[Sca-cooks] Selene's Files

Wed Sep 28 23:26:26 PDT 2005

Oh the heck with trying to remember who asked for what.  Here is the whole
file, copy and paste it at will.

C. 2005 by Susan Fox,  <selene at earthlink.net>  Permission of my original
material is granted for republication in SCA-related public publications,
provided the author is credited and receives a copy.  Rights to material by
other authors quoted in this booklet is subject to their own conditions,
which I have made every attempt to meet for this post.

SOME RECIPES FROM SELENE¹S FILES

Not a textbook, just a little present
to take home. These are some of my
favorites, some are historical, most
are not, some are old family recipes,
some are new, all I want to share
with you.

CLASS WORK

Sausage Rolls

Make bread dough of your choice, wrap it around a sausage and whatever you
like on it, like mustard, cheese, etc.  Bake in 350 degree oven until brown.
Eat hot or cold.

What kind of bread? You can buy bread dough already made at the store, or
use any yeast dough recipe.  We are using Jared¹s honey-wheat, which is in
this booklet.  Whatever bread dough is left, we can bake by itself.

What kind of sausage?  Hot dogs are sausages, so they¹re OK.  Or else use
any kind of Œpre-cooked¹ sausage like kielbasa, salami, whatever you like.
If you like Italian sausage or regular breakfast sausage, make sure you cook
them thoroughly first.  Every class has at least one kid who won't eat
sausage though doesn't it?  You can use a stick of cheese intead.  A stick
of lunchbox-type string cheese is about the same size and shape as a hot dog
and tastes fine!

Honey  Butter

One of the standbys of SCA feasts.  In the real history books, we only find
it as a medicine for a cough, but we all like it anyway. Take one part honey
and four parts salted butter at room temperature and mix them together.

Compound Sallet

Small leaves of spinach, red cabbage, grated carrot, almonds, raisins, figs,
olives, orange segments.  Dress with oil and vinegar with sugar and lemon
juice.

Mulled Cider

Apple cider, warmed up with cinnamon stick, cloves and other good things.
Put it all in a pot over low heat for at least half an hour.  The longer you
let it simmer, the stronger and spicier it will be!

A Subtletie

What would a Medieval feast be without a sweet treat for the mouth and the
eyes?  Make a castle cake out of a plain cake, a sturdy frosting and
decorations.  Ice cream cones make fine towers, graham crackers for castle
walls and crenellations, colored sugars and sprinkles for the grounds and
gardens.

Period Food for Kids [of all ages]

You¹ll be happy to know some good news about food of the middle ages.
Firstly, a lot of stuff we don¹t like hasn¹t been discovered yet.  No lima
beans!  Yay!

The bad news is, some of the stuff we do like hasn¹t been discovered yet,
like chocolate, vanilla, corn, potatoes and tomatoes.  Also, some stuff we
do like, made of ingredients they had in Europe, simply hadn¹t been
invented, like mayonnaise and sandwiches.  Boo.

Still, that leaves us with lots of stuff we like, and new treats to try
which isn¹t really new, just centuries-old treats that we haven¹t tried yet.
So far, we have found a lot of kid-friendly favorites that date back
hundreds of years, which are in the first few pages of this booklet.  Mac
and Cheese, Fish Sticks, Fruit Roll and Applesauce were enjoyed by kids
since the original Middle Ages, and can still have them today in the Current
Middle Ages!

A really fast period lunch for tourney day:  Go to a fast-food chicken
place, buy baked or fried chicken. Order cole slaw instead of fries, and I
won¹t tell anybody that there¹s baking powder [1800¹s invention] in the
biscuits.

There is another fun thing about reading Œperiod¹ recipes.  There are no
measurements, so you had to have a lot of practice to know what was
"enough."  Also, they had not invented spelling yet, which means no spelling
tests [yay again] but also that we will really have to read aloud and sound
things out. Let¹s try this once and see:

Payn purdeuz. [French Toast]

Two 15th Century Cookbooks, Harleian MS. 4016 80.

Payn purdeuz. Take faire yolkes of eyren, and try hem fro the white, and
drawe hem thorgh a 
streynour; and then take salte, and caste thereto;
And then take manged brede or paynman, and kutte hit in leches;
and then take faire buttur, and clarefy hit, or elles take fressh grece and
put
hit yn a faire pan, and make hit hote;

And then wete the brede well there in the yolkes of eyren, and then ley hit
on the batur in the pan, whan the buttur is al hote;

And then whan hit is fried eyowe, take sugur ynowe, and caste there-to whan
hit is in the disshe, And so serve hit forth.

