Spiced Fall Festivities by Sidonie
By Sidonie Maroon, The Food Co-op Culinary Educator, abluedotkitchen.com
Follow Sidonie on The Food Co-op’s Facebook group Cooking with the Co-op
From the spicy aroma of gingerbread to warm cinnamon crinkles and pumpkin pie — there’s nothing like home baking. The best goodies are from scratch and grinding your own spices is a superpower! I encourage you to take the plunge and experiment. You won’t regret it, I promise. Begin by buying whole spices in bulk and then try the recipes I’ve provided. Remember: no fear and spice it up like a pro.
The Sweet Warming Spices
Aroma and Taste
Allspice—fragrant with a peppery combination of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg flavors.
Cardamom — The aroma is mellow, and the flavor warming and agreeable.
Cinnamon — What we call cinnamon is actually cassia or Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon, has a lighter color with a sweet woody aroma and is both fragrant and warm. Both cassia and cinnamon are useful.
Cloves — cloves have an assertive aroma, hot and bitter. Tempered by cooking and other ingredients.
Coriander—sweet, spicy woody aroma with a peppery balsamic note.
Fennel, Anise and Star Anise—smell and taste similar with subtle differences. All are warm and fragrant with a slight note of camphor. Star anise has a more pungent licorice flavor.
Ginger — a warm aroma with a woody note and sweet rich undertones. Its flavor is hot and slightly biting.
Nutmeg—rich, fresh, highly aromatic, sweet and warm
Peppercorns—warm woody smell that is fresh, pungent and agreeably aromatic.
Storing Spices
I’m a visual person, so I arrange my spices on a shelf near my work area, and use 4 ounce glass jars, grouped, in trays, by use. Beauty and efficiency are my aims.
Grinding Spices
I use a small stainless steel spice grinder with two removable cups made by Secura. One cup is for dry spices and the other for wet pastes. This piece of equipment is a kitchen game changer.
Baking Cheat Sheet
These are the spice amounts I regularly use for bread, cake or cookies. They all harmonize, so mix and match according to what you’re baking.
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, or cassia
1 teaspoon of either fennel or anise seeds
2 whole star anise
¼ teaspoon allspice whole berries
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
4 whole cloves
½ teaspoon whole green cardamom pods
2 teaspoons powdered ginger or 1 tablespoon fresh paste
1 teaspoon coriander seed
Make Your Own Powdered Ginger
When you have extra fresh ginger chop and grind it in a small food processor. I leave the peels on for flavor and nutrition. Lay the ground ginger on a plate, at room temperature, and air dry for several days. Once dry, use a spice grinder to reduce it to a powder and store. Try drying other rhizomes, like turmeric and galangal, in the same way.
Perfect Pumpkin Pie Spice
Here’s my secret formula, if you want your pumpkin pie to rock, with rave reviews, seconds please, and may I have the recipe? Grind the whole dry spices together into a powder and add the ginger paste separately.
Enough For One Pie
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon whole peppercorns
¾ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
3 whole cloves
½ teaspoon whole allspice berries
1 tablespoon fresh ginger paste
Ultimate Gingerbread Spice
3 teaspoons cinnamon
4 whole cloves
½ teaspoon allspice berries
1 teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon peppercorns
4 green cardamom pods
1 tablespoon ginger powder
Homemade Masala Chai Mix
Makes 1 cup
Make your own chai spice mix for hot drinks or baking.
Ingredients
3 tablespoons fennel seed
4 tablespoons green cardamom pods, you will grind the whole pods
1 tablespoon cloves
2 tablespoons allspice berries
4 tablespoons dried ginger root, not powder
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 whole nutmeg
4 tablespoons broken pieces of cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
Directions
1. Start with whole spices.
2. Measure and grind using spice or coffee grinder.
3. Keep in a sealed jar and use within 4 months.
4. How to make chai: In a teapot or French press, add 5 teaspoons of loose leaf black tea and 1 to 2 teaspoons masala chai powder. Pour in 1 quart of boiling water, and steep for 5 minutes. Strain the tea and add milk and sweetener to taste.
Eight Masala Chai Recipes
Use your favorite milks and sweeteners
Holy Basil Chai
Add 2 tablespoons of Holy Basil and ½ teaspoon chai masala per quart of boiling water. Infuse for 15 minutes.
