Tag: baking

Categories
Botanical Anthology Recipes

Lemon Balm Sugar Cookies

This is an excerpt from the article Lemon Balm Sugar Cookies by Kristine Brown from the Herbal Cookie Tray Vol 2 booklet featured as the bonus for the Winter Vol 3 | Issue 11 | 2024 edition of Botanical Anthology. To learn more about the ingredients and uses of this recipe, check out the entire article in the magazine! Our herbal magazine, featuring remedies, recipes and projects with plants for the winter season, can be purchased as a Digital version: HERE and as a Print version: HERE.

Lemon Balm Sugar Cookies

Make delightful sugar cookies that melt-in-your-mouth good! The mild lemon flavor adds a delicate blend of tang that compliments the savory rosemary flavor from the garnish perfectly. They can be prepped a day or two ahead so you can cut and bake when you’re ready.

Materials

2 tbsp lemon balm, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
1 c butter, softened
⅔ c sugar
1 egg
2 ⅓ c all-purpose flour
Sprigs of rosemary for garnish

Method

In a small bowl, combine lemon balm and lemon juice, pressing the mixture with the back of a spoon to blend. 

In a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the lemon mixture. Gradually beat in flour and salt. 

Cover and refrigerate 3 hours or until firm enough to roll in wax paper. 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the dough on waxed paper and slice into slices about 1/8″ thick. Press bits of rosemary sprigs into each cookie to look like a pine tree. 

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes. Cookies will brown slightly around edges. 

Notes

  • Yields about 60 cookies. 
  • If you are using dried lemon balm, you will only need about 1 tablespoon.
  • This recipe can be made gluten free by substituting 1:1 gluten free flour blend for the all-purpose flour. 
  • This recipe can be made dairy free by substituting coconut oil or tallow for the butter. 

Kristine Brown, RH (AHG) is the writer and illustrator of the children’s publication Herbal Roots zine, which includes ebooks, online courses, and a membership offering, Herb Club. She is the author of Herbalism at Home, The Homesteader’s Guide to Growing Herbs, and Nature Anatomy Activities for Kids and Nature Anatomy Guided Journal for Kids. Find her online at herbalrootszine.com and on social media @herbalrootszine

Categories
Hygge Recipes wheel of the year

Ostara: Orange Vanilla Soda Bread

There is, in my opinion, no better way to celebrate the turning of the season (or just anything!) than with warm, freshly baked bread. You just can’t help but be mindful for a moment as you stop and appreciate the ingredients that went into the bread, the hands that made it, and the warming and grounding experience of enjoying it. That is some simple but powerful alchemy, right there. 

This year for Ostara (the spring equinox) I decided to make an easy, rustic loaf of soda bread with some cheery, sweet, springy flavors. I incorporated orange zest and juice and vanilla, because the two together just put me in mind of sunshine and the sweet scent of early spring flowers. 

I also sweetened up this traditionally sugarless recipe with a generous helping of the vanilla-orange-mint infused sugar I made awhile back. You could easily use plain sugar, of course, but I had this on hand and it further drives that flavor home and adds a little something extra. 

My family loves snacking on this bread, and it is really nice at breakfast time, too. I like to think it’s a very hobbit-ish sort of treat to celebrate spring with!

The recipe for Orange Vanilla Soda Bread:

Ingredients

4 cups flour (all white flour, part whole wheat, or you could also try your preferred GF flour)

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar (vanilla orange mint sugar)

2 tsp vanilla extract

Zest of one orange

1-2 Tbsp orange juice

1 ½ to 1 ¾ cups buttermilk

Method

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a deep mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar with a whisk. Whisk in orange zest.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to it. Mix together with a wooden spoon, folding and turning the bowl until a sticky dough forms. If the dough seems too dry, you can add additional buttermilk a spoonful at a time.

Scoop ball of dough out onto a large floured cutting board. Knead a few times lightly. It will still be quite sticky, but you can flour your hands and add a pinch or two of flour if it seems too wet. 

Form into a large round loaf. Place in a greased / oiled Dutch oven or on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Cut an X into the top with a sharp knife. Top with a small pat of butter on each of the four quadrants if you’d like. 

Cover with the Dutch oven’s lid or tent with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Bread is done when a toothpick comes out clean and/or the X in the center appears done (my X disappeared 😅 but that’s ok). It should also sound hollow if you tap it!

Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before eating. Then, enjoy!

