When baking with honey, remember the following:

• Reduce any liquid called for by 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda for each cup of honey used.
• Reduce oven temperature by 25°F to prevent over-browning.
• A cup of honey weighs 12 ounces.

Honey Banana Bread

Combine all ingredients and bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 F. for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Yields 2 loaves.

Honey Butter

½ Cup butter or margarine (softened, room temperature)
¼ Cup Honey

Combine honey and butter, mix well. Serve with biscuits, bread muffins or scones. Makes ¾ cup. Keep refrigerated.

Honey Mustard Dressing

Mix together all ingredients in small bowl until smooth and creamy. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Honey Shortbread

Beat butter, honey and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer until mixture is light and fluffy. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. If dough becomes too stiff to stir, knead in remaining flour by hand. Work in nuts. Pat dough into shortbread mold or ungreased 9-inch cast iron skillet. Score surface with knife so it can be divided into 24 wedges, prick deeply with fork into score marks.

Bake in preheated 300F oven 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cut into wedges while warm. Makes 2 dozen.

Hot Honey Cider

1 gallon fresh apple cider
1 cup honey
½ cup orange juice
Juice of ½ lemon
6-7 cinnamon sticks
1 tablespoon cloves
½ teaspoon allspice
1 cup dark rum (optional)

Put top 7 ingredients into a 2 gallon pot. Let simmer on med. low heat for 1 hour. Slice apple and orange into 6 slices each and add to pot. Do not remove core of apple or orange pealing. Add rum. Serve hot. By: Barbara Maciariello