Storybook Woods

Rose Syrup Revised

 

Do you ever look back at recipes you created and go, what was I thinking, I should have done this and that. This is how I feel about my original rose syrup recipe. Not that it is a bad recipe (I hope not it is in Wren Bay) but I think there is a simpler way to make the syrup. Plus I decided that I want the syrup thicker. Yes, it is sweeter now but then you use less now. What I did was use equal parts water/sugar, and then immersed the rose petals. This way you are not boiling them and it is a simpler process. I am always about makes recipes simpler, even my own xoxox

PS. I am going to keep my original recipe up because I do not think it is a bad recipe, just a bit more work. But this way you can decide what works for you.

PSS. For those of you who love books, come back tomorrow for a fun give a-way!!!

Rose Syrup Revised

Equal parts of rose petals, water and sugar. (For example I picked 8 cups of rose petals, so I used 8 cups of sugar and 8 cups of water)

A large pot with a well fitting lid (if you do not have a lid use a plate that will sit snug on the pot). Just have it on hand before you add the roses.

Optional, you can have some pink dye on hand if you want to up the color a bit. Also if you feel your rose syrup is not strong enough, you can add 3-4 drops of food grade rose oil.

About the roses, I used the ones above David Austin, Abraham Darby. They are intensely fragrant. The more fragrant the rose, the more fragrant the syrup. They roses leave a yellow case, so my syrup is not pink. But that is okay!

Make sure you use roses that have not been sprayed with any pesticides or chemicals. Briefly run them under cold water to remove dirt and bugs. Do not worry about drying them. Just leave them in the colander a few minutes for excess water to drain off.

Making syrup: In a large pan combine water and sugar. Bring to a boil until sugar has melted and water is hot. Remove from heat and toss in petals. Stir until petals are covered in hot syrup and immediately cover. Let sit (do not peak at the syrup, you do not want to lose all the oils for the roses) 30 minutes. Then strain out petals, will last about 3 weeks in fridge. You can reheat and can too.

Rose Strawberry Ice Cream w/ Peach Crisp

 

Well it is the time of year to start making rose syrup. June is rose month in this neck of the woods. I tell you in winter, when I am longing for a bit of summer a bowl of vanilla ice cream, drizzled with rose syrup is perfect.

This ice cream is almost the same as the rosey frozen treat . I love ice cream but who can afford heavy cream anymore. Plus all the work. This is just simply buttermilk, strawberries and rose syrup. It really is better with full fat buttermilk, because lets face it fat is where the flavor and mouth feel is.

I have added a few more rose syrup recipes in my list on the left side. There a few with rose water, but as long as it is a sweet recipe you can use the rose syrup instead. I do hope if you have never tried making rose syrup, this year you will xoxo

PS. a scoop of ice cream in a glass of dry gewurztraminer or rose` is amazing !!!

Rose Strawberry Ice cream

4 cup frozen or fresh strawberries

1 1/2 cup buttermilk, bulgarian full fat is better

1 cup rosey syrup

sugar, to taste as needed

milk also as needed

In a food processor (if you do not have one, you can also use a blender, but for the ice cream I like the processor better) add berries, buttermilk and rose syrup. Process till smooth, if too thick add milk, till you get the consistency you like. It should be pourable but not too thin. Taste if not sweet enough, add sugar till it suits your palette.

Pour into pre-paired (frozen) ice cream maker and run till thick. For mine it is usually 1/2 hour. Transfer to a container and freeze.

Peach Crisp

sliced 6-8 peaches in a baking dish. You do not need any sugar unless the peaches are not very sweet. Sprinkle topping over peaches and bake 350 for 1/2 hour until topping is browned and juices from the peaches are running.

Lavender and Roses

My dear, sweet Aubern'e surprised me for my birthday with two very yummy drinks. First was a lavender ice-cream float. Which I have to say was pretty brilliant. The fragrant lavender paired with the creamy vanilla ice cream was perfect. Second she made me a non-alcoholic rose cocktail. It was so beautiful (above) I did not want to drink it, but I did of-course. Thank you sweetheart. You are becoming quite the cook  xoxoxo

Lavender Ice Cream Float

since I know a lot of you can not get dry soda, I am giving you a recipe to make a lavender syrup, which with bubble water you can use instead.

1 bottle of lavender dry soda

or lavender syrup * and bubble water

vanilla ice cream

In a glass put three scoops of ice cream and pour soda or syrup/bubble water over ice cream.

* To make lavender syrup. In a sauce pan put 1 cup sugar, 1 cup of water and 3 long stems of fresh lavender or 3 TBL. of unsprayed, fresh or dried lavender buds. Cover pan and simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes. Set aside with lid left on for a 1/2 hour. Then strain syrup and refrigerate. Last at lest 2 weeks.