IN MODERN ENGLISH:

Take fair yolks of eggs and separate them from the whites, and put them
through a strainer. Then

take salt and cast it in.  And then take manchet bread [whole wheat] or
paynman [white bread] and cut it in pieces. And then take fair butter and
clarify it, or else take fresh grease and put it in a fair pan and make it
hot.  And then wet the bread well with the egg yolks, and then lay it on the
pan when the butter is all hot.  And then when it is fried enough, take
sugar enough, and sprinkle in on the french toast when it is in the dish.

MACARONI [Mac & Cheese]

 From the Elizabeth Bauermann Andrews translation of Platina, originally in
Latin.

White flour, moistened with the white of an egg and rosewater, should be
well ground. Roll this into slender bits like a straw, stretched to the
length of half a foot. With a very thin iron stylus, scrape out the middle.
Then, as you remove the iron, you leave them hollow. Then, spread out just
so and dried in the sun, they will last for two or three years. Indeed
especially if they are made in the month of the August moon. They should be
cooked in rich juice and poured into dishes and sprinkled with grated
cheese, fresh butter, and mild herbs. This dish needs to be cooked for two
hours. 

I am perfectly willing to let the nice folks at the Kraft blue-box factory
do the rolling and poking of holes. Modern method of mac & cheese from
scratch lets you mix it up and put it all into the oven until it¹s nice and
brown on top.

FISH STICKS

[These are from a German cook book from Nürnberg,  "Ein schön künstlich
Kochbüchlein von vielen vnd manchen Richten."  Platina has a recipe much
like it called "Fricadella of Fish" but this looks easier. Many thanks to
Prof. Gloning at the University of Marburg for this translation.]

What I like to do is to take good old frozen breaded fish filets and
deep-fry them in a nice olive oil.

Knödlein von Fischen Zumachen.

Erstlichen seudt die fisch, wie sie sein sollen, glaub die gräd dauon, hackh
den fisch Clein Vnd würtz in nach deinem gefallen, gilbs vnd welchers in
einem melb vmb, Legs in ein haiss schmaltz, vnd bachs einwenig vnd mach ein
Brühlein mit wein, Trisanet thu auch daran, gilbs auch, es ist guth

./. 

Dumplings of fishes

First you have to boil the fishes the way they should be, then pull out the
fish-bones, and hash the fish to little pieces. Spice it as you like it,
make it yellow (i.e. add saffron) and turn it about in flour.

Put it into hot dripping and bake it not to keenly. Prepare a winesauce, add
trisanet (a mixture of many spices) and saffron. Then the dish is
accomplished.

Losenges Fryes [sweet fried crunchies, like won ton or tortilla chips, with
sugar]

Two Fifteenth Century p. 97/74

Take flour, water, saffron, sugar and salt, and make fine paste thereof, and
fair thin cakes;  and cut them like losenges and fry them in fine oil, and
serve them forth hot in a dish in lenten time.

Duke Cariadoc makes them like this:

2 c flour

1/2 c water

a pinch of saffron

1/2 c sugar

1/2 t salt

oil for frying

Boil saffron in water to extract color and flavor, put in a bowl and mix in
sugar and salt, add flour and mix lightly until moistened. Heat about 1 inch
of oil in a frying pan. Roll out dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut in small
diamonds, fry a few at a time since they cook very quickly.

Dame Selene takes a shorter short cut, and takes won ton skins [just flour
and water, after all] or flour tortillas [flour, water, salt and
shortening], cuts them into strips or triangles and fries them up, and casts
sugar thereon, and maybe some cinnamon.

Ryschewys Closed and Fried [a cross between Fig Newtons and Fried Pies]

Two Fifteenth Century p. 45/97

Take figs, and grind them small in a mortar with a little oil, and grind
with them cloves and maces; and then take it up into a vessel, and cast
thereto pines, saunders and raisons of corinth and minced dates, powdered
pepper, canel, salt, saffron; then take fine paste of flour and water,
sugar, saffron and salt, and make fair cakes thereof; then roll thine stuff
in thine hand and couch it in the cakes and cut it, and fold them in
ryshews, and fry them up in oil;  and serve forth hot.

