Mini Marzipan Cakes, from the show

Thoughts:

When I saw these little morsels in a “making of” video from season 4, I just knew I had to make them. I got in touch with Karyn Booth, the home economist from the set, and she revealed that they were made of ground almonds, essentially a cousin to marzipan. Convenient, since I just did a post on making almond milk, which leaves a lot of ground almond pulp leftover. Color me thrilled. Also, color me pinks and purples:

Here’s a shot from the show, of mini marzipans from the royal wedding

My version is pretty and tasty, as well as fairly easy to make. They end up looking a bit more rustic than the version on the show, but I’m always a big fan of rustic. :) The almond flavor comes through, and isn’t really overpowered by the sugar, as is sometimes the case with commercial marzipan. The sweetness comes from the icing, and whatever you choose to use for a topping. All in all, they’re dainty little things, just perfect for special occasions, or making a statement with dessert.

Mini Marzipans Recipe

Cook’s Note: This is loosely based on several medieval marzipan recipes, most of which call for rose water. While this would be wonderful in the rose-petal-garnished version, I wanted to make something basic to start. Feel free to add your favorite flavorings!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups dried ground almonds, from making almond milk, or almond meal
1/4 cup fine sugar
1/4 cup honey
~1 Tbs. almond milk
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
~1 Tbs. almond milk
various garnishes: candied flowers, dried fruit, sprinkles, etc.
food coloring (optional)

Combine the ground almonds and sugar in a bowl, then stir in the honey. Add a single drop of food coloring, then the almond milk very gradually to avoid too wet a mixture to handle. When the whole mixture has come together and is not too wet or sticky to handle (it’ll still be a bit sticky), pinch off a piece a little smaller than a walnut or Tablespoon, and form into your desired shape. Tapping or rolling on a clean countertop can help make neater shapes with clean edges. Set each little finished cake on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet.

Make the icing: pour the confectioner’s sugar into a separate bowl. Add your desired food coloring to match the almond filling. Very slowly mix in almond milk until you have a thick icing that can just be drizzled, but isn’t runny. Use a pastry brush, spoon, or your fingers to smooth the icing onto each almond cake. Set the iced cakes back onto the cooling rack to let the excess icing drip off. Garnish as you like, and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes to set. Can be stored for several days in the fridge.

Honeycake with Blackberries

“In the Queen’s Ballroom they broke their fast on honeycakes baked with blackberries and nuts, gammon steaks, bacon, fingerfish crisped in breadcrumbs, autumn pears, and a Dornish dish of onions, cheese, and chopped eggs cooked up with fiery peppers.” -A Storm of Swords

Thoughts:

Valentine’s Day has always been a big deal in my family, probably second only to Christmas. Many years, it involves a big dinner, heart confetti, and assorted family and friends. This was a wonderful way to grow up, because it completely did away with the element of single/not single that can be so oppressive, especially during the dark wintery month of February. Therefore, I suggest making a batch of these for anyone in your life, whether it’s a friend, spouse, child, or what have you. After all, there are a lotta kinds of loves out there! Personally, I love how adding cornmeal to what would normally be a dessert somehow makes it suitable for breakfast. They’re small sized, letting you feel fine about scooting more than one onto your plate. They’re not too sweet, and baked with berries and nuts, not just topped with them. Honestly, they’re more like muffins, although they look as appetizing as a platter of cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting is an added layer of semi-sweet, creamy goodness. I had to curb my creativity a little with this recipe. I’d wanted to try a sort of thinly layered cake with a honey frosting in between, with nuts and berries on top. But the original says the cake is baked with berries and nuts, so I had to obey. :) This version might not be as elegant as what I had originally imagined, but it’s a delicious alternative!

Recipe for Honeycake with Blackberries and Nuts

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 cup milk
pinch salt
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 cup corn meal
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 pint blackberries
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Cream the butter and honey, then add the egg and milk. Gradually mix in the salt and baking powder, followed by the cornmeal and flour. Stir in the nuts and blackberries, smooshing the berris with the mixing spoon to roughly break them up for easier distribution through the batter. Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins, filling halfway up. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden.

Ingredients for Icing:

1/2 cup softened butter (1 stick)
8 oz. cream cheese (1 package)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup honey
dash of vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer (or a lot of arm power), combine the butter and cream cheese until it’s very smooth. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until incorporated. Spread evenly onto the completely cooled muffins.

