Yum, yum, Sorghum!

I've always loved the Art Thieme folk song about the sorghum mill, and I can recognize sorghum in the fields as I drive through Indiana, but I don't think I'd ever tasted it until I recently bought some at one of the winter markets. My loss. It's a much milder taste than molasses. Distinctive but not overpowering. A big hit at the office holiday party.

Because I really wanted to taste the sorghum, I bypassed the recipes in the booklet that came with it and instead made a plain molasses sugar cookie, substituting sorghum.
Cream together
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar (1/3rd reduction from the molasses cookie recipe because I was using sorghum instead of molasses)
add and continue beating
1 egg
1/4 cup sorghum

add the following dry ingredients--which you should have combined previously but I always just take my chances and add them to the mixing bowl--and continue mixing till well-blended.
2 cups flour
2 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. each, ground cloves, ground ginger, and salt

chill for easier handling

Then roll into 1 inch balls, and roll the balls in granulated sugar
Put 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets
Bake at 375 for 8-12 minutes or until the edges are done but the tops still soft
Let cool slightly before removing from pans

I'm a big sorghum fan, and I hope whoever won the raffle prize I brought to LTH Holiday party is too. This weekend, I made buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, and the bittersweet syrup was a nice, strong-flavored accompaniment to the wholesome, good-for-you tasting cakes.

I've loved sorghum ever since I was introduced to it as a little kid in Missouri. I keep a jug for pancakes and waffles, though my wife prefers the nice, dark Grade B Maple Syrup we get at TJ's.

Sorghum isn't easy to find, and you must BEWARE - a lot of "sorghum" is really sorghum-flavored corn syrup. Read the label carefully before you buy. Many "sorghums" are a lot like the industrial "syrups" which are slightly maple-flavored corn syrups. CI gave all of these the back of their hand in this month's issue.

Mike

Coincidentally I saw this recipe for Sorghum Tea Cookies in my copy of The South: The Beautiful Cookbook today. (Made Lemon Buttermilk Chess pie for Xmas.) The Beautiful cookbook says it is originally from the Southern Traditions cookbook. The online recipe does not site either source for the recipe and uses about a tablespoon less sugar.

http://www.bigoven.com/58864-Sorghum-Te ... ecipe.html