The Charmed Kitchen

I always enjoy making and receiving homemade gifts at the holidays. I know with all the talk of how commercial everything is a homemade gift just seems more personal. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be posting lots of ideas for home made and home baked gifts for giving. I hope you will enjoy them.

An easy project to try is cinnamon ornaments. Both adults and kids can make them. You make a dough from cinnamon and applesauce- roll it out and cut out with cookie cutters. Don’t forget to add a hole for a hook or string so your ornament can be hung up later. Then you just let them air dry for a few days. They make the house smell wonderful and last for years.

Cinnamon Ornaments

These are for decorating not for eating!

3/4 c. applesauce

1 bottle (4.12 oz.) cinnamon

Mix applesauce and cinnamon and knead to form a stiff dough. Roll out to 1/4-inch thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Make hole in top of ornament with skewer or straw and carefully transfer to rack to dry. Let dry a couple of days, turning occasionally. Hang dried ornaments with decorative thread or ribbon. Makes about 12-15.

I will be doing the annual Holiday Craft Show at Wildwood this Sunday. This is one of my favorites. All local products and crafters. I will be there with my cookbooks, herb packets, beer bread mixes, soup mixes, relishes and jellies. One of the highlights are the fresh green arrangements, wreaths and swags made by the Wildwood Garden Club every year. They sell out quickly.

Wildwood is located at 7645 Little Mountain Road. It is an old mansion and a lovely location. There are 3 stories of crafts to check out. Hours are from 10-4 this Sunday, December 2. There is a $1 admission. Hope to see you there.

Keith’s apple pie

Part of our Thanksgiving dinner is always having great desserts including pies. My sister, Cindy Morgner, always makes squash pie. They are really wonderful. My nephew, Keith Scherer, makes apples pies. They are amazing. Piked high with a mix of apples and not too sweet they are a joy to behold and to eat.

Chocolate Cabbage Cake

Had some fun making this cake. My cousin, Ali Levar Jindra was having her baby shower. I thought this cake would be a nice contribution. I start by making a round cake. I use 2 stainless steel bowls that are the same size. Bake them and then after they are cooled I frost them together into a round cake. Chocolate cake and chocolate frosting.  The fun starts when I paint large, clean cabbage leaves with melted chocolate. I put the leaves in the fridge to set the chocolate faster. After they are cooled I carefully peel off and discard the leaves. what I am left with are chocolate “leaves” that a press all around the cake until it is covered. Make a few extra leaves to decorate the plate and to allow for breakage. Also keep extra frosting on hand to use to affix the leaves.

Apple Blintzes

It is still apple season and I am eating them fresh everyday but am always interested in new things to do with them. I decided to use up some flour tortillas and make a super easy apple dish. You can serve it with ice cream as a dessert or plain for a snack or perhaps a brunch dish. Kind of an apple blintz. Heck, let’s just call them apple blintzes. All the flavor of apple pie with a lot less work. I just used cinnamon but feel free to add more spices. Allspice, ginger nutmeg ad cloves would all be welcome additions.

Apple Blintzes

4 (8-10 inch) flour tortillas

small amount of milk

4 medium apples

1/2 c. water

sugar to taste, use less for sweet apples

cinnamon to taste

2 T. butter

powdered sugar, optional ( not really)

Place tortillas in a shallow pan and pour over the milk. Make sure all the tortillas are moistened.  Peel and core the apples and cut into slices. Place in a skillet with the water,sugar and cinnamon and cook until apples are tender and most of the water is gone. That should take about 10 minutes.  Place a softened tortilla on work surface and place about 1/4 of the apple mixture in the center. Fold in sides and then roll up from the other end- forming a sort of envelope. Repeat with remaining apples and tortillas. Place butter in skillet with any remaining juices from the apples and heat until butter is melted.  Add the tortillas- seam side down- and brown on both sides. Liquid in pan will start to caramelize. Place on serving plate and spoon over any liquid in pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. Makes 4.

Assorted liqueurs

I will be teaching a class on Homemade Liqueurs next Tuesday in Mentor. There are only a couple of places available. Mentor classes are held at Wildwood Center at 7645 Little Mountain Road.  You can register online at CityofMentor.com/play or by phone at 440 974 5720 from Cleveland call 440 942 8796.

