Acorn Pound Cake--acorns have never tasted better!

I'm so excited that I learned that sprouted acorns are still good to eat the other day, especially since all the acorns around the wonderful tree I found were sprouted.  From my quicky research, it looked like some experts actually prefer sprouted acorns since they are less likely to be buggy (one thing I saw said they flat out weren't buggy, but I found some that were, so that isn't necessarily true!), sweeter, and actually more nutritious once they are sprouted.  I discovered when shelling them that they are also a lot easier to get out of the shell when sprouted, since it is basically already started for you!

I made my first batch of acorn meal for the year last night.  I was quite pleased to discover that the acorns I collected were very low in tannic acid and it didn't take long at all to flush the tannic acid out and move on to other things.  (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you'll want to read my earlier post on acorns.)

Anyway, as I've been promising, here is the first of the acorn recipes I have available to share (which I'll be sharing as I make them).  It is a long time favorite, as I can remember helping my mom gather acorns as a kid so she could make a version of this (I added whole wheat flour and changed the seasoning) and I'd take small loaves of it to school for my teachers, who had strangely never eaten acorns in any form before.  The two loaves pictured above is actually a double batch.  The recipe makes one loaf.

Acorn Pound Cake

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup acorn meal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a loaf pan and flour the bottom of it; set aside. Mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and acorn meal in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, combine flours, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda.  Slowly mix the flour mixture into the acorn mixture, alternating with the milk.  Add vanilla and cinnamon and beat well.  Pour into the prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour.  Let cool before removing from pan.