the Friday Feeding; VOL. 96

Ready, set, Autumn.  Of apples and pumpkins and cider and donuts…

Of firelight above us and ochre below… of downturned gardens and final harvests. Of neighbors and feasting and sharing our spaces, and the primordial urge to stock our larders with provisions that will nurture us in the months to come.

Store news…

The Glines family Sloping Acres farm is done selling corn this year saving what is left for livestock.  But just south of us in Epping, NH—where it is warmer—Brookdale Farm has sent us some really sweet late harvest corn and some Honey Crisp apples and the last of their peaches. 

AND, if you can believe it, our northern friends have planted a fall harvest crop of strawberries rivaling the sweetness of summers.  But don’t blink.  Wednesday’s delivery was gone by Thursday.  More coming today Friday.

OCTOBER is a busy month here! Click here to visit our events page…

Autumn cooking.

Cooking with and preserving apples is a fall tradition that dates back…well, forever ago. The sweetness of the apple is the lure because the sugars in them aid in fermentation to produce alcohol (one way to preserve apples). And those same sugars concentrate when apples are dried so pies were naturally sweet made from them, tossed into any other baked “pudding” or stewed dish sweetened it up thus enhancing all the other flavors in the dish. Sugar and salt have a way of doing that (but that is a science lesson for another time).

A New England tradition is to take the freshly pressed apple cider and boil it down to make a syrup to sweeten many things. The Shakers right here in Canterbury boiled down their cider and sweetened apple pies with it thus skipping the step of drying and reconstituting.

If you have ever tried boiling down your cider (I have) you will know it takes a very long time akin to making maple syrup. There is a gentleman in Vermont that has the hang of it and makes it by the quart. We always stock it because it is such an interesting and useful ingredient.

Use the boiled cider to:

• pour over ice cream or yogurt
• dress your pancakes or waffle
• glaze your pork chops or roasts
• put in your coffee or tea
• make an apple milkshake with it
• mix it into cocktails for an apple-y twist
• bake with it

There is so much more if you just let your imagination wander.

Here is a recipe for a simple tea cake using boiled cider. Lightly sweet with an apple-y tang and in the back ground the caramel praline flavor of the burnt butter. It is delicious all alone served in thin slices or paired with a little caramel sauce. I am showing it here with our goat milk caramel…not goaty, very delicious r e a l caramel.

Burnt Butter Cider Cake

Step one:

Heavily grease a standard bundt pan with softened butter then flour it. Set aside.

Step two:

Brown butter in a heavy bottomed pan. Heat unsalted butter on medium-low heat and cook until little brown bits accumulate in the pan, just about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, scrape up the bits and pour into a stand mixer bowl or a bowl that you can use a hand mixer in. Let it cool in the bowl until it firms up and becomes whiteish.

I made a half recipe since it is just Dave and I.

• HALF RECIPE – 1 stick of unsalted butter, FULL RECIPE – 2 sticks of unsalted butter

Step three:

Turn the mixer onto medium and begin adding a little at a time until the mixture whitens up:

• HALF RECIPE – 3/4 cup + 2T white sugar, FULL RECIPE – 1 3/4 cup sugar

Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add one at a time:

• HALF RECIPE – 2 eggs, FULL RECIPE – 4 eggs

Beat in the eggs until the mixture is white and fluffy.

Step four:

Beat in the following two mixtures alternating in thirds. When all ingredients are blended in then turn mixer to high and beat one minute.

Mixture #1:

• HALF RECIPE – 1/2 cup Woods Boiled cider, FULL RECIPE – 1 cup Woods Boiled Cider
• HALF RECIPE – 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, FULL RECIPE – 1 tsp vanilla extract

Mixture #2:

• HALF RECIPE – 1 1/3 cup all purpose unbleached white flour, FULL RECIPE – 2 2/3 cup all purpose unbleached white flour
• HALF RECIPE – 1 1/8 tsp baking powder, FULL RECIPE – 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• HALF RECIPE – 1/4 tsp table salt, FULL RECIPE – 1/2 tsp table salt

Step five:

Scoop the beaten mixture into the prepared pan. For a half recipe, bake 350 degrees for 38-40 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. For a full recipe bake the same but for 40 to 50 minutes. Ovens vary. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then loosen the edges and turn out to cool. Serve warm or room temperature. Sigh.

Thats it for this week. Over and out and we’ll see you ’round the store,

Jane and Dave