Sue's Kitchen: July 2009

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Oatmeal Walnut Cookie Stacks, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread, Blueberry Pie.....our little sweet indulgences.

Mini Blueberry Pie

Oatmeal Walnut Crispie cookie stack

If you have a garden then you are probably looking for things to do with your zucchini. Grilled, baked, fried, sauted, in casseroles, baked and stuffed, whatever you do with it I think its a nutritious wonderfully versatile veggie. Tomorrow I will have Zucchini bread: Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Zucchini Spice with Walnuts. YUM!

I just finished baking for the night and I have 30 mini and 6 large pies to bring to market. There's also my usual cookies stacks and one more new thing: Blueberry Crumb Bars. They have a shortbread base, blueberry middle and shortbread crumb top. Very good if I must say so myself!!

Don't let the rain scare you away-we will all be there rain or shine. Just bring your umbrella and rain jacket. I'll see you tomorrow!!

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Please don't rain tomorrow

I know we need rain for our gardens, flowers and crops but it gets really old when Jym Ganahl says we're going to have rain yet again on Wednesday! It puts a real damper on the spirit of the Farm Market. Even though our steadfast market customers still come see us, the rain keeps less weather resistant, (I'm being politically correct, they're really called "market woosies"), customers from coming.

I am still baking tonight in hopes we won't be rained out for tomorrow's market. I'll have lots of small berry, apple, peach, cherry and strawberrry-rhubarb, and pecan pies and 6 or 8 large pies. Of course I'll have cookies, including Sue's Oatmeal Walnut that everyone's been asking for and I've made some deliciously moist Banana Walnut breads.

So-don't leave us out in the rain! Come to the market and wear your rain slicker and bring your umbrella because we are there rain or shine :)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Its Not Funny Snickerdoodles :)

The first time I made Snickerdoodles was with my daughter Sara when she was taking "Fun with Foods" as a 4-H project. I don't recall how many batches we made until we got the perfectly round, perfectly cracked, soft in the middle and crispy outside cinnamony sugar cookies just right for judging, but it was a lot!

If you are making these delightfully addicting cookies, here are Sue's hard and fast rules for perfect Snickerdoodles:

Always use the CREAM of TARTAR-never omit it!

Use chilled dough-it helps with the proper crackage and in keeping the inside soft. Is "crackage" a word?

Make sure you hand roll the dough and roll in the sugar/cinnamon mix.

Remove the cookies from the oven as soon as they are deeply cracked.

Good luck with your Snickerdoodle baking and remember........if you screw them up, you can always come to the Farmers' Market and get them from me!

*This week's pies include: Big-n-Bold Blackberry; Beautiful Blueberry, Razzle Red Raspberry, Fence Row Black Raspberry, Mom's Granny Smith Apple, Gramma Rose's Award Winning Peach, and Summertime Strawberry Rhubarb. I'll also have Pastry Lemonade w/Pecans. See you at the market!!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Lodi Apples

I am so sorry but when i went to Granville Orchard they told me they wouldn't have Lodi apples due to the late spring freeze. BUMMER! But, they did have some transparent apples which I picked a bag of for applesauce. I used a few for pies earlier this week but they are little and somewhat of a pain to peel so the rest are destined for sauce. I will keep you posted on apples and other fruits that are available.

If you want fabulous blueberries you must visit "Z" Blueberry Farm. I plan to bring several blueberry coffeecakes to Granville's market this Saturday. They are so big and sweet!! The farm is in Fredericktown and their phone number is 740-694-1911. You can go pick or buy picked. I hope to also have small blueberry pies Saturday.

See you soon!

Monday, July 6, 2009

It's Black Raspberry Season!!!!

Okay, let's get something straight...black raspberries are not the same as blackberries. They are way different. Both being utterly delicious but having their own distinct sweet flavor. Today I went out in the field along the fencerow and picked black raspberries. Some are wild but some are transplants that came up on their own from my Pap Parker's raspberry patch that he use to tend judiciously. I remember it well: the patch was down by the grain house and had its own fence around it and had aluminum pie pans strung to scare away the birds. Pap would pick quarts of big delicious berries for Gramma to make cobblers and pies...or just eat with fresh cream. Us kids were NEVER allowed in that patch. It was forbidden territory. I smile today as I pick these beautiful berries for market pies, knowing that Pap would finally think this is ok. :)

On another note-you can now find Lodi apples at the Granville Orchard (Granville) and Legend Hills Orchard (Utica). They are wonderful for pies which I will be bringing to market this week.

I'll also have a variety of yummy Cookies, Pastry Lemonade Bread with Pecans, Blueberry Coffeecake, and my Signature Biker Bars and Jumbo Cinnamon Rolls. Of course, I'll have several other fruit pies available as well.

See you at the markets!

About Me

I grew up in the country in Ohio on the family farm baking alongside my Mom and Gramma…back when we grew huge vegetable gardens, foraged the fields and woods for summer’s blackberries, and picked tart cherries until the juice ran down our arms. We spent many a hot afternoon “putting up” gallons of transparent applesauce for our enjoyment later in the winter. Those hot summer afternoons were also just right for raising bread dough on Gramma’s dining room table, later to be hand-rolled into buns and slathered with butter when they emerged from the oven for us to eat. Now that I think about it, it seems only natural to me that one day, many years later I would decide to share my love of baking with others.

After leaving Ohio, moving around, going off to college and working as a nurse, my husband Jim and I came back to our family farm and built our home. We raised our two daughters, Sara and Caitlin, and have been fortunate to have our parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents and extended family close by. How blessed we are to have such wonderful family! Then about seven years ago I decided I wanted to do something to make extra money. Sara was going off to college and I thought this would help with expenses. Farmers’ Markets were just starting to become a popular Saturday morning venue for socializing, buying fresh produce and sampling all kinds of delectable goodies artisans, like myself, baked and brought to sell at the market. I visited our town’s market one day with my Mom and I thought to myself. “I can do this!” And so, our local farmers’ market is where I took a leap of faith and “Sue’s Kitchen” was born.

Each week as I set up my table and put out my pies and cookies I was amazed by how many people do not bake anymore. Is it our fast paced lives that prevent us from throwing flour and butter together to produce yummy cookies? Are fewer people being taught this art as they grow up? Or is it just too easy to hit the local supermarket and pick up a pre-packaged sweet to take home? Whatever the reason, I quickly found how much that lost art of baking is truly missed.

Baking with heirloom recipes has brought smiles to the faces of my customers over the years, especially my homemade pies with flakey crusts and fresh juicy fruit fillings. When I use the leftover pie dough for cinnamon sticks I find my customers have their own family story and nickname for these treats: “roley poley” “cinnamon rolls”,etc..Whatever the name, they say when they were kids they waited in anticipation for them to be done baking then devoured them while still warm. I remembered the cookies Mom baked for us kids and she gave me her Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe, which I make every week. I always loved Gramma Rose’s Molasses Sugar cookies, which are a fall favorite. I am lucky to have her old wooden recipe box complete with all her handwritten recipes, tips and even some letters. Some interpretation is needed here and there to replace her “butter the size of an egg” with actual measurement.

Another summer farmer’s market season is just beginning along with the growing anticipation of what new to bake, how to reach out to more people and how to design my new logo and website with the help of my friend Linda and my daughter Sara. I hope you all enjoy the ongoing happenings from Sue’s Kitchen.

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