My 2025 Reading List

I really enjoyed keeping a reading list last year. So much so, that I did it again this year. Like last year's list, I didn't have a reading plan, I just meandered about in my selections choosing whatever struck my fancy. Also like last year's list, this one is just titles and authors, with no cover pics, reviews, or links. I'm happy to answer any questions about any of them and make recommendations, however, if anyone is curious.

Physical Books

• Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell
• Ancient Futures by Helena Norberg-Hodge
• Sharpe's Triumph by Bernard Cornwell
• Unmasking Autism by Devon Price
• Sharpe's Fortress by Bernard Cornwell
• What you are looking for is in the library by Michiko Aoyama
• Sharpe's Trafalgar by Bernard Cornwell
• The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly
• Neurotribes by Steve Silberman
• Sharpe's Prey by Bernard Cornwell
• The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
• Slan by A. E. van Vogt
• Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis
• Perelandra by C. S. Lewis
• That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis
• Sharpe's Rifles by Bernard Cornwell
• The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
• Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave by Dave Breese
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell
• Sharpe's Gold by Bernard Cornwell
• Sharpe's Escape by Bernard Cornwell
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown
• Sharpe's Battle by Bernard Cornwell
• Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison
• The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
• Sharpe's Company by Bernard Cornwell
• The Amish Midwife's Bargain by Patrice Lewis
• Thinking in Pictures by Temple Grandin
• Sharpe's Fury by Bernard Cornwell
• Sharpe's Sword by Bernard Cornwell

eBooks

• Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships by Eric Berne
• The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric by Sister Miriam Joseph
• Disappearing Foods: Studies in Foods and Dishes at Risk, edited by Harlan Walker

Audiobooks

• The Tiger of Mysore by G. A. Henty
• Wulf the Saxon by G. A. Henty
• William the Conqueror by Edward Freeman
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
• Germania by Publius Cornelius Tacitus
• Agricola by Publius Cornelius Tacitus
• Struggles and Triumphs, or 40 Years of Recollections of P. T. Barnum by P. T. Barnum
• Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
• Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
• Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion by G. A. Henty
• The Man Who Would Be King by Rudyard Kipling
• The Book of Tea by Kakuzō Okakura 
• Tell It All: The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism by Fanny Stenhouse
• Adrift on an Ice-Pan by Sir Wilfred Grenfell
• The Adventures of a Woman Hobo by Ethyl Lynn, M.D.
• Across Mongolian Plains by Roy Chapman Andrews
• Condemned as a Nihilist: A Story of Escape from Siberia by G. A. Henty
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
• The Story of My Boyhood and Youth by John Muir
• The Cruise of the Corwin by John Muir
• The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells
• The Sleeper Awakes by H. G. Wells

Has anyone else kept a reading list? Care to share? I'm always interested in what others liked (or didn't like). 

 

My 2025 Reading List © 2025 by Leigh

 at https://www.5acresandadream.com

A Carol, A Recipe, & A Wish

A Carol

A German Christmas song wasn't included in my 2024 holiday series, Christmas Songs of My Ancestors. I didn't know about my German great-great-great-great grandfather then, so this year I took a look at German Christmas songs. I chose a very old but familiar German hymn, Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen. The words were written sometime in the 1500s. The music was written in 1609 by German composer Michael Praetorius. So it is likely that my German ancestors were familiar with it.

A Recipe

This recipe is a civil war era pie recipe I found on Max Miller's Tasting History. The combination of apples and cranberries are so seasonal and festive for this time of year. The original recipe came from Godey's Ladies Book.

Cranberry Apple Pie

1, 9-inch double pie crust 

4 baking apples

1¼ C fresh cranberries

1⅛ C sugar (1 C + 2 tbsp)

3 tbsp water

Over med-low heat, cook the cranberries, sugar, and water until the sugar melts and boils for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool. In the meantime, peel, core, and slice the apples thinly. Put the apple slices in the prepared pie crust, top with cranberry mixture, and add the top crust. Bake at 425°F (220°C) for 10 minutes, then 300°F (150°C) for 45 to 50 minutes or until the crust is brown and the filling is bubbling. 

Recipe Notes

• For the pie crust, I used my Tudor tart crust because I've been experimenting with it.
• For the apples, I used honeycrisp, which work well for baking. They are a bit juicy however, so there was quite
• Quite a bit of juice in the baked pie. I think next time I'll mix the apples with a bit of flour before baking, like I do modern apple pie. That thickens the juice to something we're more used to. :)

A Wish 

My wish for you is that you not be robbed of the joy and wonder of Christmas. Many, nowadays, desire to take that away from us and destroy it, so guard it as a treasure of your heart. 

My observation is that when people rely on the opinions, compliance, and approval of others for their happiness, they give away their personal power to be happy. Anytime we blame someone else for our loss of happiness, we give that power to the other person. Learn to be happy and content without expecting or demanding anything of others. If our happiness is contingent upon what others do or say, then we don't know the true experience of happiness, peace, and joy. That you find and safeguard your personal power is my Christmas wish for you.

A Carol, A Recipe, & A Wish © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Ancient Celts

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Anglo-Saxon

Once upon a time, Celtic peoples dominated much of Europe.

 Credit: QuartierLatin1968, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

It is believed the Celts reached Britain between 600 and 450 BC. Who did they displace? DNA evidence suggests that the earliest peoples in Britain migrated there around 4000 BC from Anatolia (modern day Turkey). Anyway, it seems the Celts displaced them and Celtic culture continued to thrive through the Roman occupation, Saxon invasion, Viking (Danes and Northmen) invasions, and Norman conquest. Now, former Celtic nations of Britain are officially part of the UK, yet they continue to preserve their languages and cultures. 

The assumed time span of the Celts on my family tree is roughly 600 to 450 BC up through 400s AD, with the Romans moving in around AD 43. That gave me two distinct cuisine choices for my Celtic meal: pre-Roman or Roman-influenced cuisine. This is significant for while Roman language and culture made little impact on the Celts, they adopted many of the new foods introduced to them. I researched both.