I love making infused sugars! Here is the recipe for Orange Mint Vanilla Sugar:

Ingredients

1.5 cups of white sugar

Zest of one orange

1 Tbsp ground dried peppermint leaf

1 vanilla bean

Method

Mix the white sugar, the fresh zest of one orange, ground dried peppermint (pulsed to a powder in a coffee grinder reserved for herbs), and one vanilla bean (split and scraped, then the whole bean tossed in) in a bowl. Then spread it out to dry a while on a cookie sheet before transferring the mixture (including the vanilla bean) to a jar. The vanilla bean will continue to impart its sweet flavor in the sugar and it will only get better!

Let the jar sit tightly lidded for a few days to infuse with all the lovely orange oil and vanilla. Then you can use the sugar in teas, coffee (have you ever tried the combo of orange and coffee?), baked goods (imagine rolling sugar cookies in this!), fancy cocktail / mocktail rims, and more!

How do you plan on celebrating the start of spring, in your own way, big or small?

For educational purposes only. Not intended for medical advice. Always consult your physician.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something from a link that I share, I will make a small percentage of the sale *at no extra cost to you*.

Categories
Botanical Anthology

Botanical Anthology Spring Launch!

Today is the day! The spring issue of Botanical Anthology, the plant-centered independent magazine I contribute articles to (and edit) comes out today! I am so excited about all the lovely spring recipes, apothecary preparations, celebrations, crafts, sabbat magic, gardening, foraging, poetry, and more inside its pages. 

This digital + print magazine contains over 40 articles from 38 creative contributors. It is a gorgeous springtime plant-filled wonder and is evergreen—you can come back to it every year, more like a book than a magazine. 

And this time around, the bonus booklet is all about DANDELION! It is the biggest bonus booklet yet, and possibly my favorite one so far. (The bonus booklet is exclusive to those who purchase the magazine now through 3/14.)

Full disclosure—if you use my link to purchase a digital copy, I get a little tiny boost; but if you prefer a physical copy, I get a teensy one if you use my link for that, too. 

Here are the links:

Spring Botanical Anthology DIGITAL

Spring Botanical Anthology PRINT

Would you like a peek at what’s inside? Then look no further!

Let us be your guide to work with plants as you journey through the spring season!

Categories
Hygge Recipes

Gluten Free Chai Apple Crisp

It may not be pumpkin spice time yet (Says who? It’s always pumpkin spice time to me!) but apples are ripening and it’s a great time to whip up some apple crisp. I am gathering with friends this evening, so I made a chai apple crisp that is gluten-free for one of my friends’ dietary needs.

You can’t fault me for rushing Autumn if I’m using chai spices! And anyway, there are so many benefits to chai spices. Medicinally they’re immunity boosting, digestion aiding, circulation stimulating, and so much more—check out THIS blog post for more on that. Chai spices also help soothe, relax, and even help with sleep. And symbolically / spiritually, many of these warming spices are said to bring prosperity, protection, joy, and divinatory insight. Plus, they’re just cozy and tasty! Perfect for a gathering with friends paired with tart Granny Smith apples.

Here is the recipe!

Gluten-Free Chai Apple Crisp—

Ingredients

For the filling—

  • 8-10 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced or chopped
  • 2 Tbsp gluten-free flour blend
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 tsp pumpkin spice mix (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves) or ¼ tsp of each 
  • 1/4 – 1/2 tsp allspice
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the crumble—

  • 1 cup gluten-free old-fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
  • 1/8 tsp allspice
  • 1/4 tsp cardamom
  • 1 stick of butter of choice, cold, cubed

Method

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease a 9 x 13 glass baking dish and set aside.

Prepare apples and put in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with sugar, flour, and spices and stir to coat; add vanilla extract and stir again. Scoop this mixture into your greased baking dish.

In the same mixing bowl if you’d like, mix the oats, flour, spices, and salt well. (If you’d like to ease back on the spices, omit them from the crumble.) Add the brown sugar and butter and cut in with a pastry blender or fork until pebbly consistency is reached. Sprinkle over the apple filling evenly.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes; cool before serving.

Notes

Serves 6-8

Substitute in your favorite chai spices and play around with the amounts to your preference!

Would also be amazing with walnuts in the crumble topping.

This recipe could easily be adapted to be non gluten free with conventional flour.

Are you a big fan of apple crisp? And do you think August is too soon for it? Let me know in the comments!

Categories
Herbs and Herbalism Recipes

Orange Rose Shortbread Cookies

I’ll admit—this recipe was inspired entirely by rewatching old episodes of the Great British Bake Off. I keep seeing shortbread cookies, and hearing them talk of how their “biscuits” have a satisfying snap. My midwestern American palate is much more accustomed to gooey, soft cookies which are delicious but a bit simpler. So I thought I’d try my hand at some springy shortbread cookies—which, of course, had to incorporate herbs.

