Pretty Pavlova

Pavlova was served to us in Estonia and Finland then I made it for a Relief Society meeting dessert and now make it at home.  It's been requested in place of birthday cake by our youngest.  Here is the Pavlova recipe I use.

Raspberry Pie

ingredients
1 bottom pie crust
4 oz. light cream cheese
1 small pkg. rapberry Jello (four 1/2 cup servings)
2 Tbsp. corn starch
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar to taste
4 cups clean raspberries (chilled if possible)
1 cup ice
1/2 cup boiling water

directions
Put cream cheese on counter to soften.
Bake pie shell.  I keep my Mother-in-law's bulk pie mix on hand.
Cool on rack.
Set aside 1 Tbsp. of cream cheese. When pie shell is cool,
use rubber spatula to gently and completely cover pie shell
bottom and sides with an even layer of softened cream cheese.
Leave the top 1/2 inch or so of crust plain.  Put pie crust into
fridge to chill.

Filling
Set out one cup of raspberries.
Microwave 1/2 cup of water for 1 minute.  Pour into blender.
With blender on low speed, slowly add Jello/cornstarch/sugar mix
until fully dissolved.  Add tablespoon of cream cheese.
Blend in the cup of raspberries.
Add the cup of ice and increase speed to blend thoroughly
until all ice dissolved and ingredients are completely incorporated.
If desired, continue at high speed until sauce is both thickened and
light in texture like a chiffon.

Option 1:
Fold sauce mixture into the remaining 3+ cups of raspberries and
pour into chilled pie shell.

Option 2:
Pour layer of sauce into shell.  Top with layer of raspberries.  Add
another layer of sauce.  Add raspberries.  Etc. until shell is full.

Refrigerate for 15 minutes and serve.

Savory and Sweet Pies for Supper

Tonight I used my mother-in-law's pie crust mix as the crust for both savory quiche and apple pie. So we had pie for dinner and pie for dessert!

This is the quiche base I used.
3 /4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup whole milk (or any you have on hand works)
3 large eggs
 2 oz cheese
Pour in pastry/pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes, until filling is just set. The center will giggle slightly when moved. I baked the apple pie at the same time at the same temperature.

 It is creamy and velvety. Add whatever meat (optional), vegetables, and cheese mixtures you desire. Tonight I simply added  feta cheese and sauteed tomatoes, onions and garlic.

At dinner when I asked "What did you learn today?", as we usually do at dinner time, our youngest said, "I learned I like quiche!"He ate 3 pieces.

My Mother-in-law's Pie Crust Mix

My Mother-in-law's Pie Crust Mix

Description:
Bulk recipe for pie makers like my Mother-in-law. Good to have on hand for the holidays or family gatherings. Remember, true pie lovers only cut a pie once, so you'll need several pies:)  

Ingredients:

5 lb. bag Gold Medal white flour plus 1 cup = 21 cups if you don't have a 5 lb. bag on hand
 

3 lb Crisco (don't substitute) I like the butter flavor, but she uses original.
3 T sugar (optional)
3 T salt

Directions: Mix carefully, but well until the mix has pea sized balls. Store in a plastic container or Crisco can.  Keeps well in a cool place or refrigerator.

 

For every 1/2 cup of mix you use, add 1 T cold water.  I end up using 1 1/2 c of mix with 3 T cold water for each regular sized bottom crust.  For 1 cup use 2 Tablespoons of cold water.  

Mix with a fork.  The less you work the dough both in preparing the mix and in rolling it out the flakier it is.  You want enough to go over the edge of your pie pan.  

Fold the pie crust under and pinch about every inch to make a design. Press fork in the bottom and around the sides to vent.

 
Sunday my husband made strawberry pie filling to go in these 3 pie shells I baked for him.   Our youngest had a piece of crust left.  Thinking he must not want it I asked him if I could eat it.   He said, "No! I'm saving it.  It's the best part!  I wanted fewer strawberries!"


My husband's favorite pie is boysenberry.  What's your favorite pie? 

Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies

I came home to my husband and kids having made these yummy cookies today.  Here's the recipe and a photo.  Enjoy!

Outrageous Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the peanut butter, vanilla and egg until well blended. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter just until moistened. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips until evenly distributed. Drop by tablespoonfuls on to lightly greased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges start to brown. Cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Decadence Cake

I will make this cake again! I discovered it searching easy decadent gourmet chocolate cakes to make for a friend's birthday who wanted chocolate.  Described as “The perfect, fudgy chocolate cake recipe” and originally from the Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé book I decided to give it a try.

