Sugar Beet - what is that?

While out shopping for groceries I found some of my German favourites! 

Sugar beet syrup (it is more like:molasses) and plum spread (like: plum butter).

Today, I baked some special sweet treats. Cookies with sugar beet syrup. The beet syrup will give a very distinct taste, that I have been 

missing for 30 some years! 

I actually prefer it to cane molasses which taste burned to me.

Sugar beet molasses cookies

How do they produce sugar beet syrup?

Every fall huge amounts of sugar beets will be transported to the factories around in Nordhrhein Westphalia. To extract the sugar the beets will be shredded and cooked. The cooking process can be smelled all over the country. It is a very distinct odour that hangs in the air in October and all November. 

As kids we would run along the wagons, where they lined up in the streets towards the factory, and wait for beets to roll of when the tucks took a turn. Then we would share off a piece of the beet and eat it raw. It was sweet. Memories.

The leftover pulp will be dried and fed as energy food to dairy cows.

Most of the sugar will be crystallized and bleached into confectioners sugar, similar to cane sugar. Some of the sugary water will be cooked in until it is caramelized, dark brown syrup. Sugar beet syrup. Used as bread spread, onto pancakes, in sauces, for cookies and dark bread.

I still remember when, in the late 70ies, the farmers discussed the novelty of glucose syrup that was about to flood the marked. There were afraid their sugar production would be out-conquered. True, glucose syrup has replace sugar in many produces. But the beets and their products are still very much present on the food marked in Europe. 

After my opinion sweets taste way better made with beet sugar than glucose syrup. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup quick oats ( I used old fashioned oats)

1 1/4 cup  almond

1/3    cup  butter

3/4  cup  sugar

1/2    cup sugar beet syrup

1/4    tsp salt

Directions:

Melt butter in a pot and stir in sugar and syrup until all sugar is dissolved.

Stir in oats, ground almonds and salt. Blend evenly.

Spread mixture out on a cookie sheet, that is covered with baking paper.

Bake with 375°F for about 10 minutes. The mixture will we bubbly when it comes out of the oven. Wait until it has cooled down before cutting it into squares or rhombuses.

The cookies are pretty sweet and will mix good with none-sweetened tea or coffee.

Saturday mornings posting

 As I am not an "early bird" my contribution 

to the amount of sunrise photos is sparse. 

Sometimes I think about driving out to the light house 

before dawn and take some great shots. 

But when the descicion has to be made whether or not 

to get up in time, there I fail.

I see the merit in all you being "fulltimers". 

The ability to park your RV where you can see the sunrise 

and just open the blinds.....:)))

Today I shot one - through a layer of two old-fashioned window panes. Laugh! 

It looked good and I thought there would be a chance of a sunny day - alas no. Half an hour later it looked rather bleak.

