In the middle of the end of summer I almost forgot to write the Cranberry Report. My deadline snuck up on me, and I started grasping for ideas. The frenetic pace of August in the Cranberry Isles can cause one’s memory to lapse. With so much going on we are bound to forget a dinner invitation or an artist’s opening or the offer we made to produce an item for a silent auction fundraiser. We scramble at the very last minute to make it all work out.
On the brunch menu at the Islesford Dock Restaurant, there is an item called the Sunday Sundae, which features a piece of melon, topped with yogurt, strawberries, blueberries and homemade granola. In June, I offered to supply the Dock with granola for the summer. I make huge batches at a time, and vacuum seal several bags so I don’t have to cook it every week. However, more than once, on a Saturday night, I have been struck with the feeling I had forgotten something, only to remember that I needed to make more granola for the Dock before the next morning.
I have told friends, “When you see a recipe in the Cranberry Report, you will know I have waited too long to come up with something else.” This month, the recipe fallback feels quite appropriate, since writing the column and making granola have both evoked a last minute, “uh oh” feeling for me. In the wonderfully curious way of the universe, I received another affirmation to go ahead with the recipe theme.
On August 14, a sparkling Saturday, there was a wedding on Islesford and a memorial service on Great Cranberry. Charlene Allen had grown up on the big island and had passed away after a stoic battle with cancer. Ashley Alley, who had grown up on Little Canberry, married Drew Stapleman, in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. They were each celebrated with day-long gatherings of family and friends. If only we could be in two places at once, many of us would have attended both events, but that’s August for you. As we walked from the wedding ceremony at the old Coast Guard Station to the reception at the Neighborhood House, my friend Amy asked what I was writing about for the Cranberry Report this month. I said I was down to the wire, with no other ideas, so I would probably write around a recipe. Amy’s eyes lit up and she said, “That’s what Ashley has been doing all summer! She wrote recipe cards to accompany cookies she baked as wedding favors.”
We arrived to see the large hall of the Neighborhood House transformed by flowers, white tablecloths, hanging lamps and many colorful paintings of Lil’s Garden done by Ashley Bryan. At every place setting there were hand written recipe cards attached to packages of Ginger Crinkles; 120 in all. These were cookies the bride had made many times during her childhood, with her grandmother Lillian, who passed away last year. It was a wonderful way to include the memory of someone we all missed.
I did not go back to the dance party after the wedding reception that night. Instead I was in my kitchen, munching on Ginger Crinkles and mixing up the last giant batch of granola for the summer. I could also hear what sounded like a spectacular fireworks display in the distance, as the celebration of Carlene’s life continued on Great Cranberry Island.
-August 17, 2010, Islesford
Honey Molasses Granola: from the kitchen of Barb Fernald
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup oat bran
1 cup cashew pieces (or any nuts)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 1/3 cups large flake unsweetened coconut
Mix first four (wet) ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat to blend.
Combine next 6 (dry) ingredients in a large bowl. Pour honey mixture over top and stir well to coat the oat mixture. Spread combined ingredients in a shallow layer on a baking pan or cookie sheet with sides. Bake in a pre-heated 300º oven for 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes until the granola is well toasted and golden brown. If desired, add dry fruit after granola has cooled.
Ginger Crinkles: from the kitchen of Lillian Alley
2/3 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons molasses
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
Mix wet ingredients. Stir dry ingredients together and then add to wet ingredients. Mix well.
Drop by teaspoon on cookie sheet. Dip bottom of a glass in sugar and press each cookie flat.
Bake at 350º for 8 to 10 minutes.