UNCLE ANDY’S COOK-BOOK

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Peanut Butter Cookies

Tools

• Measuring stuff (¼ cup, ½ cup, ¼ tsp, ½ tsp)
• Mixing stuff (fork, handle of wooden spoon)
• Baking sheet (I put parchment paper on mine so nothing sticks)
• Wire rack for your baking to cool on
• Spatula to lift the finished cookies on to the wire rack

Ingredients

• ¼ cup softened butter (½ stick or ⅛ of a pound of butter - I cut my butter into 4 sticks which makes the math easier)  To make the butter soft, I use the microwave for just a few seconds.  You can also just leave the butter in a warm place.
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• ½ cup all natural peanut butter (less white sugar if you use regular store peanut butter)
• ¼ tsp vanilla
• ¾ cup all purpose flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking soda

Instructions

• In a bowl mix together butter and sugar until well mixed
• Add in egg, vanilla and peanut butter and mix some more
• Mix in flour, salt, baking soda
• Use two spoons to scoop out the dough into balls and put on a cookie sheet about 1” apart.  Scoop out with one spoon and then scoop off the spoon with the second spoon.  You could also use your hands to make the balls after you scoop them out.
• Put the dough balls into the refrigerator to cool - this will make sure the fats firm up and the cookies keep their shape
• Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  The time it takes to warm up the oven is about the same amount of time the cookie balls need to cool.
• Take the cookie sheet out of the refrigerator and use a fork that has been dipped in flour to flatten the cookies a bit
• Bake in the 375 degree F oven for 10 minutes
• Carefully use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool
• Share and Enjoy

Pancakes

Tools

• Measuring stuff (¼ cup, 1 tsp, 1 tbsp)
• Mixing stuff (fork)
• Cooking stuff (frying pan, spatula, oil or butter)

Ingredients

• ¼ cup regular flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp white sugar (or whatever sweet you like)
• 1 finger pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 egg

Instructions

• In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together
• In a glass mix all the wet ingredients together (egg is a wet ingredient)
• Heat up a frying pan.  Use your fingers to toss some drops of water on to it.  When they sizzle and boil away right away, it’s hot enough.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients mixing as you go.  Try to eliminate lumps.
• Put some butter into the frying pan to make a layer so that the pancakes won’t stick
• Pour in the pancake batter into pancake sized bits (should be about 3)
• Cook until you can see bubbles from the bottom on the top and then flip
• Serve, share and enjoy

If you have more than one person to make pancakes for, just multiply the ingredients by the number of people you are feeding.

Credit to https://loveswah.com/lonely-girl-a-single-serve-pancake-recipe/

Beer Bread

Tools

• Measuring stuff (1 cup, ½ cup, ¼ cup, 1 tsp)
• Mixing stuff (fork or wooden spoon handle)
• Cooking stuff (bread loaf pan, parchment paper)
• Flour sifter (if you don’t have one, just stir the flour to make it fluffy before you measure)
• Wire rack for your baking to cool on

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour (sifted)
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 2 cups of beer (about 1 can) (maybe a bit more)
• ½ cup melted butter (½ stick)  The butter is just barely melted and not hot.  I use the microwave for just a few seconds at a time to do this.

Instructions

• Cut the corners of the parchment paper so that you end up with a liner inside the loaf pan.  If you don’t have parchment paper, rub the inside of the loaf pan with butter.
• Heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
• In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together
• Mix in the beer.  Try to eliminate all lumps.  The batter should be just barely pourable.  Add more liquid and stir until you get there.
• Put into the loaf pan
• Pour the melted butter over top
• Bake 1 hour - the alcohol in the beer will boil away
• Remove from pan and put on a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes
• Slice, share and enjoy

Alternative

Use fresh apple cider and a bit more baking powder.  Sprinkle brown sugar on top before baking.