How do we even know what the pre-Roman Celts ate? I found several pretty interesting bits of information. 

• Scientists have analyzed finds at archaeological digs including scrapings from cooking pots, the plaque on skeletons' teeth, and even analysis of their bones. The assumption has been that their early diet was rich in seafood. Turns out there is very little evidence of seafood in their diets. Their primary foodstuffs were dairy, peas, cabbage and oats.
• During his attempted invasions of Britain in 55-54 BC, Julius Caesar recorded his observations about Celtic agriculture and diet. He wrote that Celtic Britons domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats which provided meat and milk. To a lesser extent they ate pork. Caesar also noted that the Celts kept domesticated geese, chickens, and hares, and that they fermented apples to produce cider. 
• In his Geographica, Strabo (64/63 BC - AD 24) records that Celtic Britons cultivated millet, broad beans, wild spinach, herbs, and primitive parsnips, They also kept bees to produce honey.
• Evidence of cheesemaking in Britain goes back to 3800 BC.
• Evidence of cereal grain based breadmaking goes back to 3700 BC.
• According to Pliny the Elder (23 BC - AD 79), "When the grain of Gaul and Spain . . . is steeped to make beer, the foam that forms on the surface in the process is used for leavening a consequence of which those races have a lighter kind of bread than others." In other words, barm. British food historian Dr. Caroline Gordon, believes they used both ale yeast and the natural yeasts of fermentation in their bread making.
• Fragments of burnt barley bread, hazelnut shells, and apple cores found in Oxfordshire, UK have been dated and found to be 5,500 years old.

Of course, there are no recipes, but I found an interesting Tasting History video by Max Miller, How To Eat Like a Celtic Druid. He made boar stew based on ingredients that were available to the ancient Celts in Britain. I expanded my list of those ingredients from another video, Introduction to Iron Age Cooking (in pre-Roman Britian), and from the Pies, Puddings, and Pottages website. 

• meat - beef and mutton were common, pork less so
• grains - especially barley and oats, also millet and spelt
• legumes - dried peas and broad beans
• nuts - hazelnuts and cob nuts
• vegetables - wild parsnips, turnips, wild carrots, wild spinach, 
• herbs and spices - marjoram, mustard seeds, ramsons (wild garlic), sorrel, alexanders, watercress
• salt
• fruits - blackberries, elderberries, haws, and crab apple
• dairy - eggs, milk, cream, butter, cheese
• sweetener - honey

Everything was in season, of course.

Cooking was done in pottery and metal pots. Metal cookware, such as cauldrons, were more expensive and therefore less common. Some excavated dwellings had bake ovens. Querns were common for grinding grain to meal and flour. The early Celts utilized fermentation. 

What foods did the Romans introduce?

• Fruits such as grapes, figs, cherries, and an improved variety of apple
• An improved strain of cattle. 
• Vegetables such as cucumbers, leeks, and garlic. 
• Herbs and spices, including coriander, marjoram, fennel, and dill.
• Olives and olive oil
• Nuts such as walnuts, almonds, sesame, and pine nuts
• Legumes such as lentils

And how did I plan my menu? Basically, I took Max Miller's recipe and used ingredients I already had on hand, so I didn't have to buy much. For example, I have walnuts in the pantry but not hazelnuts. And I had leeks left over from my Tudor meal. And I decided to substitute lentils for the wheat berries. So my time period is post Roman invasion. Also, I cut his recipe in half because it's just two of us.

Menu

Celtic Lamb Stew

Porridge Cakes

Ale

Celtic Lamb Stew

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 C butter
• 1 pound meat, finely chopped (I used ground lamb)
• 1 & 1/2 cups greens, chopped (I used kale from the garden)
• 1/2 tbsp mustard seed, crushed
• 1 cup chopped leeks
• 1 cup lentils
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 3 cups water

Melt half butter in pot and toast nuts. Add remaining butter, leeks and chives and cook for 5 minutes. Add meat and mustard seed. Brown meat. Stir in greens and lentils, stir till wilted. Add water. Simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 - 40 minutes.

A pre-Roman version could easily be made by substituting:

• hazelnuts for the walnuts
• wild onions or garlic for the leeks
• whole grain barley, millet, or peas for the lentils

Porridge Cakes

Okay, I totally made this recipe up. But follow my logic and I think I can be forgiven. 

Much of Dan's and my lifestyle is similar to my ancient ancestors in that nothing goes to waste. When food is produced through one's own labors, it's never thrown away. When ingredients are limited, the creative cook experiments. For my porridge cakes, I reasoned that since they ate grain porridge, the making of little cakes with leftovers is a logical conclusion.  

Ingredients

• leftover oatmeal porridge
• a little salt
• enough coarse barley flour to shape into cakes
• butter for frying

Mix, form into cakes, and fry in a pan over low heat in butter until golden brown on both sides.

Variations could include adding chopped herbs, leeks, or wild onions to the cakes. Or maybe adding berries, bits of apple, chopped nuts, nut meal, or sesame seeds. Perhaps some honey for a treat. When there are no written recipes, that's the sort of thing creative, frugal cooks do. 

That said, these turned out way better than my previous oat cakes!

Lastly, here's the link to last year's Christmas series:

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Celtic

This is as far as my culinary cuisine journey goes. I hope you enjoyed it. For myself, I learned about the cultural history of my ancestors, new ways of combining foods and flavors, new techniques for preparing them, new ways to thicken soups and stews, and added a bunch of new recipes to our regular meal rotation. 

It's time now to switch to some seasonal holiday cooking. We have our traditional favorites that I'll prepare. Anybody else preparing special foods and meals for the season?

