Visit Reynolds' Acres Ranch Website!Goat's Milk Pie Crust* 4 cups unsifted flour (we used whole wheat, but any flour will do)
* 1 Tablespoon Honey
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1 3/4 cups shortening
* 1 Tablespoon white or cider vinegar
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 cup goat milk
Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add shortening and cut in until ingredients are crumbly. In a small bowl, beat together milk, vinegar, honey, and egg. Combine the two mixtures and stir with a fork until all ingredients are moistened. This recipe makes 5 pie crusts. It can be kept chilled in the refrigerator for up to a week. If you freeze the dough, you can still thaw it and roll it out. Also, you can roll it out, place in pie pans, put in zip-lock bags and freeze it that way too. It's an easy recipe to make, easy to roll out, easy to work with. The dough will stay flaky no matter how much you handle it. It will shrink a bit in the pie pan so let it rest for about 5 minutes after you get the crust in the pan before you trim it and flute it. We used it over Thanksgiving for apple pies, gooseberry pie, and pumpkin pie; and it didn't get soggy in any of them.
Goat's Milk Pumpkin PieIngredients:
* 3 beaten eggs
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or ginger and nutmeg.
* 1 1/2 cup pumpkin. One regular sized can of pumpkin works, NOT the big can.
* 1 cup goat milk
Mix the sugars into the beaten eggs. Add cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and spices. Mix well. Stir in pumpkin and goat milk. Mix well. Pour into unbaked pie shell. 8-10 inch works best. This will make 2 pies in regular shells, do not use deep dish shells. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 40 minutes. This is a great recipe, and nobody at my house could tell the difference on Thanksgiving day.
Goat's Milk FudgeA fun and easy recipe:
* 3 cups sugar
* 2/3 cup goat's milk
* 3/4 cup margarine
* 6 ounces chocolate chips
* 7 ounces marshmallow cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
Combine sugar, milk, and margarine in heavy quart sauce pain. Stirring constantly, bring to full rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium, and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in chocolate chips until melted. Add marshmallow cream and vanilla, beating until well blended. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan. Cool at room temperature. You can add nuts if you wish also. The chocolate chips can be substituted with butterscotch chips, almond bark, etc., if you want to try out different flavors of fudge too. This one is so easy, the kids can do it!
YogurtMaking yogurt is a fairly simple process. It requires a thermophilic culture or one made of a starter yogurt. You can either use a heaping tablespoon of cultured yogurt for this or make and freeze your own culture, or just save a cup of plain yogurt to start the next batch with each time.
Ingredients1 quart whole milk, heated to 100 degrees.1/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk (this is an optional ingredient. It produces a thicker texture and increases the protein content by 2 grams per cup.)1 rounded tablespoon plain yogurt or recommended quantity of powdered culture or 1 ounce of thermophilic starter.Mix ingredients, follow instructions for yogurt maker. or, if you don't have a yogurt machine:With a thermosAlmost fill a thermos bottle (preferably wide-mouthed) with milk heated to 100 degrees F. Add 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt and mix thoroughly. Put the lid on and wrap the thermos in two or three terry towels. Set it in a warm, draft-free place overnight. In an ovenPour 1 quart of milk into a casserole dish and add 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt. Stir well and cover the casserole. Place in a warm (100 degree F.) oven with the heat off. Let it sit overnight. On a heating padMix 1 quart of milk and 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt. Set an electric heating pad at medium temperature and place in the bottom of a cardboard box with a lid. (A large shoe-box works well.) Fill small plastic containers with the milk-yogurt mixture; put on the lids. Wrap a heating pad around the containers, then cover with towels to fill the box and let sit, undisturbed, for 5 to 6 hours. In the sunPour 1 quart warmed milk into a glass-lidded bowl or casserole. Add 3 tablespoons plain yogurt and cover with the glass lid or a clear glass pie pan. Place in the sun on a warm (not too hot) summer day and let sit 4 to 5 hours. Watch it to make sure it is not shaded as the sun moves. On the back of a wood-stoveMany grandmothers made clabber by setting a bowl of freshly drawn milk on the back of the stove after supper. Make yogurt this way by adding 1 cup starter to 2 quarts milk and let it sit, loosely covered with a dish towel, on the back of the cooling wood range overnight. In a Crock-PotPreheat a Crock-Pot on low for about 15 minutes, until it feels very warm to the fingertips. Put covered containers of yogurt mixture into the Crock-Pot, cover it, and turn off the heat. At 35- to 45-minutes intervals, heat the Crock-Pot on low for 10 to 15 minutes.
