Monday, September 7, 2015

Sorghum Cookies and Apples Apples Apples

You may remember me blogging about the loss of our apple tree from a storm.  We have lost two now.  It makes me sad, because they were planted many years ago - long before our time.  However, we still have one lone tree left.  And it had a fantastic apple crop this year.

We decided to use every apple we could, while we had them.  Over the weekend, the boys helped Paul pick.  I canned 30+ pints of applesauce and 12 half pints of apple butter (plus earlier in the week I had canned a batch of applesauce and some apple pie filling).  Then the remainder of the apples we put through the dehydrator (the boys just love dehydrated apples as a snack).

Practically free food, but it certainly is a lot of work!  My back was all cramped up after a long day of peeling, mushing, stirring.  I have to say, though, applesauce from the store is all watery and lame.  But the home-canned applesauce is excellent in flavor, and I make mine chunky with lots of cinnamon rather than pureed.

Over the same weekend, in between batches of applesauce, I made some sorghum cookies.  I had read an article in the newspaper about old school Appalachian recipes (like cushaw pie - which I will be making later this season when I harvest my cushaw squash).  Included in the article were sorghum cookies.  I had never had one.

Luckily, my blogging friend Harry Flashman was kind enough to send me a jar of sorghum syrup to try.  I decided I could just modify a recipe I had already tried and enjoyed.  So I modified this recipe for molasses cookies and substituted in sorghum for the molasses.

Let me tell you something - these are so good!  They are really flavorful, and chewy and soft.  I will certainly be making more. 

Readers, have you been canning anything lately?  If not, ever tried sorghum cookies?

18 comments:

mail4rosey said...

I've never heard of them but they do look good. I'm glad you got such a big harvest from your tree!

Anonymous said...

they look delicious!
and well done to you and the whole family for climbing in and sorting out all those apples :) how absolutely lovely xxx

Steve Surratt said...

They look yummy. Maybe you can throw an "Apple Butter Party", have a fire on a big ole copper pot outside and have people take turns stirring with the big wooden pallet?? Growing up our whole neighborhood pitched in every year and we were paid with wonderful apple butter. Fond memories.

mamasmercantile said...

Impressive haul from the apple trees, a great bounty but hard work like you said. I have never come across those cookies before but they certainly look good. Thank you for your visit, hope you call in again soon.

Out on the prairie said...

Sounds very good to eat. It is lots of work to make all those goodies. Sorghum has a lot of vitamins in it, I use it a lot for sweet.I have one pies worth of apples left from last year

Small Kucing said...

Sorry about the two apples tree..it's a heartache to loose such old trees. Sure to have loads of fond memories.

Unknown said...

I appreciate the making and canning you have done. We used to do it all too, but now we cant hold up. My Jim loves sorghum and has it on biscuits now and then. It is a little strong for me. We have 3 apple trees, but the apples arent that great. Do you make cider? That is my favorite. We made and gave apple butter for Christmas gifts last year.

Elizabeth Edwards said...

the hubby & i always get sorghum at the Field Day of the Past. a molasses flavored yummy-ness! ( ;

that is cool about your hubby being from Nebraska, did u meet n college? i love VA. but Nebraska is fun 2 visit.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

How awesome to have such a nice supply of apple sauce and butter. Sadly I have never done any canning. Happy Labor Day, a good day for you to rest after all that work!

Sally said...

So wonderful that you guys work together as a family. I don't hear much about that anymore. But, then you know I think y'all are pretty special. :)

Cookies look really good!
xoxo

Lin said...

apple trees actually take a lot of work. For really good apples, I think you have to spray them every so often. Fruit trees tend to get buggy and diseased, so they don't always last a long time.

That said...so glad that you made full use of the bounty you had from your remaining tree! Hooray!

Linda said...

I haven't canned anything in years. Those cookies look tasty!

Tweedles -- that's me said...

oh YUM!
love
tweedles

Vision By Mila said...

They'd go great with my coffee right now!

Annette said...

Those cookies look yummy. I never learned how to can anything, but I give you so much credit and patience. (I have a bad back, so I most certainly would be in pain after the first 30 minutes or so.) Now that you describe your apple sauce, I really want to try it! It sounds delicious!

Unknown said...

My parents used to make a good team when I was the boys' ages. They would can green and red peppers in the basement of our home in the Midwest. I remember a lot of boiling of the peppers and my Dad would seal the Ball jars. Hope you use a black foam roll for back relief! That is a lot of work!!

An Apel a Day said...

I've never had sorghum syrup before, but should try it. I love molasses cookies!

Eat To Live said...

I bought a jar of sorghum a few years ago when we were down south. I just couldn't get used to the taste.... but I bet it would have made great cookies.