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Ancient Celts © 2025

 by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Anglo-Saxon

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Viking

My ancestral roots trace back to the Anglo-Saxons from the 400s AD up to the Norman Invasion (1060). Like the Vikings, both the Angles and the Saxons were Germanic in origin. After the Romans left, they (and the Jutes) were the next to invade Britain. 

Attribution: by mbartelsm - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

I read that some Britons begged the Romans to come back and help them fight off the invaders, but the Romans never returned. The Anglo-Saxons dominated British culture and language for the next 600 years. In fact, the Anglo-Saxon language is also known as Old English.

Considering that the Saxons and Angles come from neighboring regions, it's logical that many of the foods they ate were similar. The land of the British Isles being richer, however, would have enabled better yield and more variety in their diet. In planning this meal, however, I tried to find something different from our Viking meal. 

Anglo-Saxons diet

• Meat: pork, mutton, beef, chevon, poultry (chicken, ducks, geese,), game birds (wild ducks, plover, grouse, herons, wild geese), hare, venison, wild boar
• Fish: herring, salmon, eel, pike, perch, flounder, whiting, plaice, cod, brown trout, oysters, mussels, cockles
• Grain: barley, rye, oats, wheat (most expensive), also buckwheat, spelt
• Dairy: butter, fresh cheese, milk
• Eggs
• Vegetables & legumes: cabbage, carrots, 'Welsh carrots'; or parsnips, burdock, onions, leeks, wild garlic, legumes, peas, beans
• Fruits: apple, pear, plum, elderberry
• Nuts: walnuts, hazelnuts, acorns
• Herbs: mint, sage, chamomile, parsley, nettle, fennel, mustard seed, sorrel
• Beverages: ale, mead, wine, fruit juice, herbal teas
• Sweetener: honey

Cooking techniques

• Open hearth in cauldrons and pots: stews and pottages
• Flat stones or iron griddles for bread

Preservation techniques

• Drying
• Salting
• Smoking

Recipes weren't written down, so the recipes I did find were mostly based on descriptions. Who ate what depended on social station. Peasants and tenant farmers would have had the poorest foods and diet, while land holders would have fared much better. 

As with the Viking recipes, even "authentic" recipes I found had modern substitutions. I suppose this is understandable, but I did try to stick with ingredients that were likely used or as close to it as I could come. I've made notes of my own substitutions in the recipe notes below.

Menu

Game Bird & Bacon Stew

Gebyrmed

Honey Oatcakes

Ale

Recipes

Game Bird and Bacon Stew

The original recipe is found in Tjurslakter Kookboek, a free PDF of Viking and Saxon recipes. I cut the recipe to make it for two. 

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of  American bacon, chopped
• 4 pieces of Canadian bacon, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 game birds, or chicken breasts
• 8 oz mushrooms, chopped roughly
• 3 oz walnut pieces
• 1, 12 oz bottle of ale
• 1/4 cup water
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Fry the bacons and garlic in a dutch oven until lightly browned
• Add chicken and brown on all sides
• Add mushrooms and walnuts and cook for a few more minutes
• Add liquid and salt cover and bring to a boil.
• Simmer for 2 to 2½ hours.
• Serve with large slices of bread to soak up the broth.

Recipe notes:

• I planned to use Cornish hens for the birds, but couldn't find any. So I substituted chicken breasts.
• The original recipe just called for bacon. The recipe is British, and I know their bacon is different from American bacon.     
• American bacon is made from fatty parts of the belly. Generally smoked. 
• British bacon is sliced from the belly and loin. Not smoked.
• Canadian bacon is made from the loin.
• I settled on a combination of American and Canadian bacon as the closest to which I could come. These were more of a flavoring than main ingredient, but wow, the flavor they added was fantastic.
• The broth in the stew was very thin because no thickeners were used. So the bread (recipe below) was perfect to sop up the broth. 

Gebyrmed (Anglo-Saxon Leavened Bread)

The most challenging item on my menu was bread. Most of the Saxon recipes I found were for kichells (hearthbreads i.e. flatbreads) like the ones I made for our Viking meal. One source said instead of making them flat, the dough can be rolled into balls and baked, with the caveat, "There is a fine line between gummy-undercooked and done-but-impossibly-hard; good luck finding it."

After digging deeper I came across a scholarly paper by a Russian linguist which focused on Anglo-Saxon bread.  (The Domain Of Bread In Anglo-Saxon Culture by Irina Yanushkevich. The link will download the paper). The basis of the paper was source documents in Old English. Interestingly, I discovered that Old English (Anglo-Saxon) has a word for leavened bread (gebyrmed), as well as for unleavened bread (þeorf from þeorfnes, meaning freedom from leaven. þeorfsymbel is the Feast of Unleavened Bread). The Old English word for leaven, yeast, or barm is beorma.

Here's her description of making gebyrmed:

"The dough was kneaded in a wooden trough which was cut out of a split log. The leaven was made by souring a handful of flour stirred in water or milk and left in the open for fermentation because wild yeasts were present in the air. After that small birch sticks were dipped into the leaven and dried; they could be soaked whenever needed. Such leaven was not always working, so the bread was probably coarse and hard, especially if the flour and the other ingredients had not been ground thoroughly. As brewing and baking went hand in hand, the foam from fermenting the beer with hop was also added to the dough; such kind of leaven (barm < Anglo-Sax. beorma) produced lighter, softer, and more flavored bread."

Here's my adaptation: 

Make the sourdough batter:

• 1 cup warm whey 
• 2 cups flour (I used half whole wheat and half barley flour)
• Cover bowl with a cotton dishtowel and allow to sit in a warm place, until it begins to bubble from wild yeasts (at least several hours, overnight would be better).

Proof the yeast:

• 1/4 cup warm water 
• 1½ tsp ale yeast*
• Let proof until bubbly

Make and bake the bread:

• Mix the sourdough starter and yeast water together
• Add 1 tsp sea salt and enough flour to knead the dough until no longer sticky. 
• Shape into loaves and let rise several hours. 
• Bake on a pizza stone for about an hour at 350°F (180°C).

