Blueberry Scones

2 Cups flour plus more for dusting.
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. butter, cold, cut into pieces
1 Cup heavy cream
1 Cup fresh (not frozen) blueberries

Preheat oven 400 degrees.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Using forks, a pastry blender, or your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles cornmeal. Make a well in the center and pour in cream. Fold together just to incorporate. If the dough seems excessively dry add a tablespoon of milk just so the dough holds together. Do not overwork dough. Toss blueberries in a little flour to dust them and fold into the dough gently, taking care not to bruise them.

Press dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle that measures 12 inches by 3 inches and is 1 1/2 inches tall. Cut in half. Cut each half in half again. Cut these four squares of dough along the diagonal so that you end with 8 triangles.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until brown.

Lemon glaze: This lemon glaze is very good on these scones. The scones pictured above are just brushed with an egg white wash and sprinkled with large sugar crystals.

1/2 Cup fresh lemon juice
2 Cups confectioners sugar
Zest of lemon
1 Tbs. butter

Mix lemon juice and confectioners sugar together in microwave safe bowl. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add zest and butter. Microwave 30 seconds on high. Whisk until smooth and drizzle over slightly cooled scones.

Enjoy.

Chambord Drenched Double Chocolate Cake

This recipe is combination of a Williams-Sonoma chocolate cake recipe (cut in half and slightly altered) and my own added raspberry flair. This is the pan I used, and it is absolutely ideal for the recipe. Perhaps another pan would work as well if it had a textured top or if the top could be cut so as to absorb the syrup well.

Double Chocolate Cake

1 and1/4 Cups flour
1/2 Cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
dash of salt
1 stick of butter
3/4 Cup of sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 milk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate melted and cooled

Get all ingredients to room temperature. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour decorative pan.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blend well. Set aside.

Mix milk with sour cream and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a flat beater, beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low and add sugar. Increase speed to high and beat 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time. Beat 1-2 minutes. Stop mixer and scrape down sides on occasion. Beat in vanilla extract.

Add flour mixture and sour cream mixture alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until just well blended. Then fold in the melted and cooled chocolate. Spread batter into the greased pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the syrup, dissolve 3/4 cup of sugar in 3/4 cup of water over medium heat. When sugar dissolves turn off heat. Add 1/3 cup Chambord and stir.

Turn cake out onto cooling rack and place wax paper underneath. Pour Chambord syrup evenly over the cake top. It should absorb it completely.

Move to serving tray when cooled and enjoy!

Don't forget to tell me if you make this.

The Only Pumpkin Pie

This is my mother's recipe. It is simply the best.

1 can pumpkin (1lb.13oz.)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp. cloves
3 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
4 eggs beaten

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Combine first eight ingredients in a large bowl.

Place evaporated milk and heavy cream in a medium sized saucepan and heat to scalding. Let cool slightly and mix into the large bowl with the first eight ingredients. Pour into a prepared 10 inch pie shell and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

New Englanders would say this pie is "wicked good."

Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe is from The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook.

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
11/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light. Add the egg and beat until fluffy.

Blend the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together well. Add these dry ingredients to butter mixture. Chill dough slightly.

Roll dough into one inch balls and place an inch apart on a light greased cookie sheet. Press with a fork forming a crisscross pattern.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Pour milk and wait for the oven to beep. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cake With Eggnog Icing

Gingerbread Cake with Egg Nog Icing

For the cake, I use a Suzanne Martinson recipe I originally found here and changed only slightly for my purposes.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup molasses
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a nine inch cake pan. In a large bowl, mix cooled butter, sugar and egg and set aside. Sift dry ingredients together. Combine light or dark molasses with the hot water. Alternating, add dry ingredients and the molasses-water to the butter, sugar and egg. Blend just to combine. Pour batter into pan and bake 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool for ten minutes and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

The icing is my own holiday rendition of a classic buttercream.

approx. 1/2 lb. confectioners sugar
1/2 a stick of butter at room temperature
egg nog to taste

Cream the butter and sugar together at medium speeds. Add egg nog one tablespoon at a time until the icing is a spreadable consistency.

Optional: Top cake with a dollar store pick-up. What is it about nutcrackers that my children love so much??