Happy Easter!

This year, I went the traditional route and made my own Easter egg dye out of red onion skins.  I used this recipe from the Kitchn, and it worked very well.

I made my dye in the evening and left the onion skins in overnight, then strained the dye in the morning and cooked and colored the eggs.

When the eggs were dry I polished them with a little olive oil, and I'm so pleased with how the color looks.  I used brown eggs, so there's nifty speckles and variations in the color.

Oat Macaroons

I was looking for a new oatmeal cookie recipe to try out for oatmeal cookie day, and came across this one in Good Housekeepings Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries.

Recipe:
2 Eggs
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon melted Butter
2 cups Rolled Oats
1 cup Coconut
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
3 tablespoons Cornstarch
1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350°
Beat together eggs and sugar, add melted butter.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Drop spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Makes about 18 cookies.

These are great!  A little crunchy, a little chewy, and not too sweet.  They're also flour-less and have a pretty minimal amount of fat.  Happy oatmeal cookie day!

Peanut Butter Bread

This is an interesting recipe, I've only tried it once, but it's really good.  I got it out of one of my old cookbooks Good Housekeepings Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries, 1926 edition.  Yeah, I like old books, and there's great stuff in this one.

Recipe:
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg
3 1/2 cups Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 cup Milk
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Cram together the peanut butter and sugar, add egg.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk.  Mix well and place in greased bread tin.  Bake at 350° for 50 - 60 minutes.

This bread is really easy to make, and quick since there's no rising or kneading.  The texture is not like regular yeast bread, it's more like a soda bread crossed with a pound cake.  I used creamy peanut butter, but I imagine it would be good with crunchy as well, or if you're not a peanut eater, I think this would be great with a different kind of nut butter, like almond or cashew.


It's also really good with strawberry jam.