How to Make Horchata (naturally sweetened)

Hello friends!

Today I am sharing my naturally sweetened Agua de Horchata at the Grain Mill Wagon.

I thought some of you might enjoy a visual step-by-step of how to make horchata. I won't be sharing the exact measurements, but you can get the recipe over there.

It's SO easy and a great summer drink!

First, you need to grind up your rice. If you don't have a grain mill, a coffee grinder or blender will work just fine.

You can use brown rice or white rice. I prefer either white basmati or regular brown rice. Obviously, the flavor will be different using one or the other.

Next pour your rice flour into a bowl, throw in a cinnamon stick or two and cover with warm water.

Let it sit for up to 6 hours or overnight. You can leave it out or put it in your fridge.

Next, pour the rice mixture in a blender and blend on high for several minutes. You want it to be smooth, not gritty.

Then pour the mixture into a strainer. It is best to use a fine sieve, but you can also use a cheesecloth. I have done both, but find the cheesecloth a little more difficult to use.

Using a spoon or your hands, firmly press the rice & cinnamon solids to get out as much of the liquid as possible, but don't press too much if you are using a fine sieve without a cheesecloth... some rice will pass through.

Add in honey and stevia... whisk vigorously until honey completely dissolves. No need to warm it up or warm up the milk!

Stir in your choice of milk. We use raw goat's milk and love it, but we have used coconut milk with great results!

Pour into a pitcher and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours.

Pour Horchata into a tall glass full of ice. Yes, you must have a straw! Bought my stainless steel straws on Amazon.

Sprinkle ground cinnamon on top.

Sprinkle MORE cinnamon on top!

Slurp it down and enjoy the cool, delicious taste. (Oops, forgot to put cinnamon on that one!)

Buen Provecho!! Get the Agua de Horchata recipe and make some today!

Pretty easy, right? Have you made Horchata? What about using different flavors?

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through an affiliate link, your cost will be the same but I will receive a small commission. The commissions I receive goes to support my family, our ministry and helps keep my blog going. Thank you for your willingness to use the links to support us & help me keep Just Making Noise going!

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Sourdough Journel #12: Delicious Sourdough Cookies

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I seriously can't say enough good things about Wardeh's wonderful e-courses! They have been so simple and easy to follow. So fun, too! Thank you Wardee!!!

So... 


I mentioned two weeks ago that I have TWO different cookie recipe to share with you all. I am hooked on making my cookies with sourdough now!


I love it because I can now serve cookies knowing that they are much healthier and we don't feel sick after eating a cookie or two.


For a long time I've made our family favorite - Stuffed Oatmeal Cookies - and they were healthy, for the most part... except the oatmeal part. I find that when I don't soak our oatmeal... we feel pretty yucky afterwards. Especially if we eat too much of it, which is hard not to because they are so good!


So, when I learned that I could change my recipe a little and add in the sourdough into the dough to help break down the oatmeal... I was all for trying it out!


Our first batch was gone in one night.


I kid you not!


Yeah, it was so good with some fresh milk and we didn't have that ache in our stomaches after having one too many cookies. Yeaaaa!

Stuffed Oatmeal Sourdough Cookies

1 cup sourdough
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups whole wheat flour (plus more, if needed, to get a stiff batter)
1 1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 - 1 cup rapadura or coconut sugar
3/4 tsp sea salt
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips (sometimes I throw in 3 cups!)
1-2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1-2 cups dried fruit (optional)


In a medium size bowl stir together the sourdough starter and butter. Add 1 cup of flour and the oatmeal. Stir to incorporate. Continue adding flour until you have a thick dough. You may need more or less flour, depending on your starter consistency and your flour choice. Cover and allow to sour for 8 or more hours.


Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease your baking sheets.


In a small bowl mix together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, sea salt,  optional cinnamon and baking powder. Pour mixture on top of your soured dough. You will need to get both of your hands in the bowl and use a squeezing motion to break up the very firm dough or use a thick, strong fork (that's what I do). Stir until free of lumps and of one mind, stir in your chocolate chips, nuts, coconut flakes and optional dried fruit. Then sprinkle on the baking soda. Stir well to incorporate.


Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (about 15 minutes in my higher altitude) OR spread the whole batter in the cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Next I wanted to make some unique sourdough cookies for a Thanksgiving Potluck that we were invited to go. We met a lot of missionaries and made some new friends.