Easy Yeast Bread

Tools

• Measuring stuff (1 cup, ½ cup, 1 tsp, 1 tbsp)
• Mixing stuff (fork or wooden spoon handle, spatula)
• Cooking stuff (bread loaf pan, parchment paper)
• Cling wrap
• Wire rack for your baking to cool on
• Square (or round) baking dish about 4” deep with a lid

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cup regular flour
• 1 tsp quick rising (rapid) yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm water

Optional seasonings I like

• 1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp each of spices like Oregano, Rosemary, Garlic Powder
• Sun dried tomatoes

Instructions

• In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients together including any optional seasonings
• Mix in the water - dough will be pretty sticky
• Cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm, draft free spot for 2 or 3 hours until it is double in size
• Put the baking dish into the oven and heat it up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
• Put parchment paper out on the counter and use a spatula to scoop your dough out into the middle of it
• Carefully lift up the dough using the parchment paper and put the dough into the hot baking dish
• Bake 30 minutes with the lid on
• Back 12 minutes with the lid off
• Take the bread out of the baking dish and cool on the wire rack for at least 10 minutes
• Serve, share and enjoy

Cheese and Potato Casserole

Tools

• Cooking stuff (Covered casserole dish, sharp knives, cutting board)

Ingredients

• 2 small potatoes / person
• 1 small onion / person
• ¼ cup / person sour cream
• ½ cup / person grated cheese
• Dollop of butter
• Tomatoes - small fresh or sun-dried
• Optional Protein (cooked chicken / pork)

Instructions

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Cube potatoes and onion and cook in gently boiling water for 15 minutes then drain.  If using sun-dried tomatoes, cook those too.
• Stir all ingredients together in a casserole dish
• Cook covered for 20 minutes
• Cook uncovered for 10 minutes
• Let stand for 5 minutes before serving

Scott Rea - Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with a Whiskey Sauce

Haggis

• Wrap haggis in aluminum foil
• Boil enough water to cover
• Simmer haggis for 45 minutes
• Remove haggis and let cool

Neeps and Tatties

• Boil diced turnip and potatoes for 2 minutes and mash after letting sit to get the steam out.
• Add butter and pepper especially on the neeps

Whiskey Sauce

• Ingredients - butter, whiskey, double cream, diced shallot, 400 ml of stock
• Melt butter to foaming
• Add shallots and let simmer until they are slightly coloured
• Take off heat, add whiskey and flambé.  Let the flames die out on their own.
• Add 200 ml of stock
• Reduce by half
• Add a bit more butter to make silky
• 60 ml of cream - stir gently
• Turn the heat up slightly.  When done it will stick to the spoon.

Plating

• Upside down in a mold / Haggis, Tatties, Neeps
• Sauce served separately

Jeanne Robertson’s 7-Up Pound Cake - makes 2 small cakes

Tools

• Measuring stuff ( 1 tbsp, ½ tbsp, ¼ tbsp, ½ cup, ⅛ cup)
• Mixing stuff (Spoon, Bowl)
• Cooking stuff (Small loaf pans)
• Serving stuff(plates)

Ingredients (cakes)

• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 ½ tbsp shortening
• A bit over ½ cup of white sugar
• 1 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 medium egg
• A bit over ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ⅛ cup 7-Up

Ingredients (glaze)

• A bit less than ¼ cup / cake of icing sugar
• A bit less than 1 tsp milk
• A couple of drops of lemon extract

Instructions

• In one bowl place butter, shortening and sugar.  Beat until it is fluffy and well mixed
• Add in lemon extract and vanilla flavouring and mix
• Add in the egg and beat again until well blended in
• Add in the flour
• Add in the 7-Up
• Mix until smooth and creamy
• Fill loaf pans roughly ½ full
• Bake at 325 Farenheight for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean
• Let rest for 10 minutes and turn out to serving plate

• Combine all glaze ingredients and stir until smooth.  Adjust sugar and milk to get right consistency
• Pour over cooled cakes and let set

