The Blue Plate: Twice Baked Cakes of the Beornings

I'm currently engaged in a food exchange on a blue plate. When the blue plate comes to me it has food on it. It cannot leave my house until I have cleared it and put new food on it. It came with Kaluah brownies (delicious) and now it is leaving with the Twice Baked Cakes of the Beornings.

… twice-baked cakes that would keep good a long time, and on a little of which they could march far. The making of these was one of his secrets; but honey was in them, as in most of his foods, and they were good to eat, though they made one thirsty….

-The Hobbit

This was the description of the cakes given to Thorin and company in the Hobbit. I decided to either find or invent a recipe based on this description, so it must meet 4 criteria: they must be baked twice, keep well, contain a significant amount of honey, and make one thirsty.

So what is a twice-baked cake? No recipe exists that meets all of my criteria, so I decided to invent one. From a little bit of research I have decided that a twice-baked cake is most similar to a biscotti, so I started with a biscotti recipe.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (note; this may change to 325 next time I try this, the insides have not cooked properly at 350)

Cream together (beat the hell out of, for normal people)

¼ cup butter (room temp is best)

½ cup sugar

½ cup honey

2 eggs

Once creamed, add

1-2 teaspoons lavender water (there are a few ways to make this, you can use 2 tablespoons of water and a drop of essential oils, or steep lavender flowers in water like tea; check your local hippie-food store for lavender)

as well as

Zest of one orange

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon clove

slowly stir in

2 ¾ cups all purpose flower

4 oz dried cherries.

Separate into 5 or 6 discs on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and throw in the oven for 20 minutes (25-30 if you lower the temp to 225).

Remove from oven and lower temperature to 225 (210 if you were cooking at 225).

While still hot, cut into halves or quarters and throw back in oven for 20 minutes, or until crunchy.

Boo-Ya!

P.S. I said I would cook Friday, I didn't say I would Post.