Elven Lembas Bread recipe: one bite will satisfy a man for a day!
First, what’s been going on in my kitchen these days?
Amalia has been experimenting on a recipe for Elven Lembas bread for months, and speaking for myself (a willing guinea pig to all her baking efforts!) I believe it’s ready for its worldwide debut. You can scroll down to the end of this post for the recipe, or read the story behind it first.
But first you might want to know about another exciting, related development!! (happy dance!)
Second: It’s here!!
Amalia and I finished writing our new ebook for you, our fellow Middle Earth dweller wanna-bes. It’s entitled “Recipes from a Halfling’s Pantry: lots of these” and I think I can say with reasonable confidence that . . .
(You are gonna love it!)
Click on over here to buy your own copy. It’s currently set at the “Pay What you Want” option, which means either you can get a real bargain, or we can be real beneficiaries of your generosity (hint!).
Hobbits, of course, are big into parties. IT’s PARTY TIME when you finally release your ebook!
Thirdly, a little backstory
Ladies, oh, sweet, dear, hard-working keepers of the home and warmers of the hearth: are there not days you’d love to just pull out the Lembas bread and put it on a plate and be done with dinner, already? And you MEN. . . those of you who would like to take off for the day without worrying about what you will pick up for your luncheon . .
Let’s pop into author J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginary world of Middle-earth, just for a few moments. The hobbits who lived in their cozy underground homes were all about peace, comfort and good food, and indeed, I get hobbits, being a little preoccupied with comfort, good food and whatnot myself.
(To prove this point, at this very moment in my home, the wood stove is radiating heat against the chill of this breezy day; there’s vegetable beef stew in the crock-pot for supper, and a batch of Lembas bread sits cooling on the countertop. If I was a foot shorter and had furry feet, I might actually be mistaken for a hobbit.)
Elven Lembas bread, also called Way bread, was a special type of bread or cake made by the Elves in Tolkien’s books. It was pocket-sized and exceedingly nutritious. It stayed fresh for months when wrapped in leaves, and was a type of superfood carried along on long journeys. Think super-powered energy bars.
According to the books (I’m referring, of course, to the Lord of the Rings trilogy) Lembas was brownish on the outside, and cream-colored on the inside. The secret of Lembas was very closely guarded, and it was not given to anybody who was not an Elf except on very special occasions. Like other products of the Elves, it was offensive to evil creatures; the loathsome creature Gollum refused to eat it.
Take an Exceptional Adventure . . . !
Haven’t read the books? Oh, please, you really must:
Click here to take an exceptional adventure. 🙂
“In the morning, as they were beginning to pack their slender goods, Elves that could speak their tongue came to them and brought them many gifts of food and clothing for the journey. The food was mostly in the form of very thin cakes, made of meal that was baked a light brown on the outside, and inside was the colour of cream.” – The Fellowship of the Ring
(photo credit to http://2.bp.blogspot.com)
” . . . we call it lembas or way bread, and it is more strengthening than any food made by Men . . .”
–the Elves, in The Fellowship of the Ring.
I’m a lucky mama . . .
This photo is from our visit to New Zealand’s Hobbiton, a few years ago. Exuberant Amalia, tired Malachi.
. . . for I have a daughter who really loves to cook who–though she’s a college girl now–occasionally pops home to cook or bake up goodies for her friends and family.
A devotee of the works of Tolkien, and of reading in general, actually, Amalia has been experimenting with a recipe for Lembas bread, the Elvish bread written about in his books. She has been cooking and baking Tolkien-inspired recipes for years, in fact. I wouldn’t be surprised if she stumbled onto the Elvish Lembas secrets, in her own pretty imagination.
She started out by using a recipe that she found online, and then she played around with it until she liked it better. We’ve been enthusiastic guinea pigs to her (many!) baking efforts. Don’t stop experimenting (*burp*) yet, Amalia!
What do you think made the difference?
I think it was the fact that she wasn’t satisfied until she had made batch after batch, bless her heart. This last batch that Amalia made was so delicious–just a little sweet, with a marvelous crumb and a creamy texture inside–that I knew she was as close as anybody could get to the secret Elvish recipe.
It was time, I decided, to share this recipe for Elven Lembas bread with you, gentle readers, and Amalia agreed. Because, after all, it’s more fun to share, and who doesn’t need an exceptional superfood from time to time?
Amalia’s Lembas bread recipe is buttery and rich, and just a little sweet. I don’t know if one bite will honestly satisfy a man for an entire day (I’m skeptical) as the Elves claimed, but it’ll more than likely satisfy your folks for some time, anyway!
Why not give it a try today? Oh–and a skiff of peanut butter and a drizzle of honey does not, after all, go amiss on this treat!
If you ever have a chance to visit Hobbiton, in New Zealand, jump at it! It’s marvelous!
Here is Amalia’s recipe:
- 1 cup butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or 1/4 cup honey
- 2 cups unbleached flour
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Cream together the butter and sugar or honey. Add the flour and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Put out on suitable surface and knead until quite smooth, about 5 minutes, adding a bit of flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking.
- Roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut into 3″ to 4″ squares, scoring with a knife halfway through each square with a butter knife. Place on buttered cookie sheet and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
Thank you for popping in!
Hey . . . hey . . . hey! A couple of postscripts for you:
P.S. 1: Reminder! My Tolkien-crazy daughter Amalia and I finished writing our Hobbit-inspired recipe ebook, “Recipes from a Halfling’s Pantry: lots of these” and it is now available for sale!
It is a big, fat, recipe-full and photo-rich ebook, which you can download and refer to again and again for all your hearty, delicious, cozy meals. We are offering it in “Pay What You Want!” format, so click here to get yours today, for as much as you’d like to pay! $1.00 . . . or $10.00 . . . or $100.00 . . . or . . . 😉 Of course any income that Amalia and I make from this ebook, we’ll use to support our blogging adventures.
P.S. 2. Here’s my very favorite rolling pin and yes, you can order yourself one TODAY if you like.
Thank you so much!
A little teaser for you
See . .. here’s the cover of our ebook. Isn’t it a beauty??
Isn’t it pretty??
By the way . . . do you keep an Amazon list most of the time? I find that I do. I live over an hour’s drive from the city where I can shop, so online ordering if becoming more and more convenient for me. And if you can get free shipping and great prices . . . sometimes it’s a great choice. If you click through with my links, Amazon will pay me a few pennies, and it won’t cost a cent extra for you. Any income I make from this blog, I pour right back into it, and I do appreciate your support.
Under its rather quiet appearance is a very tasty and filling treat.
That’s it!
Thank you for popping in! Now go. Make some Lembas bread!
*hugs*