Braised Apples with Cheese

“The last course was goat cheese served with baked apples. The scent of cinnamon filled the hall as Osney Kettleblack slipped in to kneel once more between them.” – A Clash of Kings

Thoughts:

This dish comes via reader Vinz, who suggested this recipe for the snippet from the book almost a year ago. I had always imagined them as whole baked apples, like the two recipes that went into the cookbook, and had pretty much written off the quote.

I am so glad to have tried this new version.

The apples cook until just tender, while the juices and butter combine to make that gooey, drippy, awesome sauce you see in the photo. Crunch of nuts, tang of goat cheese, bite of spices. I used walnuts, and some long pepper, which has a sharper but faster taste than ordinary black pepper.

The recipe technically makes enough for two, but I will admit to eating it all myself in a single sitting. It was awesome. I have no regrets.

Braised Apples with Goat Cheese

Time: ~20 minutes Serves: 1+

Ingredients:

2 apples, cored and sliced into eighths
2 Tbs. salted butter
1 1/2 cup cider
4 oz. goat cheese
2 Tbs. honey
currants, nuts, etc. for topping
pinch each cinnamon, ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Melt the butter in a skillet or frying pan and saute the apple slices, flipping them so they are coated with butter. Do this for 2-3 minutes, then pour over 1 cup of the cider. Simmer gently, stopping just shy of the apples going mushy. When they still have some body to them, scoop out the slices and place on a baking sheet, preferably lined with a silicone pad or parchment paper.

Sprinkle goat cheese over top, and place in the oven until the cheese starts to melt. While the apples are cooking, add the honey, remaining cider, nuts/dried fruits, and spices to the pan. Reduce down until the sauce starts to thicken, then remove from heat. When the apples come out, arrange them in serving dishes and spoon the sauce over. Sprinkle with a dash of extra cinnamon, and devour.

The Serpent and the Pearl – a Fictional Feast with Peach Crostata

What a fantastic adventure this was! Kate Quinn, author of several historical fiction novels, rounded up a number of food bloggers for a sort of virtual potluck, where we all made a dish from her newest book, The Serpent and the Pearl. It’s a book that chronicles the rise of the Borgia family in Rome through the eyes of three different characters, one of whom is a cook.

Obviously, she was my favorite.

A fiery no-nonsense cook, Carmellina is a fierce matriarch of the kitchen. Happy to whack apprentices with wooden spoons until they mind her, she finally finds one with real promise. The author of the book, Kate Quinn, has written in Bartolomeo Scappi, one of the real-world late medieval food gurus, as one of those gawky apprentices. His cookbook is one of my favorites, as it’s bursting with recipes and combinations of ingredients that I’d never have considered on my own. I discovered the cookbook this summer at a medieval food lab, where I pretty much read the book instead of getting around to cooking anything. But I’m making up for it now.

For this virtual potluck, I made three dishes: Roasted Duck, Peach Crostata, and Milk Snow. I’ve included the middle recipe below, but the others will follow soon. For now, I’ll talk about the deliciously spiced Peach Crostata.

As soon as I read this recipe, I was intrigued. A twist of dough around the pastry crust? I had to know more. I looked through the rest of Scappi’s recipes, and found a section that described the process of making these “twists”. That raised round edge of the crust, in this tart, is essentially a cinnamon roll, while the rest of the crust is not unlike the thin bottom of a modern fruit pie. (As a delectable sidenote, Scappi also mentions that one can make a similar crust with a sort of mince filling or savory meat filling; the possibilities are endless!) I experimented with a couple of methods before finding the one that worked best, and the resulting fruit tart is wonderful.

The dough, part pastry and part bread, is soft and light, providing a neutral basis for the spiced fruit filling. The peaches that are hard before baking soften but do not lose their shape. The flavors are brought to the forefront by the mixture of warm spices. Here and there a bite includes the tart burst of a cherry, which provides a flavorful aesthetic counterpart to the peaches. The most distinctive flavor of the dish is the mixture of spices, which is delightfully reminiscent of mulled wine. Add to that the beautiful colors of peaches and cherries, and you’ve got yourself a showpiece dessert.

