Potica, Povitica, Makowiec, or Nokul

Potica (Po-tee-tsa) is a traditional Eastern European nut bread that is served at Easter, Christmas, weddings and other special occasions. This particular recipe came from the hills of Poland. Warning: this is not a project to be undertaken lightly. Potica making is an all day process and like most Polish cuisine is best if done with family or friends. When I make this I must at least have my husband's help but like 2 other people. For a detailed demonstration please refer to the video.

3 pkg yeast dissolved in ½ cup warm water and 2 tsp sugar

1.    1 ½ cups scalded mild

Add into hot milk: 2 cubes butter, 2 T shortening, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp salt. Cool with 1 ½ cups water

2.   In a medium bowl

      Beat:    6 eggs (with electric beater)

      Add:     3 cups sugar

                     2 tsp vanilla

3.   In a large bowl

      Mix:     4 cups flour

                 Yeast mixture

                 Milk mixture (1)

4, Add Egg mixture (2) to Flour mixture (3)

5. Add to above mixture

         8 cups flour, stirring (12 total) (About 5 min)

         (Add more until dough is right: about 2 cups)

(14 total) (2 minutes)

Let dough set 15 minutes

Knead 15 minutes by hand or ½ hour in mixer.

Grease large Tupperware- put in dough.

Let rise 1 hr (until double)

Punch down and let rise 1 ½ - 2 hrs.

Filling: 4 lbs. walnuts – ground

          2 squares butter

          6 beaten eggs

          3 tsp vanilla

          2 cans evaporated milk

Divide dough

Roll dough out as thin as possible

Put filling on – spread with knife

         1 cup on 1 lb.

         4 cups on large

Roll up and place into greased pans

         1 lb dough into 7 ½” pan – snake 3 times

         2 ½ lbs into angel food cake pan, twist around twice

Grease top of loaves

Let rise ½ - 1 hour

Prick with fork

Bake at 325°

         Small – 1 hour

         Large – 1 ½ hour

         Rolls –  10-15 min

9 ½ lbs dough.

1 – 2 ½ lb.  8 - ¾ lb.  6-7 - 1 lbs.

Bunny Buns

This recipe was in this month's Friend (an LDS children's magazine). While it is too hard for kids to make on their own, they are really cute and very delicious! I didn't have orange peel on hand so left it out. This might be a new Easter tradition!

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons grated orange peel

5 1/2 cups flour, sifted

Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter

1. 1. 
   Wash hands with soap and water.
2. 2. 
   Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.
3. 3. 
   In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.
4. 4. 
   Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.
5. 5. 
   Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.
6. 6. 
   On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.
7. 7. 
   Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.
8. 8. 
   Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.
9. 9. 
   For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

Apricot Bread

With the abundance of apricots this time of year (the picture is of the apricots on my own tree), I have been on a quest to find something yummy to make with some of them. I found this recipe for apricot bread, and it turned out pretty well. With fresh fruit and some whole wheat flour, it's somewhat healthier than other treats! I would make a couple of adjustments the next time, which will be mentioned in the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 c. all purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed

1/8 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

2 c. very ripe, mashed apricots (the recipe said that peaches could also be used)

1 egg

2 T. melted butter

Directions:

1. Combine flours, sugars, salt and baking soda in a bowl.

2. In a second bowl, combine the apricots, egg and butter.

3. Stir in flour mixture.

4. Grease (*I sprayed with non-stick cooking spray) a 9 x 5 loaf pan and pour the mixture in. (*It was a lot of batter for the one loaf pan. In the future, I would make one large loaf and one small loaf, or even muffins, instead of the one large loaf pan.)

5. Let it stand for 20 minutes while preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Bake at 350 degree for 45-55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool bread in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack.

I served the sliced bread with Einstein's peach/mango schmear. Mmmm! Tasty!

Best-Ever Banana Bread/Muffins

This recipe is a variation out of a ward cookbook from who-knows-where. My family has been making this banana bread for quite a while. If you can't tell by now, I really like the built in portion control of cupcakes/muffins, so today I made this as muffins and mini muffins to use up some super ripe bananas. My kids love their "cake"/mini muffins. Today I substituted 3/4 cup of agave for the sugar which adds moisture and reduces the sugar load. I always omit the nuts but sometimes do chocolate chips. If your bananas are as ripe as mine were today (black and required minimal mashing) omit the banana flavoring. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas
2 eggs, well beaten
1/2 tsp banana flavoring (optional)
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar or 3/4 cup agave
1 3/4 cup flour (for high altitude >4000 ft. add 1 Tbsp more)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup broken walnuts and/or chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
Beat bananas to a liquid; add eggs and flavoring. In separate bowl, cream shortening thoroughly; gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add banana mixture. In another bowl, combine flour, soda and salt. Blend dry mixture into wet mixture. Stir in walnuts and spice.

Bake in a well greased loaf pan at 300º for 1 hour 15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Makes 1 loaf. For muffins: bake 50 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.
For minis: bake 30 minutes. Makes 4 dozen.

Side note: These are actually not too unhealthy. Each muffin is only ~60 calories and each mini ~30. However, if you eat it all, it adds up to your whole days worth of calories: 1425. (Thanks mom for the calorie calculation.)

Janae's Cinnamon/Orange Rolls

This is my mom's famous cinnamon roll recipe. When I was in high school we would threaten her that we were going to Cinnabon so she would make these for us. At the end is an alternate orange roll filling that is quite good as well. A good tip to keep in mind is that the entire recipe calls for 2.5 cups of water. Yield: 2-4 dozen depending on size. You can frost these when they are warm, but it works better when they are cold, or you can do both for extra frostiness.

In a small bowl Dissolve:
2 pkgs yeast (5 tsp)
1/2 cup warm water
In a mixer or large bowl cream:
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
Add:
1 cup boiling water to melt shortening
Add:
4 beaten eggs
yeast mixture
Add:
8 cups flour
Alternately with 1 cup cold water.

Dough is sticky, put in fridge for 2 hours to overnight. Roll dough into a giant rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll up. Cut and put in baking pan having rolls just touch. Let raise 2-3 hours. Bake 350 for 15 min or until internal temp reaches 180. Frosting: powdered sugar + milk.

Orange roll filling: Put 1 orange with peel in food processor, pulse until it turns to goo. Spread on dough and sprinkle with plenty of sugar. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Make sure they are done as they are sticky. Frosting: Pulse1 orange with peel in food processor until it turns to goo. Mix with powdered sugar.

Here is a Youtube video of a guy cutting his cinnamon rolls with dental floss. The video is annoying, but you can kind see what he is doing. I will try to get my sister to give us a better demo video shortly.