Recipe notes

• *The original recipe calls for barm. Instead, I substituted ale yeast. It is different from baking yeast in that it doesn't rise as quickly or as well, and is stronger flavored. So it seemed like the best substitute for barm that I could come up with.
• It rose better than I expected. Between the heavier whole grain flours and not using baking yeast, I wasn't expecting it to rise at all, but it did and the flavor was delicious.

Honey Oatcakes

Original recipe from English-heritage.org.uk.

• 1½ cups porridge oats (I used rolled oats)
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup chopped dried apples

Mix all ingredients and shape into small cakes. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe notes:

• I can't buy porridge oats so I used rolled oats. However, I was disappointed that I couldn't shape the mixture at all. The oats didn't want to hold together. I managed somewhat, as you can see in the picture. 
• I took the question to permies.com (an international site), and after an interesting discussion I learned that porridge oats (as the recipe called for) are more like our quick oats, i.e. finer cut that American rolled oats. Even so, I doubt the Anglo-Saxons had this kind of oats available.
• This recipe is readily found on the internet and seems to be primarily geared toward kids. That observation plus the use of modern processed oats causes me to doubt the modern version's authenticity as a historic recipe.

What did we think?

The stew was absolutely fantastic and I wished I'd made a full batch. The only seasonings were the ale and salt, and it needed nothing more, although I have to admit that the Canadian bacon added a lot of wonderful flavor. This will definitely be a regular on our winter dinner menu rotation.

The mix of wheat and barley for the bread was delicious as well, although I am unlikely to make this recipe again. This is because ale yeast is considerably more expensive than bakers yeast and because I can't buy barley grain or flour locally. Any good hearty whole grain bread would work just as well, however.

I won't make that recipe for the oatcakes again either. They were very tasty but somehow didn't seem very authentic, I think because of the rolled oats. For our ancient Celtic meal I tried something different, so that recipe next time.

To finish up this post, here's a link to my Anglo-Saxon Christmas song post. It has two songs, actually. One a church chant in Old Roman, the other a more modern Christmas carol sung in Old English.

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Anglo-Saxon

Next, our Celtic meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Anglo-Saxon © 2025

 by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Viking

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Norman French.

The term "Viking" is a broad term that I'm using to describe the Danes and Northmen (Norsemen) who show up on my family tree between the 700s to 900s AD, when they raided and conquered lands in Britain and Ireland. Their modern nationalities are Danish and Norwegian. 

When I researched what the Vikings ate, I found a lot of information because they are popular with living historians. What I couldn't find was actual recipes from the time period because they don't exist. Viking cooks didn't write down and swap recipes. But many recipes have been developed based on descriptions of Viking culture, including farming, hunting, fishing, and foraging. 

What did Vikings eat? Scandinavia has a relatively cool climate, which would affect what ancient Scandinavians could grow and forage. As settlers in Britain, they had a somewhat milder climate and richer soil. 

• Meat: fish, goat, cow, chickens, pigs, ducks, sheep
• Grain: primarily barley, which tolerates cool weather well. Also oats and rye. Very little wheat.
• Dairy: milk, butter, cheese, skyr (cultured milk)
• Eggs
• Vegetables: turnips, cabbage, nettles, docks, cresses, white carrots, onions, leeks, peas, beans, mustard, lamb quarters.
• Herbs and spices: dill, mint, thyme, parsley, cress, horseradish
• Fruits: foraged berries, cherries, lingonberries, wild strawberries
• Beverages: milk, ale, mead, buttermilk, whey
• Sweetener: honey

Cooking Methods

• Open fire
• One pot meals cooked in cauldrons, such as barley porridge and ‘skause,’ a boiled meat and vegetable stew. 
• Unleavened flat breads were baked on flat stones

Menu

Skause (Viking stew) 

Osyrat Kornbröd (barley flatbread) 

Ale

Recipes

Skause (Viking stew)

This is a surprisingly popular recipe on the internet, with many variations. The ingredients for all of them are pretty much the same: meat, root and other cool weather vegetables, broth, ale, sometimes berries, and usually barley. I adapted my recipe from two others:

• Skause Recipe: A Viking Stew with History on Every Spoonful from Eats History
• Medieval Skause Stew: A Recipe To Connect with the Past from Forgotten Skillz

Ingredients

• 1 pound meat, cubed (I used pork)
• I cup onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 7 cups liquid (I used a combination of bone broth and ale)
• 1 cup pearl barley
• 1-2 cups chopped root vegetables (I wanted turnip but had to settle for rutabaga)
• 1/4 head cabbage
• garlic
• thyme
• rosemary
• sage
• salt to taste
• 2 cups lambs quarter
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

• Brown cubed meat in butter. 
• Add onions and continue to brown. 
• Add liquid
• Add barley, veggies (except lambs quarter), and herbs
• Simmer 2 - 3 hours or until barley and veggies are done
• Half-hour before serving add lambs quarter and blueberries

Recipe Notes

• Variations are endless! Use whatever meat and vegetables you have on hand. 
• Scandinavians foraged lignonberries, which I don't have, so I substituted blueberries.
• Berries could be dried
• Barley ale would have been more authentic, which I couldn't find. I used wheat ale instead.

Osyrat Kornbröd (barley flatbread) 

My recipe is adapted from Tjurslakter Kookboek, a free online PDF cookbook of Viking and Anglo-Saxon recipes. I used the recipe for shardbread, substituting barley flour for the wheat. Barley was a commonly grown grain in Scandinavia, while wheat was not. This is a bread best eaten fresh, so I adjusted the amounts for just two persons. 

• 1 cup barley flour
• 1 egg
• enough whey to make a kneadable dough

Shape into balls and press flat. Cook on ungreased skillet for several minutes on each side until browned. Serve immediately. 

What did we think?

