Peaches and Cream Pie! Oh My!

Last weekend my parents came to town for a quick visit. We had a small family get together on Saturday night, and I volunteered to bring dessert.

After looking through several cookbooks, I finally settled on peaches and cream pie. I made this once a long time ago and thought it had been good. I remembered correctly. There isn't a crust on the bottom, but a cake, so it isn't a pie in the traditional sense, but it is delicious nonetheless.

I forgot to take a picture after it had been cut, so if you want to know what it looks like inside, you'll have to use your imagination or bake one for yourself.

Peaches and cream pie

3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 small box cook and serve vanilla pudding
3 Tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
28 oz can sliced peaches, drained with juice reserved
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar, divided
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, pudding, butter, egg, and milk. Mix well. Pour into a greased 10" pie pan. Arrange the peaches on top. Set aside. Blend cream cheese, 3 Tbsp reserved peach juice, and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth and creamy. Spread over the peaches to within one inch of the edge. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Serves 8.

Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies

I got this recipe for Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies in an email from Challenge Butter before Christmas and finally got around to making it a couple of weeks ago.

The tender, buttery cookie and the orange-cranberry flavor make it hard to leave these alone.
I’ll definitely be keeping this recipe to make again.

Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies

1 cup butter
½ cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 Tbsp orange zest
1 Tbsp orange juice
½ tsp salt
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in yolks, zest, juice, and salt. Add flour. Shape into 1 inch ball. Make an indentation in each ball, then bake at 350 degrees until light, golden brown, about 18 minutes. Fill each cookie with cranberry sauce. Return to oven for 2-3 minutes. Enjoy.

Notes:
I thought the dough was a little dry and crumbly. I think the next time I make them I will reduce it by ¼ cup and see what happens.

I also found it was best to store these in the refrigerator.

Fit For A Queen

Confession: I aspire to become a queen. Yes, you read that right - a throne-sitting, crown-wearing, ruling-over-a-country, queen.

However, since that hasn't happened for me yet, I will settle for the next best thing: eating like one.

A couple of months ago I bought a cookbook, which I highly recommend, by Sara Perry titled Holiday Baking. It is full of beautiful, seasonal recipes, one of which is called Buckingham Palace Shortbread.

Supposedly this shortbread is baked every day for the Queen of England’s afternoon tea. I finally got around to baking some this afternoon and was not disappointed with the result.

Buckingham Palace Shortbread

2 cups cake flour
¾ cup plus tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
1 cup softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
up to ¼ cup superfine sugar

Whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix until a soft dough forms. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes. Roll the dough into a 5x8 inch square. It should be about ¾” thick. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until lightly golden and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and sprinkle with the superfine sugar. Cut into squares while still warm.  Makes 2-3 dozen 1-1 ½” squares.

Brown sugar and cookies!

Yesterday I was craving a good, homemade cookie, so I headed into my kitchen to see what I could come up with.

I found a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies to try and started to gather up the ingredients. Unfortunately, when I got out my brown sugar it was as hard as a rock. I really didn't want to go to the store to get more, so I decided to try and make my own.

It is really easy to do, and now that I've tried it, I may never go back to buying the packaged kind again. All you do is take a cup of sugar, and depending on how dark you want it, 1 to 2 tablespoons of molasses. Stir it together with a fork, and voila - nice, fluffy brown sugar. Here's a picture of the finished product.

Now on to the cookies. The recipe I used comes from Kraft's website.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream the butter and sugars. Add the sour cream, egg and vanilla. Mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

I didn't have any pecans, so I left them out, but I think it's still a good cookie without them. Before I put them in a storage container, they were really nice. Crispy on the outside and really soft inside. Today, they are just soft. But I like that, too.

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 12

Well, I made it through 12 days of baking. It was hard work and my kitchen looks like a war zone, but I fun. My last recipe is for Bacon Date Scones. These are perfect for a Christmas morning brunch or a  Christmas Eve breakfast, like I had this morning. It is the perfect combination of salty and sweet.

