There isn't only ONE way of making Lembas.... We've found a few recipes from the Web and hope you try them too! Later on, tell us which was your favourite... That way we can post it up on the "Most Popular Recipes" coming soon, most likely
.Recipe 1
Robin C. Poe, submitting her recipe at TheOneRing.net, designs her Lembas on these clues: (italics are her words)
What Tolkien says about Lembas...
-They contain honey
-they are light-colored on the inside and light brown crust
-they are thin and regular-shaped. This implies they were made on some kind of griddle iron.
Some other things we can guess:
-They contain the fruit and maybe the flower-water of the Mallorn tree. I substituted oranges, although kumquats or a hand of Buddha fruit might be better.
-They probably had some kind of finely ground light-colored nut in them. I used almonds.
-They contained some kind of nourishing flour. I used semolina flour, which is a more primitive flour, and also more nourishing.
-Galadriel probably used some kind of grinder to refine the ingredients. I used a blender.
The recipe:
3 eggs
1 cup honey (preferably wild honey)
1 tablespoon grated orange peel or three kumquats or one large finger of a hand of Buddha.
2 teaspoons orange flower water (optional)
3 oz blanched almonds
1/4 cup melted butter
2-1/4 cups semolina flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Place eggs, honey, orange peel or other fruit, orange flower water, and almonds in blender. Blend on high for 3 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour. Blend for 1 minute. Scrape into a bowl and add remaining flour and salt. Whisk or stir until well blended. Bake lembas on a pizzelle or krumkake iron 15 seconds each or until lightly brown. You may substitute a waffle iron but add a teaspoon of baking powder. The texture will not be quite accurate in a waffle iron.
Here's a second offering, also from TheOneRing.net, proposed by someone going only as "Jincey":
Recipe 2
Ingredients
6 TBSP butter or margarine, slightly softened
2 cups self-rising flour
1 TBSP granulated sugar
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 cup milk
4 TBSP heavy cream
Mallorn leaves
With a pastry blender of fork, cut margarine into the flour in a mixing bowl until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Do this rapidly so the butter does not melt. Add the sugar and if desired, 1/2 cup of raisins. In a small bowl, beat the egg and milk together until mixed. Reserve 1 TBSP of this mixture to brush the tops of the lembas. Add the cream and egg mixture to the flour and mix just until combined into a stiff, soft dough. Knead three or four times on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough to a 3/4" thickness and cut with an oval or leaf shaped cookie cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving 1" of space between lembas. Brush the tops of the lembas with the reserved egg-milk mixture. Bake for 12 -13 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven.
For safe keeping, wrap each lemba individually in a fresh, clean mallorn leaf. If these leaves are unavailable in your area, store the lembas in a tightly closed container. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen lembas.
Recipe 3
Ingredients:
3 eggs
1-cup honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1/4 cup melted butter
2-1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Place eggs, vanilla, honey, and orange peel, in blender.
Blend on high for 3 minutes.
Add 1 cup of the flour.
Blend for 1 minute.
Scrape into a bowl and add remaining flour and salt.
Whisk or stir until well blended.
Bake lembas on a pizzelle or krumkake iron 15 seconds each or until lightly brown.
You may substitute a waffle iron but add a teaspoon of baking powder. (The texture will not be quite accurate in a waffle iron.)
Recipe 4
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons cold butter (1 stick)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
honey or maple syrup for dipping
Preheat over to 425 degrees.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Add butter and mix with a fork or pastry cutter until mixture
looks like fine granules.
Add sugar and cinnamon and mix.
Add milk and vanilla and stir with a fork until dough forms.
(you can add a little bit more milk than the recipe calls for
if it gets too hard to stir.)
Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet, mashing them out
until they are about 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches across. Makes
about 12 - 14. Bake for about 12 minutes or until insides
aren't gooey.
Wrapped in mallorn leaves they will stay fresh indefinitely.
Wrapped in plastic wrap they are good for about a week.
Delicious dipped in honey or syrup.
Eledhwen
