Welcome To Circe Argent's Recipes page! Here you will find contributions from our members for food, henna, oils and more!

Currently this page is under construction and we'll be adding more information as it becomes available. For Oils and Incenses, check out this page.

Wisteria's Henna Mixture
by Wisteria

Wisteria has been making this wonderful Henna recipe for adorning the hands and feet in Egyptian Ritual. We've used it and loved it and now we're gonna share.

The Brew:
Instant coffee, sliced limes, whole cloves, broken-up cinnamon sticks.

The Powder:
Henna, ground cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves.

The Oils:
Eucalyptus (or tea tree) and cinnamon.

Prepare "The Brew" by filling a medium saucepan about halfway with water and adding lots of the nastiest, cheapest instant coffee you can find. Put the rest of the ingredients in the pan and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer the b'jibblies out of it until the liquid is reduced by about half. Cover and steep overnight.

Prepare "The Powder" by blending about 1/4-1/2 cup of powdered henna with approximately 2 tsp. of each spice. I use an egg whisk to mix them well.

Add "The Brew" to "The Powder" a little at a time and blend well. I start with 1 tsp. of eucalyptus oil and 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon oil, and add more if I feel the need. Keep adding liquid until the blend is the consistency of thin toothpaste, then cover the bowl with foil and allow to steep. The longer, the better; overnight is best, if time permits.

Reminder: strain the herbs out of the coffee before adding it to the henna powder.

Yule Log
by Tannim

Cake:

4 eggs
1/2 C. sifted cake flour
1/4 C. cocoa
3/4 tsp. double-acting baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Confectioner's sugar

About 1 hour ahead: Set out eggs.

When ready to make cake, start heating oven to 400 degrees F.

With parchment paper, line bottom of 15 1/2" x 10 1/2" jelly-roll pan.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

In small bowl, with electric mixer at high speed (KitchenAid at speed 6 for one minute), beat eggs until foamy.

Add sugar slowly; continue beating until very thick and light-colored (KitchenAid at speed 6 for 4 minutes).

With rubber spatula or spoon, fold in flour, vanilla (KitchenAid at lowest speed - stir, for 1 minute).

Turn into lined pan, spreading batter evenly. Bake 13 minutes (10 minutes in 350 degrees F. convection oven), or until golden brown.

Turn out onto a kitchen towel which bas been sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Remove paper. Roll gently in towel. Cool. Unroll, fill with filling, reroll.

Frost. Run fork over frosting many times to achieve a bark-like effect.(Use a two pronged meat fork or a fork with widely separated tines for the best results, rather than a table fork).

Freeze on a cookie sheet. When frozen, slice off each end and return to freezer wrapped in a plastic bag (bread bags work very well).

When serving, garnish with meringue mushrooms.

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Filling (enough for 3 cakes):

Beat until thick:
3 C. heavy cream
1 C. powdered sugar
1/4 C. cocoa
2 tsp. vanilla

Frosting (enough for 6 cakes)

Beat until smooth:
1 C. margarine
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
6 C. confectioner's sugar
4 1/2 tsp. vanilla
½ C. milk

Meringue Mushrooms

4 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. semisweet chocolate pieces
Unsweetened cocoa (optional)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with foil.

In medium mixing bowl with electric mixer at high speed, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form.

Gradually add vanilla extract and sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time. Continue beating for about 5 minutes until sugar is completely dissolved and stiff peaks form.

For stems: Fit a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Spoon meringue into pastry bag. (We find it much easier to fill the pastry bag by supporting it in a tall container such as a blender jar.) Shape stems by holding the tube vertically, close to foil, and pressing tube gently while slowly raising the bag straight up. Use a small knife to cut stem from tube, keeping stems 1 to 1 1/2 inches high. Make about 32 stems. Place in oven on upper rack. (Make more stems than caps because some topple during baking.)

For caps: Using remaining meringue in pastry bag, shape caps by placing tube close to foil. Hold bag vertically and press meringue out to form mound or semi-circle. Smooth top of caps with your finger, using water if necessary. Make about 30.

Bake on lower rack of oven for 1 hour. Turn oven off and leave stems and caps in oven to dry with door slightly open until cool

To assemble:
Melt chocolate in top o double boiler over hot, not boiling water. With knife spread a layer of chocolate on underside of cap. Place a stem upside down on chocolate and let dry before turning upright. Store at room temperature in a lightly covered container. Mushrooms may be sprinkled lightly with cocoa before serving. Makes 30 mushrooms, about 40 calories each.