While you’re hungry, definitely check out the other delectable dishes in our potluck. These talented ladies have all produced dishes from Scappi that are positively mouthwatering:

Hot Sops with Cherries – Kate Quinn, author

Fresh Cheese & Onion Tourte – Island Vittles

Capon with Garlic, Coriander & White Wine, Baked Apples – Little White Apron

Sugared Biscotti & Elderflower Frittelle – Taking on Magazines

Roasted Shoulder of Boar – Deana, at Lost Past Remembered

Asparagus Zuppa and Zabaglione – Heather Webb, author

Late Medieval Peach Crostata

“To prepare a peach, apricot, or plum crostata. Get a peach that is not too ripe; if it is hard it will do quite a bit better than if not. Peel it and cut it into slices. Have a tourte pan ready, lined with its three sheets of dough and its twist around it, greased with butter or rendered fat, and sprinkled with pepper, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar, and with raisins and crumbled Neapolitan mostaccioli. On all that set out the peach slices and on top of them put the same ingredients as are under them. Cover the pan over with three thin sheets of dough, with rendered fat or butter brushed between each; sprinkle that with sugar and cinnamon. Bake it in an oven or braise it; it does not take too much cooking because it would disintigrate into a broth. Serve it hot, dressed with sugar and rosewater. With those ingredients you can also add in provatura or grated cheese.” -The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi, c. 1570

Cook’s Notes: I mostly followed the original recipe for this, although I found that I needed more than a single peach. The dough recipe comes from Scappi as well, but the proportions are tweaked. I scoured all over Boston for fennel pollen, which I have been meaning to try, but without success. I’ll get some soon, and update the recipe review accordingly.

Dough Ingredients:

2 cups flour
pinch of salt
3 Tbs. butter, plus more for spreading onto dough
2 egg yolks (save the whites for Milk Snow… recipe forthcoming)
1 tsp. rosewater
1 tsp. dry yeast

Filling Ingredients:

3 peaches
1/4 cup crumbled cookies (any shortbread-like cookie will do, but experiment!)
pinch of fennel pollen (optional)
1/4 tsp. each pepper, cloves, and nutmeg
2 Tbs. cinnamon sugar
~1/4 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 350F. In 1/4 cup warm water, add the yeast and let sit until foamy. Mix the flour and salt, then rub in the butter. Add the egg yolks, followed by the yeast and water. Stir to combine, adding extra water as needed until the dough comes together into a nice pliable texture. Divide the dough in half.

To form the twist: Pull one section of dough into a long rope, about a foot or so in length. Place it on a floured surface, and begin to roll out lengthwise until you have a long, flat strip of dough about 3 inches wide. Spread softened butter across the whole strip, then sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar. Gently roll this strip up so that it resembles a tiny cinnamon roll tube. Lay this twist aside.

Roll out the other piece of dough into a roughly round shape that is approximately 1/4″ thick, and about 10-12″ across. Gently lay this round on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Take the twisted dough that you made earlier and place it in a large circle around the flat dough. It shouldn’t reach the outer edge, but rather sit a little inside the edge. Gently fold the flat edge up over the twist toward the middle of the pastry shell, until the whole twist has been incorporated; trim off any excess dough as needed.

Mix together the crumbled cookies, fennel pollen, spices, and cinnamon sugar.

Sprinkle the inside of the tart shell with half of the spiced cookie crumbs, then layer the slices of peach in the shell, starting on the outside and working your way in and overlapping the slices until the whole tart is finished, and resembles a large flower. Place dried cherries in any gaps, which will add to the appearance and flavor. Sprinkle the remaining crumb mixture over top. Brush the outer crust with water and sprinkle with coarse sugar. If you like, lightly slice the outer crust to make a more decorative shape.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Medieval Dornish Cream Cakes

“If you did not eat so many creamcakes you would not have such dreams. Rich foods are not for girls your age, when your humors are so unbalanced. Maester Toman says — ”
“I hate Maester Toman,” Teora said. Then she bolted from the table, leaving her lady mother to make apologies for her. –The Winds of Winter, excerpt chapter

Thoughts:

Yep, this is your first recipe from Winds of Winter.

But don’t get too excited- it’s from a sample chapter that GRRM put up online several months ago. Sadly, I don’t get a better a preview of the food in the next book than any other fans. This recipe, though, was too good to put off.

Because they are bite-sized and not overly sweet, these tarts are dangerously addictive. They are made up of a sweet crust and what is essentially a custard filling. I’m not usually a fan of adding rosewater to food, but in this, the addition is so subtle that it helps round out the flavors, rather than clashing with them. An assortment of toppings finish off an awesome dessert, and make for a flashy presentation.

If anyone has a great suggestion for a modern version, I’d love to hear it!

