How to make Thimble Soup (Yüksük Çorbası)

Thimble Soup from Zerrin Gunaydin on Vimeo.

For recipe and informative information, see Give Recipe.

Recipe: White Chocolate Chunk Thimble Cookies

White Chocolate Chunk Thimble Cookies
2 c. sugar
1 c. butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tbsp. grated lemon zest
3¼ c. flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 c. Nob Hill Trading Co. White Chocolate Chunks
1 c. raspberry jam

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cream together sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat in eggs and lemon zest.
• Add flour, salt and baking soda, stirring until just combined.
• Stir in white chocolate chunks.
• Place heaping tablespoon-size balls on ungreased baking sheets; bake 10 minutes or until slightly soft in the center.
• Remove from oven and make a thumb-size indentation in the center of each cookie; fill with about 1 tsp. jam.
• Bake 5 minutes more or until cookies are lightly browned around edges.
• Let cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool.

Nutrition per cookie: 230 calories, 2 g protein, 10 g fat (6 g sat., 0 g trans), 34 g carbohydrate, 0 g fiber, 30 mg cholesterol, 130 mg sodium, 4 points.
Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 15 minutes
Yield: about 36 cookies.

From: http://www.raleys.com

Recipe: Thimbleberry Jam

Thimbleberry Jam

2 c. thimbleberries
2 c. sugar
3 half-pint jars with lids, sterilized.

• In a heavy saucepan, bring berries & sugar to a boil over medium heat.
• Cook for 5 minutes.
• Pour into jars and seal.

Thimble Tart

No. "Thimble Tart" is not my new nom de blog.
I found this recipe for Thimble Tarts on a newly-found, scrumptious blog called Cherry on a Cake. The photo on the site is even more mouth-watering. Yummy.

Giada making Thimble Pasta With Sauce

Thimbles with Mushrooms and Artichokes

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and finely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 3/4 teaspoon
1 cup dry Marsala wine
1 pound thimble pasta
1/2 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Saute, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms have cooked down, about 10 minutes. Add the Marsala and continue cooking until almost all the wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in remaining salt. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and add it into the mushrooms, Marsala and onions Add the artichoke hearts, Parmesan and cream and cook until the artichokes are heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

Recipe and video from : Everyday Italian (Episode: Entertaining the In-Laws Italian Style!), Giada De Laurentiis, Food Network.

Recipe: Hot Ditalini Salad

1 c. ditalini pasta (thimble-sized tubes)
1 15-oz. can white kidney beans, rinse and drain.
½ c. chicken broth
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 Tblsp. olive oil
2 c. tomatoes, chopped up in chunks
12 oz. cooked chicken, pulled into bite-size chunks
¼ c. fresh flat-leaf parsley, torn or snipped
Salt and pepper to taste
Don't go nuts about exact measurements.

• Cook pasta (follow directions on package); drain; set aside.
• In blender, purée 3/4 cup of the white kidney beans with the chicken broth. Put purée into pan and bring to boiling. Add set-aside pasta.
• In a large skillet, sauté garlic in olive oil for 1 minute. Add tomatoes; cook an additional minute. Add rest of beans , chicken, parsley, salt and pepper. Heat through, but don't mash up.
• Add the garlic/tomato mixture to hot pasta; toss to coat. Makes about four servings.

A Thimble Tribute to the King.

Elvis Presley's Hot Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich*
2 Tblsp. peanut butter (preferably smooth)
2 slices white sandwich bread, lightly toasted.
1 small ripe banana, mashed with a fork (about ¼ cup)
2 Tblsp. butter, melted

• Spread peanut butter evenly on 1 slice of toast, then spread mashed banana on other slice, leaving a ¼-inch border around edge.
• Close sandwich, gently pressing bread slices together.
• Fry sandwich in melted butter, turning over once, until golden brown, about 2 minutes total.
• Eat while still warm.

This sounds pretty awful to me, but the comments from people who've tried it on the various recipe websites that feature this recipe all highly recommend it.
*Recipe adapted from Are You Hungry Tonight?: Elvis' Favorite Recipes,by Brenda Butler.

Recipe: White Chocolate Chip Cookies

White Chocolate Chip Cookies
½ c. white sugar
½ c. brown sugar
½ c. cold butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1¼ c. flour, unsifted
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 c. white chocolate chips (or your preferred chips)
1 c. walnuts (optional: I don't use them. . .)

• Preheat oven to 300 °F.
• Cream together sugars and butter.
• Add to creamed mixture: egg, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt. Mix at low speed until crumbly and floury. Don't over mix. Crumbly and floury.
• Stir in by hand: chips and walnuts.
• Using size 30 ice cream scoop, pressing dough into scoop, scoop dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. Don't worry too much about the scoop. Use what you have. But the dough ball would be about the size of a regular scoop of ice cream.
• Bake 15 min., 300°F.

