November! Month of cranberries and dry turkey, you're finally here! I would be lying if I said I didn't have a soft spot for deep autumn and almost everything that comes with it--the crinkly sound of dry leaves (and getting to use the leaf blower--so cool), a really good excuse to make a hot toddy, and pulling all my musty sweaters and scarves down from storage. Very pale people of Scotch-Irish descent are just not made for 90+ degree days. Fall is a welcome friend.
I also find myself getting hungrier as the days grow shorter and colder. Whether it's a hibernation complex or just a primordial craving to fatten up before darkest winter, I have been perfectly ravenous. With any luck, some of you will come to market perfectly ravenous, too, as I'm baking my heart out tomorrow to bring you some really delicious and highly fattening goods (um...but all the calories get canceled out because I bake with love?).
I missed you all last weekend, but it was a necessary errand. In addition to attending the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair where I purchased my very first raw fleece (the idea being that, once I get over how intimidating the thing is, I'll turn it into yarn), I also stopped by the farm of an old friend for the ingredient that makes my granola delicious: sorghum syrup.
For those unfamiliar with this product, sorghum is a thick, dark syrup (not unlike molasses, but without the bitter notes) made from the juice of sorghum cane, a relative of sugar cane. The juice is pressed out of the cane and boiled for hours and hours (like maple syrup) until it caramelizes. Sorghum syrup is traditionally made in the South, as sorghum cane grows well here, and the farm I buy my sorghum from still uses draft horses to mill the cane. They also boil their syrup over a wood fire.
All the syrup I've been able to find from Tennessee cane processors is much, much lighter than the sorghum I get from Doubletree Farms (located in Madison County, NC). Doubletree's method of boiling the syrup over a wood fire produces a deeply caramelized syrup, whereas the Tennessee producers I've found use steam. Steam processing produces a very light, almost honey-like syrup. Unfortunately, while this syrup is perfectly fine for drizzling over biscuits and such, the darker stuff is what I need to make my granola. There's just no way around it. So, I've stocked up on the good stuff again and can continue making granola that's up to my standards.
Mini Pecan Pies in a Whole Wheat Crust--$5 (corn syrup-free!)
Quiche With Leeks and Butternut Squash--$5 (butternut squash from Terraced Gardens Farm)
Pumpkin and White Chocolate Scones--$3 (pumpkin from Musick Mountain Farm)
BCT Scones (bacon, chard, and roasted tomatoes)--$3 (Benton's bacon, organic chard from my garden)
Croissants (plain, dark chocolate, ham and cheese, almond)--$3, $4, $5 and $5, respectively
10-Grain Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls--$4 (pumpkin from Musick Mountain Farm)
Grasshopper Sandwich Cookies--$2
Earl Grey Shortbreads--$2/bag
Cheddar Scallion Biscuits--$3 (Cruze Farm buttermilk)
Walnut Spelt Muffins--$3 (organic spelt flour, Cruze Farm Buttermilk)
Seeded Granola--$7/ 12 oz (Doubletree Farms sorghum syrup)
Double-Strength Vanilla Extract--$8/ 4 oz
P.S. Please let me know if you'd like to pre-order fruitcakes. My fruitcakes are absolutely packed with fruit and nuts and are soaked with rum or bourbon before being aged for a month. Nothing like store-bought fruitcakes with those weird red and green pseudo-fruits! I will be making mini fruitcakes for $10 apiece (like I said--packed with fruit and nuts--I spare no expense for this once-a-year luxury). I will have some available at the holiday markets in December, but if you'd like to reserve a few, please let me know!
No comments:
Post a Comment