Medieval Cream Tarts Recipe

Makes about 4 dozen mini tarts

For three tarts, which should each be about a foot wide, take one quart of the best cream that you can find, and put it in a pan over the fire. And put two eggs, which are well beaten, into it, and when it begins to boil, then take six more eggs and let them be well beaten and put them into it, and some good flour and pour it slowly into the pan. And one should stir it constantly, so that it does not burn. After that, when the eggs have been poured in, throw a quarter of a pound of fresh butter into it and let it simmer together, until it becomes thick. Afterwards let it cool, and when it is cold, then put it into three pastry shells, each of which is a foot wide. And let it bake in the tart pan. If you would put it straight away on the table, then sprinkle a quarter pound of sugar over all three, together with a little rose water. And one should serve it forth while it is yet warm. -Das Kuchbuch der Sabina Welserin, 16th century

Cook’s Notes: I’ve halved the original recipe, and instead of making large tarts, opted for much smaller versions, which would better tempt a child with a sweet tooth.

Ingredients for pastry:

3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup warm water
pinch of saffron, or a single drop of yellow food coloring

Ingredients for Filling:

2 cups cream
1 eggs, plus 3 more eggs
pinch of cardamom
pinch of cinnamon
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp. rose water
2 Tbs. sugar for dusting
garnish with your choice of crushed pistachios, candied citrus, etc.

Make up the pastry shells: Combine the flour and sugar. Let the saffron soak in the warm water for about 5 minutes, until the water has taken on a slight yellow tint. Add this to the dry mixture a small amount at a time, until it has become a large lump of dough. Roll out the dough to a little under 1/4″ thickness, and cut into 2″ rounds. Press these into a mini muffin pan, and bake for around 5 minutes at 350F. Remove from pan and allow to cool.

For the Filling: Combine the cream and one beaten egg in a medium saucepan. Bring slowly to a simmer. In a separate bowl, beat the remaining eggs. While whisking furiously, gradually pour in about 1 cup of the cream- this tempers the eggs so you don’t scramble them. Pour this whole mixture back into the pot. Add the spices, butter, and rose water, and stir, as it thickens. When it has thickened appreciably, remove from heat and let cool.

Spoon the filling into the prepared shells, dust with sugar, and top with your choice of garnish.

Medieval Strawberry Tart

Thoughts:

Last year, when we posted the recipe for a modern Strawberry Pie, many of you objected that there was no medieval version accompanying it. We’d tried several recipes, and thought they were all gross, so never posted them. To make amends, I’ve been looking for a good medieval recipe ever since, and finally found one.

It’s simple, easy, and perhaps best of all, filled with sweet wine. None of the blah almond milk mush that I found so objectionable in previous recipes- just vivid, strawberry color and sweet juicy filling. The sweetness comes mostly from the strawberries themselves, but also from the port. The filling seized up somewhat once the tarts were cool, but I think with the right balance of baking times, might do so more. I’ll have to test that. In the meantime, this recipe makes for a delicious, authentic dessert that’s right at home in the world of Westeros.

Continue reading →

Vintage Vegan: Eggless, butterless, milkless cake

Thoughts:

With a hand-typed recipe and a name like that, how could I resist? This is the latest recipe from the very cool family cookbook, The Way to a Man’s Heart (link), and like the others, is a quirky look back in time. In my book, the recipe is typed onto a small piece of paper, and pasted onto the back cover. However, my Google-fu skills led me to a very similar recipe in Dr. Price’s New Cookbook, from 1921. That recipe calls for a good deal more baking powder, which I think would not go amiss.

On its own, this cake is not going to win any beauty contests. However, a good layer of icing serves to really spruce it up. The cake itself is also helped by the icing, because as you might expect, it’s a little on the dense side. The raisins and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the cake, giving each bite a little bit of interest and moistness.

Although it’s not going to be a a new staple in my kitchen, it’s a fun historical experiment that’s delicious with tea!

Recipe for Eggless, Butterless, Milkless Cake

Put into a sauce pan the following and boil together three minutes, then cool:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
2 cups seeded raisins
1/3 cup lard or shortening
1/4 grated nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon

When cool, stir in

1 cup English walnuts
1 tsp. soda, dissolved in 1 Tbs. water
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. full of baking powder

Grease a round pan and gently spread the elastic batter in it.

Bake at 300F for 45 minutes to an hour.

