls per pan than they do on a cookie sheet. Hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we do. God bless.
Soft Molasses Cookies
The girls and I made molasses cookies today. They are one of my favorites. I thought I would share the recipe I use:
1 cup butter- softened, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup molasses, 2 eggs-slightly beaten, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 2 1/4 tsp. ground ginger, 1 1/4 tsp. ground cloves, 4 cups flour (I use 3 cups whole wheat and 1 cup unbleached all purpose) Combine all ingredients and drop by spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min. Sprinkle tops with sugar.
These cookies always make me think of fall, however it has been pretty warm here today, upper 80’s. The night temperature though has been cooling down nicely. It was mid 50’s this morning, nice sleeping weather.
Enjoy your day and God bless.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
We did make cookies this afternoon. It seems like it has been a long time since we made cookies. We have made lots of other desserts this summer, just not cookies. Here’s the recipe I like to use:
1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup butter, softened. 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp. vanilla, 3 cups self-rising flour. I use 2 cups white flour, 1 cup fresh ground wheat flour. Add 1 12 oz package chocolate chips. I use the mini chocolate chips. I think they do much better, makes you think there is more chocolate in each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 min. We are enjoying them now with a tall glass of fresh milk. Life is good!
We gathered the corn this morning but because of my back problems it had gotten a little bit hard so we are making pickled corn from it. I really like pickled corn with brown beans and corn bread. When I make pickled corn, I cut it off the cob-do not scrape the cob. Then I put it into a crock, cover it with cold water. Put a plate on top of this so the corn stays under the salted water. For every gallon of water I need to cover the corn, I add 10 tbsp. of canning salt. Let the corn sit in the crock for 1 week. Drain the salted water off and rinse the corn. Put into jars and process in water bath canner. 10 min. pts and 15 min. qts. When it is time to eat it, we like to heat it up in a cast iron skillet with just a little bit of oil. To make myself feel better I use olive oil. The old way is to use lard.
More cookies are ready to come out of the oven. Enjoy your day and God bless.
The Cost of Berry Picking
I decided yesterday to pick some more gooseberries and make a gooseberry cobbler. I had never made this before. It turned out very good. Tasted a lot like cherry cobbler. The recipe I used is:
1/2 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp almond extract, 1/2 cup water, 4 cups gooseberries. Melt butter in 9X13 baking dish. Combine sugar and flour. Mix almond extract and water and add to sugar mixture; add berries. Pour into pan. TOPPING: 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 tbsp oil, 1 egg-mix ingredients until crumbly. Put on top of berry mixture and bake at 375 degrees for 40 min. I think this would work with just about any fruit.
Somehow during my picking I managed to get too close to a wasp. Not good! I also made my own tortillas yesterday for supper. Another first. They were really good and not too hard to make. I think I would try them again.
We got a little rain last night. Lots and lots of thunder and lightning. I could have done without the thunder and lightning but we really need rain. Hopefully we will get more this weekend. The garden and yard really need a drink. Jess and family will be coming up tomorrow for a little visit. I can hardly wait to see them. I know Sam has grown so much already and Daniel seems to grow up more each time I see him. Family is such a blessing from God.
Bible study today so I need to start getting ready. Take care and God bless.
Roses-Getting Ready
My rose bush is full of these little buds. I can’t wait to see them in bloom! Of course, I will take a picture so you all can see them too. Today we begin our new study today on I Corinthians. Pray for us, as the ladies seem to think this will be a hard study. To me, hard means digging deeper. Hopefully, digging deeper means understanding deeper. We’ll see. Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Floyd. Sunshine, not too warm, just right. I washed clothes again and hung them out on the line to dry. I thought I should take advantage of the sunshine. They are calling for rain this evening through Monday. Every year, our church does a youth Trout Fest day. It is scheduled for tomorrow. The pond is already stocked and ready to go. It is a big day. The kids fish from 9:30 to 12:00. Then we have a picnic lunch. Hotdogs with all the fixin’s. Lots of desserts. The kids and the adults have a LOT of fun. Hopefully, it will not get rained out. We went over to a friend’s house last night. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and took them to share. Good coffee, good food, good fellowship. Life is good and God is great! I took Jessica’s advice and made the rolls a little different this time. I put chopped pecans in the middle along with the brown sugar and cinnamon. Then for the icing I made a quick caramel frosting from my Mennonite cookbook. The recipe is:
1/2 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Melt together on low heat and boil 2 min. stirring constantly. Add 1/4 cup milk and heat just until boiling again. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in 2 cups sifted powdered sugar.
This was very good on the cinnamon rolls. I know it would be excellent on cakes as well. Time for my day to get busy. Take care and God bless.
More Snow Pictures
A picture of the field. I was hoping it would show how the sun was glistening off the snow. It was absolutely beautiful.
Our road after the tractor had made a path.
Going up the hill beside the hay barn. Yes, that brown spot proves there is still dirt under all this snow.
Guess what? We’re supposed to get more snow tomorrow. Not much though-about 3″. After all this, we probably won’t even notice 3 more inches. Anyway, we have company coming over today. My brother-in-law and his wife are coming. I made homemade vegetable beef soup(cooked on the wood stove, of course)and I’m making rolls as I type this. I use my bread machine to mix and knead the dough. I love this machine. It is a Zojirushi. 
I bought it used several years ago and consider it a very valuable helper. I put 1 cup lukewarm water into the machine, 1/4 cup butter-cut into chunks, 1egg beaten, 3 1/4 cups bread flour, 4 tbsp sugar, 3 tbsp powdered milk, 1tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp yeast. Set the machine to dough cycle and walk away. It takes the machine l hr 50 min. to run through this cycle. Then I take the dough out, punch it down and form the rolls. I get about 15 rolls from 1 batch. Then I spray them with olive oil and let them rise for about 1 hr. Bake 12 min. at 425 degrees. When I take them out of the oven, I brush them with melted butter(being generous with the butter). Half of these never make it to the table. They get eaten as soon as the butter is spread on them. One thing I do a little different from this recipe is I put 1 1/4 cup fresh ground wheat flour and 2 cups bread flour instead of using all bread flour. My family doesn’t care a lot for whole wheat so I mix it. I guess I better go check on my rolls and get ready for company. God Bless.
Merry Heart Crafts 