Middle Earth Baking

No mallorn leaves to wrap these today

So, I’m quite the LOTR/Middle Earth fangirl. And for a long time I’ve been trying to find a recipe for lembas or honey cake that I can work with. I know there are quite a few out there – but some included ingredients that I hardly have on hand or ingredients I can’t really agree with.

Then I recently remembered a recipe for blondies that, from the title of the post, are easily adaptable. And so I worked with that! I thought about ingredients that would likely be used in Middle Earth (definitely not espresso powder or chocolate chips?). I omitted the sugar and replaced it about a half-cup of honey, though, I may have cheated a bit and did use the vanilla – a half teaspoon instead of a full teaspoon as mentioned in the above recipe. And since lembas bread is practically the Elven version of energy bars, I added about a cup of almond meal.

Cram? Honey Cake?

Tasting a bit of the batter gave me a bit of confidence that it just might turn out well!

The baking time was relatively short – about 15 minutes.

So how did it taste?

Mmm! Not bad at all! It had a slight pancake-y flavor with a hint of honey.

After thinking about how this did make me thirsty, I wondered if I actually just baked Beorn’s honey cake instead of lembas?

Anyhoo…on with the recipe! Give this a try and let me know if you would consider this lembas or honey cake.

EDIT (March 12) – I suggested lemon zest in there after thinking vanilla probably didn’t exist in Middle Earth. I think?

Inspired by the blondies recipe from Smitten Kitchen

• 1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons) melted
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla -OR- lemon zest. I realize vanilla may be too exotic in terms of Middle Earth spices, I think.
• dash of salt
• 1 cup flour
• About 3/4 cup of almond meal  – or try experimenting with other ground nuts

1. Butter/grease an 8×8 inch pan. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix melted butter with honey until smooth. Beat in egg then vanilla.
2. Add in salt, flour, and almond meal (or whichever ground nuts you’re using)
3. Pour batter into prepped pan
4. Bake for about 15 minutes. Check doneness with a toothpick or fork.
5. Let cool, wrap in mallorn leaves and enjoy on your adventures!

A light brown on the outside, with the color of…not exactly cream on the inside.

Bake n Blog

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So two pals and I spontaneously decided to start a blog dedicated to baking. It’s absolutely delicious so check it out!