Ginger Snaps

Mmmmm... Soft yummy cookies with the warm zing of ginger. Perfect treats for a cold winter day. Also great with vanilla ice cream and caramel for a perfect sundae. 

Muscovado brown sugar is my choice for this recipe, it is darker and has a deeper range of flavor than your average brown sugar. Another great option is turbinado sugar.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed - give muscovado brown sugar or turbinado sugar a try
1 farm fresh egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp clove
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup granulated or turbinado sugar for coating the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and molasses. Beat 1-2 just until mixed and turns a brown color. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix until ingredients are just combined.

Roll into 1 inch balls. Coat the balls with sugar. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until the outside is just baked, but the inside is still soft and gooey. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to cooling rack. Enjoy warm or cooled. Store in an airtight container or freeze for later. 

Melanie

Saffron Cranberry Bread

This Saffron Cranberry Bread is a unique favorite of my family during the holiday season. The sweetness of the saffron perfectly balances the tartness of the cranberries. This is a double recipe that makes 2 loaves. 1 to enjoy and 1 to freeze for later or give away.

Saffron Cranberry Bread

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups milk
approximately 20 strands of saffron

4 cups unbleached white flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda


6 Tbsp softened butter
2 farm fresh eggs, well beaten

3 1/2 cups cranberries (1 12oz bag)


Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease and flour 2 loaf pans.

Place milk and saffron in a pan on very low heat. Heat until hot, but not to boiling. Remove from heat and let sit to allow saffron to infuse into the milk.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Add butter and mix in. Add eggs and saffron milk, making sure to get saffron strands into bowl, mix well. Stir in cranberries.

Pour into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool on rack 15 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on rack.

Black Solid Goats in the Red/Black/Brown Pool of Colored Angoras

Black goats in the R/B/B pool:

Black goats can range from true black, to gray to light silver. Solid colored goats are also referred to as "no pattern." Solid black goats can range from true black, to gray to light silver. Usually they are born with a black birth coat and then often fade to a lighter color as their mohair grows in. Goats that keep true black in their mohair as adults are less common. 

Solid black/gray goats are present in both the black/pattern pool and the red/black/brown pool, but each pool gets it's color differently. In the red/black/brown pool, the color is from genes on the Extension locus; black is the most dominant gene on the Extension. If there is a black gene here, black will be expressed. The other genes are red which requires 2 red genes for red to be expressed, and wild which does not express a color, but allows the color on agouti locus to be expressed. in the black/pattern pool it is on the agouti locus. It is impossible to tell what pool they belong to simply by looking at a solid black/gray goat. Looking through the pedigree to see what colors and patterns are present is the easiest way to make an educated guess as to which pool they get their color from. Another way is to breed the animal to a goat from either pool and see what color is produced in the kids.

Breeding black goats with genetics from the red/black/brown pool genetics to any of the colors in the red/black/brown pool should produce color which can be any shade of red, black or brown. Often one twin will be red and the other black. Breeding the same goat to a black/pattern pool goat will likely produce white kids.

A gray doe in the R/B/B pool

Peaches and Cream Scones

I love scones. This is a perfect way to use the peaches that are in abundance at local farmer's markets right now. I like to use the really rich and delicious heavy cream from Calder Dairy, a local dairy with wonderful milk products.

The key to wonderful texture in the scones is gentle mixing of the ingredients. Mix until just combined. Over mixing activates the gluten and changes the texture of the scones.

Scones

4 cups flour
1/2 cup Brown sugar or turbinado sugar
2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter chilled and cut into 1/4" pieces
3 peaches, peeled and diced
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Glaze:

4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or knife until mixture is crumbly. Add peaches and stir until coated. Add cream and mix until ingredients are just combined.

Divide dough in half, set 1/2 aside. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a circle. Cut into 8 wedges.  Repeat with other 1/2 of dough.

Place scones onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, until scones are just turning golden. Remove from oven.

For Glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla until smooth. Glaze scones and enjoy!

Beautiful Oil Painting

My goat Jessica now has a wonderful portrait done in oil.

Artist Lilli Pell contacted me about doing a painting based on a photo of one of my goats. She picked this great one of Jessica.

The painting is complete and available on her website.

http://lillipell.com/workszoom/1765653

Red Angora Goats in the Red/Black/Brown Pool

Red Angora Goats:

Red Angora Goats are common in the Red/Black/Brown pool of genetics. They can range from faded red, where they are born light red and fade to white as their mohair grows in, to deep, dark reds. They tend to fade some from their birth color, this tendency can vary. The color can be different shades of red on the animal. These goats can have any of the white spotting patterns over their primary red color. Occasionally a red goat may have black spots.

The Red/Black/Brown pool is also known as the "dominant" pool because the genes in this pool can mask the expression of color that would otherwise happen because of genes in the black/pattern pool. The genes for this color are located on the Extension locus.

Breeding a goat to another goat with genetics from the red/brown/black pool should produce any of the three colors. Be sure to know the pedigree of a black goat to make sure they have r/b/b pool genetics.

Cinnamon Rolls Farm Style

These cinnamon rolls are so wonderful!

Making cinnamon rolls requires a time commitment (about 3 hours from start to finish for this recipe.) But they are straight forward to make using a step by step process. They are a fun way and delicious way to get into making yeast breads. This recipe is adapted from a recipe in the book, Baking Bread by Beth Hensperger. I adjusted the recipe to make my perfect cinnamon roll. I like to have the nuts ground to a coarse meal consistency, providing for a consistent texture for the filling. I use a food processor to grind the nuts. If you prefer more crunch, using chopped nuts also works in this recipe. I also love the way cream cheese frosting completes these cinnamon rolls.

I use eggs from my free-range chickens. Their yolks are a deeper yellow than store bought eggs and give a yellow tint to the dough.

Cinnamon Rolls - Farm Style

Dough:

4 large farm fresh eggs

1 ½ cups warm water  (105 to 110f)

¼ cup sugar or honey

2 Tbsp (or 2 packets) active dry yeast

7 ½ to 8 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter at room temp cut into pieces

Filling:

1 3/4 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups ground pecans or walnuts

1/3 cup ground cinnamon

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted

Frosting:

1 8oz package cream cheese at room temp (I like Cabot brand)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temp

2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla
1 to 2 Tbsp water

11.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs until light and foamy. Stir in the warm water and honey or sugar. Add yeast and stir  until it dissolves. Set aside until foamy, about 15 minutes.

22.     In a large bowl, mix 7 ½ cups of flour, salt and cinnamon. Cut in the butter until a coarse meal is formed. A mixer with the paddle attachment works well for this. Add the egg mixture. Mix or stir until the soft dough just clears the sides of the bowl.

33.     Place the dough onto a work surface and knead about 3 minutes until smooth and springy. Add small amounts of flour as needed to prevent sticking. Cover and let rest 10 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.

44.     Filling: In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, ground nuts, and cinnamon. Melt butter in a second bowl or pot.

55.     Divide the dough in half. Roll one half into a large rectangle, ½ inch thick. Brush the surface with one half of the melted butter. Spread one half of the filling evenly over the rectangle. Roll up from the long side like a jelly roll. Pinch seams to seal. Slice into 1 inch pieces. Repeat with second half. Place at least 2 inches apart on greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Cover loosely with towels or plastic wrap. Let rise at room temp until doubled in size, about 1 hour.  Pre-heat oven to 350f.

66.     Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, slightly underdone is better than overdone.

77.     Frosting: while the rolls are baking, in a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter, and sugar. Add vanilla and 1 to 2 Tbsp water. Beat until light and fluffy. This should be like soft buttercream icing.

88.     Remove rolls from oven and using a metal knife or spatula, frost after 5 minutes. Let cool completely on pans. Enjoy fresh or freeze individually for later.