For flavored yogurt: Instructions:
Scald 1 quart of milk (or heat to 188 degrees) and stir in 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar, honey, maple syrup, chocolate syrup, malt, molasses, or artificial sweetener. If other flavors are desired, after dissolving the sugar or honey, stir in 1 tablespoon of extract, such as vanilla, lemon, almond, or peppermint, or instant coffee. Another time, try adding 1 teaspoon of ground spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, ginger, or your own special combination. Add the instant nonfat dry milk, cool the mixture to 110 degrees F, and stir in the culture. Pour into warm containers, cover, and incubate. For jam, preserve and peanut butter flavors, put 1 tablespoon of the flavoring into the bottom of 1-cup containers and pour the warm milk-yogurt mixture over. Cover and incubate as usual. If fresh, canned, or dried fruit is desired, it is best to make such additions to the yogurt after it has incubated. The acid content of some fruits can curdle the milk-yogurt mixture and prevent proper fermentation. Whenever you are flavoring yogurt, always remember to leave 1 cup plain, so that you will have fresh starter for the next batch.
Quick and Easy Mozzarella CheeseThis recipe is a quick, simple, easy recipe to make a 2-lb block of mozzarella cheese:
Ingredients:
1. 2 gallons of cool milk, either fresh & raw or pasteurized and cooled.
2. Citric acid powder. 2 1/2 very level teaspoons of citric acid powder dissolved in 1/4 cup of cool tap water. Mix into the cool milk for 2 minutes.
3. Heat milk to 88 degrees F. This is not an error. You are not trying to pasteurize the milk. If you get it too hot or too cold, the rennet will not take make curds.
4. Rennet: 1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet (or 1/2 tablet regular rennet OR 2 junket tablets). Dissolve rennet in 1/4 cup cool tap water. Add this into the milk and stir for 14-20 seconds. Cover your pot with a lid and allow milk to remain still for 12-15 minutes while it coagulates.
5. Cut the curd into cubes, around 1/2 inch in size. Let cut curds remain undisturbed for 5 minutes. Apply low heat and stir gently so as to keep curds separated. The curds will shrink as the whey is expelled from them in this step. Slowly heat the curds to 108 degrees over about 10-15 minutes time. Then shut off the heat and continue to stir every few minutes for an additional 20 minutes.
6. Drain curds in a colander for about 15 minutes. You can dip or pour them out of the pan and save the whey to make ricotta if you wish, or save it for the pigs or chickens, or throw it out. After the curds sit for 15 minutes, they will be stuck together in a colander shaped clump. Cut this into strips about 1 inch by 1 inch cross section. Lay the strips in a criss-cross fashion in a large bowl.
7. Mix 1/4 cup salt in 1/2 gallon of water and heat to 170 degrees. I always heat this water up while I am stirring the curds for that 15 minutes in step 5 above. Add the salt water to the bowl with the curds in it, make sure it is enough to cover the curds.
8. Using a wooden spoon or a pair of them, begin to stretch the curds in an upward motion (sort of like stretching taffy only stretch it with the spoons). It will begin to get stringy and will look plastic and shiny. Stretch it for about 10 minutes, then place the whole thing on a board and knead it just like you would bread dough, shaping it into a ball. This takes the excess moisture out of your cheese. Place the cheese in a plastic mold . You can place your plastic mold in a bowl of cold water until it's firm and cold or just put a lid on it and place it in the refrigerator overnight. It's now ready to eat. You can eat it in chunks or slices or grate it and cook with it.
To store, place in zip-lock bag or plastic wrap and refrigerate.
NOTE: If you want salt-free cheese, you can stretch it in the hot water without the salt, but the flavor is better with the salt.
Ricotta CheeseInstructions:
1. 2 quarts fresh milk (cool or room temperature).
2. 1 teaspoon citric acid powder dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water. Stir into milk for about 20 seconds.
3. 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar. Add to milk and stir.
4. Heat milk to 88 degrees F, stirring occasionally.
5. 1/2 junket rennet tablet, dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water. Stir into milk, and shut off heat.
6. Cover and let milk sit for 1 hour.
7. Drain curds in cheesecloth lined colander or cheesecloth bag. Gather corners, tie together (hair ties work well for this), and hang bag until it stops dripping.
8. Add herbs/spices to taste. I use garlic powder, onion powder (not salt), parsley, and basil. I also add about 1/4 cup of cold milk back into the cheese and 2 ounces of mesophilic starter. This is to your taste, though.
Visit
Reynolds' Acres Ranch Website!