In addition to a classically sweet and crisp shortbread recipe, I’ve combined the flavors of rose, orange, cardamom, vanilla, and honey. These lend a distinctly layered complexity to the mild taste of the biscuits and help them pair even better with a lovely black tea. (Springtime tea party recipe, perhaps?) Also, all these botanicals are uplifting, bright, and fresh. It’s the perfect light sweet after a winter of heavy sweets and spices.

Here is the recipe if you’d like to try them!

Categories
Herbs and Herbalism plant wonder collective Recipes

Dill & Cheese Beer Bread

March is dill month at the Plant Wonder Collective! I was searching for inspiration and recipes online, and realized that dill bread is a bit of an old-fashioned, simple, cozy favorite. Perfect!

We may think of dill as being mostly reserved for culinary uses (dill pickles and dill havarti—yum!) but there is some historical precedent for other applications. Dill is great for digestion and is often found in infant gripe water. It is nutrient-dense and high in flavonoids, which make it a great cardio-tonic herbal ally. Dill can help with inflammation and pain, and has been historically used for soothing in many contexts (it’s name comes from an Old Norse word meaning “to soothe”).

Interestingly, in the Middle Ages dill was used for protection and as a ward against witchcraft! It also represented luck and wealth, and might be found hanging in a home or worn as charms.

Whatever its other benefits, dill tastes really green and fresh! I used it to flavor a loaf of beer bread I made, and it tasted great paired with the mozzarella cheese I added. (Would be great with cheddar, too!) Here is the recipe if you’d like to try it!

Dill & Cheese Beer Bread

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp dried or 4 tsp fresh dill
  • 1 12-oz can or bottle of beer
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1 cup shredded cheese of your choice (mozzarella, cheddar, or havarti)
  • 2 Tbsp butter, melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. Grease a 9 x 5 bread pan or line with parchment paper.
  3. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except the beer and butter. Mix well.
  4. Add the beer gradually and stir well to incorporate.
  5. Transfer dough into the loaf pan.
  6. Pour the melted butter over the top. You can also sprinkle a little more dill and shredded cheese over the top if you wish.
  7. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes. Check with a toothpick—if it comes out clean, the bread is ready to come out.
  8. Let cool slightly, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Slice and enjoy!

Recipe inspired by this one from TheSaltyPot.com.

Categories
Recipes wheel of the year

Imbolc: Blackberry Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Imbolc is upon us!

Also known as Candlemas or Midwinter, the first of February has long been a traditional time to celebrate the hope of winter’s end. The days are getting longer, the sun is beginning to return, and it’s time to start thinking about the seeds to be planted in spring (both literal and metaphorical). Traditionally, Imbolc was a feasting occasion and marked the lambing time, too. Nearing winter’s end the vegetable stores were dwindling, so foods involving milk, butter, and baking staples are customary.

It’s also a time to honor Brigid, who holds dual status as a pagan deity and as a Christian saint. She opens the way for spring’s return and is a fire and hearth goddess, among her many other associations. Brigid is also linked to fertility, inspiration, and poetry—all befitting the eager looking forward toward spring.

I decided to follow the Imbolc tradition of making a sweet celebratory baked good full of the dairy goodness traditionally associated with the occasion. I chose to make blackberry lemon poppyseed muffins specifically due to the ties between seeds and Imbolc, lemons and the sun as a symbol of the day, and blackberries and Brigid, to whom they are sacred. I also added cardamom as another seed connection (and because I adore it and add it to baked goods every chance I get).

I based my recipe off this wonderful one by Sally’s Baking Addiction—full credit to Sally for her tasty recipe!

This batch is delicious but turned out a bit…well, “rustic-looking!” Still, I think that is well within the spirit of the occasion. A couple changes I’d make the next time I make a batch of these include: use fewer blackberries (the recipe below is adjusted for that) and cut them up, bake a little longer, don’t do the 5 minutes at a higher temp at the beginning that the original recipe called for, and maybe consider larger muffin tins. (I’m far from an expert baker—so you get a realistic picture of the process here!)

Here is the original recipe I based mine off of, and below is my tweaked version. I used the recipe page template from the Materia Medica in my Etsy shop to make you a pretty recipe to save!

Let me know if you try this recipe! I’d love to hear how it turned out and if you enjoyed these Imbolc muffins!

Categories
wheel of the year

Celebrate Samhain!