Chocolate Decadence Cake

Ingredients:


8 3/4 oz. bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
(she used Valrhona, 71%, I used Lindt 80%)
2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup plus 1 Tb. all-purpose flour


Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9 inch cake pan, line the bottom with parchment, butter the parchment and flour the pan or I used a 9x3 spring form pan with baking spray.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, set it aside to cool. It should be just warm when you mix it in with the rest of the ingredients.

Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer with the paddle attachment for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each egg for about one minute.

With the mixer still running (not too high), add the chocolate and beat until just incorporated.

Again with the mixer still running (not too high), add the flour and beat until just incorporated. Finish mixing the ingredients with a rubber spatula, being sure all the flour has been incorporated into the batter.

Fill the cake pan and bake for about 28 minutes or so. When you take the cake out, the middle will look like it's not yet cooked. That is normal. A knife inserted in the center will come out with some batter on it. That too is normal. You don't want to over-bake the cake.

Cool on a wire rack. When the cake is at room temperature, place the cake in the refrigerator for an hour or two, this makes it easier to remove from pan. I did this, but with a spring-form pan it’s easier.

Un hinge the spring-form and place cake onto a wire rack and then invert onto a serving platter.

It said this cake is fabulous with whipped cream or ice cream, so I spread Jello’s white chocolate instant pudding made with whipping cream instead of milk over the top.  Then I simply decorated with fresh raspberries marking the 8 portions then drizzled a black raspberry vanilla syrup my husband previously made over it when plating it to serve.

The cake can be kept wrapped at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 days, or frozen for up to a month.

Father's Day included prime rib, strawberry salad, key lime pie

When I was asking some friends for a new salad recipe, K recommended this strawberry salad everyone enjoyed when she served it at Easter, so I took it to Father's Day dinner at B&D's with a similar result.  You add strawberry jam to the dressing and strawberries to the salad.  We love strawberries and I learned to add fruit to a green salad from K! 

I thrill to find my Mother's handwritten menus of dinner parties so I'll include D's menu with the recipe below. This strawberry salad is pictured in the back left corner in the wooden bowl my Mother loved to serve salad in.


D's Father's Day Menu
prime rib w/ horseradish
mashed potatoes w/ gravy
corn
jello salad
green salad

fresh fruit:
cherries, grapes, strawberries
pineapple, honeydew and cantaloupe
Drinks: 
cucumber water
raspberry lemonade
Desserts:
chocolate pie
pineapple pie
*key lime pie

Here's a link to * Paula Deen's key lime pie recipe! Once you get there just scroll down to see the recipe and comments.  D used chopped pecans in the crust and grated white chocolate on top.

Strawberry Salad
Lion House Cookbook


Dressing:
2 T red wine vinegar
3 T sugar
1/2 c canola oil
1/2 t dry mustard
1/2 t salt
1/2 c strawberry jam
Mix and let sit in refrigerator to let flavors blend.


Salad:
1 head of red leaf lettuce
1 pkg of spinach
1/2 c red bell pepper chopped
1 purple onion sliced
Mix these vegetable salad ingredients together.  

Then prepare the remaining ingredients but wait to add them 

along with the dressing until right before serving,
so they don't become soft or soggy.
1 c strawberries sliced
1 c cashew pieces
1/3 c bacon pieces
1/2 pkg wonton skins (cut in 1/2 (strips) and fried)

Cowboy Cookies

Our daughter stayed up last night to make these for class.  I decided to make a batch for a group of boys who were coming over after school today. I haven't made these in forever. Now I'll have this recipe handy online as well. My sister-in-law's sister gave me this recipe a few years ago.

Cowboy Cookies
1 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
dash salt
2 c flour
2 c oatmeal
2 c chocolate chips
nuts if desired

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Add vanilla, baking soda, and baking powder and salt. Stir in flour, oatmeal, chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

Hubby's Thai Food Tests

Thanks to my thoughtful friend C, I recently visited a Trader Joe's near her and purchased many fun treats for my family.  One item was meal ready green curry thai sauce.  Thanks to my husband, who wanted to make Thai food and loves to experiment in the kitchen, we had a wonderful homemade Thai meal.  He offered us green curry shrimp and/or red chili shrimp over jasmine rice and pad thai noodles.  I know my Mother would have loved tasting this!