Small Tourtiere

Tools

• Measuring stuff ( ⅛ cup, ½ cup, ¼ tsp, ⅛ tsp)
• Mixing stuff (Spatula, Spoon, Pastry brush)
• Cooking stuff (Frying Pan, ½ sized pie plate)

Ingredients

• 1 pie crust (will make both the bottom and top)
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ½ cup water
• 1 big or 2 small potatoes
• ½ lb ground beef
• 1 small chopped onion
• ¼ tsp cloves
• ⅛ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp dried sage
• ⅛ tsp black pepper
• 1 egg

Instructions

• In your frying pan, bring the water to boil and add the potato
• Boil hard for 5 minutes and remove the potato and save the water for later
• Lightly mash the potatoes -you want decent sized pieces
• Cook the ground beef until slightly browned
• Add water and all the other ingredients and boil lightly for roughly 20 minutes or until the concoction thickens
• Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit
• Put the pie crust into the pie dish and trim
• Add filling
• Use the remaining crust to form a top making sure to leave vent holes
• Crack the egg and whisk and brush on the top crust
• Bake 45 minutes or until the crust is golde
• Let cool, Share and Enjoy

Rhonda’s Pretzels

Tools

• Measuring stuff ( 1 tbsp, kitchen scale, 1 tsp, ½ tsp, 1 cup, ½ cup, ¾ cup, ⅓ cup)
• Mixing stuff (Spoon handle, hands)
• Cooking stuff (Large open pan, baking sheet, parchment paper, large slotted spoon)
• Serving stuff()

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cool butter (75 grams)
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 3 ¾ cups bread flour
• 1 ½ tsp granulated salt
• ⅓ cup baking soda

Instructions

• Dissolve 2 tbsp brown sugar in 2 tbsp butter and tsp of instant yeast in 1 ½ cups warm water
• Let the yeast bloom for 5 minutes
• In a large bowl mix 3 ¾ cups bread flour and the 1 ½ tsp salt
• Add yeast
• Mix 5 minutes
• Knead for 4 minutes
• Grease a large bowl, place dough in bowl, cover and let rise in the refrigerator at least 8 hours (overnight)
• Let the dough come up to room temperature, punch down and knead until smooth
• Cut into 12 pieces, roughly 82 grams each
• Rest for 5 minutes (you’ve been working hard)
• Form pretzels - if they resist, let them rest some more
• Cover and let rise for 20 minutes
• Put several inches of water in a large open pan and bring to a near boil
• Add ½ cup of baking soda and stir in
• Float pretzels in the caustic bath for 15 seconds on each side
• Remove from bath and place on parchment paper
• Sprinkle damp pretzels with coarse salt if desired
• With a sharp knife make a slash across any think parts of the pretzel so they bake evenly
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at 475 degrees fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes

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Random Vegetable Loaf (Pumpkin / or whatever else you have)

Tools

• Measuring stuff (1 cup, 1 tsp, ½ tsp, ¼ cup, ⅔ cup,)
• Mixing stuff (Bowl, Spoon handle, fork, masher)
• Cooking stuff (Loaf pan)

Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 ¼ cup cooked vegetable
• 1 cup oil
• ⅔ cup water
• 1 tsp cinnamon (for pumpkin loaf)
• ½ tsp nutmeg (for pumpkin loaf)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• Optional 2 cups of raisons

Instructions

• Cook your random vegetable until soft and drain
• Mash until smooth in a decent sized bowl
• In a bowl starting with the wet ingredients, mix everything together
• Add more flour if needed to get a pourable batter that is fairly thick
• Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean

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Uncle Andy’s Alternative Omlette

Tools

• Cooking stuff ( Sharp knife, cutting board, frying pan, cover for frying pan, spatula)

Ingredients

• 1 Thinly sliced potato or onion
• Chopped or sliced sweet peppers
• 1 tbsp Oil
• ⅓ cup sliced or grated cheese
• 3 medium eggs
• Optional sliced tomatoes

