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♦ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2008
2B
Tea cakes, gingerbread men, spiced peaches and hot rolls
Notes from AFarr
Agnes
Farr
Columnist
farra@alltel.net
November and December
are some of my favorite
times of the year.
It always brings back
remembrances of baking,
especially cookies when the
children were small. For
myself, I never cared for
lights on a Christmas tree.
I prefer ornaments, candy
canes and decorated cook
ies in plastic wrap and tied
with a bow.
The kitchen was always
covered in flour and smudg
es of food coloring was on
most of the dish towels.
It was something that we
enjoyed. Once we decorat
ed the tree, any visitor left
with a handful of cookies
and the empty space on the
tree was quickly filled.
My family’s favorite cook
ies are the old timey ‘Tea
Cookie ur Tea Cake” and
Gingerbread men.
This weekend one of
my granddaughters from
Atlanta is helping me make
both. The following is the
recipe that we use. You
might want to half the, rec
ipe:
Old Fashioned Tea Cakes
1 pound butter (room tem
perature)
4 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
extract
1 cup hot water
1 tsp baking soda
Self Rising Flour, sifted
(This recipe will take about
5 pounds of flour)
Put soda in water and
stir to dissolve and sit
Fraser Christmas trees a perennial favorite
At this Christmas
season, many of
you have purchased
a live tree to grace your
home. In fact, this tree is
probably the centerpiece
of your interior decor. The
National Christmas Tree
Association suggests that
this season 36 million U.S.
families plan to focus their
holiday traditions around a
real Christmas tree.
The NCTA also reports
that about 23 percent of con
sumers will purchase their
trees from a Christmas tree
farm while the remaining 62
percent will buy trees from
a retail lot.
About 300,000 consumers
will purchase their live trees
over the internet or by mail
order.
Do you have a favorite
type of tree you seek out for
Christmas or do you just buy
the first tree you see on the
lot or on the farm? Well, if
you’re like me you look for
the perfectly shaped, fullest,
most beautiful tree you can
find. Most often, this is the
ever lovely Fraser Fir.
The Fraser Fir may be
the perfect holiday tree. Its
attractive one-inch needles
are silvery green and soft
to the touch. Because of the
spaces between the branch
es, the Fraser Fir is easier to
decorate than most trees. The
firm branches hold heavier
ornaments. If watered prop
erly, they exhibit excellent
needle retention.
The Fraser Fir was named
Merry Christmas
to our Food/Home readers!
from
Tim Lewis, Aanes Farr
Yvonne Sutherland
and Charlotte Perkins
¥:; A«au. i M |jm
Run, run as fast as you can! You can’t me! I’m the Gingerbread man!
aside. Cream butter and
sugar until light and beat
in vanilla and eggs (one at
the time). When it is light
and creamy beat in the soda
water and 4 cups of the
flour, alternately, beginning
and ending with the flour.
Work in flour until you have
a good that can be rolled
out. I usually let it sit for
a few hours to mellow in
flavor. Roll dough as thin
or thick as you want it (I
like about 1 / 8 to 1 / 4 inch
thickness), cut and bake on
greased cookie sheets in a
350 degree oven for 10 to 15
minutes. Time depends on
thickness of cookies. Just
let them begin to brown
around the edges. You can
jgL galß. |
Tim Lewis
Garden
Columnist
for 18th century botanist
John Fraser (1750-1811).
The species is sometimes
called Southern balsam fir.
Fraser Fir is a uniformly
pyramid-shaped tree which
reaches a maximum height
of about 80 feet.
Fraser Fir is monecious
meaning that both male and
female flowers occur on the
same tree. Flowers are wind
pollinated in May and June
and cones mature in a single
season. At maturity, cones
are 2-21/2 inches long, and
ripen in September through
November.
Frazier Fir prefers full sun
but will tolerate some shade.
It is usually found on fertile,
rocky to sandy acidic soils.
Natural companions are red
spruce, beech and yellow
birch, and rhododendron.
Fraser Fir has a fairly
restricted range. It grows
naturally only at eleva
tions above 4,500 feet in
the Southern Appalachian
Mountains from southwest
Virginia through western
North Carolina and into
eastern Tennessee.
Its highest habitat is
Mt. Mitchell, N.C., (eleva
roll the dough out in your
hands like a biscuit and
bake a little longer. It will be
some of the best shortcake.
You can also shape into a log
and wrap in plastic wrap,
refrigerate, and slice while it
is cold and bake. Eat plain
or decorate and share.
Gingerbread Men
In a saucepan bring to a
boil and let cool.
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 and 1/2 teaspoon white
vinegar
When cool beat in 1 beat
en egg
Sift all together
tion 6,684 feet), which is
the highest point east of the
Mississippi River.