 

This recipe comes from Epicurious.com. 

 

Bacon Date Scones

10 oz bacon

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup chopped dates

1/ 2 cup butter, chilled

2/3 cup buttermilk

turbinado sugar

 

Cook bacon until cooked through but not crisp. Reserve drippings. Whisk together dry ingredients. Coarsely chop bacon. Add bacon and dates to flour mixture. Toss to coat. Grate butter into flour. Stir in butter with a fork. Add buttermilk. Stir and knead until dough forms. Pat into an 8" round. Cut into 8 wedges. Cover and chill 2 hours. Brush with reserved bacon drippings. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Notes: I cooked my bacon until it was crisp because that's the way I like it, and I didn't chill the dough for 2 hours, but I did stick it in the freezer for about 20 minutes before baking. 

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 11

I literally laughed out loud when I opened the oven and saw the final results of today's recipe. I almost didn't post it, because, well you can see for yourself.

But, I'm really tired and have a million things to do before tomorrow, and making an extra recipe isn't one of them.

I saw this on a website somewhere - it's a head of Santa, made out of bread dough. I've done a little with bread sculpture in the past, but clearly I forgot some important steps.

Here is Santa before he went in the oven.

 

Kind of cute. 

 

I had a feeling, though, that making his nose so big would come back to haunt me. It did.

 

This is what I saw when I opened the oven door.

  

 



 

Poor Santa! See what I mean about the nose? And the brim of his hat? What is that? It turned into some sort of angry unibrow.

 

Luckily, Santa is just like the rest of us and has one angle that is better than the others.

 

 

 

Still not great, but you can at least tell who he is, right?

 

If you want to make your own Santa head, the instructions I followed are here.

 

 

 

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 8

Today's recipe is called Gift of the Magi Bread. I haven't decided if the name comes from the fact that the bread is so full of little goodies or because you're supposed to give it away as a gift. Either way, it's quite yummy - a mash up of banana bread and fruitcake. I think I will make it a tradition to bake this bread every year on Epiphany.

 

 

Gift of the Magi Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup mashed bananas

11 oz can mandarin oranges, drained

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries

1/2 cup chopped dates

 

Combine butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until fluffy. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture and bananas alternately to the sugar mixture. Stir in range segments, chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, cherries, and dates. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Makes 2 loaves.

 



Twelve Days of Baking - Day 7

 

I made this goofy-looking loaf of bread this morning for today's holiday recipe.

It's a Christmas bread with a tradition. To begin with, it is made of 12 strips of dough which represent the 12 months of the year. Then the strips are braided into 4 layers to represent the 4 seasons. There are nuts and raisins in the dough which indicate the type of year to come - mostly nuts represents a good year for farmers, while mostly raisins represents a poor year. Then, before it is served, the youngest boy in the house takes a saved crust from the year before to feed the birds, and a crust from  the new loaf is saved for the next year to show there will always be bread in the home.

 

 

Christmas Bread

1/2 cup warm water

1 pkg yeast

1 1/3 cups milk

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

5 1/4 - 5 3-4 cups flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup raisins

 

Mix warm water and yeast. Let stand 5 minutes. Heat and stir milk, sugar, and salt just until warm. Add to yeast mixture; stir in egg. Stir in 2 cups flour, the nuts and raisins. stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. Turn onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Shape into a ball, cover, and let rise until double in size. Punch down, cover, and let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough and roll into 12 strips. Weave 5 of the strips together, pinching together the ends and tucking them under the strips. Twist and weave 4 more strips together and place on top of the first layer. Twist 2 strips together to place on top of the second layer, then twist the last strip and place it on top of the third layer. Brush the loaf lightly with oil. Secure the layers with wooden skewers. Cover and let rise until double. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until bread sound s hollow when lightly tapped.

 

Notes: I wasn't paying close attention to the directions and didn't divide my dough strips correctly. When I realized what I had done, it was too late to fix it, which is why my loaf is not shaped the way it should be. I'll do better next time. Promise.

