"Look at all this milk!"

As you know, we sold our dairy cows, but being spoiled and rather used to drinking our pure, unadulterated raw milk, we kept a few cows. At first we were only milking three and since we had calves to feed there was no spare milk to drink. Then our most favorite and highest producing cow freshened and we had a surplus of milk! ....and a few days later our pet cow, Maggie, freshened! So we have milk coming out of our ears! Since it is (sadly) still illegal to market and sell raw milk we have had to think of ways to use up what we've been blessed with.

I haven't minded the extra work as I've been able to experiment in the kitchen with recipes I hadn't been able to try before! =) Butter, butter milk, ice cream, sherbert, panna cotta...
I thought I'd share a few pictures.... so your mouth could drool a little, too. ;)

So first it started by letting the cream rise. Jersey cows are know for their high components (i.e. their milk comes with a lot of cream!) and butter was in order:

 

Our antique butter churn with wooden paddles. It does the trick!!

Well, we can only go through butter so fast, even though my family is known for going through (at least) a pound of butter a day. I decided it would be wise to make ice cream:

Vanilla came first.

...next it was strawberry.

I also made some Lemon Sherbert (not pictured), which didn't look as pretty but tasted incredibly good!

Through a perusal of the milky recipes the internet had to offer I learned of an Italian dessert, maybe similar to flan.... though easier to make, called Panna Cotta. 

The reveiws online were raving about how easy and tasty Panna Cotta was. I simply had to try making it. The results were rewarding... and everybody enjoyed it!

Since I didn't have the little dishes, known as ramekins, I made it in a big pan which worked nicely as well. Of course I had to share all of my baking adventures on Snapchat. My poor Snapchat friends. ;)

I used a cookie cutter to make the experience a bit more delightful, and since Valentines Day is this weekend, a heart was the shape of choice.

This is a recipe worth making!

Yesterday was my brother Channing's 18th birthday so I had to bake a cake. It was supposed to be a Black Forest Cherry cake. 

 

I started following the recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cook book only to get to the dry ingredient section and realize I was supposed to make something gluten free. I had to call my sister and get a different chocolate cake recipe... and I ended up combining the two (since I'd already made the butter & fudge-like batter supplies). I used ground flax meal and coconut flour instead of all-purpose flour... I added extra eggs (like, 6) and added some extra virgin olive oil. It turned out to be the most delicious and moist cake I've ever made. And I've made a lot of cakes!

I made a "Fluffy White Frosting"... which consisted of egg whites, cream of tartar and a sugar-water syrup. It was so tasty that I had trouble keeping everyone from eating it before I was able to frost the cake!

Well.... I thought I'd finished making the cake. BUT.... adding a little chocolate really made a world of difference!! I think it turned out to be the prettiest cake I've ever made as well. :)

 So when are you coming over to try something sweet?! :)