Photo Credit: Kati Baker

DANISH

I got this recipe from my neighbor Charles. More than forty years seperate us in age but he is my cooking soulmate. We can and do talk about food for hours. He says that his taste buds have gone the way of the rest of his body-------down hill, but I keep bringing offerings from my kitchen because if he's eating it, I'm not! And my butt tells me that is a good thing. He says getting old sucks (he also says he not exactly sure what that means but the grandkids say it and it's bad) but I'm glad he's got a few years on him because I love listening to the great stories about his time in the airforce (he was a navigator on a B-52 during WWII), from his years in academia in Michigan and Arizona and his missions for his church.




The basic dough can be used to make danish or cinnamon rolls or fruit tarts. I will try to have pictures of all of these at some point.

Basic Danish Dough

1/2 lb of butter (plus an additional 1/2 lb butter)

2 cups warm milk

1 cup sugar

2 T. yeast

1/2 warm water

1 T. sugar

2 eggs

1 t. salt

6+ cups of pastry flour

1 large t. vanilla**




Cut the butter in approx. 2 T. size pieces and place in a large bowl, add the 1 cup of sugar and the salt. Warm the milk in the microwave on high for 2 minutes and pour over the butter and let cool slightly. Mix the yeast with the warm water and 1 T. of sugar and let proof. Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl and add to the milk mixture. Add the yeast mixture and the vanilla and mix until just blended. Add 2-3 cups of pastry flour and beat until smooth. Add the remaining flour using a spoon until the dough is firm but still sticky. Cover and let rise until double.



Remove the dough from the bowl and add just enough flour until you can work with it but do not knead! The dough should be very soft. Divide the dough in half and roll into a rectangle. Spread butter (about 1/3 of a stick) over 2/3 of the dough. Fold the uncovered third over 1/2 the covered portion and then fold the remaining portion down. Roll into a rectangle again and repeat above procedure. Repeat a third time but after folding do not roll out. Cover the dough and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Do the same with the remaining dough.




Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll into a rectangle. Starting on the short side, cut 1 inch strips. Using both hands start in the center of the strip and roll both hands in opposite directions to twist the strips and form a rope and then coil in a circle tucking the end under. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until double in size. At this point you can use the bottom of a glass to create a depression in which to put fruit or cheese before baking. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven as soon as they begin to brown.




Plain danish can be dipped in icing and then nuts or just drizzled with icing. I usually drizzle the filled pastry with icing.

Cheese Filling

8 oz of cream cheese

1 egg

Powdered sugar

Cream the cream cheese with the egg and add sugar to taste.

Icing

3 cups of powdered sugar

2 T. butter melted butter

Milk

Almond flavoring or vanilla depending on your filling


Mix the sugar and melted butter and 1-2 t. of almond flavoring. Add just enough milk to make icing of a consistency that will drizzle off the end of a spoon.




*Pastry Flour

Mix 1/4 measure of cake flour with 3/4 measure regular flour.



**This is what was written on the original recipe that Charlie gave me. I was a little confused because what is a large teaspoon? Is it large compared to the miniscule ones from the Ukraine? They just didn't know the symbol for tablespoon? What????? I just add a tablespoon to my dough and it works well. You can do what you want.

Lumpy Dick

No, contrary to what the title may lead you to believe this is a family friendly site. I am currently working on the arrangements for my family reunion this summer at Mack's Inn at Island Park, ID. This will just be my immediate family but when I was small I remember huge family reunions every summer......one for each side of my family.


I was fortunate to know my great grandparents on my mothers side and most of my great aunts and uncles on both sides. They were all farmers and ranchers and had that no nonsense attitude that comes with that life.


The Hubbard side of the family would often meet at Downata Hot Springs for the Charles and Elsie Hubbard family reunion (just to show you how dim I sometimes am.....it took years before I broke down the name to Down At A Hot Springs). The reunions would progress with everyone showing up at around 9:00 am. The parents would immediately organize the mass march to the changing rooms to get us suited up for our prolonged immersion in the pool. We would then play in the pool until threatened with dire consequences if we didn't get out and come to lunch. The adults in the meantime had spent the time catching up on gossip, discussing the weather (the men) and its probable effect on crop yield, and preparing a HUGE lunch. We would then eat until we groaned. We then had to spend one hour "resting" before we were allowed back into the pool.....cramps you know. And there was always someone who knew someone who knew someone who drowned from cramps because they went swimming too soon after eating. Oi!


The interim time was usually filled with stories from Great Grandma Elsie. She was a born story teller and a published poet who loved to entertain and be the center of attention. I don't remember the context but one year she told us about the early years when her family first moved to Gem Valley. There were twelve of them living in a one room cabin with a dirt floor.....she said she never could get it clean no matter how much she swept. She told us about how they each received an orange for Christmas and what a treat that was....all of the children decided to make them last as long as they could by sharing their orange with everyone else. They had one orange a week for 10 weeks this way.


Dessert was pretty much unheard of and when they did get something for dessert often it was Lumpy Dick. Grandma went on to explain that Lumpy Dick was made by mixing flour and sugar and then cooking it with milk until it thickened. You didn't worry about lumps because it was supposed to have them.
Seriously, though, thinking about the kind of life that renders one grateful to have a dessert made from flour, sugar and milk boiled together makes me so thankful for the sacrifices that my great grandparents made when they helped settle Gem Valley and make it the beautiful place it is today.



And, just in case the children are misbehaving and you want to show them how hard they could really have it...........here's the recipe:

Lumpy Dick
Pour some milk in a saucepan and heat to just under a boil. Sprinkle flour over the milk and poke it with a spoon to get it wet. Dont' stir it.....it's supposed to be lumpy. Add enough flour to make it the consistency of hot cereal. Sweeten with sugar to taste. YUM! YUM!

I love to cook and many of the recipes that I make are recipes passed down through my family. Most of them have memories associated with them and I want to share those memories and the recipes with my family and friends. Welcome and please leave a comment to let me know what you think.