What do white chocolate chip cookies have to do with thimbles? You put them in the Spool of Thread Cookie Jar, of course.
Silly question!

"Spool Of Thread" cookie jar, produced by American Bisque Pottery of Williamstown, West Virginia, ca. 1950.

Recipe: Angel Food Cake

The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake
1 c. cake flour
1½ c. white sugar
12 egg whites
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
1½ tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. salt

• Preheat oven to 375 °F.
• Sift together the flour and half (¾ c.) of the sugar; set aside.
• In a large bowl, whip the egg whites, vanilla, cream of tartar, and salt to medium-stiff peaks.
• Gradually add the remaining (¾ c.) sugar, continuing to whip to stiff peaks and maximum volume. (Whip lots and lots. Serious whippage.)
• Gradually fold sifted ingredients, one third at a time, into egg white/sugar peaks. Do not overmix.
• Spoon the batter into a 10-inch tube pan that is thoroughly clean and dry.
• Bake 40-45 min., 375 °F, until the cake springs back when touched. Balance tube pan on some kind of bottle (wine?) to cool cake. When cool, run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a plate.

This is not the official recipe from the book.
What's the official recipe? Read the book.
Why is this in a thimble blog? Read the book.

Recipe: Swedish Thimble Cookies

Swedish Thimble Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 beaten egg yolk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
Ground walnuts

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Cream butter, add sugar, egg yolk and flour.
• Roll into balls and then roll balls into crushed walnuts.
• Make indentation in middle with thimble.
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• About halfway through the baking, put jam into the hole and finish baking.

Recipe: Colcannon for Halloween

Colcannon is an Irish food eaten any time, really, but most especially on Halloween (I have the genealogy to call it Samhain, but not the pretension). One puts various charms in it, all of which portend one's marital or financial fate for the next year. The charms would include a thimble (the finder to remain a spinster) , a button (to remain a bachelor), a ring (marriage within the year), a sixpence/coin (wealth within the year), a tiny horseshoe (good luck).

Colcannon
1 lb. kale or cabbage
3 lbs. potatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 stick butter
1/2 cup cream
Pinch of dill
Pinch of nutmeg or mace
Salt and white pepper* to taste
Charms, see above.

• Boil kale or cabbage in lightly salted water. Drain well and keep warm.
• Peel and quarter potatoes; boil them in lightly salted water approx. 20 minutes, more if needed.
• Sauté onion in about a 1 Tablespoon of the butter for about 5 minutes; add the cream, about 2 Tablespoons of the butter, the dill and the nutmeg.
• Mash the potatoes until perfectly smooth.
  
• Chop the kale or cabbage until fine.
  
• In a warm bowl, gently stir together all of the foregoing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  
• Gently stir in little charms, as noted above, wrapped in parchment if not silver or gold or if you're fearful of swallowing them, certainly sterilized beforehand.
• Melt the rest of the butter; set aside. Once the colcannon is served onto plates, one makes a little bowl in the middle of the colcannon with one's spoon. The melted butter goes into this little bowl, and one dips the colcannon one is eating into the little bowl of butter as he/she eats.

*My dear old, sainted Grandma would say that black pepper on potatoes looks like fly shit.

Recipe: Chocolate Caramel Thimble Cookies

Chocolate Caramel Thimble Cookies
½ c. butter or margarine, softened
¾ c. sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 Tblsp. whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. all-purpose flour
½ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 c. chopped walnuts

Caramel Filling:
15 (1-by-½-inch) plain caramels, unwrapped
3 Tblsp. heavy cream

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Beat together butter, sugar, egg yolk, milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until blended well. Sift in flour, cocoa and salt and beat on low speed until mixture forms a dough. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• Roll scant tablespoons of dough into balls. Coat dough balls with egg white, letting excess drip off, and roll in nuts to coat; arrange them 1½ inches apart, on greased baking sheets and press in the center of the balls with the top of a thimble that has been dipped in cocoa, to flatten, leaving a depression.
• Bake in batches in the middle of the oven until cookies are puffed slightly but centers are still soft, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately press centers again with a thimble dipped in cocoa powder.
• Make filling while cookies are cooling. Heat caramels and cream in a small saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until caramel is melted and mixture is smooth. Spoon caramel into the centers of cookies and cool completely.
  
