Thursday, February 26, 2009

Hungarian Night

This month's country was Hungary. Of course the food was the best we've had in a while. Jacob did his project on Hungary and WWII~doing a time line of battles and what brought Hungary into the war. Jordan did her project on Embroidery, she embroidered a tea towel to show everyone and gave the history of embroidery in Hungary. Jocelyn's project was Hungarian coffee cake. It was very yummy!

Hungarian Coffee Cake

1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup shortening (butter or margarine)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts(I used Walnuts)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Combine the first 6 ingredients. Take out 1 level cup and set aside for topping.

To the remaining mixture add the rest of the ingredients from the buttermilk to the baking soda. Mix will be slightly lumpy. Pour into greased 2" x 8" cake or pie pans (2 or 3).

Cover with the 1 cup of reserved nut mix and bake at 350 for 20 or 25 minutes. Do not over bake. Will stay fresh for 4 days.

Yield: 16 servings



I also made this very yummy cake which got rave reviews!

Hungarian Chocolate Cream Bars Recipe

Ingredients
CAKE:
4 lg Eggs, separated
1/4 ts Cream of tartar
2/3 c Sugar, divided
3/4 c Sweet butter, room temp.
9 tb Cocoa powder
1/2 c Sifted all-purpose flour
FILLING:
2 c Heavy cream
12 oz Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tb Powdered instant coffee
1/8 c Rum (I omitted this)
GLAZE:
5 oz Semi-sweet chocolate (I used white chocolate morsels)
1 oz Unsweetened chocolate
4 tb Sweet butter
1 ts Vegetable oil
1 tb Karo syrup

Instructions

1. Editor's Note: This recipe contains rum. If you prefer not to use rum, the brownies still taste fantastic.


2. To make cake: preheat oven to 350. Grease 9 x 13-inch pan. Line pan with wax paper and grease the wax paper.


3. Beat the egg whites lightly, add cream of tartar and beat at a high speed. When shiny, gradually add 1/3 cup of sugar, continuing to beat until stiff.


4. In a separate mixing bowl, place the egg yolks, remaining sugar and butter and beat until light and fluffy. Add the cocoa and mix thoroughly. Add a large dollop of egg whites to chocolate mixture and whip until blended. Then pour the rest of the egg whites over the egg mixture and sprinkle the flour over the egg whites. Fold gently with a spatula until the egg whites and flour are incorporated.


5. Immediately spread the batter in the prepared pan. Smooth out to edges and corners. Bake 10-15 minutes at 350 until cake is done. Run a knife around edges and invert cake on a wire rack to cool.


6. To make filling: in a saucepan, combine cream, chocolate chips and instant coffee. Cook over low heat until mixture is smooth and slightly thickened. Cover saucepan and refrigerate until very cold. When chilled, add rum and whip in a chilled bowl at medium speed until firm. Be careful not to over beat or the filling may separate.


7. To make glaze (do not make this until all other steps are completed): in a small saucepan, melt all ingredients over a low flame. Mix until very smooth. Cool for 15 minutes and mix again. Use immediately, as the sauce thickens as it cools.


8. To assemble, cut cake horizontally into halves. Lightly sprinkle bottom half with rum. Spread filling over bottom layer. Place top layer on bottom half and spread filling over top. Refrigerate or freeze until very firm. When very cold, set the cake on a wire rack. Pour the warm glaze over the cake. Refrigerate again until firm. Cut with a sharp knife, wiping the blade after each cut. You can freeze cut squares.


9. Yield: 25-30 bars.





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Saturday, February 21, 2009

NO, I have't dropped off the face of the earth:)


Jordan studying her AWANA book before competition at the AWANA Bible quizzing, where they got 2nd place!

The roses Rob gave me for V~day

I am trying my hand at drying the rose petals in my garage on my dirt sifter Rob made for me.

We've been busy, it is almost spring you know:) We are planning our garden and seeing what needs to be done around the property. Our first project we are working on is our garden. It will be much bigger this year so we can start canning and preserving more, I think we all need to put our basic skills to work because no one knows what the future holds for us. We also just purchased a green house so I can work more:), haha. I ordered my seed from Seeds of Change and Johnny's. I am waiting patiently for Spring to arrive so I can get busy in the garden.

We have signed the kids up for 4H and are excited about adding this to our school curriculum. There is a lot to know going into it, but I think it will only benefit the kids and their academics.

Two of the goats are to kid in mid-May if their meeting with the buck took...we shall see. I assisted Dalyn in cleaning off her goat kids when hers delivered and that was an experience like no other. I can not wait for the kids~they are so fun!

We also will be getting 2 lambs and a beef cow hopefully soon so come fall our freezer will be full!

School is progressing along just fine, the kids can see the light at the end of the tunnel:) Each month we participate in "Country Nights" where there is one country picked and all the kids do a project from that country. The parents bring a meal from that country and after the meal is eaten then the presentations are made. Here is Jocelyn presenting marmots to the group, for the country Austria. This month is the country of Hungary.