• We loved the skause. The addition of blueberries gave it a unique and interesting flavor. Browning the meat in butter was new for me, but it smelled wonderful and added to the overall flavor and satiety. I think other grains could be tried, and of course, different meat and vegetables would guarantee different flavors. Dried fruit could be used, so I'll have to dehydrate some blueberries just for this.
• The flat breads were so-so. On the other hand, I didn't have high expectations for them. I have better ways for making bread, so while skause will be often on our winter menu, the flat bread will probably not.

Lastly, here's the link to my Viking post in last year's holiday series:

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Viking 

Coming next, our Saxon meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Viking © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Norman French

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Tudor English

My Norman ancestors arrived in England following the Norman Conquest in 1060. So I focused on 1000s to 1100s for my research time frame. The Normans have a Danish heritage. In the 900s, when the Viking Rollo raided and conquered the area he become the first Duke of Normandy. William the Conqueror was the 7th Duke of Normandy. But, I could find nothing related to the foods they ate and cooked. So for our Norman dinner, I focused on the traditional dishes of Normandy today. 

Normandy is a coastal province of Northern France.

You can see why it was so easy for them to invade England.

So what kind of foods are we looking at? Normandy has a cooler climate than the rest of France, which is reflected in the fruits and vegetables that grow there:

• apples (lots of apples) and pears
• apple juice
• apple cider (hard, 2-3% alcohol) 
• apple brandy called Calvados
• both cider and Calvados are common ingredients in Norman recipes
• cabbage (grown at least since the middle ages)
• leeks
• root veggies such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips

As a coastal province, its cuisine features:

• lots of seafood
• also pork, lamb, chicken
• Andouille sausage (a smoked pork sausage)

Side note on the Andouille: I was first introduced to it when I lived in Cajun country, where it's used in gumbo. The Cajuns are of French ancestry via Acadia Canada. 

Normandy is also dairy country:

• butter
• cream (in sauces)
• cheese, especially Camembert. The origin of Camembert is typically dated from 1500 or 1700s, but it may have been made as early as 12th century.

Menu

Camembert

Normandy Pork Chops

Normandy Vegetables Brunoise

Pan Brie

Tarte Normande

Apple Cider

Recipe Notes

• The 4 C's of Norman cooking are said to be: cider, Camembert, cream, and Calvados.
• The Camembert wasn't featured in any of the recipes, so we had it as an appetizer with chunks of the pan brie and a glass of cider.
• I want to mention that in my research, I found a lot of traditional recipes, but often with variations. I chose the simplest and the modified those. 
• I was able to find hard apple cider locally, but not Calvados. What I finally found (on Amazon) was apple brandy extract. I reasoned that the alcohol would evaporate in cooking anyway, so what I was going after was the flavor. The product description said it's similar to Calvados, so it's the one I got. 
• The cream used in the original recipes is thick cream rising from fresh whole milk. I used my frozen goat cream. 

Appetizer: Camembert, Pain Brié, and Apple Cider

In a formal dinner in France, the cheese course is generally between the main course and dessert. Since Dan and I are just plain folk, we had our cheese as our appetizer. The recipe for the Pan Brie is further down the page.

It was our first time tasting Camembert. I had hoped to find one produced in Normandy, but this one just said "imported." I thought food products were supposed to tell the country of origin, but apparently not.

Entrée: Normandy Pork Chops

• 4 pork chops or pork cutlets
• 2 tbsp butter (to cook the chops)
• 4 apples peeled, cored and finely sliced 
• Squeeze of lemon juice (to prevent the apple from browning) 
• 1 tbsp butter (to cook the apples)  
• ¼ cup apple juice
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 or 2 tsp Calvados (I used 1/16th tsp apple brandy extract)
• Salt and pepper to season

To prepare

• Season pork chops with salt and pepper to taste. 
• Peel, core and slice apples, then set aside in cold water with a touch of lemon juice to keep from browning.
• Heat butter in skillet on medium heat. When butter foams, add pork chops and cook at med-high for 5 minutes on each side, then 5 minutes again on the first side gain. Cover and continue to cook. I added a little water to the pan to keep everything from sticking.
• While the pork chops are cooking, cook the apples in a hot frying pan on medium-high with the butter.
• Make the sauce for the pork and apples from the caramelized cooking juices, apple juice, cream, and cook for a minute or two until thick. Add the apple brandy extract.
• Top the hot pork chops with the apples, then pour the sauce over all. Heat thoroughly and serve.

Vegetable: NormandyVegetables Brunoise (adapted from a recipe for lamb)

        

There's an Americanized frozen vegetable medley called "Normandy Vegetables," "Normandy Blend," or "Normandy Style Vegetable Blend" (depending on the brand), but that's not what I made. My Normandy inspired vegetable for this dinner was adapted from a recipe for lamb with figs and vegetables. I omitted the lamb, figs, and curry powder, and substituted locally available versions of the other ingredients. It was very good. You can follow the link for the original recipe, below is what I did.

Recipe

• ½ small cabbage
• 2 parsnips
• 2 carrots
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 cup apple juice 
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar 
• sea salt, pepper
• knob of butter

Saute diced onion and garlic in the butter. Meanwhile, chop the remaining veggies Brunoise style, which is to finely dice them. To the onions, add the vegetables, apple juice and vinegar and season to taste. Cook until tender.

Bread: Pain Brié

Pain Brié is a wheat bread, originating in Spain. wheat, originates from Spain. It was introduced into Normandy in 1588 after the shipwreck of the Spanish vessel Calvador. It takes its name from the brie, which is a tool used during the kneading process of this bread. 

There are numerous recipes on the internet for it. I ended up combining several of them while I worked out American amounts and baking temperatures. 

Sourdough

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup warm water 
• 1 tsp dry yeast 
• 1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, combine the bread flour, yeast, and salt. Gradually add the water, mixing thoroughly. It will be sticky. Cover with a tea towel and let rise at room temperature for at least 2 hours (overnight is better).