Cinnamon Chai
Use 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon and ½ teaspoon chai masala per quart of boiling water. Let steep for 15 minutes or longer, strain and serve. Add milk and sweetener of choice. Children really like this
Citrus and Ginger Chai
Save all organic orange flavored citrus peels. I have a plate on my counter where I put them and snip into thin strips with scissors. They’ll air dry within a few days and then can be stored in a jar.
small handful citrus peels
8 slices of fresh ginger
½ teaspoon chai masala
per quart of boiling water.
Fresh turmeric and/or galangal are nice additions. Slice the turmeric up like the ginger in the same amount, and use half as much galangal. Then grind the ginger, turmeric and galangal in a food processor with a little water to make a paste and add to the infusion with the chai masala
Roasted Dandelion Root Chai
Locally harvest or buy prepared dandelion roots. Grind the dry root pieces into a powder and pan roast on a low heat until it smells heavenly, like baking chocolate and vanilla together. It’ll be coffee colored but don’t burn it. How dark you’ll want the roast depends on taste. I like mine dark and full bodied. Use 2 tablespoons roasted dandelion powder per 1 quart water, with ½ teaspoon chai masala or to taste. Steep for at least 15 minutes and up to several hours. Lovely with added steamed milk and sweetener to taste.
Morning Chai Broth
The night before, add: three quarts water, 1 tablespoon chai masala, and any of the following to a slow cooker: good quality vegetable and fruit scraps. I use ginger and turmeric peels, potato and yam skins. All ends and pieces of things like parsnip, celeriac, mushrooms, apple or pear cores, plums--parsley and other stems, leaves of all kinds...squash peels and innards are particularly good. I use just about anything vegetable or fruit that I’d compost while preparing a meal.
Warning: don’t use anything in the cabbage family because they’ll stink if cooked for long, or onion skins and citrus rinds unless you want a bitter broth.
Everything goes into a large crock pot, cooked on low for 10-15 hrs. In the morning, I dip out a mug full and add salt or sweetener and drink. I strain the rest to drink hot throughout the day or use in soups. I have a broth like this going almost everyday, all winter long.
Golden Milk Chai
Gently heat one cup of coconut milk in a pot. Whisk 1 heaped teaspoon of the turmeric paste and ¼ teaspoon masala chai into the milk. Let this infuse for a few minutes while keeping the milk at a low simmer. Strain and add sweetener of choice.
Chai Masala
Black tea using Assam
1 quart almost boiling water, 4 teaspoons loose black tea and ½ teaspoon chai masala brewed for 5 minutes before straining
Green tea using Gunpowder Tea
1 quart almost boiling water, 4 teaspoons green tea and ½ teaspoon masala chai brewed for 3 minutes before straining
Helpful Tools for Making Chai Drinks
Fine mesh coffee strainer or French press
Good spice or coffee grinder
Spirit of Adventure
Golden Paste--used to make golden milk
1/2 cup/60g turmeric powder
1 cup water/250ml
1/3 cup/70ml coconut oil: Add the coconut oil at a low heat. Once it’s melted add the turmeric and briefly sauté while stirring off the heat for a minute. Add the water and simmer on the heat until you have a paste, about 7 minutes. Store the paste in the fridge for up to two weeks or freeze.
Spicy Gingerbread Cookies Nouveau Breads
Rollable dough
Makes 7-10 averaged sized gingerbread people
Ingredients
Dry
½ cup prewashed quinoa, heaping
⅓ cup raw chickpeas
½ cup raw buckwheat groats
2 tablespoons flax meal
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup coconut sugar
Spices
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 whole cloves
¼ teaspoon allspice berries
½ teaspoon coriander seed
½ teaspoon fennel seed
¼ teaspoon whole peppercorns
¼ teaspoon decorticated cardamom (taken out of pods)
1 ½ teaspoons powdered ginger
Wet
½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick) cut into small pieces
½ cup black strap molasses
Directions
1. Using a Vitamix or high powered blender, grind all of the dry ingredients including into a flour. I run the machine at the highest speed for 1 minute.
2. Sift through a sieve over a large mixing bowl.
3. Return the flour to the Vitamix. Add the butter pieces and pour in the molasses. I make a small well into the top of the flour. Mix at a medium high speed until the butter and molasses are well incorporated and a soft dough forms.
