4 cups (12 oz) fresh cranberries
1 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or similar dried berries
½ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 cup water, vegetable stock, or orange juice
½ cup minced onion
½ cup minced granny smith apple
½ cup minced celery
Optional ½ cup chopped pistachios, walnuts, or peanuts
In a medium pot, combine the cranberries, dried fruit, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, pepper, and water/stock/orange juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer over low heat until the berries start to pop, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the onion, apple, celery, and nuts. Stir occasionally until the mixture thickens, 5-10 more minutes. Remove from heat.
For best flavor, refrigerate it overnight.
This makes a large amount. For Thanksgiving, I make 1/3 of a recipe.
2 cups flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp salt
½ Tbsp baking soda
1 cup milk, water, or nut milk
½ cup butter or coconut oil
1 egg
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla or orange extract (optional)
Preheat oven to 450° F. Grease a muffin tin, or put in paper baking cups.
Stir together the flour, sugars, salt, and baking soda.
In a small bowl, melt the butter/coconut oil. Add the milk/water/nut milk, egg, lemon juice, and vanilla/orange extract. Whisk until completely combined.
Pour the liquid into the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Divide evenly into the muffin cups, about ¼ cup each.
Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400° F and bake for 10-12 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
Makes 10-12 regular sized muffins. Cooking times will be shorter for small muffins and longer for large muffins.
Variations
Add to the dry ingredients 1 to 1 ½ cups of a filling, such as dried fruit, chocolate chips, chopped nuts, berries, chopped fresh or frozen fruit, rolled oats or barley.
Use honey instead of sugar.
Add 2 Tbsp cocoa powder.
Add 2-3 tsp of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, etc.
Add 2 Tbsp each of poppy seeds and lemon zest.
This is meant to be a basic recipe that can be customized as you wish for different flavors.
This basic recipe can be used as the template for many variations of the classic dessert.
For a medium sized cobbler, about 9”×6”.
Filling:
3 cups fruit, fresh or frozen
about ¼ cup sugar (more or less depending on the fruit used)
Topping:
1 cup flour
1 ½ cups rolled oats
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Prepare the fruit as necessary, such as washing, peeling, chopping it into roughly bite-sized pieces, removing seeds. Stir the fruit and sugar together, then spread into the bottom of a baking pan.
Stir the oats, flour, and sugar together. Use your fingers to rub in the butter until there is no dry powder. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit and bake for 30 minutes.
Variations
Use rolled barley, rye, or wheat instead of rolled oats.
Use white sugar, brown sugar, honey, or maple syrup.
Combine any type of fruit.
Add 1-2 tsp of spices to the filling or the topping.
Add extras to the filling like chopped nuts, dried fruit, shredded coconut, or chocolate chips.
Use coconut oil instead of butter.
Use different types of flour in the topping such as almond flour, corn meal or masa harina.
4 cups flour
1 ¾ cups warm water or milk
1 Tbs. salt
2 tsp dry yeast or .6-.7 oz fresh yeast
2 tsp sugar
Mix-ins:
peanut butter
jam/jelly
cheese
marinara sauce, with or without cheese, minced pepperoni, etc
poppy seeds and lemon zest
dill weed and grated carrot
any kind of herbs, edible flowers
tiny bits of caramel
cheese with minced vegetables like peppers, garlic, etc
honey
cinnamon and sugar
dried fruit
Use your imagination!
Combine the yeast with the sugar in warm water/milk. Stir in the flour one cup at a time, adding in the salt with the last cup of flour. Knead so that it's smooth and elastic with some resistance.
Coat bowl and dough in oil or water. Place dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap sealed around the edges, but large and loose over the top so it doesn't smash the risen dough. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled, in a warm place.
Divide dough into a lot of small portions. Add a different mix-in into each piece, adding flour if necessary to anything that is too wet. Some fillings can be kneaded into the dough. For some fillings, roll the piece of dough flat, put on the filling, and roll it into a log with the filling spiraled inside. Others can be made into little filled dumplings. Coat the outside of the pieces with water so they will adhere together. Put the pieces of dough all together in a greased bread pan, coat the top with oil, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise again for another 30 minutes or so, until it is about an inch over the top of the pan.