Bread dough

• 1 cup flour
• ¼ cup water 
• 1 tsp dry yeast 
• 2 tbsp butter, softened 
• 1 teaspoon salt

To make

• Add the bread dough ingredients to the sourdough. Mix well, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise for one hour.
• Divide dough into three balls and allow to rise about 1 hour.
• Place a pizza stone and pan of water in the oven and preheat to 450°F (230°C). Sprinkle the stone with flour and with a peel, transfer the bread onto the stone. Make 5 parallel cuts in each loaf with a sharp knife. 
• Bake 5 minutes at 450°F (230°C), then 15 minutes at 425°F (220°C). Remove from stone and cool on racks.

Dessert: Tarte Normande

Shortcrust:

• 1¼ C flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ C sugar
• ½ C butter, cut in small cubes
• 2 egg yolks

Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Work in butter with your hands until evenly crumbed. Stir in egg yolks. Place in tart pan and press evenly to fill the pan. May refrigerate until ready to use.

Filling:

• 4 apples, peeled, cored, quartered, and cut into 12 slices
• 2 eggs
• ½ C sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream (I used my goat cream)
• 2 tbsp Calvados (I used 1/8 tsp apple brandy extract)
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 tbsp sugar

To make:

• Whisk eggs and sugar, add cream and extract and whisk in. Add flour and whisk until blended.
• Line shortcrust with apple slices in circular pattern, two layers. Pour cream mixture over all. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 45 minutes or until apples are tender and filling is set. Server warm or at room temperature.

Takeaways

• I will in no way call my creations authentic, but they were tasty modifications of traditional Norman recipes. It was interesting to use readily available different ingredients for different flavors. 
• I know to us moderns, the use of so much cream is quite luxurious. But for rural folk with dairy animals, cream is abundant. I skim and freeze most of our goat cream, so I had it available for my Normandy dinner.

To close, here's the link to my Norman Christmas song. It is sung in Latin because that was the church language of the time. But there's also a video of a modern gentleman speaking the old Norman French, aka Viking French, just to give you an idea of the language. 

 

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Norman French

Next post, our Viking meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Norman French © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Tudor English

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: German

My English ancestors dominate my genealogical timeline roughly between 1200 and 1500 A.D. Those dates span the Plantagenet and Tudor periods of England. For planning a meal, I chose the Tudor era (1485 - 1603) because there's quite a bit of information available on what they ate. The Tudor period began after Henry Tudor VII snatched the throne from Richard Plantagenet III, and then married Richard's fiance to appease public opinion. It ended with the death of the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I (daughter of Henry VIII). 

Menu

Tarte Owte of Lente

Salad of Greens

Perys en Composte

Hippocras

Tarte Owte of Lente (Cheese Tart)

Crust

It's amazing how many recipes for "authentic" or "traditional" British tarts and pies call for store-bought crust. After a bit of research, I found a recipe from A Proper Newe Booke of Cokerye published in 1545. (That link will take you to the Internet Archive, where you can download your own free public domain copy.)  Unlike modern shortcrust, Tudor crust used the hot water method. 

Here's the original recipe:

"Make youre coffin after this maner, take a lyttle fayre water and half a dyche of butter and a little saffron and settle all this upon a chafyngdyshe tyll it be hoate then temper your flower with this sayd licuor, and the whyte of two egges and also make your coffyn. . . Then putte (your filling) into your coffyn and laye halfe a dyshe of butter above them end so close your coffin, and so bake them."

(Note that the term "coffin" for pie crust was in continued use up to the 1700s, where it is found in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery for various meat and fruit pies.) 

Rough translation:

"Make your crust after this manner. Take a little fair water and half a dish of butter and a little saffron and put it in a chaffing dish until it's hot enough to temper the flour. Add the liquid and white of two eggs. Mix, shape, add filling, and layer half a dish of butter on top. Close the crust and bake."

The amounts I used were adapted from Anne Boleyn's Tudor Apple Pie at Love British History. 

• 6 tbsp butter
• ½ cup water 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 for the dough
• 1, beaten, to glaze the tart before baking
• 1½ + cups all-purpose flour
• salt 

Put the butter and water into a small saucepan and heat gently until warm and melted together. In the meantime, sift flour and salt into a bowl then pour hot water/butter mixture into it, stirring to combine. Once it's just come together, crack in the egg and stir again. Cover and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Roll out and shape tart before filling.

Recipe Notes:

• The dough was way too soft and I ended up adding probably another half cup to get a workable consistency.
• To shape, I rolled it out after chilling, cut a 10" circle (using a bowl as a form) and folded up the sides to shape. 
• The texture after baking was flaky and tender.

Cheese filling

I sourced two original recipes for the filling (and quite a few modern ones). 

• A Book of Cookrye, by A. W., London, 1591. (Originally published 1584.)
• Gentyll Manly Cokere ( MS Pepys 1047, c. 1490) 

I used the second one. Here's the original recipe 

Take neshe chese and pare hit and grynd yn A morter and breke egges and do ther to and then put yn buttur and creme and mell all well to gethur put not to moche butter ther yn if the chese be fatte make A coffyn of dowe and close hit a bove with dowe and collor hit a bove with the yokes of eggs and bake hit well and serue hit furth.

Translation (courtesy of Godecookery.com)

Take soft (neshe) cheese and pare it and grind it in a morter and break eggs and do thereto and then put in butter and cream and mix all well together. Put not too much butter therein if the cheese be fatty. Make a coffin (pie shell) of dough and close it above with dough and color it above with the yolks of eggs and bake it well and serve it forth.

Modern interpretations based on the original recipe vary greatly because no ingredient amounts are given. For the cheese, they ranged anywhere from 100 to 225 grams for a 9-inch tart. Most suggested a hard cheese to obtain the thick paste-like consistency of the batter after mashing the cheese. Some added lots of eggs to make it more like quiche. I found a very helpful video from the Historic Royal Palaces YouTube channel, 16th Century 'Tarte Owte of Lente': Tudor cookalong. No ingredient amounts are given, but it gave me an idea of what the tart dough and cheese mixture should look like. 