25 black mission figs

2 t oil

1 t cloves

1 t maces

1/4 c pine nuts

1/4 t saunders

1/3 c currants

5 1/2 ounces dates

1/8 t pepper

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

4 threads saffron

pastry:

2 c flour

1/2 c water

1 T sugar

1/8 t salt

1 thread saffron

Prince-Bisket

Hugh Platt p. 14/94

Take one pound of very fine flower, and one pound of fine sugar, and eight
egges, and two spoonfuls of Rose water, and one ounce of Carroway seeds, and
beat it all to batter one whole houre: for the more you beat it, the better
your bread is: then bake it in coffins, of white plate, being basted with a
little butter before you put in your batter, and so keep it.

4 c flour (1 lb)

2 c sugar (1 lb)

5 eggs

4 t caraway seeds (1 oz)

2 t rose water

Beat all ingredients together one whole hour (or do a fourth of a recipe at
a time in a food processor, processing it for several minutes or until the
blades stall). Spoon out onto a greased cookie sheet as 3" biscuits and bake
about 20 minutes at 325deg.

These cookies are a bit hard but taste really good.  I have not tried this
yet, but I have heard that they come out REALLY good when baked on a a
pizelli, an Italian waffle iron.

Recipe for the Barmakiyya [Cariadoc says his kids like this a lot]

Andalusian p. A-9

It is made with hens, pigeons, ring doves, small birds, or lamb. Take what
you have of it, then clean it and cut it and put it in a pot with salt and
onion, pepper, coriander and lavender or cinnamon, some murri naqi, and oil.
Put it over a gentle fire until it is nearly done and the sauce is dried.
Take it out and fry it with mild oil without overdoing it, and leave it
aside.

Then take fine flour and semolina, make a well-made dough with yeast, and if
it has some oil it will be more flavorful. Then stretch this out into a thin
loaf and inside this put the fried and cooked meat of these birds, cover it
with another thin loaf, press the ends together and place it in the oven,
and when the bread is done, take it out. It is very good for journeying;
make it with fish and that can be used for journeying too.

Note: The Barmecides were a family of Persian viziers who served some of the
early Umayyad Caliphs, in particular Haroun al-Rashid, and were famed for
their generosity.

scant T yeast

(1 c water+1/4 c for yeast)

1 1/2 c white flour

1 1/2 c semolina

3 T olive oil for dough

1 lb boned chicken (or lamb)

10 oz chopped onion

1/2 t pepper

(1 t salt in dough)

1 1/2 t (lavender or) cinnamon

3 T olive oil

3 T more olive oil for frying

1 T (byzantine) murri

1 t coriander

Mix yeast with 1/4 c lukewarm water. Stir together flour, semolina, 1 t
salt. When the yeast is foaming, add it, 1 c water, and 3 T oil to the flour
and semolina, stirring it in, then kneading it smooth. If necessary add a
little extra flour or water to get a reasonable texture. Cover with a damp
towel, leave in a warm place about 1 1/2 hours.

Cut the meat fairly fine (approximately 1/4" slices, then cut them up),
combine in a 3 quart pot with chopped onion, 1 t salt, spices, murri, and 3
T oil. Cook over a medium low to medium heat about an hour. I covered it at
the beginning so it would all get hot, at which point the onion and meat
released its juices and I removed the cover and cooked until the liquid was
gone. Then heat 3 T oil in a large frying pan on a medium high burner, add
the contents of the pot, fry over medium high heat about five minutes.

Finally, take the risen dough, divide in four equal parts. Take two parts,
turn them out on a floured board, squeeze and stretch each until it is about
12" by 5". Put half the filling on one, put the other on top, squeeze the
edges together to seal. Repeat with the other two parts of the dough and the
rest of the filling. Bake on a cookie sheet at 350deg. for 40 minutes.

 Doing this as a sourdough recipe instead of using dried yeast would
probably correspond more closely to the original, but we have not yet tried
that.

-=-=-=-=-

To make Paste of Pippins, the Geneva fashion  [Fruit Roll]

From: A Closet for Ladies and Gentlewomen or The Art of preserving,
conserving and candying, printed for Arthur Johnson, 1608.