  
Green Curry Shrimp
a bottle of Trader Joes green curry sauce, warmed
add in some whole peeled prawns
serve over rice
Note:  Even in our small town we can find Thai Kitchen products and great recipes on the internet, so to make something similar to us with out a Trader Joe's, we can use Thai Kitchen green curry paste and a 14 oz. of coconut cream.  


Red Chili Coconut Shrimp
1 14 oz. can coconut milk
3 T Thai Kitchen roasted red chili paste
2 T Thai Kitchen premium fish sauce
1T  white sugar
Stir ingredients together, simmer on medium low heat for 7 minutes. 
Add 1/2 cup frozen green beans sliced asian style  
1 water chestnut, diced and optional
1/4 cup frozen peas
Continue to simmer for 3 more minutes.  Turn off heat.  Add 7-10 cooked, peeled prawns or 1/2 cup smaller shrimp and serve as soon as warm over white jasmine rice.  


Note: You may use chicken or pork of course, but one of our son's announced 2 weeks ago that he is not vegetarian, but will eat fish -- thus this further exploration in the kitchen. 

Toronto Pad Thai

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package pad thai rice noodles
• 1/4 cup tamarind paste (To substitute for tamarind paste, blend equal parts dried apricots, prunes, dates, plus lemon or lime juice. Use 2 tablespoons of this mixture for every teaspoon of tamarind paste.)
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 limes, juiced
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon chili paste (sambal oelek)
•  
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 pound firm tofu, drained and cubed
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups bean sprouts
• 1/2 cup coarsely ground peanuts
• 5 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Place the rice noodles in a large bowl, pour in enough very hot tap water to cover, and let them soak for 30 minutes. Drain the noodles, and set aside.
2. Stir together the tamarind paste with boiling water in a bowl until well mixed, and let the mixture stand for 15 minutes. Press the paste mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to strain, and discard any fibers or seeds. Combine the strained tamarind paste with the ketchup, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, and chili paste in a bowl.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a wok over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Cook and stir the garlic and tofu until the tofu begins to show brown edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in the eggs, and scramble for 30 seconds, then add the noodles, tamarind mixture, and bean sprouts. Cook and stir until the noodles are separated, heated through, and covered with sauce, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with peanuts and sliced green onions.

Southwestern Chicken and Rice

I just tried this quick, simple recipe and our whole family loved the taste.  The taste of course will depend upon what flavor of salsa and seasoning packet you use.  It's perfect for one of those kid taxing driving nights.  Give it a try!

Southwestern Chicken and Rice

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
2 cups water
2 cups raw Minute Rice
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
Sour cream

Bring chicken, salsa, seasoning mix and water to boil in a large skillet.
Cover and simmer 10 minutes.  Return to boil.
Stir in rice and sprinkle with cheese and cover.
Cook on low heat 5 minutes.  Top with sour cream.

Greek Farmer's Market Vegetables

It's recipe party time again!  Tonight's theme is Mediterranean so we can use fresh vegetables from our garden or local Farmer's Market.  Oh, I wish I could run to *Molly Stone's or Whole Foods to buy this olive oil like I used to be able to.  I googled greek mediterranean recipes and found this I thought I'd like

Greek Farmer's Market Vegetables

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to the recipe party Thursday, so I made this for my parents and again for my own family.  They LOVED it! 

And I altered instead to this.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 - 1 1/2 Cup *Lykovouno olive oil
1 lb. zucchini squash
1 lb. potatoes
1 lb. eggplant or yellow squash
2 small onions
3 peppers - one green, red, and yellow

3 tomatoes
1 small bunch chopped parsley or rosemary and thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Clean and wash your vegetables and cut them into slices. Put all ingredients into a large skillet and stir and coat vegetables with olive oil and cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for approximately 1-1 1/2 hours. Serve with crumbled feta cheese.  Serves 4 to 6.

What's Veal Mom?

Sunday we had a discussion about veal. I said it was beef, but they wanted to know why it's not dark like beef. They said it looks like pork, but doesn't taste like pork. Hmm, "What's veal Mom?"

OVEN BAKED VEAL PARMIGIANA

1 lb. thin veal cutlets
1/2 c. dry bread crumbs
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 sm. jar spaghetti sauce
1 pkg. shredded Mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp. Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp. chopped parsley

Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip each piece of veal in egg and then coat with crumb mixture. Spread onions in bottom of 9 x 12 inch Pyrex dish. Arrange veal over onions. Preheat microwave/convection oven to 300 degrees. Put dish on lowest rack and cook 12 to 15 minutes. Pour sauce over veal and sprinkle on Mozzarella. Cook 5 more minutes. Sprinkle on Parmesan and parsley; serve.