It’s only a few days until one of my favorite sabbats: Samhain, aka Halloween! I have been very connected to this special day since I was a child, and I now love sharing Halloween with my own little wildlings. It’s that time we invite the spooks and specters in. We celebrate the connection we all feel to the shadows in a way that is steeped in tradition, which makes it feel cozy and safe. It’s our metaphorical way of preparing for the approaching sleep and death in nature that winter brings.

All that said, I have a few simple and cozy ways I’m planning to celebrate the approach of Samhain this week, which I’m sharing here today!

Family Halloween

My family and I plan to celebrate Halloween together in kid-friendly fashion this weekend. We will watch some not-so-spooky Halloween movies, paint and carve pumpkins, and (safely and with precautions) trick-or-treat. I also plan to brew up some spiced apple cider on the stovetop for us to share, infused with those autumn spices we love and enjoy!

Barmbrack

I learned about the Irish tradition of baking barmbrack for Samhain this year, and I am planning to bake some for my family! I want to see if it’s a tradition we’d like to incorporate in the years to come, as I have a strong connection to my Irish heritage.

Barmbrack is a sort of cross between bread and a cake, baked with dried fruits and grounding autumn spices and eaten with butter. It’s a harvest season favorite and is traditionally baked with a little surprise hidden inside—a coin or a ring wrapped in parchment paper as a good luck charm for the person who finds it in their slice! You can find various recipes online, but HERE is the one I’m planning to try.

Cleaning & Clearing

The approach of Samhain has me feeling the need for a bit of a cleaning and clearing, for both practical and psychological reasons. As winter and the holiday season approach, it’s a good time for me to tidy up and de-clutter. I also notice that I’m needing to sort of reset my perspective, or clear out some stale and stagnant energy, as autumn deepens toward winter.

The physical act of tidying up the house is straightforward enough. It’s not my favorite job, but I’ve come to enjoy it well enough when accompanied by audiobooks or podcasts. But each day this week while I work on the cleaning, I plan to choose a candle, incense, or simmer pot with intention and use it to sort of sweep away the proverbial cobwebs, paired with open windows when it’s not raining.

Samhain Teas

I am excited to brew a few tea blends this week with Samhain in mind. Traditions across many cultures relate this time to remembrance of ancestors passed and introspection or even divination. I plan to spend some quiet time with some steaming pots of tea brewed to those ends. My grandma passed away a year ago on October 27th, so she will be very much on my mind this week (and during this week for the years to come), which ties right in.

Here is a tea recipe from Apothecary At Home’s October Rituals & Romance box, which pairs nicely with moments of quiet introspection:

Third Eye Tea-

1 tsp chamomile

2 tsp black tea

1 tsp mugwort

What are your plans for Halloween or Samhain this year? I’d love to hear what you have planned!

Categories
Hygge wheel of the year

Celebrate Mabon!

This is one of my favorite parts of the year! I’ve always loved it and felt like it was MY time: my birthday on the 21st, the autumnal equinox / Mabon (falling on the 22nd this year), and “Hobbit Day” aka Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ shared birthday on the 22nd—which to me counts as a holiday itself! But this post is about Mabon, the sabbat marking the beginning of fall and the autumnal equinox on the wheel of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere).

Mabon begins the wind down of the harvest season as autumn starts in earnest and winter approaches. It is an age-old tradition to celebrate this time, which is associated with giving thanks to the Earth for her life-sustaining abundance, the balance of light and dark, and preparing for the colder and darker winter months ahead.

This is such a busy time of year! It can be difficult to pause and reflect with a slower perspective on this seasonal turning. But I have a couple of simple, cozy plans for enjoying and marking this week with my family.

Simmer Pot

My kids actually have a “virtual learning” school day on Wednesday, and it’s supposed to rain all day, too! So it seems the perfect time for a simmer pot. This simple-yet-magical act will set a cozy autumn mood for the equinox.

It’s pretty simple: choose aromatic autumn ingredients (I’m using apple slices, a bit of lemon peel, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and allspice), add to a pan on the stovetop and cover the ingredients with water, simmer as long as you like, and add more water as needed so it doesn’t dry out and burn. This will fill the house with a delicious scent and all the cozy autumn vibes to put everyone in the spirit of the occasion.

The dry ingredients for my simmer pot!

Pumpkin and Apple Treats

This is such an obvious one, but of course baking favorite apple and/or pumpkin treats is a simple and almost necessary part of a cozy Mabon. (If you are able and if you like apple or pumpkin!) And of course you can totally buy them and skip the diy portion, if you need to or prefer to. The point is, apple and pumpkin are quintessential to the autumn season!