Take your Pippins, and pare them and cut them in quarters: then boil them
in faire water till they be tender; then straine them and dry the pulp upon
a chafindish of coales: then weigh it, and take as much sugar as it
weigheth, and boile it to Manus Christi, and put them together: then
fashion them upon a Pieplate and put it into an Oven being very sleightly
heat: the next Morning you may turne it, and put them off the plates upon
sheets of Paper upon a hurdle, and so put them in an Oven of like heat, and
there let them remain foure or five dayes, putting every day a Chafindish of
coales into the Oven: and when they be thorow dry you may box them, and
keepe them all the yeare.

This has an interesting measurment!  You boil the apples and sugar as long
as it takes to say the prayer called "Manus Christi."  I¹m not sure how long
that is, but I let it get good and thick.

Other recipes use other fruit like apricots, plums and quinces.

   TO STEW APPLES [Digbie.  Applesauce!]

"Pare them and cut them into slices. Stew them with Wine and Water
as the Pears, and season them in like manner with Spice. Towards the end
sweeten them with Sugar, breaking them into Pap by stirring them. When you
are ready to take them off, put in good store of fresh-butter and
incorporate it well with them, by stirring themtogether.

Sekanjabin

Dissolve 4 cups sugar in 2 1/2 cups of water; when it comes to a boil add 1
cup wine vinegar. 

Simmer 1/2 hour. Add a handful of mint, remove from fire, let cool. Dilute
the resulting syrup to taste with ice water (5 to 10 parts water to 1 part
syrup). The syrup stores without refrigeration.

[PROPER CREDIT: from Cariadoc's Miscellany. The Miscellany is Copyright (c)
by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook, 1988, 1990, 1992. ]

[Selene¹s notes: some people love this stuff, but some people hate it.  The
people who hate it probably put too much syrup in the cup.  Try it first on
a hot, hot day with just a little shot of syrup to a tall cup of icy ice
water.  Wonderful!]

GRANTIA DI FRAGOLE

or, Strawberry Italian Ices

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

4 pints strawberries

1/3 cup orange juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

Combine sugar and water in sauce pan, bring to a boil and boil it for five
minutes, then allow to cool. Purée the berries in a blender or sieve.  Add
juices to the purée, and this mixture to the syrup. Turn into a freezer
tray, cover and freeze until firm.

RAMEN SALAD

>From THE CARTOON KITCHEN in the Los Angeles Times, 1986

Grate a small cabbage; chop 2-3 green onions; crumble one packet of raw
ramen [quick-cooking noodles]; combine in bowl.

Mix 1/3 cup peanut oil, 1/3 cup cider vinegar, 1/3 cup sugar, a pinch curry
powder, a pressed garlic clove, the ramen's "flavor packet."

Pour dressing over salad; stir well; cover; marinate overnight.

The magic noodles soften to make an unusual pasta salad.

ARTICHOKE AND CURRY SALAD

A middle-eastern style picnic rice salad.  From either Neptha, Kristin or
Lyndia, I forget whom, at a Collegium session.

1 package Chicken flavoured Rice-a-Roni, "fluffier" recipe,
cooked and cooled.

4 green onions, chopped

1/2 medium green pepper, finely chopped

1 can sliced ripe black olives

2 Tbsp. chopped pimento

2 small jars marinated artichoke hearts, finely chopped
[Save one jar of the used marinade!]

3 medium chicken breasts, cooked, skinned, boned;
tear into small pieces

Mix all but the chicken in a bowl.

 Dressing:

 3/4 tsp. curry powder

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 jar artichoke marinade

Mix dressing ingredients well, then add shredded cooked chicken.  Add
dressing to previous mixture.  Let stand refrigerated 24 hours.

Notes:

I like to serve this on a large  communal platter on romaine lettuce leaves,
accompanied by pita bread.

Other salad ingredients could include almonds, cucumber, mushrooms, tomato,
diced apple.  I like more curry in my dressing than this.

CIOPPINO

One of my Dad's specialties.  He got it from some unknown magazine, then
boogied with it.  His notes are included here.

