C is for Cookie!

Halloween Sugar Cookies - Dutch Oven Detour (recipes that should have been in the Dutch Oven)

There’s no sugar cookie recipe in the Dutch Oven Cookbook! What up with that Dutch Oven Cookbook? In light of this glaring oversight - we bring you this brief intermission from the Dutch Oven Diaries to present you with this Halloween Special Edition Post!

What is it about a sugar cookie? The SUGAR perhaps? What’s not to like? In all seriousness though, for us, it’s all about the presentation. Peter has great memories of the sugar cookies his Aunt Carolyn would painstakingly paint by hand every Christmas. As a young lad he was mesmerized by the colourful cut-out cookies that were “almost” to pretty to eat. Little individual masterpieces in the shapes of Santa’s, snowmen and Christmas trees were layered with brightly coloured icings. There’s no doubt that Aunt Carolyn’s cookies left a lasting impression on this foodie in training.

Although our methods may be a little different than Peter’s Aunt Carolyn’s, the end result remains the same. A simple cookie is turned into a delicious, whimsical piece of foodie art. As anyone who’s made cookies like this knows, it’s a lot of work and takes a lot of time! However the end results are so worth the effort, especially having the opportunity to share them with the little ones (or big ones) in your life, who receive them with wide eyed excitement.

Here’s how we do it…

Martha Stewart’s Ideal Sugar Cookie Recipe

Royal Icing for Sugar Cookies (also see video on this page for icing technique known as flooding).




As a wise foodie once said: “C is for Cookie, that’s good enough for me. Arr arr-umm-umm-umm!” – Cookie Monster

Enjoy and have fun!

But Beware! Beware of the sugar cookie cramp...similar to tennis elbow or carpel tunnel. After hours of flooding and decorating, your hand is sure to seize up like a narled witches claw. Even at the risk of permenant disfigurement, it is well worth the pain.

The Dutch Oven Diaries will be on hiatus for a week or so as we’re heading to the Big Apple for some food, fun and adventure! If you’d like to follow our foodie fun in NYC join our facebook page at www.facebook.com/thedodiaries!

Happy Halloween!

Midnight Mustard Pickle

Mustard Pickle – Pickles & Preserves, Pg. 215 – Mildred Y. Potter (Mrs. W.P.)


Mustard pickle is a common condiment around many east coast dinner tables. Popular with Sunday ham or roast dinners, this medley of pickled vegetables is the perfect balance of sweet and sour, sure to tingle your taste buds. Pickling began as a way of preserving food for out of season use, and although we now have access to out of season food year-round, many Nova Scotians continue these traditions today to take advantage of the Fall’s fresh and abundant harvests.

To Jan – mustard pickle is to turkey what ying is to yang, what pepperoni is to pizza, what Sonny is to Cher. One just isn’t the same without the other. Fickle as a child (likely a result of only child syndrome), she wouldn’t go near this strange yellow chunky concoction that her mamma purchased by the box-load and pilfered onto their family dinners like taking communion. It wasn’t until her twenties that the clouds parted ways and the mustard pickle gods danced upon her tongue. Once bitten by the mustard pickle bug, there was no turning back. She’d eat it in the rain, she’d eat it on a plane, she’d eat it in a house, she’d eat it with a mouse, she’d eat it here or there, she eat it ANYWHERE! In fact, when invited to dinner - she’s been known to carry an emergency jar of mustard pickle in her handbag (Sophia Petrillo style). After desperately scanning the dinner table and noticing the absence of her favorite condiment crack, the mustard pickle is presented as a self serving host or hostess gift of sorts. Secrets out I guess – “My name is Jan Young, and I’m addicted to mustard pickle”.

