Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Monday, January 7, 2013

Baking and Cooking with Lard ~ Chocolate Cherry Crunches

(The upper two on the right were made with a half cherry and the others a whole cherry)

Another future goal of ours, is to raise pigs for meat, and of course have lard.  


I spend a lot of time researching ways to utilize something before we raise it for food. 
 
(Photo source: Amazon)

I have found this wonderful book at the library (again, a great place to read books for free).  However, I may have to add this book to my personal homesteading library. 

I did not have enough dough to cover 24 whole maraschino
cherries.  I started to cut them in half, however, in the end, preferred the whole cherry in the cookie.  Next time, I need to use less dough per cookie.

These would be great for Valentine's Day or Christmas.

I am sure the debate over shortening and lard will continue for years, and doctors will have their opinion.  But when it comes down to it, it's about what's real and what's not real.  And of course, everything in moderation.


2 comments:

Carolyn said...

We get a whole hog butchered every year now and request the lard for rendering. We're also lucky enough that a few friends also get their hogs done at the same time and do NOT want their lard, so we get it for free!! I've been slowly but surely widdling down the vegetable oil in the pantry and once it's gone, we'll use lard most of the time and only keep vegetable oil on hand for "special" uses.

Candy C. said...

I have seen this book advertised in MEN and Grit recently. I haven't bought it yet because I do not have a source for "good" lard and I refuse to use the stuff they sell in the supermarket.