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March 8, 2013

Seed cakes

We have been reading The Hobbit, slowly, but together...and baked some seed cakes following the recipe in my Grandma's copy of Joy of Cooking that I have:

2 cups butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
9 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon mace (I didn't use this)
2 tablespoons brandy (optional, I actually couldn't taste this)
4 cups cake flour (I used all-purpose flour)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (I used baking powder instead)
1/2 teaspoon salt
9 egg whites, whipped until stiff
2 teaspoons caraway seeds (I also used 2 teaspoons poppyseeds)
1/3 cup shaved citron or candied orange peel (I didn't have this)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (I used about a tablespoon of orange zest instead)

Cream together butter and sugar, then add egg yolks, vanilla, mace and brandy.   Sift together flour, cream of tartar (or baking powder) and salt.  Mix the flour blend into the butter mixture.  Fold in the 9 whipped egg whites.  Add caraway, poppy and citrus.  Mix well and pour into baking pan. 

Bake at 325' F for 25 minutes (or 1 hour 15 minutes for loaves).  Allow to cool.  Enjoy with plain yogurt or a cup of tea while reading your book.

This makes 24 little round seed cakes (I used my muffin tins)!  Or two rectangular loaves.
This is Elizabeth, at 6 months...
We call her "Liza."  My feet.  And the fabric rattle block that Hannah sewed for Liza as part of her babysitting class she's currently taking.
We went out to eat with my parents this past Tuesday....to Ruby Tuesdays, who was giving back 20% on the bill to Parkinson's wellness.  We all had a good time!
Hannah got ribs!  Mmmm....messy fingers.
 Emma and my dad, Peepaw.
My mom and Liza.
Wednesday, my sister, Mary, her husband, Andrey, and baby Elizabeth were headed back home to Canada.  We skipped everything else, we got snow....so we went sledding!!! 
Olivia made a snow angel.
 Natalia crying, Hannah helping her...
Susanna gives Olivia and Juliana a big push down the hill...and below, Olivia just laying in the snow. 

8 comments:

Anna@stuffedveggies said...

What a blessing for you to have both of your parents with you! And for them to have so many of their daughters around them : )

elizabeth said...

looks like a good time was had! yay! wonderful that Mary could visit too! :) It is so fun to bake and make recipes one's own :) yay!

Michelle M. said...

My husband is, also, reading The Hobbit to our children. I should make them some seed cakes as a treat :)

Your snow looks wonderful! Our was melting very soon after it fell, but our children did have a snow day.

Martha said...

That's awesome, Michelle! ♥ Do your kids like it so far? It's scary and funny in parts...the girls drew pictures to go along with it. We actually even let them watch the movie, and they were very disappointed that it was only the first third of the book and the changes from the novel (we envisioned Gandalf to have bigger eyebrows, the dwarves a little milder).

Michelle M. said...

My children do like it so far. They don't scare easily, so they are enjoying it. I know that they are over 100 pages into it, but I'm not quite sure where they are in the book :) We told them that they can see the movie, too, once they've read the entire book.

Valerie said...

Your cakes looks delishious, and so much fun for all in the snow! Our climate is so warm, we never have snow. My kids are sad about that, but I don't mind. Icy rain is enough for me!
x, Val

Christina Carnoy said...

Looks like fun times, and I love the Hobbit! I can't wait to read it to baby William when he's a little older. Thanks for stopping by my blog. We don't have a little girl actually, just baby William, and he is definitely enough! He is such an amazing blessing from God, the easiest baby I have ever met...I am perfectly satisfied!!!!

Leslie said...

Yum! You have such a sweet looking family. Sounds like you have been enjoying each other a lot. It has been a very long time since I read the Hobbit.