No-alcoholic Rose Cocktail

bubble water

rose syrup

grenadine

Fill cocktail shaker with ice. Add 1/2 cup bubble water, 1 tsp. grenadine, 1 TBL. rose syrup and shake. Taste and adjust to your liking. Rim glass in pink sanding sugar, pour and garnish with fresh, unsprayed rose petals.

*

Roseyest

I have had a rosey week. It has been sunny, pleasant (not hot) and although I still really have not done to much cleaning, it has been a lovely. I saw this wonderful tutorial at LucyKate crafts, for making a strawberry jam cover. Well I have not made any strawberry jam this year but I have lots of rose syrup. So I a made a rose version. LucyKate also had a link to wonderful tutorial on making a felt rose. Mine turned out okay. I sewed my ribbon (variegated cotton yard)  a bit to close ot the edge.

In keeping of my rosey spirit, I am hoping this week to make Rose Petal Macaroons. Althought these Rose Water Pistachio Macaroons (you can use the syrup instead of water) are really tempting too. Akkk choices, choices. Thank you for all your sweet comments, you have made my week the roseyest of all  xoxoxo

Watermelon in Rose Syrup

Akk, it is actually hot, I had to put  my polar fleece away. It will probably only last a week and then I be pulling them right back out !!! But I am having diXymiss and her lovely girls over today for tea. We have meet but she has never been to my house. I am so excited (I wish you were all coming). Tea (we will have iced) though in this heat is not easy. I think  watermelon with rose syrup sounds divine, refreshing, summery, pink, perfect. It is sooooo easy to make. Nobody want to be working to hard when it is hot. As far as what else I am serving, I am still deciding. We will see what I pull out of a hat this morning. Remember I am keeping a list of recipes using the rose syrup on the left side of my blog. I have plenty more recipe to share. Stay cool and enjoy

PS. Make sure you check out Gracious Hospitality's recipe for rice pudding in flower water with coconut cream. It does not use the rose syrup, but rather cook the rice in flower water. It is very interesting and I add it to my rose recipe. Thank you Miss. La Tea Dah xoxoxo

Ruhbarb Rose Rice Pudding

It is rose syrup time of year. I love things like rose syrup because they are simple way to add a special touch to your dishes without a lot of work or cost. There is something about rose syrup that makes me feel pampered. When I have days were I feel down, neglected, not pretty, empty, a bowl of fresh fruit with some rose syrup drizzled over it seem to make me feel better. Like a new pair of maryjanes or pretty new sheets.

In case you have missed it, I keep a list on the left side of the blog with rose recipes. I have been collecting more over the winter and will be sharing them over the next few weeks. If you have any recipes to share, please let me know and I will link them. This week enjoy Rhubarb Rose Rice Pudding xoxoxox 

                                                 

Girly Christmas Tea

 

 

 

Well here is my girly tea table. Lately on days were we are home it usually go like this: in the morning after work is done, we mix up something yummy for the freezer, bake off some for us, work on a craft and then have an afternoon tea party. This is my idea of heaven, especially on a cold, blustery days. A full wood stove to keep me warm, something yummy and a craft to keep my hands (and brain) busy.

Another new cookie we have made this year, Rose Walnut Cookies. I took another recipe using orange water and changed it all around. I can never leave well enough alone. I made it with some brown rice flour. Which we like but it does have a bit of a sandy texture. It is important to let these cookies fully cool before eating them. The rose taste is very delicate and will be lost in the heat.

Since it is hard to find recipes using the rose syrup, I made a list on the side of recipes I have using the rose syrup. If you have a recipe to share, I would be glad to add it to my list.

Rose Walnut Cookies

3/4 cup walnuts
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour  (I used1 cup all-purpose and 1/2 cup brown rice flour)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. rose water or rose syrup
1/2 tsp.vanilla extract

Rose syrup or rose water 
confectioners sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Toast the walnuts until golden brown and fragrant, about 6 minutes. Let cool, then chop about half of the nuts and pulse the remaining nuts in the food processor until finely ground.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and nuts together in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg yolk, rose syrup and vanilla extract together in a mixer on medium-high speed until the mixture gets light and fluffy.

Add the flour mixture to make a crumbly dough. 

With a tablespoon, scoop out 1-inch pieces of dough and roll into balls. Place the cookies on greased baking sheets. Bake until the cookies set and start to brown, about 12 minutes.

Remove cookies from the oven and immediately brush them with rose syrup and dust with powdered sugar. Let cool and enjoy

                                                          

                                          

  PS. Do you like my blinged-out deer. I bought him silver but added crystal glitter and vintage flowers. I showed him to my husband, who is a deer hunter. He looked at me and said "You know he is a buck, not a doe" I said "Yeah and your point". He just walked off shaking his head and brushing glitter off his shoes ;-)

Rosey Cosmopolitan

 

I use rose syrup a lot. I like to use it drizzled over fresh fruit, in custard, on pancakes with fresh berries, in iced tea. T-party's Vintage Rose tea has roses in it and it would be lovely with the syrup. A favorite I make is a strawberries buttermilk smoothie with the rose syrup, yumm. But what I mostly use my syrup for is a rosy cocktail. I will be honest, I just eyeball the amounts (but I had to give you something to work with). So feel free to play with what you like. This rosey cosmopolitan is very refreshing on a hot day and it is pink !!!!!