Here's my recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups grated cheese*
• 2 egg yolks
• nob of softened butter
• salt and pepper
• 2- 3 tbsp cream to make a workable cheese paste 

Mixing

• Mash cheese and egg yolks into a thick paste, working in the butter, salt, and pepper
• Add a little cream as needed
• Should be the consistency of cookie dough (see video mentioned above)

Assembling and baking

• Spread the filling into the shaped bottom crust
• Add the pastry lid.
• Brush lightly with beaten egg
• Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 30 - 45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

Recipe notes

• *What's wanted here is a cheese that won't get gooey and melty but will hold its shape with cooking. Cheshire cheese was said to be a favorite of Elizabeth I, so that's what I first looked for although I didn't find it. 
• Other suggestions for a pre-1600s cheese would be Wensleydale (1000), Gorgonzola (879), Comté (1000), Emmenthal (1542), Gruyére (1100s), Grana (1200), , or Cheddar (1500).
• Of those I found very few, but did find what I hoped was a fairly traditional cheddar. 

I found this imported cheddar at Aldi and it worked really well. Dan and I have often commented how American cheeses like American cheddar have no flavor. Well, this one did. High end grocery stores sometimes carry specialty cheeses, so next time I'm near one I'll have to take a look. The recipe is definitely a keeper and I wouldn't mind trying other flavors.

While my tart wouldn't win any beauty contests, I was quite pleased with how it turned out. Especially considering I had no clue as to what I was doing.

Salad of Greens

This is an Elizabethan recipe from The Tudor Travel Guide website. It's based on a 1570 Italian cookbook entitled The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi. "Opera" here translates "works" which in this case are recipes because the author was chef to several popes of the period. (You can download a public domain copy here, although it's in Italian.)

Ingredients

• Assorted greens: beet leaves, sorrel, chard, parsley, lettuce, kale, spinach, etc.
• Assorted fresh herbs: sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, lemon balm, basil, cress, salad burnet, tarragon,etc.
• Leeks, sliced
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Salt 
• Pepper
• Fresh edible flowers if available: nasturtiums, violets, pansies, borage, calendula, French marigolds, honeysuckle, rose petals, clover, chickweed

Preparation

Wash, sort, and mix the greens and herbs. Dress with oil, vinegar and salt & pepper. Decorate with leek slices and fresh flowers.

Recipe notes

• It was winter when I made this so I was somewhat limited for fresh herbs and flowers.  
• Mine contained lettuce, kale, chard, chickweed, dandelion greens, parsley, oregano, sheep sorrel, spinach, and slices of leeks.  

Perys en Composte (Pear Compote)

The Tudor English apparently loved their desserts because there are quite a few recipes for them. I chose this one because it's very different from any of the other desserts we've tried so far.

The original recipe is from Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books at the Internet Archive (page 12).

Click to enlarge

Here is a translation from A Boke of Gode Cookery website.

"Pears in Compote. Take wine and cinnamon, & a great deal of white sugar, and set it on the fire and heat it hot, but don't let boil, and strain; then take fair dates, and pick out the stones, and cut thin, & add; then take pears, and pare them and boil them, and cut them in thin slices, and place in the syrup; then take a little sandalwood, and add, and set it on the fire; and if you have quinces, add them, and look that it stand well with sugar, and well laid with cinnamon, and add salt, and let it boil; and put it in a wooden container, & let it cool, and serve."

I found several modern versions for this around the internet. Here's mine:

• 4 - 6 pears (may substitute a quince for one if available)
• 2 cups red wine
• white sugar to taste* (I used 2 tbsp)
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1/2 cups pitted, chopped dates
• pinch salt

Heat wine, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Meanwhile pare, core, and quarter pears. Add pears, dates, and salt to heated wine mixture, simmer until pears are cooked. Remove cinnamon stick. Cool and serve.

Recipe Notes

• Apparently sandalwood was used for coloring and several modern versions substituted red food coloring. I figured the red wine would color the pears well enough and as the picture shows, it did.
• *I find "to taste" frustrating in recipes. The original recipe called for "a great deal of white sugar" whereas modern recipes changed it to one tablespoon. I can think of two reasons for this.
• Older wines (drier or turning to vinegar. See introduction to Hippocras below) so these would likely be used for cooking, hence the need to sweeten.
• It's possibly a reflection on type of pears they had. For example, cooking pears aren't as sweet as table pears. Also riper pears would be sweeter, of course, but more likely to get mushy with cooking, so firmer pears were likely used. 
• Recommendation: taste the wine and the pears and add sugar (or not) for the sweetness you prefer. The dates help sweeten it too. My pears were fairly hard and bland, so I used 2 tablespoons of sugar.
• It smelled quite wonderful while the pears were cooking.

Hippocras (Spiced Wine)

The oldest recipe for Hippocras dates back to 1390, but there are many variations for it. It is a cold-steeped spiced beverage using red or white wine, spices, and usually sugar. Of all the recipes (there's a nice collection of hypocras recipes at Medieval Cookery, scroll to the bottom of the page), the foundation spices seem to be cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Variable ingredients include: spikenard root, galangal (a rhizome in the ginger family), pepper, marjoram, rosemary, cardamom, and grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta. a gingery flavored pepper from West Africa).

The spices are to be crushed, bruised, or powdered. 

I'm guessing the sugar is especially for older natural wines that are turning to vinegar. They wouldn't have had modern methods of stopping the fermentation process, so new wines would be sweetest, and they would get drier and more sour as they aged, eventually turning to wine vinegar (still a useful product for cooking and dressing salads as in the recipe above). 