The Dutch Oven's mustard pickle recipe is excellent. In fact unlike many pickle recipes – this recipe does not require that you soak your cucumbers in brine overnight. This was a good thing, as time is sometimes of the essence when it comes to cooking with Jan. “Jan-Land” as some of her friends affectionately refer to it, is the land where every minute has an hour and every hour a day. Otherwise known as the fictional land inside Jan’s head. Thus this blog entries title “Midnight Mustard Pickle” – we finished our first go through of this recipe near midnight. Jan-Land is also rumored to be home to a village of little creatures known as Janpa lampas (similar to Umpa lumpas). But enough about Jan-Land – Let’s get back to the mustard pickle.

Ingredients:

1 Quart (4 cups) of cucumbers or cauliflower (we used half of each)
1 Quart of chopped celery (we used less celery, more cucumber and cauliflower)
1 Quart chopped sweet onions
2 sweet green peppers (chopped)
2 sweet red peppers (chopped)

Scald (simmer) for 10 minutes in 1 quart of vinegar, then reduce heat.

Paste:

3 Cups white sugar
1 Tsp turmeric
3 Tsp mustard
¾ Cup flour
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tsp mustard seed

Blend with a little cold vinegar, stirring until a thick paste is formed. Add paste to vegetables, stir and bring to a boil. Bottle and process immediately.






Dutch Oven Tips & Tricks:

This is a relatively small recipe – we doubled it (was there any doubt given Jan’s little addiction). We chopped the veggies using a food processor – a huge time-saver. We were going for more of a relish consistency so we chopped them quite finely. Obviously the best time of year to make this recipe is late August into September – when the veggies are grown locally and available at seasonal prices$. The best deals are usually found at your local farmers’ market. This recipe is not explicit in its directions that you are to make a paste – we figured this out on our second run through of this recipe (it wasn’t midnight, which may be the reason we missed it the first time). It STINKS!! Crack a window or you'll smell like a jar of pickles for about a week.






Canning/Processing – this was our first real foray into canning/processing food – we’re not gonna lie, it’s a bit of a pain. Not that it’s difficult, just a multi-step process. For canning and processing tips and tricks visit Bernardin.ca. The fruits of your labour make it well worth it however, and the process of canning becomes a bit of a hazy memory once all your pretty jars of mustard pickle are lined up on the counter. A supply for all your family dinners throughout the year…and they make the perfect host/hostess “gift”.

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How Do Ya'Like Them Apples?

Apple Pie – Pies & Pastries, Pg. 195 – Joyce L. Tupper (Mrs. J. A.)


We’re fortunate in Nova Scotia to have so many varieties of apples growing throughout the Annapolis Valley region. With over 2.5 million bushels of apples produced each year – apple growing is a major economic influence in Nova Scotia. A wide variety of apples are harvested in Nova Scotia including Gravenstein (most popular for pie baking). For a list of varieties and their best uses visit the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association website. Apples are largely harvested in the Autumn months and stored in large air-tight refrigerated warehouses where they’re kept fresh for exporting and creating a variety of food products all year long. This past Fall, we took advantage of the bounty of apples in our own backyard by visiting one of the many apple u-picks in Nova Scotia. The apples can’t be much fresher than being picked from the trees from which they grow. Reasonably priced by the bag-load, you can’t beat this unique Nova Scotia experience. Luckily thanks to modern technology Nova Scotia apples are widely available all year round – so you can always make a home grown apple pie no matter what the season!

For the Dutch Oven apple pie we chose the most widely popular variety – the Gravenstien, but upon the suggestion of the lovely apple lady who lives in the little building outside the apple orchard, we used a combination of Northern Spy and Gravenstien.