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 medium leek, chopped [or bunch green onions]

1 small green pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped

1 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 1 lb.-13 oz. can tomatoes

1 6-oz. can tomato paste

3 cups dry white wine

1/4 tsp. basil

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 lb. rock cod fillets     1 lb. clams in shell

1 lb. lobster tails 1 lb. shrimp

1 lb. cracked crab [or 1 medium crab]

Heat oil in large kettle.  Add onion, leek, green pepper, parsley and garlic
and cook until onion is tender but not browned, stirring now and then.  Add
tomatoes, tomato paste,2 cups wine, basil bay leaf, salt and pepper.  Simmer
uncovered, stirring now and then, about 30 minutes.

The sauce can be refrigerated or frozen at this point for use later.

Cut fish into chunks.  Scrub clams, crab and lobster tails thoroughly.  Cut
lobster tails through shells into 3 or 4 pieces each.  Shell and clean
shrimp, leaving tails intact.

Add remaining 1 cup of wine to sauce and bring to a boil.  Add fish, cover
and simmer 10 minutes.  Add crab, clams, lobster and shrimp and simmer 5
minutes longer or until clam shells are open and shrimp and lobster are
opaque.  Ladle into hot bowls, putting some of each seafood and pouring
sauce into each serving.  Serve with crusty bread.  Makes 6 servings.

DAD'S TIPS: More wine, more garlic, some oregano but not too much, extra can
of tomato sauce.  Serve with pasta [esp. shells] or rice.

EGYPTIAN CHICKEN a. k. a.  AWSAT

I got it from Astra.  She got it from a book, the name of which I've
forgotten, but it's probably got some memorable title like "Middle Eastern
Cooking."

1 medium loaf bread, round and not sliced

1 medium chicken, boiled with turmeric, lemon and cardamom and cooled.

1/2 lb. chicken livers

oil [pref. sesame]

chicken stock

1/2 tsp. allspice

salt and pepper

1 to 2 oz. pistachio nuts, chopped

4 Tbsp. finely chopped parsley

1 tsp. dried crushed mint

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. rosewater [optional]

1.   Cut a slice off top of the bread, and hollow it out.

2.   Bone and chop cooked chicken.

3.   Sauté livers in oil 3 to 4 minutes.  Add about 1/3 cup stock and

     spices.  Mash liver mixture to a smooth paste.

4.   Mix resultant patê with chicken in a large bowl.  Add pistachios,

     parsley, mint and lemon juice.  Mix well and taste for seasoning.

5.     Moisten the bread shell with water or rose water to make it soft

     and easy to cut.  Fill with chicken/liver mixture, packing it tightly.

     Cover with lid and chill.  Serve in slices.

SALMON RAMEKINS
the way Dad makes them.

6 tbsp. butter or margarine

6 tbsp. flour

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

2/3 cup milk

1/4 cup white table wine

1 16-oz. can salmon

8 oz. Swiss cheese, cut into chunks

 About 25 minutes before serving:

Preheat oven to 350oF.  In 1-1/2 qt. saucepan over medium heat, into hot
butter, stir flour and nutmeg until blended.  Gradually stir in milk and
wine; cook, stirring, until mixture is thickened.

Add salmon and its liquid, 1 cup cheese; stir briskly to break up salmon.

Spoon salmon mixture into six 10-oz. ramekins or custard cups; top each with
a heaping teaspoon cheese. Bake 15 minutes or until bubbly. Makes 6
servings. 

Susan's note: Works in one big casserole, too.

JARED'S BREAD

1 cup hot tap water

2 Tbsp. honey

3 Tbsp. butter

1 egg

1-1/4 tsp. salt

1 package dry yeast

1 cup white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

extra flour to knead [both kinds]

In a saucepan combine hot tap water, honey and butter.  Place over low heat
until the butter has completely melted.  Set aside to cool to just above
body temperature.  In a large bowl combine salt, flours and dry yeast.
Blend in the egg and the honey mixture, adding just enough additional flour
to form a stiff dough.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until the
dough is smooth and elastic and has lost all stickiness.  Then turn dough
over several times in a well-buttered bowl so that all sides are
well-greased.  Cover and allow to double for 1-1/2 hours.  Punch dough down,
form into a loaf and place in a greased loaf pan.  Cover and allow to double
or at least rise just above the top of the pan.  Bake at 375 degrees F for
30-35 minutes or until bread is browned and makes a hollow sound when tapped
on top.  Remove from oven and turn out on a cake rack to cool.

Makes one loaf.