Spray water into the oven or place a small pan with water inside. Put the bread pan into the oven, then start pre-heating to 350° F. Bake for 60-70 minutes until it's a dark golden brown on top and the interior measures to 190°-200° F.
2 cups of raw nuts and seeds
1 Tbsp oil
optional: 1 tsp salt
optional: 2 Tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 325° F. Spread nuts onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. The cooking makes them grind easier, but you can use raw nuts if you prefer.
Let cool enough to handle. Place in a food processor with the oil and optional salt and sugar. Grind until it becomes a thick paste.
You can use any combination of nuts that you like. For this batch I used peanuts, walnuts, almonds, candied almonds, chia seeds, and a pinch of fennel seeds.
1 mint teabag (1 Tbsp dried mint leaves)
1 ¾ cup (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
½ cup cocoa powder
2 cups cream
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
½ cup chopped nuts
1 cup multi-colored mini marshmallows
Heat the cream in a small pan over high heat until it is steaming. Add in the mint teabag. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 1 hour. Remove teabag and chill completely.
In a small pan over low heat, stir together the sweetened condensed milk and cocoa powder for about 5 minutes, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in the cream, milk, and vanilla. Chill completely.
Churn in an ice cream machine according to its directions. Add the chopped nuts and marshmallows at the end, churning for about 5 more minutes to mix them in. For my machine, the bowl needs to be completely frozen. Churn for 15 minutes, then 5 more minutes with the nuts and marshmallows.
Can be served soft, or transferred to an airtight container to be frozen.
4 cups dry bread, cubed small
1 cup fruit, fresh or dried, in small pieces
½ cup chopped nuts
2 ½ cups milk, cream, half & half, or a combination
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar or brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Grease a 9”×13” baking pan. Put the fruit in an even layer in the dish, then the bread cubes, then sprinkle the nuts evenly over it.
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Heat the milk until just before the boiling point. Allow to cool slightly.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the warm milk into the egg mixture. Then pour it evenly over the bread in the baking pan.
Baked 25-30 minutes, until puffed and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean. Allow to repose for another 5 minutes.
Use a 9” deep dish pie tin. You also want a meat thermometer.
Pie crust:
¾ cup butter
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or semola flour
½ cup water
¼ tsp salt
beaten egg whites
Filling:
2 Tbsp honey
½ cup dried fruits, minced (such as raisins, blueberries, prunes, cherries, figs, dates)
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
3 egg yolks
2 Tbsp minced nuts
1 cup carrots, finely chopped
¾ cup fennel bulb and stalk, finely chopped
2 cups chicken, cut into about 1” cubes
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp thyme
½ tsp mace
Set the oven to 350° F and put the chicken in to cook while you make the crust and chop the vegetables.
Crust:
Cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly and there is no more dry powder. Dissolve the salt in the water, and stir into the flour to make a soft dough. Knead it a bit to get it all together. Form a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in fridge to chill until hard.
Stir together all the filling ingredients.
When the crust dough is hard, divide it in half. Place a piece of waxed paper on the counter, and sprinkle with flour. Roll out half the dough to a circle big enough to fit in the pie tin. It should be somewhat thick crust. Place the tin upside-down on the dough, and flip it over with the dough and waxed paper to get the dough inside. Remove the waxed paper and press the dough down into the tin.
Spread the filling into the pie crust.
Roll out the rest of the crust dough in the same way, using the waxed paper to lift it and place it on the top of the pie. Trim the edge of the crust and pinch the top and bottom together.
Brush the beaten egg whites onto the crust. Make a cool design on the top crust with the remaining dough! Make sure there are some cuts in the top crust. Brush the design with egg whites as well.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches or exceeds 165° F.
Variation:
Use ½ cup bacon and ½ cup chicken. Use parsnips instead of carrots. Use puff pastry instead of pie crust.
½ cup sour cream
¼ tsp baking soda
1 egg, beaten
¼ cup oil
3 Tbsp milk
¼ cup honey
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ cup chopped hazelnuts
extra honey
ground nutmeg
Preheat oven to 425° F.
