A boast here! For several years my extended family has enjoyed different themed Thanksgiving menus — including a Middle Earth Thanksgiving. A special highlight of our Hobbit Thanksgiving was an exceptional Lembas Bread made by my husband.
Honestly, these novel menus have been a highly entertaining family tradition. You’ll find the Lembas Bread recipe first, followed by our Middle Earth Thanksgiving menu recommendations.
Lembas Bread
We based our Lembas recipe on brown butter shortbread, with a hint of rosemary for a more elegant flavor.
I swear to you this was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. While I may exaggerate from time to time, I am dead serious about this wonderful “lembas bread.” The next day we took several lembas with us when we went out to hike and sled in the snow. I’ll tell you rosemary shortbread lembas in the snow…even more delicious!!
I don’t know whether one small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man because I’ve never met a grown man who could eat just one bite.
Here’s the recipe for brown butter shortbread to which is added rosemary, based on a recipe from Completely Delicious.
Copyright Warner Brothers
Lembas Bread Ingredients:
– 8 ounces (225 grams) salted Irish butter (For best results, use a high quality butter. Irish style butter is preferred), cut into cubes
– 2 teaspoons rosemary, coarsely chopped
– 3/4 cup (175 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
– 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
– large leaves (*For the leaves, we normally use Lotus leaves. These are sold dry at Asian markets, keep well, and are easy to fold. Banana leaves are also recommended, and have better color than the lotus leaves. However, they can be harder to work with.)
– kitchen twine (or string)
Step-by-Step Directions:
Our homemade Lembas Bread wrapped in Lotus Leaves (but Banana Leaves work too.)
1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the rosemary over medium low heat. The butter will foam and then settle down. Continue to cook the butter until it turns deep golden brown. Watch it carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn. At this point you may wish to strain out the rosemary (to keep a cleaner look for the finished lembas) or leave it in for more flavor (for maximum rosemary flavor, add more rosemary in step 3). Pour the butter into a bowl and chill until solidified.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and grease an 8 or 9 inch square pan. Remove the butter from the fridge and let it come back to room temperature. You don’t want it to be liquid at all, but it should still be soft.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Now add the vanilla extract. Finally, add the flour and mix until just combined.
4. Press the dough into the prepared pan. Use a knife to cut dough into squares, and score from corner to corner to create the characteristic triangle shapes. Prick the dough with a toothpick or small dowel.
5. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 1 hour. Use a knife to re-cut the shortbread while the dough is still hot and soft. Let cool completely.
6. Once the Lembas is completely cool, wrap neatly in leaves and tie with kitchen twine.
7. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for several days. Without the elves magic, this version of Lembas won’t keep forever…
Hobbit Thanksgiving Main Menu
That Hobbits love food and feasting as is amply established at the beginning of The Hobbit. I’d bet I’m not the only one for whom the scene known as an “An Unexpected Party” is emblazoned in my memory. In the scene, 13 dwarfs and Gandalf the wizard show up unannounced at Bilbo’s front door and poor Bilbo runs around frantically trying to stop them from emptying his pantry.
For your Hobbit Thanksgiving, you can take inspiration from foods that Hobbits are known to enjoy, including potatoes, mushrooms, rabbit, pork and mince pies, cheese, sausages, apples, corn, turnips, onions, honey cakes, scones, tea and coffee and of course, wine and beer.
Here’s a delicious Hobbit Thanksgiving menu based foods that Hobbits gravitate to and my 30 years of experience cooking Thanksgiving meals. I did include a brined turkey dish in the additional dishes just in case your group requires it. For greatest pleasure and least stress, let each person attending select a dish to prepare. If you have lots of attendees, then have people add dishes.
Main Menu
Mushroom Soup
Two Roasted Chickens or Apple Pork Roast
Roasted Vegetables: Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, and Turnips
Pomegranate, Candied Walnuts and Blue Cheese Salad
Honey Rolls
Optional Additional Dishes:
Sausages and Cheese Platter
Brined Turkey
Mushroom or Apple stuffing
Scones
Rustic Apple Pie
A Brace of Coneys (po-ta-toes desirable but not required)
Hobbit Thanksgiving Beverages
Copyright Warner Bros.
Mulled Wine or Cider
Beer
Hot Tea
Red Wine
Happy Hobbit Thanksgiving to you and yours! If you have menu or recipe question, please leave them in the comments.
P.S. If you wish to read about cloaks and costuming in Lord of the Rings, we got you covered here.
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