Recipe: Poppy Seed Grinder & Recipe

Go here to see (and perhaps purchase) a poppy seed grinder.
http://www.texastastes.com/p275.htm

Recipe is from:http://www.betterbaking.com/baker2/spring98gri.html

"No grinder" Poppy Seed Filling

Even if you do not have commercially ground or home ground poppy seeds, you
can make a better-than-store-bought filling. You must begin the process the day
before you intend to use the filling. You may blend this with commercial
filling for
added texture. One recipe tester added a couple of scraps of diced apricot
leather to her filling and the results were excellent.

1 1/2 cups poppy seeds and water to cover
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon lemon zest - finely minced
1/3 cup raisins - coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped almonds (optional)
4 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam or jelly
1/3 cup grated apple

The night before, place poppy seeds in a bowl and cover with warm water. Cover
with plastic wrap and let sit overnight.

Next day, drain poppy seeds well. Place about half of them in a plastic ziplock
bag. With a very heavy rolling pin, roll over seeds to press and flatten seeds
as
best you can. Do this for a couple of minutes. Repeat with remaining amount.
Place seeds in small amounts in a very clean coffee grinder, a food processor
(works very well in the mini-bowl of a KitchenAid processor), or a good blender.
Pulse to mash up a bit.

In a 3 quart saucepan, place the seeds, water and milk. Bring to a gentle boil
and allow to simmer a couple of minutes. Add butter, honey, lemon zest, raisins,
sugar, salt, cinnamon and stir well, reducing heat so that mixture cooks but
does
not burn or stick. You want ingredients to slowly meld and liquid (milk and
water)
to be absorbed by seeds. The resulting mixture should be a paste. This should
take 10-15 minutes and your heat should be very low.

Remove from stove and stir in either jam or apple (or both). Cool very well
before
using - filling will thicken once cold.

Keep refrigerated until needed. If mixture seems too thick (if using directly
from
the refrigerator) allow it to warm up a bit. You can loosen filling with a
touch of
warm water as well.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups.