We are a little picky. We just won’t settle for anything short of delicious–even though we really do want to eat the sort of foods that are good for us. We call our mix of organic whole oats, locally-sourced organic … Continue reading
Who says shaped cookies have to be dry and tasteless? Our recipe includes a goodly bit of organic, raw honey and makes the most adorable ghosts, pumpkins, bats, and goblins you’ve ever seen (or, so we think!) We also have great recipe for an simple icing that makes for easy frosting and unlimited creative expression–perfect for kids or adults.
There’s no going back and it was time. Time for that first taste of pumpkin pie, draped in freshly whipped cream finery. While we could surely eat pumpkin pie all year long, we just don’t–even though it is Teri’s favorite type of pie. It is so much a part of the October-November season, I’m convinced this is when it tastes its very best. As you might imagine, we have our own tried and tasty recipe here at Raggedy Hen Farm and it is easily adaptable to your tastes. You can use canned or freshly cooked and mashed pumpkin and it’s a real pleaser!
Raggedy Hen Farm Pumpkin Pie
Makes 2 pies
2 pie pans lined with your favorite pie crust, unbaked. (We have a video over on Youtube sharing our favorite crust recipes and tips)
1 29-ounce can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling) or 3 3/4 cups cooked, pureed, fresh pumpkin
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 Tablespoon Raggedy Hen Farm Baking Spice Blend* (or 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg)
2 12-ounce cans of Evaporated Milk
*Our Baking Spice Blend includes: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cardamom
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add all the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well with a large wire whisk. You will want to get the lumps out and you will have smooth, liquid-y mixture. Divide and pour this into the prepared pie crusts/shells. Fill to the top (pumpkin won’t really bubble and pour over the edges, so you don’t have to allow much room for baking.) Place entire pie on a cookie sheet and put them both in the oven. Bake for approximately 1 hour. Check periodically. If crust seems to be getting too brown, cover with foil. If your oven runs a little hot, you can also reduce the heat to 350 degrees after about 15 minutes and finish the baking at the lower temperature.
You will know the pie is done when it is firm throughout and doesn’t jiggle when you give the pie pan a little shake. It will also be firm to the touch. You can insert a butter knife or toothpick into the center and if it comes out clean, you will know the custard pie filling is cooked through. Remove from oven and place entire pie pans on rack to cool.
The baking season is upon us! And that used to mean collecting the pumpkin pie spice, the apple pie spice, and getting new cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and more. Because we use so much of these spices during the Fall and … Continue reading
Kori kicks off the cool, Fall season with one of the family’s favorite cookies–made with organic molasses and just the right combination of spices, these cookies are a real pleaser. This quick tutorial (recipe included) will show you how…
Making syrups is one of the most delicious ways to preserve some of nature’s tastiest and healthiest offerings. By taking herbs, berries, roots, and spices and creating these concoctions of goodness, you can extract the wonderful properties, vitamins and health benefits and make very useful syrups. These can be used for making cocktails and mixed drinks, sweetening tea, coffee and cocoa, drizzling over ice cream or even using in an icing or a pancake and waffle syrup. Some even work well as medicines–soothing a sore throat or combating a cough.
To take the syrup up a notch, mixing it with alcohol like vodka, bourbon, whiskey, or rum helps to turn it into a cordial or liqueur–perfect for sipping as a sweet, after-dinner treat. We’re going to share our basic recipe, along with some tips on how to customize and experiment to create your new favorites!
To start the process, you are basically making a very strong tea. Add 1 cup herbs, berries, roots or whatever you want to decoct to 1 quart of water. These can be fresh or dried. Some of our favorites include: licorice root, dried rosehips, fresh mint leaves, fresh or dried rose petals, lavender petals, fresh basil leaves, and dried elderberries. (We get most of our dried ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs, we’ve included a link, but you can source from a place you trust. We like knowing everything is organic!) Bring this mixture to a slow boil over medium high heat in a sauce pan with no lid; and then turn down and let simmer for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.
Strain this mixture and compost the herbs, berries, etc. Pour the strained liquid back into the pan and add 1/2 cup raw, local honey or sugar for every pint of liquid. Stir until dissolved. You shouldn’t need to cook this mixture any further unless you want a very thick syrup. For honey, we prefer to NOT cook it since many of the beneficial enzymes can be destroyed by cooking. If you are using sugar and want a thick syrup, you can bring the mixture back to simmer and cook until it is the consistency you want. Once finished, you can decant to a jar or bottle.
For a cordial, you will basically just be adding alcohol to your syrup (or syrup to your alcohol). Let the syrup cool completely (if you add alcohol to hot syrup, the alcohol could “cook” out of the mixture.) I like to add about 1/2 cup of vodka, whiskey, bourbon, or white rum per quart of syrup. You can make it stronger or weaker depending on your tastes. Combine this well; bottle and cap. You can store cordials and syrups made with honey in a cool, dark place, but, they will last longer if you refrigerate them.
It is really that easy! You can make combination syrups if you like (elderberry and wild cherry bark is one of our favorites for a medicinal syrup) and you can add spices, essential oils or extracts for added flavor. There are so many possibilities and this is such a delicious way to preserve some of those herbs and fruit growing in your garden. These make wonderful and gorgeous gifts as well. Happy sipping!
Teri and Kori spent a little time in the kitchen at Raggedy Hen Farm showing a couple easy peasy pie crust recipes, as well as how to whip up a simple and customize-able quiche and a tasty apple pie.
Enter to win some of our delicious Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie mix!
We have a lot to celebrate! Raggedy Hen Farm has reached a couple big milestones and we invite you to party with us! We’ve reached over 100 “Likes” on Facebook AND we’ve been sharing our comfort foods, artisan soaps, recipes, and adventures with the world at large for exactly one month. Since we are all about celebrations around here, we decided to give away a package of our Cranberry Oatmeal Cookie mix and some of Hilda’s Herbal Tea Blend to one lucky friend to commemorate this accomplishment!
Who says eating healthy means giving up gooey, chewy cookies? We’ve taken Kori’s favorite Oatmeal cookies and given them a makeover and now they are more delicious than ever! Organic whole grain oats, meet up with organic whole wheat and organic cranberries; we add brown sugar and spices and all you need to do is ad an egg, water and a teaspoon of vanilla extract and you’ll soon be enjoying hearty, yummy cookies. Each package makes approx. 3.5 cups of mix or enough to make 2-3 dozen cookies.
Named after our maternal Buff Orpington, this tea blend is a caffeine free combination of some of the most tasty and refreshing organic herbs: red clover, oatstraw, spearmint, lemon grass, rosehips, blackberry leaf, hibiscus and rose petals. Delicious and soothing served hot or cold. Each package is 3 ounces or 3 cups; enough to brew approximately 20 servings.
There are 3 ways to enter and you can enter up to three times by doing all three!
It’s that easy! We will choose a winner randomly on Saturday, September 14th and we will notify the winner via email. We will then gather your mailing address and send out your cookies. All you have to do is mix and bake and there is absolutely no purchase necessary to win.
Giveaway starts at 9:30 pm on Monday, September 9th and runs until 9:30 am on Saturday, September 14th. Each person is eligible to enter up to 3 times for a chance to win.
With apples ripening on the trees, we couldn’t resist baking up one of our favorite pies…Early fall is definitely Apple Pie season! Can you smell the cinnamon and cloves?
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