Instructions

• Pre-heat a small frying pan and add 1 tbsp of oil and let it come to heat
• Layer potato or onion on the bottom
• Layer sweet peppers on top
• Let cook until the potato / onion is cooked through.  Covering the pan for cooking will speed the process up
• Briskly whip eggs together and then mix in the cheese
• Pour over top of potato / onion / peppers
• Optional, layer sliced tomato on top
• Cook covered until cooked through
• Serve, share and enjoy

Rubarb Pie Filling

Tools

• Measuring stuff ()
• Mixing stuff ()
• Cooking stuff ()
• Serving stuff()

Ingredients (for a full sized pie0

• 2 cups chopped rhubarb plus whatever other fruit you may like
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 tbsp soft butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 7 tbsp flour (if frozen / 4 tbsp if fresh)

Instructions

• Mix sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla together. Add flour until it thickens into a paste. For fresh rhubarb you can halve the amount of flour.
• Bake 30 minutes if fresh rhubarb, 45 minutes if frozen.

Fruit Pie (covered or with crumble top)

Tools

• Measuring stuff ()
• Mixing stuff ()
• Cooking stuff ()
• Serving stuff()

Ingredients

• 1

Instructions

• In

Uncle Andy’s Nice Buns (makes roughly 10 buns)

Tools

• Measuring stuff (1 tsp, ¼ cup, 1 tbsp, ⅛ cup, ½ cup, kitchen scale - if you have one)
• Largish mixing bowl.  I like to use a glass bowl since they hold the heat well
• Mixing stuff (spatula, handle of wooden spoon, hand mixer with dough hooks)
• Cooking stuff (small saucepan)
• Warm place for buns to rise (I use a slightly warm oven)
• Tea towel to cover bowl / buns (optional shower cap to cover when rising)
• 8” X 8” pan
• Parchment paper (optional)
• Wire rack

Ingredients

• 1 cup 2% milk
• ¼ stick butter (28 grams)
• ⅛ cup white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• ⅛ cup lukewarm water
• 1 pkg / 2 ¼ tsp dried regular yeast
• 1 egg
• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp neutral oil (I use canola oil)

Instructions

• If it’s a cold day, place a largish bowl with ⅛ cup of lukewarm water in a warm place to fully warm through.  If your kitchen is warm already, you can wait until it’s time to prove the yeast.
• Warm the saucepan with 1 cup of milk in it - just warm enough to melt butter
• Add in butter and stir gently until the butter is melted
• Add in ⅛ cup white sugar, 1 tsp salt and stir to combine.  This can be done while the butter is melting.
• Add 1 pkg / 2 ¼ tsp of dried yeast in the warm water in your bowl, stir and cover for 5 minutes to make sure the yeast is alive.  It will get foamy if all is good.
• Cool the saucepan to be just warm (about 25 C - same temperature as the yeast) - I set it in a sink with an inch of cold water to do this quickly
• Add the saucepan of milk / butter etc to the bowl with the yeast, add in 1 egg and mix until everything is combined well.
• Add ½ cup of all purpose flour and mix until it is combined well.  Do this three more times for a total of 2 cups of flour.
• Use your spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is well mixed and you’ve incorporated all the flour.  You’ll use this bowl again for the dough to rise in.
• Get another ½ cup of all purpose flour ready for the final mix
• Pour the bowl out on the counter and start mixing.  I will use my bench scraper for mixing at this stage since the dough is very wet
• Knead / mix for about 8 minutes adding more flour a bit at a time until you end up with a moist sticky dough that doesn’t stick to your hands.  I will add the flour to my hands and it combines during the kneading / mixing process.  You may need to use a little bit more or less than ½ cup of flour depending on the day and the starting moisture content of the flour.
• Form the dough into a ball by tucking the sides down and under until you have a ball with a smooth top
• Put a tbsp of oil in the bowl and roll the ball of dough around until it is well covered.
• Cover the bowl with a clean tea towel or shower cap (I got mine at the dollar store) and place it in a warm spot to rise for about 1 ¼ hour.  The shower cap method helps keep the dough from losing moisture.  It should double in size.  Shower caps can be washed with your regular laundry but hang to dry to keep the lining intact.
• Prepare the baking pan by either lining it with parchment paper or lightly rubbing it with neutral oil.
• After the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and knead it for 2 minutes to get out any air bubbles.
• Cut the dough into 10 equal(ish) pieces.  Each should weigh about 60 grams.
• Form the pieces into balls by finding the smoothest part and then pulling the sides away from it around and to the bottom until you have a smooth ball.  Very similarly to what you did for the large ball pre-rise.
• Place each ball in the pan, cover with a clean tea towel and put in a warm place to rise until doubled again - roughly 30 minutes.  Ideally the balls will fit in just barely touching each other.  This will give you moist sides to the buns.  You could also place them on a baking sheet and they will develop a crust all over.
• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit
• Place pan in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes
• Remove buns from the oven and place on a wire rack covered with a tea towel to cool.
• Serve, share and enjoy