I am running thin of patience for warm spring weather 

and cannot even imagine what all the others must feel, 

the ones who stayed here all winter long!

~~~

Friday was actually not too bad until late afternoon.

I baked some chocolate cookies to go with the afternoon cup of coffee. 

We had some sunshine, but a biting cold wind from the north-east 

kept us huddled up for a while...

...in a warm corner by the kitchen entrance.

Molly was more interested to stalk a squirrel that was

sitting under the bird feeder. 

  Restrained on a long leash she was unable to reach it.

When the sun disappeared behind a cloudy sky

Gracie and I retreat into the warmth of the house. 

Molly returned to her new favourite spot watching 

and waiting for things to happen.

Apropos:

Sorry, I forgot to check the "comments awaiting moderation". 

Therefore it took a while, but now they should be visible under the last posting.

To:

"George"

Maybe my crocus know more than we do?

"Barbara"

Do crocus grow in that warm climate? And yes, the frozen puddle reminded me of a spider web too.

Connie,Barry:
HA, maybe my variety of crocus are special hardy Canadian ones! :)
They don't bother with the cold. Like the Islanders. I observe they already walking around in tank tops
and capri trousers, while I am still wearing long johns, fur hat and mittens!  :))

"Wanderin": 
I planted daffodils as well, but I guess they will not be out until late May in this kind of
cold weather. But you never know, the squirrels might have eaten the bulbs.

Anonymous:
UGH! That sounds not good. "Snow around for another week". I remember that kind of long winters from the time we used to live in Cold Lake, Alberta.
Spring would first arrive in the end of June! But then with great force, within a week we had summer!
I hope you don't have to wait that long!

The first day in a brand new year.

IT IS THE FIRST DAY IN A BRAND NEW YEAR.

While I was preparing for a batch of cookies I happened to observe hubby and our host in the garden.

What are they doing?

Is J.P. trying to hypnotize Pete?

 

Funny thing. :))

Nonetheless,

the cookies turned out good, despite that I didn't have all the ingredients. 

I used my fantasy.

Polvorones (Powder Cookies, for recipe see below)

And then 

 SUNSET TIME!

 I LOVE sunsets over the ocean.

 First golden, then fading...

So beautiful, so breathtaking.

Polvorones (Powder Cookies)

It's not hamburger meat!

Howling winds and no desire to go outside made me walk into the cooking department. 

I found some colourful cookie photos and thought that I should give it a try. I could find my cookie forms otherwise I would have cut them into hearts.

After JP. came back from his photo tour we had a nice "cuppa" coffee and pink strawberry flavoured cookies.
You want one?
Maybe I will make green christmas tree cookies in December......

PS.

JP captured a ghost at the cliffs.

Do you SEE it too?
A SEA ghost.
if not keep scrolling....to the bottom

For recipe go below

Cookie Stampede

Last summer we participated for the first time in sponsoring for snacks at the event of "SUMMER KEYS" in Lubec, ME.

During the summer month B&B's, small businesses and private donors sponsors provide snacks for the intermission between the musical performances. In return they may advertise their enterprises for free.

This year we were scheduled for August the 7th.

Usually there are about 150/ 200 visitors.
The requirement:
KEEP it SIMPLE. It is only a SNACK. Not a meal.
The sponsor has to provide 30 to 40 dozen cookies /snacks and 10 - 15 l with drinks (2,6 - 3,9 gal).

This time I started out with plain peanut butter cookies.....

 and two banana bread (the "caretaker's" favourite recipe)....

and ended up with about 400 pieces of:

Peanutbutter Cookies
Banana Bread slices,
Mississippi Mud,
Apricot-Almond-Bars,
Chocolate-Butterfinger-Drop cookies,
Thumbprint Cookies with jam (Apricot, Raspberry and Mint)
and Cheddar Cheese cookies with Thyme.

Friends of ours, Charly and Chris, provided delicious Brushettas with pesto, mozzarella and cherry tomatoes and huge plate with Peanutbutter Fudge.

40 dozen pieces doesn't look like it is enough...

 Of course we were ready for the thirsty crowd too....

I wanted to take photos of the crowd, but I was so busy when they stampeded in that I hadn't a chance in the world!

:))

They crowded around the table and eyed the goods.
Kind of funny to watch. Will they like it?

For the cookies:
Some 10 pieces of peanut butter cookies lay forlorn on a plate when the light started to blink and people left for the second half of the performance.
My hubby gathered some fudge crumbs from the empty plate and told Charly: "MMMhh, your fudge is really tasty!" Charly laughed, turned and asked me: "Do you want some crumbs too?"
We had a good laugh.

Within 10 minutes we had gathered the garbage and were on our way home.
I would say: For the cookies - full success.
For the promotion: questionable.

Peppernut Cookies - Pfeffernüsse

I finally started to bake some christmas cookies. I am not good at it. at all. For years my father would send us a package with all the good home made goodies for Christmas. Since I have to do it on my own I rather trail the retail shops and see what I can find. But today I tried a recipe that I found in one of J.P. old cookbooks.
"Peppernuts" they were called.

German Peppernut Cookies

Ingredients:


200 g flour (1 2/3 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup molasses
3/4 cup honey
150 g sugar (3/4 cup)
50 g butter (1/4 cup)
1 tsp each of 
cardamon, cinnamon 
cloves, pepper

In a casserole blend honey, molasses and sugar at medium heat. Add butter and whisk good until all is well mixed.

Add all spices and the baking powder with the flower. 

Mix flour and molasses to a soft dough. 

Place small amounts with a teaspoon on to a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350- 375 F for about 15 minutes. 
Cool on a rack and cover the warm cookies with icing. 

Heute habe ich endlich angefangen ein paar Weihnachtspätzchen zu backen. Meine Backkünste sind nicht besonders. Jahrelang haben wir Plätzchen per Packet von zuhause geschickt bekommen. Seit wir es selber machen müssen gehe ich lieber durch die Läden und sehe ob ich was Gutes finden kann.
Heute versuchte ich ein Rezept das ich in J.P. altem Kochbuch gefunden hatte.
Norddeutsche Pfeffernüsse sollten es werden.
Sie schmecken anders als die die gekauften, aber nun ja.


Zutaten:


200 g Mehl
1 Teel. Backpulver
125 ml dunkler Sirup
100 ml Honig
150 g Zucker
50 g Butter
1 Teel. von jedem
Kardamom, Zimt
Nelke, Pfeffer


In einem Topf Honig, Sirup und Zucker bei schwacher Hitze unter Rühren auflösen.
Die Butter hinzufügen und die Masse aufschlagen. 
Mehl mit den Gewürzen und dem Backpulver mischen und unter die Honigmasse rühren. Der Teig soll geschmeidig sein. Mit einem Teelöffel klein Mengen Teig auf ein gefettetes Backblech setzen. Bei 180-200 C etwa 15 Minuten backen.
Noch warm mit Zuckerguß bestreichen.
Zuckerguß: 250 g Puderzucker mit 1 Eiweiß und etwas Zitronensaft verrühren. 

Idag started jeg med julebaksten. Litt sent kanskje men jeg er ikke så glad i å bake. Jeg heller går i butikken å lete etter noe godt der. 
Jeg fant oppskriften i gubbens gammle kokbok. Det skulle være nordtyske peppernøtter.
De smaker helt annerledes enn de kjøpte peppernøttene, men ikke så værst heller.


Ingredienser


200 g mel
1 ts bakepulver
125 ml mørk sirup
100 ml honning
150 g sukker
50 g smør
1 ts av 
kardamom, kanel
nellik, pepper


Melt honning, sirup og sukker ved mellom varme i en kjele. Tilføy smør og pisk til alt er vel blanded. Miks mel med krydder og rør in i honningmassen.
Deigen skal være myk. Bruk en teskje til å sette små mengder av deigen på et bakebrett. Bakes ved 180-200 Grader i ca 15 minutter.
Smøres med glasur når de er enda varm.
Glasur: 250 g Melis blandes med 1 eggehvit og noe zitronjuice.