For the pie crust we went with America’s Test Kitchen’s Fool Proof Pie Crust (made with vodka). However if you’re worried about a hangover, we have another great alternative – see our pie crust recipe reviews here. Using a standard 9 inch pie dish: 6 Apples (more if you want a domed pie) 1 Cup of Sugar (we used half granulated, half brown) ½ Tsp of Nutmeg or Cinnamon (we added a half tsp of each) ½ Tsp Salt 1 Tbsp Butter 2 Tsp Lemon Juice (adds flavour and prevents browning) Few Lemon Rind gratings Line the pie pan with a layer of pastry dough. Peel, core and slice apples thinly. Although the recipe directs you to layer the apples alternating with your sugar/spice mixture and lemon juice – we recommend the following. Put your sliced apples in a large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine sugar, spices, lemon rind and salt (the salt mysteriously disappeared from the directions, but we assume it’s to be added to the mixture). Coat apples with mixture and add to pie shell. Dot apples with butter. Moisten crust with ice water and add top crust. Press the edge of the crusts together and get your flute on. Use a knife to create a few little slits (between 6 -8) in the top pie crust to allow air to escape while baking. You may also want to brush the crust with an egg wash to create a golden shiny crust - we also kicked it up a notch by sprinkling the crust with granulated sugar before baking. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake for 40 minutes.

Dutch Oven Tips and Tricks:



We recommend the addition of a Tbsp of flour to your sugar mixture. Although the pie wasn’t particularly runny we felt it wouldn’t have hurt to have the thickener. This pie wasn’t overly sweet – so if you like your pie on the sweeter side – kick up the sugar content. A suggestion from Greg - friend or the dutch oven and cooking consultant to the stars – we used a handy dandy apple slicer from Lee Valley Hardware. Actually this baby does more than just slice – it actually peals, cores and slices! If you’re a hard core pie maker - the Lee Valley Apple Slicer is a must - Dutch Oven approved, it’s guaranteed to cut you're prep time in half! Our final tip is the additition of a porcelain pie bird – a tip from our good friend Laura Calder. Sure slits in your pie crust will do the trick – but not nearly as fabulously as pie bird.

Overall this recipe was simple and delicious – with no glaring omissions (thanks Mrs. T!). We give this recipe an A for Awesome and an A+ for Applicious!

A Tale of Two Loaves

Banana All-Bran Nut Bread – Breads & Rolls, Pg. 67 – Hazel Allen (Mrs. Robert)



Ahhh…Banana Bread…nothing says Fall like the smell of quick breads wafting from the oven. Three ripe bananas under siege by an army of fruit flies were the inspiration to try this next test recipe. For some, bananas, spotted and black are destined for the compost bin, for others – they are inspiration for a delicious quick bread!

The Dutch Oven’s Banana All-Bran Nut Bread is a nice enough recipe – all be it a little on the healthy side. We only made a couple of modification to this recipe. The first was the replacement of nuts with chocolate chips. We’re not a fan of nuts in baked goods – this may seem strange to some of you, but we know there are others out there – We’re here! We don’t like nuts in baked goods! Get used to it! Besides, 85% of bakers agree that the addition of chocolate makes everything better (this statistic is totally made up). Secondly we replaced the cup of all-bran with unprocessed bran – we figured this would blend better then the cereal bran. Overall this recipe is short on all the things that make banana bread so delicious – shortening, sugar, eggs, etc. Let’s not forget, this was the 50’s, and ingredients were not as accessible as they are today. As a result some recipes are reserved in their ingredients and often take advantage of ingredients on hand such as all-bran to reduce the amount of flour required. This recipe was good, and if you’re looking for a healthy banana bread recipe, this would be a great one to try.



Unfortunately this recipe left Peter yearning for the Banana bread of his youth. For a light fluffy bread, rich with delicious ingredients and loaded with sugar – Peter’s Mom’s recipe can’t be beat!

½ Cup Shortening
1 Cup White Sugar
2 Eggs (lightly beaten)
3 Medium Bananas (mashed)
2 Cups Flour
4 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Chocolate Chips (optional)



Cream sugar and shortening, add eggs (whisk until smooth), add mashed bananas. Combine dry ingredient and gently mix with your wet ingredients until combined. Place mixture in 9x5 loaf pan (greased and floured). Bake 45-60 minutes at 325°F. Nuts could be added as well if you're into that sort of thing...