I will likely bake pumpkin muffins for my birthday treat and the autumnal occasion. I have been using the same tried-and-true recipe for something like 13 years now! It’s simple and delicious. (Check it out here!)

I have yet to decide if I’ll bake any apple treats, too, but I’ll at least be making hot spiced cider and apple spiced tea quite a lot this week and through the season ahead! My birthday gift from my parents was a collection of new autumn mugs, which I plan to put to good use!

Chai

Speaking of those mugs, my hobbit-herbalist heart is ready to start brewing up some grounding, earthy, spicy, immunity-boosting chai. I am in the middle of writing a blog post all about this, so I won’t share too much about it now. But, whether you like to make chai from scratch or order a piping hot cup from a coffee shop, this is a great time to think about warming up with chai!

Okayyy…actually, I can’t help sharing one chai tidbit. I was turned onto adding astragalus to chai for an immune boost by Rosalie de la Fôret in her book Alchemy of Herbs and now I rarely make chai without it. Many of the botanicals in chai help boost immunity already, but astragalus adds a sweet and simple way to kick that boost up! I highly recommend trying it (and checking out Rosalie’s book).

Apple Orchard

We are lucky to have a nice apple orchard not too far from us. Due to Covid, we have yet to take our boys there, and our older daughter hasn’t been in a few years. So, we are very excited to hopefully take them over the weekend to enjoy the woods, the animals (it’s a pretty amazing little orchard), and the apples! I can’t wait to restart this autumn tradition.

So, those are a few of the simple ways my family will be celebrating Mabon! Do you mark the autumn equinox? How do you like to celebrate this season?

Categories
wheel of the year

Celebrate Lughnasadh!

In the northern hemisphere, the wheel of the year has turned to Lughnasadh! This August 1st sabbat marks the midpoint between Litha (summer solstice) and Mabon (autumn equinox). Even though Lughnasadh sits squarely within summer, it is the first harvest festival of the year and the kickoff to the harvest season. Lughnasadh is associated with abundance, as well as the sun, the colors yellow and gold, wheat, sunflowers, corn, berries, peppers, tomatoes, squash, beer, and bread.

Since my little wildlings’ schools start right around Lughnasadh, it’s a busy-but-happy time for us. Just like with Litha, I have some low-energy plans to help mark this sabbat in cozy, grounding ways.

Harvest Treat: Herbed Beer Bread

Bread-baking and enjoying is an essential part of Lughnasadh / Lammas (the other name for the day, which means “bread mass”). My favorite type of bread to bake, which is also thematically on-point for this sabbat, is beer bread. It is SUPER quick and easy, yet delicious, hearty, and rustic. It takes very few ingredients and the beer does most of the work for you—no yeast, proofing, or kneading required!

I’ve put together a Lughnasadh bread recipe Pinterest board that you can peruse and come up with a recipe that speaks to you! My plan is to start with a beer bread base using lemon beer, with some seasonally-specific additions, like possibly orange, pumpkin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, and / or calendula. (Depending on how ambitious I feel this weekend!) These flavors are bright and sweet, with the citrus and spices sort of bridging the gap between summer and autumn.

Check this link for the Pinterest board!

Harvest Sip: Lughnasadh Sun Tea

If you have fresh herbs growing in your garden or window sill, now is the perfect time to harvest some and make a sun tea. But if you don’t have fresh herbs on hand, or you’re just wanting to try a new recipe, here is the potion I’m brewing for Lughnasadh:

3 parts green rooibos (or green tea)

2 parts tulsi

2 parts lemon balm (fresh or dried)

1.5 parts cinnamon chips

1 part dried orange peel OR some fresh orange slices

Dried or fresh pears, peaches, and/or lemon

Harvest Fun: Sunflower Picking and Harvest Decorating

Mr. Herbology Faerie likes to tease me by fake-complaining when I decorate the house for fall before September 1st. Which I usually ignore! This year will be no exception, though I do plan to hold off on pumpkins and leaves until September. Instead, I’ll focus on sunflowers, wheat, gourds, and yellow in honor of Lughnasadh. Decorating for the sabbats can be a cozy and therapeutic way to ground yourself in the season!

A fun family activity I’m hoping we squeeze in on Lughnasadh weekend is sunflower picking at a local flower farm. We went last year a little too late in the season to get any sunflowers; this year the plan is to head there in time for a sunflower bouquet for Lughnasadh.

Those are some of my low-key plans for celebrating Lughnasadh and the start of the harvest season! How are you planning to celebrate?