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 5

I found this recipe last week some time, and basically decided to add it to my holiday baking list because I like the name.

 

Butter Ball Chiffons.

 

Isn't that cute. I was also intrigued by the flavor combination. They are essentially a shortbread cookie, but flavored lemon with toffee pieces in the mix.

 

 

 

Butter Ball Chiffons

1 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 pkg (3.4 oz) instant lemon pudding

2 tsp water

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 Heath candy bars (1.4 oz each), chopped

 

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in pudding, water, and vanilla. Gradually add flour. Stir in nuts and candy. Roll into 1" balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until light brown.

 

Notes: After mixing the dough, it was really crumbly and wouldn't form a ball, so I sprinkled a couple more teaspoons of water over the dough. This helped it come together. Also, these don't spread at all, so you can fit a lot of them on one baking sheet.



Twelve Days of Baking - Day 4

So I had big plans to knock out several of my 12 holiday recipes this weekend. That way I only had to do the blog during the week, but here it is, getting late on Sunday night, and I've only made two batches of cookies this entire weekend. Hmmm. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the week goes.

For today's recipe, I baked some sandwich cookies. I know they don't look very impressive. They're not very festive or colorful or in a cute Christmassy shape, but the filling is made with browned butter, and that makes for a flavor explosion! I'm guessing the flavors will get even better as they sit. 

They're easy to make. Here's the recipe. It also comes from my Taste of Home Cookies cookbook.

Sweet Sandwich Cookies

Cookie:
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Browned Butter Filling:
2 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
4-5 tsp milk

Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk. Combine flour and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and chill for 20 minutes.

Shape into 1" balls. Place on baking sheets and flatten with the bottom of a glass. Bake ate 325 degrees for 8-10 minutes Cool.

For the filling, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat until golden brown. Remove from the heat and stir in powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency. Sandwich cookies together with the filling. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Notes: The original recipe says to flatten the cookies with a fork in a criss-cross pattern. To me, that is what you do with a peanut butter cookie, so that's why I used a glass instead. I had to dip it in a little flour or it would stick to the cookies. Also, I didn't think the filling recipe looked like it would make enough for my taste, so I doubled it, because when it comes to fillings, more is always better. Right?

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 3

Pomegranates are showing up in abundance in the grocery stores here. I bought one the other day just for fun, but I really had no idea what I was going do with it. I'm not very fond of the seeds by themselves, but I figured there must be some recipes out there to try.

Enter Pinterest.

After a quick search, I found cookie recipe that looked promising. It's basically a recipe for a chocolate flavored chocolate chip cookie with the addition of the pomegranate seeds. The combination of sweet from the chocolate and cookie and tart from the pomegranate juice makes for one of the best cookies I've had in a long time.

Double Dark chocolate Pomegranate Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup pomegranate seeds

Cream butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Mix dry ingredients. Add to butter mixture and stir to combine. Add chocolate chips and pomegranate seeds. Shape into balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.

Notes: This recipe is pretty strait forward. The only thing I changed was after rolling the dough into balls and placing them on the sheet, I stuck 3-4 more seeds on the top. I thought it made the cookies a little prettier.

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 2

This cookie recipe happened to be on the same page of the cookbook as yesterday's, which is how I ended up making these for my baking challenge. They're kind of cute and yummy.

Cream Cheese Delights
1/2 cup butter-flavored shortening
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
12 maraschino cherries, halved

Cream the shortening, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla. Combine the flour and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets. Top each with a cherry half. Bake at 3500 for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Notes: I actually rolled the cookies into balls instead of dropping them to make the cookies a little more uniform. The first batch didn't quite get done, so on the second, I flattened them a little before adding the cherry, and they were much better that way.

Twelve Days of Baking - Day 1

For some unknown reason, I'm not in the mood to make all the traditional Christmas goodies that I usually make each year for Christmas. So, this year I've given myself a challenge of making twelve new holiday recipes for the twelve days leading up to Christmas.

I have a list which I'll be working through in the next few days and posting the results here.