  

Recipe: Yüksük Çorbası (Thimble Soup)

Yüksük Çorbası
⅓ c. chickpeas
7 c. water
1 c. flour
2½ tsp. Salt
1 small egg
½ c. ground meat
¼ tsp. pepper
1 Tblsp. oil
2 Tblsp. tomato paste
3 Tblsp. margarine
1 Tblsp. mint
3 Tblsp. lemon juice

• Soak chickpeas overnight with 1 c. of water. Cook in a pressure cooker with 1 c. of water for 40 minutes, or until tender. Set aside.
• Sift all but 2-3 Tblsp. (reserve) of flour with salt. Make a hole in center. Add egg and 3 Tblsp. of water to make medium stiff dough. Knead for 2-3 minutes shaping into a ball. Let stand for 5 minutes. Roll out into very thin circle. Cut into small circles--¾ inch--with a thimble. Cover and set aside.
• Combine ground meat, some salt, and black pepper, mixing well: shape into marble sized balls. Brown in heated oil on both sides in a non-stick pan, shaking occasionally.
• Heat chickpeas over low heat. Add diluted tomato paste, some salt and hot water mixing well. Bring to boil. Stir in round noodles, blending well. Reduce heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until noodles are tender but firm. Add meatballs and lemon juice, stirring well.
• Simmer gently for 5 minutes.
• Melt margarine in a skillet. Stir in crushed mint. Sprinkle over soup before serving.
• Serve hot.

Recipe: Thimbleberry Pie

Thimbleberry Pie
1-9" two-crust pie pastry (see below)
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
4 c. fresh thimbleberries (or similar berries)
2 T. butter or margarine

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Prepare pie pastry, roll out half and gently set into pie tin; refrigerate rest until needed.
• Mix sugar and flour; gently stir in berries.
• Turn berry mixture into pastry-lined pie tin; dot with butter or margarine.
• Roll out rest of pastry and gently set over pie. Trim ends, seal and flute.
• Bake at 425°F, 35-45 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

Two-crust Pie Pastry
2 c. sifted flour
1 t. salt
2/3 c. shortening
4 Tblsp. water (approx.)

• Mix flour and salt together.
• Add shortening and mix until crumbly.
• Add about 2 Tblsp. water and blend gently with fork or pastry cutter until dough is of proper consistency and texture. If needed, slowly add up to 2 more Tblsp. of water.
• Form dough into ball and refrigerate until needed.

Recipe: Ditalini Rigati

Ditalini, meaning little thimbles, are basically 1/4" long, ridged macaroni.

Ditalini Rigati
8 ounces Ditali
An eggplant
2 zucchini, diced
1/2 an onion, minced
2 ounces slivered almonds
1 quart simmering broth
2 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
A walnut-sized chunk of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste
Freshly ground coriander to taste

• Peel and dice the eggplant, salt the pieces, and put them in a colander in the sink for an hour, during which time the salt will draw out the bitter juices; rinse the pieces, pat them dry, and blend them briefly.
• Sauté the minced onion in the olive oil and butter, and when it begins to turn golden add the eggplant, zucchini, and almonds; cook for a few minutes, then add the hot broth and the potatoes.
• Continue simmering, checking the seasoning after a few minutes, until the vegetables are just about done, then add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally lest the pieces stick to the bottom.
• When the pasta is cooked check seasoning again, stir in a pinch of coriander, and serve.

Recipe: Little Thimbles Sciue Sciue

This is from Giada De Laurentiis's show on the Food Network and from her book, Giada's Family Dinners. She came to my workplace and was incredibly nice. She said the "Sciue Sciue" part means "improvisation," so I'm thinking there's a little leeway. My family had something similar that we didn't have an official recipe for. We used regular macaroni, but now I will force them to use the ditalini (little thimbles).

Little Thimbles Sciue Sciue
1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) ditalini pasta (thimble-shaped pasta) or other small tube-shaped pastas such as elbow macaroni or pennette
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons minced garlic
5 plum tomatoes (about 1 pound), chopped
8 ounces cold fresh mozzarella, drained, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8 large fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

• Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking together, about 8 minutes. Drain.
• Meanwhile, in a heavy large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and saute just until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the cooked pasta. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the cheese and basil, and toss to coat. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt. Spoon the pasta into small serving bowls and serve immediately.

Recipe: Thimble Biscuits

Thimble Biscuits
2 c. self-rising flour
¼ c. shortening
¾ c. milk
¼ c. jam or jelly

• Heat oven to 450°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet.
• In a large bowl cut shortening into flour with fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add milk; stir with fork until soft dough forms, adding additional milk 1 Tblsp. at a time as needed. Dough will pull away from sides of bowl.
• Knead dough on lightly floured surface just until smooth.
• Roll out dough to ⅛ to ¼-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch floured round cutter. Place half of rounds on greased cookie sheet.
• With thimble (or any ¾" cookie cutter), cut a small hole in center of remaining rounds. Stack rounds with holes on top of rounds on cookie sheet, pressing very lightly. Fill each hole with about ¼ t. jam or jelly.
• Bake at 450°F , 10-12 minutes, until golden. Serve warm or cool.