In either case, these muffins can be baked and served for the Autumnal Equinox Sabbat, which modern Wiccans have associated with the English "Harvest Home" or "Ingathering."
Ingredients:Directions:1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar, plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup cream
2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1-1/4 cups sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour and baking powder; gradually stir into creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Fold in blackberries.
Fill paper-lined muffins cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Delicious served warm. Yield: 1-1/2 dozen.
Adapted from a recipe in Taste of Home's Holiday & Celebrations Cookbook Annual 2002, p. 52.
Harvest Home, also called Ingathering, traditional English harvest festival, celebrated from antiquity and surviving to modern times in isolated regions. Participants celebrate the last day of harvest in late September by singing, shouting, and decorating the village with boughs. The cailleac, or last sheaf of corn (grain), which represents the spirit of the field, is made into a harvest doll and drenched with water as a rain charm. This sheaf is saved until spring planting.The ancient festival also included the symbolic murder of the grain spirit, as well as rites for expelling the devil.
A similar festival was traditionally held in parts of Ireland, Scotland, and northern Europe.
Practical Celebration Recipies and Preps
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