New for this class will be a limited edition of elderberry liqueur for tasting.

Learn about the history of liqueurs and how their combination of fruit, herbs and spices can enhance your cooking. Sample recipes that, through the addition of liqueurs, go from ordinary to extraordinary. You’ll learn how to make your own liqueurs and how to use them in cooking. Students must be age 21 or older to take this class.

This is a great gluten-free dessert. You don’t have to be gluten-free to love it. Dense and rich it is a great end for any meal. Simple to make and always a hit. I made this one for a clambake I’ll be going to soon. I decorated it with chocolate leaves but you can serve it plain, too.  Here is the recipe. If you want to avoid the alcohol you can substitute fruit juice, I like orange juice.

Flour-less Chocolate Mousse Cake

½ c. each sugar and water

1 stick butter

12 oz. semi sweet chocolate

6 eggs

¼ dark rum or other liqueur

Butter an eight inch cake pan and line with parchment. In saucepan heat together water and sugar until they boil. Stir in butter and bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until melted. Beat in eggs until smooth and stir in rum. Pour batter into prepared pan and place pan in a roasting pan. Pour boiling water into roaster to come up sides of pan 1 inch. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 45 minutes. Cool, invert onto plate.

Serve cake topped with whipped cream and decorate with raspberries, other fresh fruit or even toasted nuts. Dense and rich this cake serves 8-10.

I harvested what will probably be the last of this season’s tomatoes. Some red ones, but mostly green. I love fried green tomatoes but there are far too many for just that.  My friend Mari has the same problem so I promised to post the recipe for green tomato pickles for her. They are really easy to make and they taste good, too. I have also included the recipe for sweet green tomato pickles.

                                      Green Tomato Dill Pickles ‑ Kosher style

Green tomatoes

Stalk celery

Sweet green peppers

Garlic

2 quarts water

1 quart vinegar

1 cup salt

Dill

Use small firm green tomatoes.  Pack into sterilized canning jars.  Add to each quart jar a bud of garlic, 1 stalk of celery, and 1 green pepper cut into fourths.  Make a brine of the water, vinegar, and the salt.  Boil with the dill for 5 minutes.  Pour the hot brine over the pickles to within 1/2 inch of the top of the jar.  Put on cap, screw band firmly tight.  Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes.  These pickles will be ready for use in 4‑6 weeks.  Yield:  About 6 quarts.

Green Tomato Sweet Pickles

1 gallon green tomatoes (16 c. sliced)

1/4 c. salt

1/2 T. powdered alum

3 c. vinegar (5% acidity)

1 c. water

4 c. sugar

2 T. Pickling spice

1 T. celery seed

1/2 t. cinnamon

Slice tomatoes.  Sprinkle with salt and allow to stand overnight.  Next morning, drain and pour 2 quarts of boiling water with 1/2 Tablespoon of powdered alum over the tomatoes and let stand 20 minutes.  Drain and cover with cold water, drain.  Combine vinegar, water, sugar and spices (tie spices loosely in a bag) and bring to a boil.  Pour this over the tomatoes.  Let stand in this solution overnight.  Then drain and bring solution to boil and pour over tomatoes.  Let stand overnight.  On the third morning bring the pickles and solution to a boil.  Pack into sterilized canning jars to within 1/2 inch of top.  Put on cap, screw band firmly tight.  Process in boiling water bath for ten minutes.  Yield:  8 pints

Its been such a long  and often hot season and I can’t believe its almost over. Thursday will be the last market of the year at Blue Pike Farm- 900 E. 72 Street in Cleveland. I hope if you have wanted to come and haven’t you will make it tomorrow. I have been busy making wine jelly, pomegranate jelly and sweet onion relish. I will also have strawberry preserves, apple butter and my salt- free seasoning packets. I’ve been baking more lately, too. There will be zucchini bread, chocolate beet cake,  pumpkin cake, pumpkin scones , oatmeal bread and Swedish Limpa bread. I also have 1 hydrangea wreath left for sale. There will also be fresh eggs, honey and produce. Hope to see you there- the weather is supposed to be wonderful!!!