Mennonite Girls Can Cook (36 page)

............................................... Serves 24

• 2½ cups / 625 ml all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon / 5 ml salt
  
• 1 cup / 227 g cold butter, cubed
  
• 2 egg yolks plus enough milk to measure
  cup / 150 ml
  
• 6 cups / 1.5 L apples, peeled and sliced
  
• ½ cup / 125 ml sugar
  
• 1 cup / 250 ml crushed cornflakes
  
• 3 egg whites
  
• 1 cup / 250 ml icing sugar
  
• 2-3 tablespoons / 30-40 ml warm water
  
• 1 teaspoon / 5 ml vanilla extract
  

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.
   
2. Use a pastry blender to cut in butter until it has the consistency of oatmeal.
   
3. Place egg yolks in a measuring cup; add enough milk to measure
   cup / 150 ml.
   
4. Stir the egg yolk and milk mixture into the flour and butter.
   
5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times to blend the ingredients. Shape into a rectangle; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled.
   
6. Prepare apples and stir in sugar. Set aside.
   
7. Place the cooled dough on a floured surface. Divide it in half.
   
8. Roll the first half of dough very thinly to fit over the sides of a 10 × 15-inch / 25 × 38-cm pan. For ease of handling, roll the dough onto the rolling pin and then unroll it onto the pan.
   
9. Sprinkle the cornflakes evenly over the dough in the pan. Spread with the apple mixture.
   
10. Prepare the second piece of dough in the same manner, placing it over the apples. Use a small amount of water to patch the dough if necessary.
    
11. Trim excess dough from sides of the pan. Roll edges of dough together and pinch the dough against the sides of the pan with the tines of a fork to seal it.
    
12. Prick the top dough with the fork to allow the steam to escape.
    
13. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
    
14. Quickly spread the beaten eggs whites over the dough using your hands.
    
15. Bake in a preheated 375° F / 190° C oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
    
16. Combine icing sugar, water, and vanilla; drizzle it over the baked apple bars as soon as it comes out of the oven. Cut into squares.
    

Tip:
The amount of apples is flexible. If you would like your bar with more filling, use more apples and adjust the sugar accordingly.

In the spring I make a rhubarb variation. Use the same recipe, but replace the apples, sugar, and cornflakes with 6 cups / 1.5 L diced rhubarb, 1½ cups / 350 ml white sugar, and
cup / 75 ml minute tapioca.

—
Lovella

............................................ Yields 24-32

• ½ cup / 125 ml shortening
  
• ½ cup / 125 ml butter
  
• 3 cups / 750 ml flour
  
• 1 teaspoon / 5 ml salt
  
• 1 teaspoon / 5 ml baking powder
  
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• 1 cup / 250 ml milk
  

• 4-5 cups / 1000 ml blueberries, or finely chopped fruit such as apples and/or rhubarb
  
• 2 cups / 500 ml sugar mixed with ¼ cup / 60 ml flour and ¼ cup / 60 ml cornstarch if using apples or
  
• 2 cups / 500 ml sugar mixed with ¾ cup / 175 ml thickening mix (cornstarch and flour) if using berries
  

1. Cut shortening and butter into dry ingredients with pastry blender.
   
2. Add combined beaten egg and milk. Stir with fork until everything is moist. If dough is too moist, sprinkle with a handful of flour and knead gently until dough holds together.
   
3. Refrigerate overnight or a few hours.
   
4. Divide dough in half and roll out each half to a square approximately 16 × 16-inches / 35 × 35-cm in size. Cut into 12-16 squares or make 4 long strips.
   
5. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon / 5 ml of the sugar mixture in the center of each square or about 4 teaspoons / 20 ml along long strips. Top with fruit and another 1-2 teaspoons / 5-10 ml of sugar mixture per square, or 4-8 teaspoons / 20-40 ml per strip.
   
6. Brush edges of pastry with water. Fold corners of squares and pinch edges. For long strips pinch ends and then along the top.
   
7. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets, not too closely together. Bake at 400° F / 205° C for 25-30 minutes. Or freeze the unbaked
   Perishky
   to bake later. Baking frozen
   Perishky
   will take more time.
   
8. If using parchment paper, let cool before transferring to a serving plate; if not using parchment paper, remove before they begin to cool and the juices harden.
   
9. Do not store in a sealed container except to freeze, because they will get soft. Uncover when thawing.
   

—
Anneliese

Anneliese says

........................................... Yields 6 dozen

• 2 tablespoons / 30 ml yeast
  
• 2 cups / 500 ml lukewarm milk
  
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml butter, melted
  
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons / 10 ml salt
  
• 4 eggs, beaten
  
• 5½ cups / 1250 ml flour
  
• 3 cups / 750 ml raisins
  
• Icing sugar (powdered sugar) or berry sugar (super-fine sugar)
  

1. Prepare yeast as instructed on package.
   
2. Combine lukewarm milk, butter, sugar, salt, and eggs. Add prepared yeast.
   
3. Stir in flour gradually. Add raisins.
   
4. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.
   
5. Drop by heaping tablespoon into deep hot oil. Fry until golden brown,
   turning once.
   
6. Remove from oil using tongs. Drain on paper towels.
   
7. Roll in berry sugar or icing sugar while warm.
   

Substitute 1 cup / 250 ml chopped apples or chopped dried apricots for 1 cup / 250 ml of the raisins. If you roll them in the berry sugar they freeze well.

—
Judy

Judy says

S
ome of my earliest memories are of being outside on the farm, alongside my mom, who was going about her daily work. Though she had many chores, I ran barefoot, climbed trees, and made dandelion necklaces. Childhood on a farm is bliss! That all changed as I entered my teens. The bare feet gave way to gum boots. I was expected to do my share of the farm work, along with my four sisters. Driving tractor, milking cows, hauling hay bales or picking corn for market—whatever was happening on the farm, we were part of it. I was not always a willing participant, and looked forward to adulthood and an escape from the seemingly endless duties on the farm.

Before the end of my teen years I married the love of my life. We settled into our new life, still in the country but away from the dairy farm forever, or so I thought! As a sideline, we planted raspberries for the commercial market on our little acreage. Within a few years, we had sixty acres of raspberries. When the raspberry harvest was over at the end of July, we had sweet corn to pick and sell. To ensure that we would have something to do during those winter months we raised hogs on our farm and enough beef for our own needs. I learned 101 ways to prepare corn, raspberries, and pork. We always had a freezer full of farm-fresh produce, including homemade farmer sausage. It was an old-fashioned and good way of eating—from the farm to the table!

When our children entered their teens my parents retired from dairy farming and we were given the opportunity to take over the family dairy farm. At one time I would have run in the opposite direction. Instead, we moved back to my childhood farm, and my children moved into the house I knew so well. They climbed the trees I once climbed, slept in my old bedroom, and even milked the cows in the same dairy where I once milked, a skill I had long since forgotten!

Several decades later, our children are grown and we have grandchildren. Now one of our sons and his family live in the old farmhouse and his children climb the trees and search the furthest corners of the hayloft. They are learning from an early age how food arrives on the table and that there are no days off on a dairy farm. The family farm is almost a thing of the past and I am thankful that our family has been part of that experience.

Though at one time I wished for a life as far away from the farm as possible, one day I realized I was living the life I never wanted—and enjoying it!

Faith, family, friends, food and farming … these things are near and dear to me.