Dutch Honey Bread

In 1994, my mother-in-law made a book of recipes and favorite quotes in honor of what would have been her mother-in-law’s 100^th birthday. She gave copies to her children and their families. I have glanced at it occasionally, but never made anything from it. I’m not sure why, but I would hazard a guess that recipes without detailed instructions were a bit intimidating 19 years ago. There probably are a few cooks and bakers who instinctively know how to do things in the kitchen. For the rest of us, a good teacher or plenty of practice may get us to that point.

This past weekend, I got a wild hair and pulled my copy off the cookbook shelf. After reading through it my younger daughter and I agreed the Dutch Honey Bread would be the first recipe we sampled. I did the usual read-through to make sure I had all ingredients, but I didn’t notice this recipe was “missing” a couple items. Eggs and salt aren’t mentioned. If you look carefully at the ingredients in baking soda, you will notice a type of sodium in the list. So leaving out salt isn’t a big deal. However, most of us aren’t used to making a quick bread without eggs. They help provide protein for structure in the loaf, as well as some of the liquid. I questioned the recipe for a moment, but since I already had most of the ingredients in the bowl, I decided to trust the recipe as written. According to the biography at the front of the book, my husband’s grandmother was an expert baker, so she must have known what she was doing. It’s also possible this recipe is very old. Before refrigeration, eggs were not something everyone had on hand all the time.

Now, this is particularly interesting to note. The majority of this recipe’s moisture comes from the sweeteners. You can try decreasing them if you like, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Like some of the other recipes I’ve posted, this should be considered a splurge. True, there is plenty of sugar, but here the indulgence is in cost. I’m sure others besides me have noticed that honey is getting expensive. Normally, I use it in smaller quantities (1/4 c. in yeast breads). To keep some of my baking costs reasonable, I buy honey and brown sugar at a membership club. (Pure maple syrup, too).

The anise seeds in this recipe will give the bread a subtle licorice taste. For those who don’t enjoy black licorice, try this recipe as written at least once for a touch of authenticity. Anise is apparently a very popular flavor in the Netherlands. I’ve noticed many products in Dutch import shops that contain it. (Black licorice, the most common, comes in many forms. Stay away from the double zout kind.)

1 tsp. Hot Water

1 ½ tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Anise Seeds

1 c. Honey

1 c. Brown Sugar

1 tbsp. Butter

½ c. Water

½ c. Milk

3 c. All-purpose Flour (or half ratio of AP and whole wheat)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place hot water, soda and Anise seeds in a small mixing bowl. Allow the soda to dissolve and the seeds to soften. Put the remaining liquids in a mixing bowl. After combining them, stir in the softened anise seeds and soda. Gradually add the flour. Mix until most of the lumps are gone. The batter can be divided into (2) 4” x 8” prepared loaf pans or (4) mini pans. For the large loaf pans bake at least 45 minutes. Mini loaves will need 25 – 30 minutes. Check the centers of the loaves with a toothpick. The bread is ready when the toothpick comes out clean.

The Project Queen

Summer Sunset Votive Holder

I haven’t been blogging for a full year yet, but this post is kind of a milestone. It’s my 50^th. Perhaps a celebratory cake recipe might have been appropriate, but since the season of outdoor living finally seems to be here, I decided to showcase this votive holder instead. In my opinion, you can’t really enjoy an evening outdoors without plenty of candlelight.

This particular project is a 4.5 inch square glass container. If my memory is correct, I got it a few years ago for Mother’s day. I believe it contained an orchid. Alas, the orchid died a short time later. A couple of months ago I found the container when I was organizing my new plant shelf. Putting square mosaic tiles on it seemed like an obvious choice, especially if I could find iridescent or dichroic glass.

The tiles I chose are approximately .75 - 1 inch square. There are two different colors that were alternated. One is a coated dark glass, and the other is buff. While mosaic grout would have been appropriate and easier to use on flat surfaces, I used copper metallic Gallery Glass paint between the tiles, after the silicone sealer cured. It was easy to paint between the tiles with the bottle’s narrow tip. An added bonus? No special tools or cleanup afterward was required, plus the paint dries faster. To get good coverage with grout, it has to be spread over the tiles with a grouting tool then wiped off. Since the iridescent coloring of my tiles was a coating, rather than being fused into the glass, I didn’t want to risk damaging them.

This project was completed over a couple of days. It took 15 – 20 minutes at a time to glue the tiles to a side, and no more than 5 minutes to paint between then. Each side was allowed to dry before another one was done. This is probably obvious, but you will want your work surface to be horizontally flat. The container is laid on its sides to apply the tiles and paint.

A note about candles: While I do enjoy candlelight, and fire is supposedly man’s greatest discovery, I’m actually quite fond of battery-operated LED “candles”. You can get them in several different sizes now, and some even come with wax exteriors. Many flicker like candle flames. They are also much safer. If you forget to turn them off, the battery may die, but they won’t start a fire. My favorite application for them is putting them in containers with semi-transparent surfaces. Then you can’t tell the candles are fake. And since LEDs don’t generate heat, you’re not very likely to get burned if you need to touch the container.

The Project Queen

Gardenia Bud Vase

When we moved from Iowa to Texas thirteen years ago, it was summer. At the time I didn’t know my favorite spring-blooming bush didn’t grow here. The following spring I was a bit sad to learn Lilacs don’t like Texas.

However, I became acquainted with a family of plants I couldn’t grow up North. That would be the Jasmines. We had a Jasmine vine for a few years, until it got unruly and started creeping toward the house. Last year we bought some Gardenias. I don’t know why I wasn’t aware of their Jasmine relationship, but when one experiences their fragrance, the fact that Gardenias are Jasmines in bush form becomes quite clear.

A week and half ago, I was hemming a prom dress for a co-worker’s daughter. Prom dresses can be tricky to work with, and I needed a little pick me up. After studying the contents of my studio, my gaze fell upon a small green jar with a stoppered lid. It makes a great Gardenia bud vase. There is nothing like fragrant flowers to perfume a room. While I’ll always be nostalgic for Lilacs (my maternal grandparents had one in their yard), Gardenias make a very fine substitute.