A Simple Dessert

I had a picnic to go to today, and wanted to take something simple. I still had wild berries in the freezer from last year's harvest that needed to be used, a friend had a package of instant pudding mix, so I decided to make mini tarts.

The filling was a cheesecake instant pudding (I needed something quick) and I made the crust using an old fashioned lard pie crust recipe that I have. Making the small crust shells was easy......I used my Babycakes mini cupcake maker. Works great and gave me nice, lightly browned little shells.

The nice thing was, I had no leftovers to take back. They were all gone by the end of the day. (I had made about 30 or so....)

I will definitly whip some of these up again!

Drying Starter

As you can see, I have been drying alot of sourdough starter for future use/back-up/giveaway. Right now I am storing it as chips, but when I have time, I will powder.

I tried using a mini food chopper but that didn't work. I'll be using my spice grinder, although I might also give the blender a try. Once powedered, I'll only need one of the orange containers for storage. Then, I'll start drying more of my discarded starter. I hate to waste it!

If you're interested in drying starter, one of my earlier blog posts provides necessary directions. It's so easy, and doesn't take alot of your time.

Drying Sourdough Starter

I have so much extra starter, like 3 quart jars full. When I have to remove some starter from my crock at "feeding time", I hate to throw it away, so I would just put it in jars and stick it in the fridge. I would then use it as back up in case something went wrong with my crock, use for giveaways, etc. However, not many people that I know bake bread, so it builds quickly. And the jars are taking up space.

As a result, I have begun to dry the starter, a jar at a time. It is easy to do. (Pictures below, in order of steps.)

I place parchment paper on a platter or cookie sheet. I then spread a thin layer of starter on it, set in an out of the way place (where no dust is flying and little kitty paws can't disturb), and just let it air dry. (Oven or dehydration heat can affect the yeast.) When THROUGHLY dry,  I then peel off the paper (which you can reuse) and  break into small pieces. You can store in pieces or grind into a powder, which will be what I will do next. Store in dry, airtight jar.

Note that I always make sure that the starter is active before I dry it. So the jar that I am drying the contents of, is kept out of the fridge, and fed once a day (sometimes every other day) until I have dried it all. 

Berry Time!

The wild berries ripening are all over 1840's Farm. I'm getting these ready for the freezer. I like to spread them out on a cookie sheet first and let them freeze a bit, just so they don't freeze into a giant berry block. Then I'll bag them for pie making later on when I have the time.

1 Tbsp. Of Egg....

Click on to my Facebook page (see the button on the top left of the page), for a neat little FYI on eggs.