I adapted my recipe (based on what I had) from Max Miller's (Tasting History) Making Hippocras at Home YouTube video. It's a no-added-sugar recipe. 

• 1 quart red wine
• 1/2 oz (14 gm) cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 oz (14 gm) fresh ginger
• 3 small sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Crush the spices and add to a jar of wine. Stir to mix and let sit for 1 to 2 days. Strain and serve warm or cold.

Recipe notes:

• I crushed the whole spices and bruised the rosemary with my kitchen hammer. This exposes more of the surface area of the spice and so imparts more flavor.
• If I had whole nutmegs and cardamoms I would have used those instead of powdered. 
• Mine steeped for 3 days
• It was excellent with the cheese tart. 

I'll close this very long post with a link to last year's Christmas series,

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: English

Next up, our Norman French meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Tudor English © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: German

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Irish

I mentioned in my series introduction that I only recently discovered a German ancestor. His youngest daughter married my Irish great-great-great-grandfather, but everything I have on her uses an Anglicized version of their original surname. So it had been a dead-end for quite awhile. Then I spent some time researching this on Ancestry.com during a library visit (library patrons can access the library's account for free). That's when I learned of the original surname spelling. 

My 4x-great grandfather was born in 1758 in Westernau, Nassau, Germany (modern day Westernohe in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in western Germany). When he was 23 years old he was mustered into the Waldeck Regiment of the German army. They arrived in North America in 1781 to fight for the British in the American Revolution. The British hired auxiliary troops from their foreign allies, in this case, one of the German states. Because Waldeck was a town in the state of Hesse, they were later known as Hessian "mercenaries," which technically isn't correct. Mercenaries are hired private armies, while those hired from other nations are considered auxiliary troops. So they should have been called Hessian auxiliaries. For his service, my ancestor received a 100-acre land grant in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The time period I looked at was 1400s to 1700s, although I couldn't find recipes that were time and region specific. So I settled for some old traditional German dishes. For the ones I chose, I found numerous variations, from which I worked out my own recipes. 

Menu

Königsberger Klopse

Boiled yellow potatoes

Rotkraut (also called Rotkohl)

Pfeffernuesse

Königsberger Klopse (German Meatballs)

Ingredients

For the meatballs 

• 1 pound mix of ground pork and beef
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 slices pumpernickel rye bread (soaked in a little milk)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 cups broth (I used beef broth)

For the sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups reserved meatball broth
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (I used our goat cream, of course)
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and white pepper, to taste

Instructions

Meatballs:

• In a large bowl mix mix all ingredients except broth
• Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes
• Shape into 12 meatballs
• Bring the broth to a simmer in a pan, and add the meatballs.
• Simmer 15–20 minutes, or until they’re cooked through and firm to the touch. Internal temperature should be 160°F (71°C). 
• Use a slotted spoon to remove the meatballs from the broth. Keep warm. Reserve 1.5 cups of strained broth for the sauce. 

Sauce:

• In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat.
• Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1–2 minutes
• Gradually add the reserved broth, whisking out the lumps. 
• Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently for 2–3 minutes until it begins to thicken.
• Stir in cream, capers, lemon juice, and Dijon mustard.
• Simmer and stir for another 2–3 minutes until it’s smooth and velvety. 
• Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper.
• Return meatballs to the pan with the sauce, gently spooning sauce over them
• Warm the meatballs in the sauce over low heat for 5 minutes

Serve over egg noodles or boiled yellow potatoes.

Recipe notes

• I served them with plain boiled yellow potatoes (not pictured).
• For the meatballs, the recipes I found called for white bread, but I substituted pumpernickel because rye bread was popular in Germany. It was a good flavor addition.
• Quite a few recipes for this called for anchovy paste, which I omitted. 

What did we think?

• Oh gosh, these were fantastic. This project is helping me realize how stuck-in-a-rut my cooking tends to be. I always grab the same ingredients and seasonings for everything. I'm seeing that I can expand our flavor repertoire with just a few ingredients I always have on hand anyway.
• For example, my current meatballs are always seasoned with salt, pepper, onion and garlic powders, then sauteed in olive oil. Different spices and simmering in beef broth was a tasty change.
• The capers are considered a signature ingredient and were new for us. We thought they were okay, but I don't know that I'd buy them again just for this recipe.
• I heated the leftover meatballs and sauce several days later and served them over egg noodles. That was really good too.

Rotkraut or Rotkohl (Red Cabbage)

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, halved and sliced
• 1 medium apple, sliced
• 1 medium head red cabbage, shredded (about 8 cups)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp bacon grease
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions

• Melt bacon grease in cast iron pan or Dutch oven. 
• Add the onion and apple and cook over medium heat until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. 
• Stir in remaining ingredients
• Covered and cook until cabbage is tender, about 1 hour. Stir occasionally. 
• Serve warm or cold.

Pfeffernuesse (Peppernut) Cookies

These are a traditional German Christmas cookie. The original recipe made 10 dozen, so I cut it in half.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon anise extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/21 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners sugar

Directions

• Heat in a small saucepan until melted: molasses, honey, and butter 
• Remove from heat; cool to room temperature. 
• Stir in eggs and extract.
• Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, cardamom,
• nutmeg, cloves, pepper and salt. Gradually add molasses mixture and mix well.
• Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 325°F (165°C).
• Roll dough into 1-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on greased baking sheets. 
• Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
• Roll in confectioners sugar when cool.

I've looked at recipes for pfeffernuesse in the past but for some reason, wasn't inclined to try them. I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted these! The combination of the spices + anise + pepper was different but delicious. It felt like we were eating cookies for grown-ups. I plan to add them to our regular Christmas cookie list.

With that, I have to say that we really liked everything. I'll make it all again, for sure. It's been interesting to try familiar types of foods which are prepared with different seasonings. I always seem to grab the same spices for everything I cook. Trying different ingredients and new flavor combinations has been a fantastic exercise.

Next post - our Tudor English meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: German © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com