My first recipe is for Cranberry Swirl Biscotti. I adapted this from a recipe in a Taste of Home Cookies cookbook. They're a little time consuming to make, but the results are festive and delicious.

 

Cranberry Swirl Biscotti

 

2/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup plum jam

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

 

Process cranberries, jam, and cinnamon in a food processor until smooth; set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture and mix well.

 

Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface roll each half into a 12x8 inch rectangle. Spread each half with the cranberry filling then roll up, jelly-roll style.

 

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Cool for five minutes then slice diagonally with a serrated knife. Bake 15-20 minutes more, turning the biscotti over once, until the center are firm and dry. Makes about 30 cookies. 

 

Notes: The original recipe calls for cherry jam, but I changed it to plum because that's what I had on hand. Either would be good. It also calls to drizzle them with a powdered sugar glaze, but I decided that was unnecessary as the filling makes them sweet enough for my taste. 

It's Fall!

Today is my favorite day of the year: the first day of fall. In honor of the day, I baked some pumpkin-banana bread.

I never knew the two could be combined, but they can, and together they make a beautiful loaf of bread.

 

Pumpkin-Banana Bread

 

1/2 cup sugar

1 large banana, mashed

3/4 cup oil

1 cup pumpkin

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

 

Mix sugar, banana, oil, pumpkin, and eggs. Stir in remaining ingredients until just mixed. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool before slicing.

 

Note: I thought this recipe might need a little more flavor, so I added a couple of teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice to the batter. It's a nice addition.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

There's a recipe going around like crazy on Pinterest for pumpkin snickerdoodles. Of course I had to try it.

In general, I'm not a huge fan of snickerdoodles, but I embrace them for two reasons. First,  the name is just so fun. Say it. Out loud. Snickerdoodle. :) Here's a fun fact: according to The Joy of Cooking, the name probably comes from the German word schneckennudeln which translates at crinkly noodles. Who knew?

The second reason I like snickerdoodles is that they are the only thing I recall my dad baking over the years. Not very often, but from time to time he will make a batch for me or my sister. Isn't that sweet?

So, on to the pumpkin flavored ones.

Here is the recipe.

For the cookies:
3 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla

For the coating
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
dash allspice
*or, you can do like I did and just use sugar and a couple teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.

Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together to blend. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed until combined. Beat in pumpkin. Add egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Beat until combined, but don't over mix. Chill 1 hour or until firm. Roll into balls then roll in coating mixture. Flatten with a glass dipped in coating mixture. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Slightly cool before removing from the pan.

 

 

 

These smelled really nice while baking, and I was eager to taste them. I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed in the texture as they are a bit more cakey than I would like. But that always seems to be an issue with cookies made from pumpkin. I'm glad I baked them, but probably won't ever make them again. I think I'll save my pumpkin for pie.

Biscotti and Bread

Well, it has finally cooled off in my neck of the woods. This morning it's a cool 46 degrees. After a summer of scorching temperatures, I'm loving the change.

The cooler weather means that I've finally been able to turn my oven on again and do some baking, and I've got two recipes to share.

The first is for biscotti. I got this recipe from my grandma, who got it from an Italian lady she met somewhere. I think it is pretty authentic. It's flavored with almond and anise, which I love. If you don't like anise flavor I'm sure you can leave it out and just use the almond.

Be warned that the recipe makes a lot. I usually only make half.

Biscotti
6 cups flour
5 tsp baking powder
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup melted butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp anise extract
1/4 cup anise seed
1 cup chopped almonds

Beat the eggs. Add the melted butter, almond extract, anise extract, and sugar. Mix well. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, anise seed and almonds. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until a dough forms. Divide the dough into six equal parts. Roll each part into a rope about 15 inches long. Place the ropes on cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before slicing. Return the cookies to the pan and bake for 8-10 minutes more, turning once.

 

 

My second recipe is for Savory Wild Rice Bread. I've been making this bread for at least ten years. It's one of my favorites. Very savory and hearty. It goes really well with soup on a cold day, but I usually just toast mine and eat it with butter and honey. 