If you like, ice the cake with:

1/2 cup confectioners sugar
enough water to bring it together

Seedcake – The Hobbit

I ate two slices before I could slow down and focus on adjectives, rather than just scarfing down the tasty, tasty morsels.

The brandy and spices are there, but not in a boozy, overwhelming way. In fact, I’d say it has only the good taste of brandy, without the kick. The cake itself is soft and dense, with only the slightest hint of crunch on the outside crust, and imparted by the seeds. Although it would be good with honey or jam, I found that the seedcake itself was good enough to enjoy plain, or with a smidge of butter alongside some afternoon tea.

Recipe for Seedcake

Like most of my recipes, I based this on a traditional recipe from an old cookbook. In this case, it’s #1776, taken from Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1861.

Ingredients

1/2 lb. of butter (2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground mace
1 Tbs seeds (caraway is traditional, but I like poppy seeds)
3 eggs
1/4 cup brandy
2 cups flour

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the spices and seeds, followed by the eggs and brandy, beating to combine. Gradually add the flour, stirring until everything is mixed together completely. Pour this thick batter into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake it at 350F for 1 hour.

Love Knots for Tea

Thoughts:

As the cookbook says, “little cakes folded over in the form of love knots are nice for tea”, and I couldn’t agree more. The finished knots are somewhere between shortbread, sugar cookies, and cake. Delicate and doughy, they are not especially sweet on their own, but make an ideal conduit for clotted cream and jam.

I struggled a bit with the obscure directions to “lap across in a true love knot”, but after a bit of experimentation, I think I found a great method. It results in 2-3 bite little cookie-cakes that fit snugly next to a cup of tea on a saucer.

Recipe for Love Knots

Prep: 30 minutes Baking: 10-12 minutes

Makes: 3-4 dozen knots

Cook’s Note: I’ve given instructions for the knot shape I used, but feel free to innovate!

Ingredients:

1/2 tsp. baking soda
5 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1/4 cup lard or shortening
2 eggs
3 Tbs. milk
grated nutmeg or cinnamon

Combine the soda, flour, and sugar, then rub in the butter and lard/shortening. When the mixture resembles small breadcrumbs, add the beaten eggs, milk, and any spices you’d like to include. You may need to tweak the proportions a bit in order to get a nice cohesive dough.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of about 1/4″. Slice into strips about 1″ wide and 5-6″ long. Take each of these strips, roll into an even rope about 8-10 inches long.

To arrange in the shape of a love knot, take a rope and tie it into a simple knot. Looking at the knot, you’ll see that one end seems to come out the bottom, and one out the top. Fold the top end over and under the knot, and take the bottom end and fold it up over the curve of the knot and into the hole in the center. It takes some practice, but in the end, you should have a knot with no visible ends, and five strands that all lie in the same direction. You’ll probably get better as you go, and since the dough is forgiving, you can redo some of the uglier knots. :)

Arrange the knots on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 35o F for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are nice golden brown and the tops are just beginning to color. Remove to cooling rack.

Tying a Love Knot

Marilla’s Plum Puffs – Anne of Avonlea

“Well, never mind. This day’s done and there’s a new one coming tomorrow, with no mistakes in it yet, as you used to say yourself. Just come downstairs and have your supper. You’ll see if a good cup of tea and those plum puffs I made today won’t hearten you up.”

–Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery

These are an almost impossibly easy-yet-delicious dessert.

The jam partially caramelizes into a sweet, gooey layer. Under the folded puff pastry, the fresh plums and jam ooze together, a warm flavorful filling. The slices of plums soften as they bake, and contrast wonderfully with the slight crunchiness of the sugar topping. They’re an amazing and impressive showcase of plummy goodness that’s great as dessert, but also turns out to be a very tasty breakfast, if there are any puffs left uneaten!

Plum Puffs Recipe

Prep: 10 minutes Baking: 15 minutes

Makes 8

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 cup plum preserves
2 plums, cut into 16 slices (each quarter, quartered)
1 egg, beaten, for glazing
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on top

Spread out the puff pastry, and cut into 8 equal squares. Spread the plum preserves onto the pastry, the place two slices of plum onto half of each square. Fold one corner over, leaving about 1/2″ of the bottom layer showing. Fold the bottom corner up over the top, and seal with egg. Do the same with each Plum Puff, then brush the top of the pastries with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with a pinch of turbinado sugar.

Line a baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silpat. Arrange the pastries on the prepared baking sheet, and bake at 375F for 15 minutes. Let cool to at least room temperature before serving.

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