It was a little too crazy and loud for me, but I was glad to see that people were enjoying my cookies! I made them pan-style so I didn't have to spend hours laboring over every drop of dough and cookie to make enough for 80+ people  ;o)


I started off following the recipe from the Sourdough eCourse for Molasses Ginger cookies, but then realized I didn't have molasses. So, I used honey instead and started changing up the recipe from there.


The final touch was the orange zest... oh my sweet goodness! I actually threw that in there in the last minute because I felt that it needed something.


Wish I had a picture because they looked pretty & yummy!

Cranberry Orange Spice Sourdough Cookies

1 cup sourdough

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups whole wheat flour (plus more, if needed, to get a stiff batter)

1-2 cups oatmeal

scant 1/4 cup raw honey

1/2 - 3/4 cup rapadura or coconut sugar

3/4 tsp sea salt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cloves

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger
1-2 Tbsp orange zest (I used a whole orange's worth of zest!)
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1-2 cups dried cranberries, chopped
1-2 cups walnuts, chopped

In a medium size bowl stir together the sourdough starter and butter. Add 1 cup of flour and the oatmeal. Stir to incorporate. Continue adding flour until you have a thick dough. You may need more or less flour, depending on your starter consistency and your flour choice. Cover and allow to sour for 8 or more hours.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and lightly grease your baking sheets.

In a small bowl mix together the honey, eggs, sugar, vanilla, sea salt, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, orange zest and baking powder. Pour mixture on top of your soured dough. You will need to get both of your hands in the bowl and use a squeezing motion to break up the very firm dough or use a thick, strong fork (that's what I do). Stir until free of lumps and of one mind, stir in cranberries and walnuts. Then sprinkle on the baking soda. Stir well to incorporate.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (about 15 minutes in my higher altitude) OR spread the whole batter in the cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy! 

Have a beautiful Christmas everyone!


PS- don't forget to enter for a chance to win some fabulous cookbooks (check it out here & here)!!

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Candied Orange Spice Peels

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Since last week I've been going through several pounds (at least 30 lbs, if not more!) of oranges... washing, cutting, peeling, slicing and blending.

My kitchen has been full of sunshine and wonderful smells of delicious oranges! Yummm!

Can't get enough of the smells and beautiful colors, but I've had enough of all that work! LOL! 

You may be wondering when I'm going to get to the point. Right?

Well, we have several citrus trees giving us more than enough oranges and I was wondering what to do with it all! Especially the peels. One day I was browsing through my Facebook and saw one of my friends posted that she was making candied orange peels. Of course, that grabbed my attention.

Candied orange peels?! Honestly, never heard of that!

I quickly googled for a recipe and found one at use real butter (Beautiful photography!). Honestly, I was very surprised to find out that making candied peels is so easy... just a little time consuming  ;o)

Seriously, the work was well worth it... for Christmas we will be giving away small bags of these treats to all our Honduran neighbors & friends, the kids we work with and missionaries we know. I've already had a few kids taste the candied peels and they LOVE them!

While I was waiting for the raw sugar water to get hot... a great idea popped into my head. I  threw in some cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and chunks of ginger to bring about a spicy flavor. Success! Delicious, warm spices drifted up to my nose... oh yum!

After pouring the peels in and simmering them for forever... they came out golden, glazed and sticky. Dropped them in a pan of cane sugar and they separated beautifully. 

When Jon took his first bite of the sugar covered peel... he said the texture and flavor reminded him of those old classic sugar-crusted gumdrops!

I rolled some batches with cane sugar and some without. I am thinking the ones without the sugar crust would be fabulous in some oatmeal cookies. Hmmm, maybe I'll have a recipe coming on that idea!

I made my first batch for a Christmas party for the missionary women. They were a hit! I put the orange peels in small plastic bags and tied them up with a cute ribbon along with the recipe & suggestions... simple and easy. I would rather packet the orange peels in parchment paper or glass jars, but I am in a country where those are not easily found and often expensive. Boohoo. At least they looked cute in the plastic bags!

I am doing the same when passing them out to our Honduran neighbors and kids. I put on different tags that say, "Feliz Navidad!! Bendiciones! Familia de Jon & Marillyn Beard".