Stir together the baking soda and sour cream in a small bowl. Stir in the egg, oil, milk, and honey.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour and stir until it is just moistened. Stir in the hazelnuts.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead a few times until it is together and smooth.
Place a piece of baking parchment on a baking sheet and place the dough on, pressing it into a large circle about 1” thick. Drizzle more honey on top, then sprinkle with nutmeg. Cut the circle into 8 or 12 wedges.
½ cup farina (if you can't find plain farina, use unflavored cream of wheat or malt-o-meal)
1 cup water
1 Tbsp pine nuts
2 Tbsp blanched almonds
2 Tbsp raisins
¼ cup prune juice or grape juice
dates
figs
extra nuts of desired variety
Simmer the juice over low heat until it is reduced to half. Set aside.
Over low heat, whisk together the farina and water. Add the pine nuts and almonds. Cook, stirring, until it reaches desired thickness. (I like it really thick and solid, some want it thinner.)
Stir the raisins and juice into the farina.
Mince the dates and figs, and crush the nuts. Serve in bowls with the fruit and nuts on top.
I got together with a friend to do some experimental Roman cooking.
The recipe we used interpreted apothermum as a pudding. I found a second recipe that considers it a sauce for meat. However, in the original text, apothermum is in the minced dishes chapter, not the sauce chapter. The two different translations are interesting. One recipe comes up with forcemeats, the other says nuts and fruit. (Latin is weird because isn't it all, “We're pretty sure this word means this” because there are no original speakers?)
Boil spelt with Tor. pignolia nuts and peeled almonds1[G.‑V. and] immersed in boiling water and washed with white clay so that they appear perfectly white, add raisins, flavor with condensed wine or raisin wine and serve it in a round dish with crushed2nuts, fruit, bread or cake crumbs sprinkled over it.3
1V. We peel almonds in the same manner; the white clay treatment is new to us.
G.‑V.:and — which is confusing.
2
The original: confractum — crushed, but what? G.‑V. pepper, for which there is neither authority nor reason. A wine sauce would go well with it or crushed fruit. List. and Goll. Breadcrumbs.
3
This is a perfectly good pudding — one of the very few desserts in
Apicius. With a little sweetening (supplied probably by the condensed
wine) and some grated lemon for flavor it is quite acceptable as a
dessert.
For clarification, the blue text in the first recipe are extrapolations added to the recipe by the translator. The footnotes are also by the translator, and some refer to the text of a different translation.
Sauce recipe To make Apothermum: Boil spelt with small nuts and blanched almonds.
The almonds should previously been have been soaked in water with the
chalk used as polish, so that they are perfectly white. To this add
raisins and defritum or raisin wine. Sprinkle with ground pepper and
serve in a bowl [with prepared forcemeats].
Latin text: 10. Apothermum sic facies: alicam elixa nucleis et amygdalis depilatis et in aqua infusis et lotis ex creta argentaria, ut ad candorem pariter perducantur. cui ammiscebis uvam passam, caroenum vel passum, desuper ‹piper› confractum asparges et in boletari inferes.
As you see, the first recipe says that it's spelt or farina. Not sure where they're getting the farina bit, but, in my opinion, that would provide a way better texture than the boiled spelt berries that we tried the first time.
I looked up raisin wine to determine exactly what I needed to try for (because I don't use alcohol), and it's a sweet dessert wine. Defritum is a sweet syrup made by reducing grape juice (hence the translation into “condensed wine”).
I like that the second recipe says small nuts, which may not need to be pine nuts. Is “small nuts” the actual ancient Roman name for pine nuts? The translator for the first recipe seems obsessed with pine nuts because he specifies them pretty much anytime nuts are mentioned.
The nuts, fruit, bread or cake crumbs bit from the first recipe is hypothesized by the translator; so apparently no one really knows what the crushed stuff is that goes on the dish. I like the nuts/fruit idea.
I liked it. It is like eating fancied-up cream of wheat, which is basically exactly what it is.