4. Remove the dough. Break into two even balls and form into flat disks. Chill the dough for 20 minutes.
5. Roll out dough and cut into desired shapes. This dough also makes molded shapes and raised forms well. Gather cookie cutters, rolling pin, chopsticks, pastry wheel... anything you can find that will make interesting textures or impressions
6. Have baking sheets ready. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C
7. Work on small pieces of parchment so that the cookies can be lifted to the cookie sheet on the parchment paper. Cookies will need to be a similar thickness to bake evenly. Dough rolled ¼ inch/6.5mm thick is great.
8. Bake for 7-9 minutes. Cookies will be soft when hot and firm up as they cool.
Gingerbread Flatbread— featuring chickpeas, red lentils and sunflower seeds
Makes a 12-inch round flat bread, scored into diamonds.
40 minutes including baking time
A delicious twist on the holiday favorite. A flatbread with all the gingerbread flavors and mysterious ingredients. Not to spill the beans, but it’s made with dried chickpeas and red lentils ground into flour, with the addition of sunflower seeds. It’s low in added sugar, and made with ground spices and rich molasses.
Ingredients
½ cup dry whole chickpeas
¼ cup dry red lentils
¾ cup hulled sunflower seeds
¼ cup golden flax meal
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup carob powder
2 tablespoons psyllium seed husk powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon monk fruit powder
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
¼ cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses
¾ cup boiling water
Spice Mix
Dry spices
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon whole cloves,
½ teaspoon whole allspice
½ teaspoon coriander seed
1 teaspoon anise seed
6 green cardamom pods, shells removed
¼ teaspoon peppercorns,
1 teaspoon dry ginger powder
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Spice Paste
1 tablespoon fresh ginger paste, from chopped pieces
1 tablespoon fresh chopped orange peel, white pith removed
Directions
Using a spice grinder or coffee mill, grind the dry spices together and sift through a sieve. Set aside in a small bowl. Using a small food processor, grind the ginger and orange peel together into a rough paste, and add to the small bowl.
Line a 12 to 13 inch pizza pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 400F
Using a high powered mixer on high speed, grind the chickpeas and red lentils together into a powder. Empty into a mixing bowl. Add sunflower seeds, raisins, wet and dry spices and remaining dry ingredients, to the mixer and grind them together, on high speed into a rough flour. Stop when the motor starts to bog down, and before the sunflower seeds become too oily. Empty into the mixing bowl and combine with the legume flour. Break up the mix with your fingers, or rub it through a sieve. Return what won’t go through the sieve, mostly raison pieces, to the mixing bowl.
In a small saucepan, bring the water, molasses and vinegar to a boil. Pour it over the dry ingredients and using a rubber spatula, vigorously mix the dough together.
Using a small amount of neutral tasting oil on your hands, pat the dough evenly out on the parchment paper out to the edges. Scissor off any excess parchment paper. Score the dough every 1 ½ inches in straight lines. Score again, making 1 ½ inch diagonal lines. Most of the pieces will be diamond shaped. Make 3 indentations on each diamond with the thick end of a chopstick.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes. Best served warm or reheated like crackers.
High fiber, low glycemic, plant based treat
Rye Gingerbread
Dry ingredients
1 1/4 cup rye flour
1 1/4 cup potato starch
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons dried ginger
Whole spice mix (grind in spice grinder and sift)
1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
4 whole green cardamom pods
½ teaspoon allspice berries
3 whole cloves
½ teaspoon white peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seed
⅛ teaspoon stevia
Wet Ingredients
½ cup room temperature butter (1 stick)
¼ cup whole cane sugar
1 cup unsulphured organic blackstrap molasses
2 flax eggs (6 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons flax meal)
1 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon fresh ginger paste
(about a 2 inch nub peeled)
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
4 cubes minced crystallized ginger
Method
Preheat oven to 350F and line with parchment and butter a 10-inch round springform cake pan
Grind the whole spices in a spice/coffee grinder and then sieve out fines
Measure out the rest of the dry ingredients and add freshly ground spice mix to it combine thoroughly
Peel and make a paste of fresh ginger in a food processor or spice grinder
With an electric mixer,combine the butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the molasses, and continue to beat until well combined. Add flax eggs beating well after each addition. Add fresh and crystallized gingers plus orange extract
Alternating add the hot water and flour to the wet mixture, beating well after each addition.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake on a middle rack for 30 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the cake on a rack to cool completely in the pan before slicing.