The combination of form,
needle retention, dark blue
green color, pleasant scent
and excellent shipping char
acteristics has led to the
Fraser Fir being the most
popular Christmas tree spe
cies. North Carolina produc
es the majority of Fraser
Firs. It requires 7 to 10 years
in the field to produce a 6-7
foot tree.
Other Fraser Fir facts:
North Carolina has an
estimated 50 million Fraser
Fir trees growing on over
25,000 acres.
Fraser Fir represents over
95% of all species grown in
N.C.
There are more than 1,600
N.C. growers of Fraser Firs.
North Carolina produces
over 19 percent of all live
Christmas trees grown in
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3 cups sifted plain flour
1/2 teaspoon each of bak
ing powder, ground cinna
mon, and ground ginger
1 / 4 tsp salt.
Mix molasses/egg mixture
and the dry mixture until it
is well mixed. Cover dough
and chill in the refrigera
tor. Take about 1 / 3 of the
dough and roll out on a
lightly floured surface to 1 /
8 inch thick. Cut into ginger
bread men. Place on greased
cookie sheet and decorate
with raisins, cinnamon can
dies before baking or with
icing after baking. Bake in a
375 degree oven for 8 to 10
mins. Remove and cool on
wire racks. Makes about 14
medium size men or 24 - 20
the U.S.
The North Carolina
Fraser Fir is the most pop
ular Christmas tree grown
in North America and is
shipped into every state
in the U.S. as well as the
Caribbean Islands, Mexico,
Canada, Bermuda, Japan,
and other countries.
There are approximate
ly 400 “choose and cut”
Christmas tree farms in
North Carolina.
Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green
Industry Association Certified
Plant Professional, garden
ing writer, former Perry High
School horticulture instructor,
and former horticulturalist at
Henderson Village and Houston
Springs. He and his wife,
Susan, own and operate Lewis
Farms Nursery located on Hwy
26 two miles east of Elko, where
he was bom and raised. He can
be reached at(478)954-1507 or
timlewis@alltel. net.
$-jod°
A S IOO OO
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HONEYBAKEDHAM
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small ones.
Here are a couple of things
that we enjoy during the
holidays:
Swßflt, Semi Homemade
Pickle
1 jar of hamburger slice dill
pickle (32 oz size)
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup tarragon vinegar
Drain pickle and pour
some cold water over and
make sure that they drain
well. Put the pickle in a
large plastic or glass con
tainer (large mouth gallon
jug works fine) and add the
sugar and vinegar. Put the
container on your cabinet
until there is enough liquid
to cover the pickles. This
will take three to five days.
Stir each day to get the
pickles down in the juice.
Repack in jars, pour liquid
over, put on lids and store in
refrigerator till used.
Spiced Peaches
(From the kitchen of Lu
Christain)
Thanks Lu, I don’t can
peach pickle anymore.
2 extra large cans (290 z)
peach halves
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vinegar
2 teaspoon cloves
6 short cinnamon sticks
Drain peaches and put
the liquid in a pot. Add the
sugar, vinegar and spices
and bring to a boil. Reduce
to simmer and cook for 10
minutes. Remove cinnamon
sticks. Put peaches in a con
tainer that can be closed (I
use a 1 / 2 gallon large mouth
canning jar) and pour the
hot liquid (with the cloves
in it) over the peaches. Let
set overnight and it will be
ready to use. The left over
liquid is good in a carrot,
peach Jell-0 salad.
And for Mike P:
Easy Yeast Rolls
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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
1 pkg yeast
1 cup warm water
4 Tablespoon Crisco, very
soft
4 Tablespoon sugar *
1 teaspoon salt
4 and 1/2 cups plain
flour
Mix yeast and lukewarm
water and set aside to dis
solve. When it is ready the
yeast will sorta rise up with
the water. Have the dough
hook in the mixer and in the
bowl put the yeast, water,
Crisco, sugar, and salt. Turn
on the mixer and start add
ing flour. Add flour and mix
until it is the consistency
of biscuit dough. Remove
from mixer, cover and put
in a warm place to rise until
it is double in size. Punch
down, knead and roll out.
Cut and put on a greased
baking sheet, cover, and let
rise again until double in
size. I usually spray cooking
spray on plastic wrap and
cover the rolls. Bake in 450
degrees pre-heated oven
until golden brown. As soon
as you remove from oven,
brush with melted butter.
This will make 2 to 3
dozen rolls, depending on
size.
I have a request for you
readers: Years ago the Macon
Telegraph had a recipe for a
‘Christmas Chocolate Cake’.
I remember that it had two
white layers and two light
chocolate layers. The filling
was similar to the German
Chocolate Cake filling. It
was covered with a choco
late fudge icing. I have lost
my recipe and have tried to
duplicate, but it just doesn’t
come out like I remember it.
If any of you have the recipe,
I would appreciate a copy.
Thanks, Agnes
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