JARED BREAD - MACHINED

1 cup lukewarm water

2 Tablespoons honey [More, up to double is OK]

3 Tablespoons butter, margarine or shortening

1 egg

2 cups white flour, preferably "better for bread" type

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 package or 1 tablespoon dry yeast

1-1/4 teaspoon salt

Bake on "regular" setting, or let breadmachine do all the kneading and
rising, then bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes in the oven.

MEXICAN CHOCOLATE BREAD

1 cup warm milk

1 egg

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3 cups bread flour

1 cup Mexican Chocolate, crushed tablets

1 package yeast

Dump into bread machine in order given

Monastery Pumpkin Bread
As baked by the sisters of the Monastery of the Angels in Hollywood.

3-1/2 cups sifted flour

3 cups sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1-1/2 tsp. salt

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup oil

2/3 cup water

2 cups cooked and mashed pumpkin

walnut pieces

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Combine
eggs, oil, water and pumpkin, mixing well.  Stir into dry ingredients.

Turn into 3 greased 9x5-inch loaf pans and top with several walnut pieces.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until cake tester inserted in enter comes
out clean.  Cool before slicing.

Makes 3 one-pound loaves.

Printed in the Los Angeles Times, date unknown.

Banana Pudding 

the way Grandma used to make it, according to Jim Davis

3 or 4 ripe bananas, sliced

1 box of vanilla wafers

2 1/2 c. milk

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 tsp. salt

3 egg yolks, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 egg whites

6 tbsp sugar

In a pyrex dish make alternating layers of bananas and wafers.  [You may not
use all the wafers.]

Meanwhile, put cornstarch in with a bit of the milk and blend.  Now put this
liquid, along with the rest of the milk, into a saucepan.  Add salt.  Heat,
stirring until thickened.  Put several spoonfuls of that milk mixture into a
cup with 3 egg yolks, then gradually add to the hot mixture on the stove.
Add vanilla.  Stir well.  Pour this hot liquid over the bananas and wafers.
Next beat the egg whites with sugar to form meringue.  Spread meringue over
the pudding and brown lightly in a 350°F oven. Serve at room temperature or
chilled.

Notes:  Use lots of bananas and wafers, pack¹em in. Leave the wafers whole.

I just mixed the cornstarch with a couple of tablespoons of milk in the
saucepan, with a whisk, then added in the rest of the milk.  Use low heat
and be patient, don¹t add more cornstarch, it will thicken up, honest!

Don¹t get lazy and just toss the egg yolks into the hot milk, they will
curdle and you¹ll have scrambled egg instead of custard.

You can forget the meringue entirely if you want to or if your mixer isn¹t
working, I don¹t think anyone will complain.

I wonder how this would be with chocolate wafers?  <sometime later> Yummers!

The Best Sugar Cookie You Ever Ate or Snitched
also from "Good Food" magazine.

1 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup oil

Pinch salt

1 tsp. vanilla

5 cups unsifted flour

2 tsps. baking soda

2 tsps. cream of tartar

Cream butter and sugar.  Add next 4 ingredients.  After measuring, sift dry
ingredients together.

Mix well. Roll into balls between palms of hands.  Roll ball in sugar and
"smoosh" down with a fork, a decorative cookie marker or bottom of a glass
dipped in sugar.  Bake 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven, or until lightly
browned on edges. 

Makes 5-6 dozen.

SPICEBREAD 

1/4 cup soft shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

1 egg

1/2 cup coffee

Mix together. Then sift in separate bowl:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Add to liquid ingredients.  Spread in pan, after adding nuts, raising,
crystallized fruit or anything else desired, bake till tender and cut into
bars.  Or add extra flour as desired, roll out, cut into shapes and bake.

Basic Baking Time is 1/2 hour at 350oF.  Adjust for thickness of the
loaf/biscuits/bars.

Variations:

Instead of coffee: Sanka, cocoa, other brewed liquids?

Additional spices: coriander, pepper, galingale, anise, whatever.

Shortenings: Crisco is good, regular vegetable oil gives a nice soft product
but nut oils taste better [strongly flavored oils like olive or sesame would
be odd], margarine will work as would lard [but you have to really like
lard].

Fresh chopped apples and pears are good in this.  Absolutely any nuts and
dried or candied fruits are appropriate, and a lot of these make for a great
Xmas-fruitcake. For a plum pudding steam the batter in a bowl or mold for a
couple of hours, then flame with brandy.