Savory Wild Rice Bread 1/2 cup wild rice 2 cups water 5 1/2-6 cups flour 2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley 2 tablespoons snipped fresh sage or thyme or 2 teaspoons dried sage or thyme, crushed 1 package yeast  1 cup sour cream                                                 1 cup water 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon butter  1 teaspoon salt  1 slightly beaten egg                                                1 tablespoon water                                                 4 sprigs sage Rinse wild rice in a fine-mesh sieve under cold water for 1 minute. In a medium saucepan combine wild rice and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, until tender and most of water is absorbed. Drain well; cool. In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, parsley, sage or thyme, and yeast; set aside. In a medium saucepan heat and stir sour cream, 1 cup water, the sugar, butter and salt until mixture is warm (120-130 degrees) and butter is almost melted. Add to flour mixture. beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the wild rice and as much of the remaining flour as you can. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes total). Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl; turn once. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double (45 minutes). Punch dough down. Turn out into a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly grease two 8x4x2 inch loaf pans. Shape each half of dough into a loaf. Place shaped dough in prepared loaf pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double (30-40 minutes). With a sharp knife, cut a grain like design by making a slice lengthwise down the center of the loaf with 3 small branches on each side. Or, brush loaves with a mixture of egg and 1 tablespoon water. If desired, place sage sprigs on top of loaves. Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, or till bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pans immediately; cool on racks.       Now, here is my cheat for making this recipe. Instead of messing with the wild rice and herbs, I buy a box of Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice mix, cook it, and use a cup of it in place of the wild rice and herbs. It's practically the same thing, and much cheaper. The long grain rice kind of disappears into the bread, leaving the wild rice behind, and the flavor is delicious.

Birthday Scones!

My sister's birthday was this past Thursday. In her honor, even though I knew she would never eat them, I baked her birthday scones.

I can't remember how the tradition of birthday scones started, but I like to make them for people who are near and dear to me on their birthdays.

Here's the recipe. I believe it originally came from Sunset magazine where they were called Coconut Scones. I changed the name.

Birthday Scones

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold butter, cut in chunks
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

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jam, any flavor

In a large bowl, mix flour, coconut, oats, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, beat eggs and milk to blend. Stir all but about 1 tablespoon egg mixture into flour mixture just until evenly moistened. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured board and pat into an 8-inch round. Slide round onto a buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheet and cut into 8 wedges, leaving wedges in place. Brush top of round with reserved egg mixture and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Make a 1-inch-diameter depression on top of the wide end of each wedge and fill each with about 1/2 tablespoon jam. Bake at 375° until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Recut scones to separate and serve warm, or transfer to a rack to cool completely.

I used a homemade jam that I made a couple weeks ago in the scones. It's really yummy, but didn't set up as much as it should have. As a result, it kind of spread as the scones baked. 

If you want an easy and tasty jam recipe, try this one. It's sweet, and tart, and kind of reminds me of the strawberry-rhubarb jam my grandma always made. Isn't it pretty?

Cranberry Jam

2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

1 orange, peeled and divided into sections

16 oz package frozen strawberries, thawed

3 cups sugar

3 oz liquid fruit pectin

5 half-pint canning jars & lids, sterilized

Coarsely grind cranberries and orange sections in a food processor; spoon into a heavy stockpot. Add strawberries and sugar. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly for one minute. Remove form heat and stir in pectin. Skim off any foam and immediately pour into hot, sterilized jars; secure lids. Process jars in a boiling water bath.

Notes on the jam: I put the zest of the orange into the jam also, for more flavor and also chopped up the strawberries into small pieces. I'm not sure why mine didn't thicken like it should have, but after I made it, I read the directions in the pectin package, and they were slightly different than those in the recipe. When I make it again, I will follow the package directions instead and see if there is a difference. Oh, and I also got more than five jars out of the recipe. I can't remember how many exactly, but I suggest having three or four more ready just in case.

