Transitioning to other forms of media, look me up on Amazon Books and Quora! :)
Scottish bannocks are mentioned so often in the Little House in the Highlands series I've been rereading lately, that I decided I just had to make them. Historically, bannocks were a staple "quick bread" in Scotland, ranging from heavy, flat cakes to light, spongy bread packed with raisins, depending on the time period. The type of bannock I prepared was just a typical bannock, with a floury crust and a soft, thick inside. Honestly, it tasted a lot like a thick biscuit. I added dried cranberries and chopped fresh cherries to some bannocks, for variety. Although the bannocks were not as flatbread-like as I expected, that is probably because I baked the bannocks instead of frying them. Scottish Bannocks Ingredients: 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1/4 cup butter 1 1/2 cups water optional: dried cranberries or raisins Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Then pour melted butter and water over the mixture. (Optional: add dried cranberries, raisins, blueberries, or other fruit to the dough for added flavor.) Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead gently. You can either roll out the dough into one large circle or make small individual circles. If you wish, you can fry the bannock(s) on a greased frying pan, about 15 minutes on each side. Or you can bake the bannock(s) on a greased frying pan at 350 F for 25-30 minutes. I baked my bannocks as individual buns. The bannocks with fresh cherries were the first to go, and in my opinion, the most flavorful. Enjoy! :)
You in the mood for some cheesecake? Then you're gonna love this post ;-) Fun fact I learned a few days ago: Eli's Cheesecake Factory in Chicago, IL, offers free tours every day at 1 PM! These tours include complimentary samples, a video presentation, and the chance to win a cheesecake! Guess who just went to Eli's? :) That's right...me! I just couldn't resist. Besides, I had never even been to Eli's Cheesecake before. I can't believe how much I was missing out on! So, lately, I'd been wanting to bike the trail where I ran my first marathon...kind of just to celebrate the fact that I will hopefully never run that particular marathon again (Gravel and lots of hills..ugh.) And I always like to include a treat with athletic activities, especially biking, when with my sister Emma and my Mom. We'd been planning on Culver's, but when I heard about Eli's Cheesecake tours, I knew where we were headed! So first, we biked. It was a really beautiful trail, and not as miserable as running, but I still have to confess I was pretty happy to be done. Mostly because it meant cheesecake was closer! Then we headed to Eli's. We started off by sampling strawberry cheesecake. For free samples, the slices were really big! Everyone who came in got one, sometimes two. Who can resist? :) Next, a friendly factory worker took us through a video presentation of the factory's history, accomplishments, and fun facts. Did you know that New York cheesecake is dense and rich, using cottage cheese, while Chicago cheesecake is light and fluffy, using cream cheese? I think I prefer the fluffiness, especially with Eli's famous shortbread crust. After the presentation, we were given free samples. Pictured below: original cheesecake, Reeses peanut butter cup cheesecake, and raspberry white chocolate cheesecake. They were all amazing! Then there was a raffle for a free cheesecake. I am not normally a very lucky person, and I've actually never won a raffle in my life. So I was pretty shocked when my raffle number was called! Can you believe I won a free cheesecake?! I chose the key lime, a flavor I've been curious about, and in addition, we also bought a cherry cheesecake to bring home and share with our dinner guests. But I guess we still hadn't enough cheesecake! We also bought a slice of Honey Mediterranean cheesecake from the bakery there. This cheesecake was light as a feather, infused with sweet honey and vanilla mousse. The topping was sprinkled with pistachios and toasted almonds, adding that needed crunch. It tasted amazing! Well, if you're craving cheesecake, now you know just where to go! :) |
AuthorHi! Carrie here, nursing student, writer, and runner living in the Windy City. ArchivesCategories |