Rosey Cosmopolitan

1 oz. vodka (although I only use 1/2 oz I am a wimp)

2 oz. unsweetened pink grapefruit juice

1 TBL. rose syrup

ice

Fill a cocktail shaker (so it will strain off the ice) half way with ice. Add vodka, juice and rose syrup. Shake well, pour in glass and garnish with a lovely rose !!!

PS. I forgot to say in the rose syrup recipe, to keep syrup refrigerated, unless you can it.     

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                   

Rose Syrup

 

Here is my recipe for yummy rose syrup. I will talk in my next post of ways to use it and my rosey cocktail. About what roses to use, first of course know where your roses come from and do not use any sprayed with pesticides. Second use very fragrant roses. If they do not have much smell they will not make much of a fragrant syrup. I have a friend who has a lot of old moss roses, the kind with zillions of petals. Thank you Angie. I just pull all the petals off the stem and put those in a bowl.

Tip: Pick your roses in the morning before the sun hits them and they will be more fragrant.

A mistake I made this year was I used evaporated cane sugar. Not thinking, it is light brown and it changed the color of my syrup. The syrup usually has a slight brown color but this was really brown. I always add a bit of pink food gel to the syrup for color. But my girls had put the wrong lid on the wrong color. So my syrup this year is a deep purple brown :-{ 

Tip: Use white sugar and check your food gel coloring in water before using 

What you are doing is basically making rose water and turning that water into a simple syrup. The recipe can be halved or double. I made the rose water one day, strained it,  put it into the fridge and the next day made the syrup and canned it.

Tip: if short on time make water one day and syrup the next

Make sure you quickly cover your rose water as soon as you pour the water over the roses and use a tight fitting lid so the fragrant oils that first come off the roses do not get lost. Also when you heat the rose water and sugar do not boil, so again you do not loose the oils.

Tip: you might want to use saran-wrap and a lid for a tighter seal

Lastly if your rose syrup is not very fragrant (that happens sometimes) you can cheat two ways : 1 add some store bought rose water or 2 add food-grade rose oil.

Tip: Go very light on both store bought rose water and food grade rose oil. You can add but never take away. Also it will taste more rosey once cooled.

                                     

Rose Syrup

makes 12 cups

6 packed cups of rose petals

12 cups water

6 cups white sugar

*  *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

In large bowl add rose petals, have a large heavy platter that fits over the bowl snugly.

Bring to a boil 12 cups of water and pour over rose petals and quickly cover with platter.

Set bowl aside till water cools.

Strain water and discard petals.

Mix water and sugar in a  large pot and bring to boil till sugar is dissolved. But do not boil, only heat water enough to dissolve sugar.

If the color is not to your liking, you can adjust it. Keep refrigerated. Will last about 1 month in fridge. You can also can the syrup.

PS: I am SO excited about the Beatrix Potter movie coming out Tuesday. I never got to see it in the theater. I am all ready, I will head to costco Tuesday morning, I have scones in the freezer and clotted cream in the  fridge. You know what I am doing Tuesday afternoon. Also don't you love my rosey lady above !!!!!

 

Rhubarb Rose Fool

 

Let me say a couple of things about my recipes. Since my vagueness has driven a few friends crazy !!! Unless it is important to the structure of a recipe I wing it. I do not measure. I let my eyes, my nose, and my taste buds tell me what to do. That is why a lot of my recipes will say things like a bit of that or almost or about. What is not salty enough to me is too much for you. I can not taste thing like you taste them and recipes can always be fudged. Something should only taste good to you.

Also in a recipe like this the ratio of rhubarb sauce to whip cream can be fudged. If you have a bit more or less of one thing it is of no matter. Especially with this recipe taste, taste, taste. You will probably need more sugar but I do not want to tell you to use more. You can always add something but it is hard to take it out. Let me say the rhubarb and rose together is heavenly !! And you could add fresh strawberries to this !!!

 

Rhubarb Rose Fool

Make stewed Rhubarb.

Slice about 2 cups Rhubarb. In sauce pan add 1 cup water,  1 cup sugar and rhubarb. Simmer about 10 minutes till soft and tender. If rhubarb appears stringy run though a processor.

Then whip 2 cup of heavy cream and 3/4 cup of sugar. Then add rose water. Start with a TBL. spoon and keep adding till desired flavor. Then fold in rhubarb.

Put in a pretty glass, add a lovely flower, chill a couple of hours and serve. It is wonderful with the Earl Gray cookies.