ALTERNATIVE USES

• Coat each ball of dough with melted butter with garlic for incredible garlic buns
• Bao / Piroshki - A great way to use up left-overs and make tasty filled buns that are great for packed lunches or a quick snack.  They can be safely frozen and will keep for quite a while.

• Place dough balls with smooth side down and roll out to a thin disc.
• Put roughly 2 tbsp of whatever room temperature left-overs you might happen to have (I like to use left-over pork tossed in BBQ sauce) in the middle.
• Pull pull up the sides and pinch them together to make a filled bun
• Place pinched side down on a baking sheet and bake as you would the regular rolls

Original Recipe Credit to Father Dominic Garramone - https://www.stbedeabbey.org/monksmarket/p/the-breadhead-bible-6ecbs 

Sally’s Sandwich Bread (makes 2 loaves)

Tools

• Measuring stuff (½ tsp, 1 tsp, 1 tbsp, 1 cup, ½ cup, kitchen scale)
• Mixing stuff (fork, spatula, wooden spoon handle, mechanical mixer)
• 2 X large mixing bowls
• 2 X 8 ½” loaf pans
• Tea towel / shower caps

Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water
• ½ cup milk
• 2 packets / 4 ½ tsp instant yeast
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 216 g / ½ cup / 1 stick (¼ lb) soft unsalted butter (not quite melted)
• 3 tsp salt
• 6 cups bread flour
• 2 tbsp neutral oil

Instructions

• You’ll use 1 bowl for the mixing but will need 2 for the rising
• Mix together the warm water, milk, yeast and sugar until well combined.  Let sit covered for 5 minutes to let the yeast bloom.  It will get slightly frothy looking.
• Add butter and 2 cups of flour.  Mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure all the flour is mixed in.
• Add remaining flour 1 cup at a time and keep mixing in the bowl until the dough is a single mass.  The dough will come together before you have all the flour added.
• Dump the bowl out onto the counter and knead / mix for about 10 minutes adding flour a small amount at a time as it gets too sticky until it no longer sticks to your hands while kneading.
• Split the dough into two roughly equal halves and then make those into balls by tucking the sides down and under until you have smooth balls
• Add a small amount of neutral oil into each bowl and put in one of the dough balls rolling it around to ensure it is completely covered with oil
• Cover with a clean tea towel / shower cap and put in a warm place for 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size.
• Take the dough out of the bowls and knead for 1-2 minutes to get all of the gas out.  Form into loaves similarly to how you made the balls, just make them oblong.
• Line your baking pans with parchment paper or lightly oil them and put your loaves in.  Cover with a tea towel and let rise for about an hour - the loaf should have risen about an inch above the sides of the pan
• Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit and bake for about 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and let cool before slicing.

Credit to https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/sandwich-bread/