For conventional oven, bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Add sauce and cheese. Bake 5 more minutes.

Huckleberry Shake in the Magic Bullet

My parents have a "Magic Bullet" that makes individual sized shakes and purees most anything. After our lunch today, my husband and Dad made Huckleberry Shakes for us.

Huckleberry Shakes
2 scoops of ice cream
enough milk to go 3/4 of the way up to top
Since we had huckleberry ice cream, they just added 1 tsp huckleberries. If you have vanilla, you'll want to add more.
2 tsp. sugar or sweetener of your choice

Tin Can Ice Cream & The Ice Cream Truck

Our children love it when the Ice Cream Truck stops by. Here they are buying ice cream from him just a few days ago.

And then the youth in the ward, in honor of pioneer day, were on the edge of the street briskly rolling back and forth tin can ice cream. when the ice cream truck drove by! lol

We stopped him and asked him if he wanted to buy any ice cream. He paused for a picture with us. A few minutes later our boys found him and bought ice cream from him and tasted the tin can ice cream.

If you want to try TIN CAN ICE CREAM you'll find the recipe below.

Kid's Tin Can Ice Cream

1 #10 clean cannery can

1 1 lb. clean can

duct tape

2 or more kids

Ingredients:

1 c. milk

1 c. whipping cream

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 egg (optional)

fruit, smashed, chocolate, etc.

rock salt

ice (crushed or small cubes)

Pour all food ingredients into 1-pound can.

Duct tape lid on securely.

Place inside 3 lb. (#10 size) can

Layer ice and rock salt around sides of small can.

Duct tape lid on.

Roll briskly on hard ground for 10 minutes - cement works best.

Open lid and drain ice water. Open smaller can and stir, scraping sides well.

Retape. Re-pack big can with ice and salt.

Re-tape and roll again.

Makes about 3 cups of ice cream.

Hubby Makes Round Steak into Filet Mignon

My husband says you can make the toughest round steak into steak with the tenderness and moistness of Filet Mignon by marinating for a couple days using vinegar and oil. He grilled it to go with our peas and potatoes. Here's how he did it . . .

1/3 cup balsamic vineger

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup olive or canola oil

2 Tbs. Montreal Steak seasoning

6-10 small "mock" filet minon steaks (made from inexpensive round steak)

Mix all in a sturdy gallon-size zip lock bag. Let it marinate for 2 days, in the fridge, turning the bag over and massaging the contents a little twice a day.

(The acid in the vinegar will tenderize the meat by breaking up the longer meat fibers, and the oil helps bring moistness to the meat that is far healthier than the high saturated fat in the animal-fat-marbling found in meat selected for it's natural (fat) moistness and tenderness.)

Then sear on high heat grill for a couple of minutes each side before finishing the grilling as you typically would.

The slightly tangier result in the meat is very popular with our kids, who do not care for the sweetness of nearly all BBQ sauces.

Enjoy!

Creamed Peas & New Potatoes

Friday, we went to the local Farmer's Market and some of our purchases included new red potatoes and fresh green peas. I found this recipe to make them creamed. Although everyone else liked them, our youngest, not a fan of peas, asked in disgust, "Why are you putting that on your blog? I thought you only put good stuff on there like pulla, lattyja, Grandma's rolls, and karjalan piirakka!" lol

Well, if you dare favor the opinion of the rest of us, try this recipe with your new peas and potatoes or share your favorite version that the biggest pea avoider would like. He did manage to get 8 peas down when his brother told him he had to eat them or get none of the brownies he just made for desert. lol That same son said, "Oh, I just love these new peas and potatoes!"

CREAMED PEAS & NEW POTATOES

from COOKS.COM

---

1 lb. whole tiny new potatoes
1 1/2 c. shelled peas or loose-pack frozen peas
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
1 c. milk

Scrub potatoes; cut any large potatoes in half. If desired, remove a narrow strip of peel from around the center of each potato. In a medium saucepan cook potatoes in a small amount of boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Add peas and cook 5 to 10 minutes more or until tender. Drain.In a medium saucepan cook onion in butter until tender but not brown. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir until thick and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in potatoes and peas; heat through. Season to taste. Serves 4.

MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS: Scrub potatoes; cut any large potatoes in half. Remove a narrow strip of peel from around the center of each potato. In a 2 quart casserole combine potatoes and 2 tablespoons water. Microwave, covered, on 100% power (high) for 8 minutes. Stir in peas. Cook, covered, on high for 4 to 6 minutes more or until vegetables are tender. Drain. Continue as above.

I must say I was surprised when I couldn't find a creamed peas and potatoes recipe in the Betty Crocker or any other standard cookbooks.

Non peanut butter no-bake cookies

From dianaskitchen.com we found this non peanut butter No-Bake Cookies recipe.

No-Bake Cookies

These favorite no-bake cookies are made with cocoa, coconut, and oats

* 1/2 cup butter

* 1/2 cup milk

* 2 cups sugar

* 3 cups quick-cooking oats

* 5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

* 1/2 cup coconut

In a large saucepan, combine butter, milk and sugar; bring to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Continue boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in oats, cocoa, and coconut. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper.

Makes about 36 yummy no-bake cookies.

OR

with peanut butter and no coconut try

No Bake Cookies

2 c sugar

1/2 c milk

1 cube butter

1/4 c cocoa

1/2 c peanut butter

3 c. oatmeal

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix sugar, 1/4 c. of the milk, butter and cocoa and bring to boil. Boil for 1.5 minutes. While hot add peanut butter, oatmeal and vanilla. Add up to the rest of the milk as needed. Drop on waxed paper or lightly buttered an until cool.

Sarah's Impossible-to-Mess-Up-Lasagna

Most of our children really like lasagna and request it much more often than I make it.  Then I remembered that Sarah had shared her easy version of lasagna in our recipe exchange.  We like it and it IS so easy! Our sons are just returning from the Father Son's Camp Out and are hungry, so I'm glad it's ready to come out of the oven!   I hope you enjoy it sometime soon too.  

Sarah's Impossible-to-Mess-Up-Lasagna

Cook one package of lasagna noodles according to package directions (adding a small amount of olive oil to your boiling water will make the pasta easier to work with later).  

Drain hot water and allow noodles to cool. (I usually run pour cold water over them and then leave a little water over them so they don't stick together)

In a large skillet, cook 1 lb of hamburger or turkey burger and drain it.

Add 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce,

Add 3-4 oz. of sour cream,

Add 3-4 oz. of cottage cheese,

Add 8 ounces shredded cheese of your choice,

Spread a small amount of sauce across the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Alternately layer noodles and 1/3 of sauce in three layers and top with more cheese.

Cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. You can put the oven on broil for the last 3-4 minutes, to bubble and brown the cheese.

If you're doubling or tripling the recipe, you can easily make THREE 9x13 pans with 2 packages of 16 ounce lasagna noodles.

You can also stretch the sauce by just adding another jar of spaghetti sauce, but not adding more meat.

Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes

My cousin Janis put this recipe in our family cookbook years ago and I just tried them for the first time this morning.  Even though they are thinner than usual, we really liked the taste!  I also like that I can make whole wheat pancakes so easily and quickly with little mess and no stirring.  A bonus is that since you make them in the blender, or in our case the Vitamix, you just pour the batter onto the hot griddle.  

It took my Mother awhile to get used to sweet (maple syrup) on bread (pancakes) when she moved to the U.S.  Now she eats them with an egg on top with maple syrup on it as does most of the rest of our family. It's taken my husband some time to yet used to this taste!  

Try it, you may like it too.

Blender Whole Wheat Pancakes

1 c. whole wheat (the kernels) 

1 c. water or milk

Add and blend 4 minutes more (less for vitamix):

1/2 c. oil

1/2 c. milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

Fire Bread

Each year the Mountain Man Rendezvous we attend, we hope they will serve "Fire Bread", then name youngest dubbed it when he saw it being made over the campfire there. They ran out of it this year before we tasted it, so we had to make some at home. We ate Hawthorne berry and Elderberry jam on them made my the Mountain Man Leprechaun.

I searched the internet for an authentic recipe and chose this one to try.

NATIVE AMERICAN FRY BREAD RECIPES

4 cups flour

2 tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening (I used oil)

1 cup warm water

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add in the shortening and water. Add only enough water to make dough stick together. Knead dough until smooth, make into fist-sized balls. Cover them with a towel for 10 minutes then pat them out into circles about the size of a pancake. Fry in hot cooking oil in cast iron skillet until brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels, serve with jam.