[adapted from a recipe in THE DARKOVER COOKBOOK, 1979 ed.]

Chocolate Truffles

Adapted from "Good Food" Magazine

1/3 cup heavy cream

6 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, in small pieces

  [I've always found Nestle's chips adequate]

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1.  Heat cream just to boiling in heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Remove
from heat and whisk in chocolate and butter until smooth.

2.  Pour warm chocolate mixture into shallow bowl. Press plastic wrap
directly on chocolate and refrigerate 3 hours.

3.  Scoop chocolate mixture into 24 rounded teaspoonfuls;  place on waxed
paper. Roll each truffle between palms into ball.  Dredge in cocoa and toss
gently to remove excess.

4. Refrigerate truffles covered up to 1 week, or freeze in airtight
container 1 month and remove from freezer 5 mnutes before serving.

Variations:

Deshivé's truffles: Grate zest off of one lemon, add to the warm chocolate
mixture.  Decorate finished truffles with a bit of candied lemon peel.

Hazelnut: Toast, skin and finely chop 1 cup [4 oz.] hazelnuts.  Use only 1
Tbsp. of the butter.  Stir nuts and 2 Tbsp. hazelnut liqueur into warm
chocolate mixture.  Dust lightly with cocoa.

Amaretto: Toast 45 whole almonds. Reserve 24:  finely chop remainder.  Stir
2 Tbsp. amaretto liqueur into warm chocolate mixture.  Mold truffles around
whole almonds, dredge in cocoa and roll in chopped nuts.

Cappuccino: Mix 1 Tbsp. boiling water, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon and 2 tsp.
instant espresso powder to a smooth paste;  stir into warm chocolate
mixture.  Dredge truffles in 3 Tbsp. sugar mixed with 1-1/2 tsp. ground
cinnamon. 

Sweet Orange: Pare zest from 1 orange and place in small saucepan with cold
water to cover.  Boil 1 minute, drain and repeat.  Heat 1 cup water and 1/3
sugar to boiling, add zest and boil 5 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly.
Chop sugared zest and mix with 2 Tbsp. orange liqueur;  stir into warm
chocolate mixture.  Dust with powdered sugar.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

The One.  The Only.  The Great and Powerful Mousse.

1 cup [2 sticks] unsalted butter

1-1/2 cup sugar

4 oz. unsweetened bitter chocolate

1 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

1]   Cream butter well with sugar.

2]   Melt chocolate, and add it and vanilla to the butter mixture.

3]   With an electric mixer set on HIGH or a brace of enthusiastic
teenagers, add the eggs, one at a time, taking five minutes to incorporate
each egg before adding the next one.  That's 20 minutes total. This is the
secret to the whole thing.  Do not under any circumstances skimp.

4]   Turn into a baked pie-crust or small serving cups, and chill at least
an hour before serving--if you can stand the wait.

Notes:

Increase chocolate to 8 ounces for amazing decadence.

Decrease sugar to 3/4 cup for a bittersweet effect.

Try different flavour extracts; almond, coconut, mint, rum and brandy are
dandy. 

Angel Chip Cookies -- Sinfully Delicious!

A classic specialty from Lyndia.  This looks like a lot, but really only
makes 30 ver-ry big rich cookies.

CREAM:     1 cup margarine

     1 cup shortening

ADD AND BEAT:    

     2 cups sugar

     1 box brown sugar

     4 eggs

     2 tsps. vanilla

SIFT AND ADD, 4 cups flour

STIRRING IN:  2 tsps. baking powder

     2 tsps. baking soda

ADD AND STIR: 2 cups oatmeal

     2 cups cornflakes

     1-6 ounce package chocolate chips [or more]

     1 cup cocoanut [or more]

OPTIONAL:     1 or 2 cups chopped walnuts

     1-6 ounce package peanut butter chips

     raisins

Drop about 1/4 cup batter per cookie on a lightly greased cookie sheet [no
need to press flat].

Bake in 350 degree oven about 17 minutes each batch.  Watch carefully till
center just dries but before edges become dark.

Makes about 30 cookies 5" in diameter at a cost of about $5.12 per batch or
$.17 per cookie 

[10-1-85] and 400 calories each.