Black-Pepper Biscuits

In the June issue of Martha Stewart Living, there is a recipe for Black-Pepper Biscuits. I thought adding pepper to biscuits was a splendid idea, so the last time I made biscuits, I gave it a try. 

I didn't use the recipe from the magazine, but used my old, standby biscuit recipe instead. The extra bite the pepper gives the biscuits is really nice.
 
Here is a simple recipe for biscuits - the one I use all the time. I find rolling out biscuits to be tedious, so I almost always just drop them on the baking sheet. This recipe will makes 9 nice sized drop biscuits.

Biscuits
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk

Combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening. Stir in the milk until just mixed. Roll out and cut the biscuits or drop onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

*Add about 3/4 tsp or more of freshly ground black-pepper (the coarser the better) to turn these into black-pepper biscuits.

I just happened to have some lemon curd in the fridge when I made the biscuits, so I served it with them. What a delicious combination.

Lemon curd is simple to make and so yummy. Here is the recipe I used, taken from The Gourmet Cookbook. It makes a lot (about 3 cups), so you will probably only want to make half.

Lemon Curd
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
pinch of salt
1 3/4 sticks butter, cut into tablespoons

Whisk zest, juice, sugar, eggs, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Add butter and cook over medium low heat, whisking constantly, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 10 minutes. Immediately strain then cool to room temperature. Keep refrigerated. Will keep for one week.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

This recipe is spreading like wildfire on Pinterest. I was anxious to try it, so I stopped by Sunflower to get lemons on my way home from church and baked a loaf this afternoon.

I love the idea of mixing lemon with zucchini bread, and kind of wish I had thought of it first. With the specks of green on a yellow background, the bread is visually appealing. The problem came with the taste, or rather lack of taste.

If I ever make this recipe again, I will tweak it. Something needs to be added to enhance the flavor. Cardamom might be nice, I'm not sure how it pairs with lemon, but I think it would fit. I also was thinking of adding cranberries or a savory herb like rosemary or thyme. It just needs something.

Anyway, here is the recipe, but I don't recommend this one.

Lemon Zucchini Bread
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
juice of one lemon
zest of one lemon
1 cup grated zucchini

Mix the dry ingredients. Beat eggs and add the oil and sugar. Blend well. Add the buttermilk, lemon juice, and zest. Fold in zucchini. Add to the dry ingredients. Blend, but do not over mix. Pour into a greased 9x5 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until done.

Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar Cookies

As a rule, I don't like heart shaped things, and I also don't like the color pink.

I make an exception on Valentine's Day when it comes to cookies.

This year, I made a pink heart copycats of  Lofthouse frosted sugar cookies.

If you have never had a Lofthouse frosted sugar cookie, you're missing out. You can find them in almost any supermarket bakery section, or you can bake your own like I did. They are a thick, round sugar cookie with frosting and sprinkles. The colors usually coordinate to the season or holidays.

I came across this copycat recipe on Pinterest and had to give it a try.

Lofthouse Style Frosted Sugar Cookies

For the cookies:
6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream

For the frosting:
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp heavy cream
food coloring sprinkles

Cream the butter and granulated sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat at low speed until combined.

Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, scraping down the bowl as needed. Dough will be a bit sticky. Divide dough into two sections. Flatten into rectangles about 1 1/2 inches thick, then wrap with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator overnight or at least two hours until firm.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.

Roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out shapes and transfer to a baking sheet. Bake for 7 minutes, until pale golden. Immediately transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

To make the frosting, cream together the butter and vanilla. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar. Once smooth and creamy, add in heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired spreading consistency is achieved. Add food coloring and beat until combined.

Once cookies have cooled completely, frost and add sprinkles. Allow frosting to set, then store in an air-tight container. Let cookies sit for several hours before serving to allow the flavors to develop.

Notes: This recipe makes a lot of cookies. I only made half of it and got about fifty 2 1/2 inch heart shaped cookies. Make sure not to roll the dough too thin - the thicker the better. Also, I didn't have to add any cream to the frosting mix. It was a perfect spreading consistency with just the butter, sugar, and vanilla.