Can you believe how much I've made?! LOL! Next year I would like to plan ahead and have some girls help me.

Wish the picture of the gift bag looked a little better, but its good enough and you get the idea!

So, after all that glorious work.... I was left with 6 1/2 quarts of dark, dark brown, orange flavored syrupy sweetness! So, now I have plans for those!! Caramel popcorn, granola, candied nuts, hot chocolate, pancakes and more.

*Sigh*

Candied Orange Spice Peels

4 oranges (or any thick skinned citrus fruit)
3 cups sugar (rapadura, coconut sugar or unrefined cane sugar)
1 cup water
1-2 cinnamon sticks (optional)
5-10 whole cloves (optinoal)
1 chunk of ginger (optional)
cane sugar for rolling

Quarter oranges into wedges. Carefully slice or peel the flesh away from the orange peels (I generally don’t like to remove too much pith, only if it is really thick). Slice the peel of each wedge lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips.

Place peels in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Heat on high until water comes to a boil. Pour off the water. Repeat two more times.

Meanwhile, mix 1 cup water with 3 cups of sugar in a large saucepan or pot. Add optional spices. Bring to boil over high heat until temps reaches about 230F. Stir it to make sure sugar is dissolved. Add peels and reduce to a simmer. Simmer until peels are translucent (30 minutes or longer - about 50 mintues at my 6,500 ft. elevation). You will want to stir the peels every so often.

Drain peels in a colander (catch all the syrup in a bowl!). Add sugar into a deep, wide bowl. Use tongs to move peels into the bowl and roll in sugar, if desired. Set on a rack or wax covered cookie sheet to dry for 4-5 hours OR 2 days (best results). I put my peels in my dehydrator and set it on low heat (95-115F). They came out great!

You can now eat the candied peels! If you won’t be eating them within a week, store them packed in sugar in an airtight container.

Suggestions:

• Don't throw out the sugar! Use it to sweeten your morning coffee or drink for some yummy orange-flavored sweetness.
• Chopped up your orange peels and mix it with some nuts.
• Don't throw out the syrup! Use it over your pancakes, sweeten drinks, make caramel popcorn and more.
• Instead of rolling the peels in sugar. Allow them to dry for up to 2 days and dip each peel into some dark chocolate! Allow it to harden before storing in an airtight container.

Don't forget you can order Just Making Ice Cream ebook for $8 through this month! Also, enter for chances to win gluten-free & savory cookbooks!!

Have a wonderful Christmas!

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DPP 2011 > CrockPot Christmas Potpourri

I LOVE Christmas Potpourri.


It makes the house smell festive and delicious!


Since I was a little girl... every year my Mommo would throw together a pot of water or apple juice, fresh oranges, apples, cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg and let it simmer 24/7. She would keep refilling the pot with water or apple juice and change out the fruits about once a week when they would get so mushy.


The house would smell simply HEAVENLY from Thanksgiving till just past New Year!


With all the oranges that we've been picking off our trees and cutting them up for different things... all the smells from the oranges brought back to memory of that delicious potpourri that my mama used to make every year.


It got me thinking, "Why haven't I done that in my home?"


Well, I couldn't use my gas stove for 2 reasons... 1) I need all the burners for all the home cooking I do daily and 2) the gas burns too hot, that I couldn't leave it with fear that it would burn up to smoke (ugh).


Then I thought, "What about my crockpot? Perfect!"


So, I've been "simmering" my homemade Christmas Potpourri on high throughout the day without the lid on. I just LOVE coming into my house after working outside and taking a deep breath of delicious cinnamon-y orange fragrance.


Here's my simple recipe:

• Oranges, sliced
• Cinnamon sticks
• Whole Cloves
• Nutmeg (I used the old chunks after grating them)
• Water

Throw everything in your crockpot. Cover with water and set it on high. Add in water as the level drops below the oranges. Change out the fruit about once a week.

Also, you can add in sliced apples... I didn't because I didn't have any and they are kinda pricey here. Not worth it to me.


I've also seen people put in bay leaves... hmmm. Maybe I'll try that.

NOTE: A small crockpot would be ideal, but if you don't have one... you can always shop on craigslist or garage sales!

I think I might play around with the recipe and try adding pineapple! Going for the tropical Christmas smells  ;o)


Tell me, what kind of potpourri do you like? What would you add in?

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