Category Archives: Treats and Sweets

This is a collection of desserts, breads, muffins, cookies and tea time treats. We all have our favorites and I’ve included traditional favorites and new recipes that I’ve wanted to try out and would love to share.

Scones and Roses

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Photo by E Broughton

Photo by E Broughton

Second breakfast is known and practiced in our house, especially around 10 ‘clock on a lazy weekend morning with the sun shining and the birds singing and the temperature edging toward 60.  Now I’m not talking about healthy, good for you, oatmeal with fruit kind of stuff.  Second breakfast on a morning like this calls for tea or coffee served in your best tea cup, some homemade rose petal jelly, and fresh baked buttermilk scones on the pretty china plate that doesn’t match any of the other dishes.  It all starts with the scones.  The recipe I used is based on a recipe by Marion Cunningham that I saw on Julia Child’s TV show, but of course I had to make a couple of adjustments because I’m like that and I was out of buttermilk.  I think I like my version better but judge for yourself.

Buttermilk Scones

Ingredients:

  •  3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small cubes (1 1/2 sticks of butter)
  • 1 cup of buttermilk (I substituted 3/4 cup plain whole fat yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup milk – allow to sit for 5 minutes before using)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Photo by E Broughton

Photo by E Broughton

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add in the butter cubes and using a fork or our fingers, work the butter into the dry mixture until it looks like lumpy sand.  Don’t over work.

 

Photo by E Broughton

Photo by E Broughton

Then add the buttermilk or yogurt/milk mixture.  Stir until thoroughly mixed and turn the dough onto a clean, floured surface.

Photo by E Broughton

Photo by E Broughton

Pat the dough into a 1/2 inch thick circle and cut into triangles.  You could also roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter to make round scones.

friday 008

Photo by E Broughton

 

 

  Place the scones on an ungreased baking sheet and brush generously with melted butter.

  Sprinkle lightly with sugar.  Bake for 10 minutes or until the scones are lightly golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.  Before you remove them from the pan, drizzle a glaze (mix powdered sugar and water) over the top and let cool until the glaze firms.

friday 009

Photo by E Broughton

 

Serve on a pretty plate with tea or coffee and homemade rose petal jelly.

Scones and Roses 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Apple Crisp and Broken Cookies

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Sometimes success is a matter of redeeming your mistakes with a good save.  I was trying to make refrigerator cookies and wound up with a log of great tasting dough that hardened into concrete and crumbled when I tried to slice off cookies to bake.  It was sad but the only thing you can do is throw the whole mess out or try to re-purpose the mistake, kind of like IBM and post-it notes.  Earlier in the week I had over-bought an enormous bag of huge Red Delicious apples and needed to find some way to use up all that bounty before it spoiled.   Photo by Elaine Broughton
I had already made apple sauce and still had apples left over.  Then it occurred to me that the crumbling cookie dough was about the texture of streusel topping.  Put those two thing together and you’ve got Apple Crisp.

I took the cookie dough, put it in a zip lock and smacked it with the rolling pin until I achieved streusel consistency.

Photo by Elaine Broughton

Photo by Elaine Broughton

In a big bowl I peeled and sliced about four big apples and tossed them with cinnamon and brown sugar.

Then I arranged them in a buttered baking dish. with some dollops of coconut oil (which makes everything taste better).

Photo by Elaine Broughton

Photo by Elaine Broughton

Now, for the “coup de cookie”.  I sprinkled the whole thing with the cookie dough streusel mixture and popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Photo by Elaine Broughton

Photo by Elaine Broughton

There is nothing fancy about this dessert which is part of its charm.  It’s homey and comforting on a cold, rainy day, and topped with a little ice cream or topping, you just feel warm and proud of yourself for snatching happiness from the jaws of a sad kitchen mess.  I’m going to have a big bowl of it right now.

 E

Easy Frozen Treat

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There’s an ongoing dispute in my house about dessert.  Some people believe that dessert is BAD and the main cause of weight gain.  For my part, I believe that we all deserve dessert and that it is one of life’s  happiest pleasures as well as a fitting reward for giving up bread and butter and eating strange vegetables.  The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a fat filled, sugar loaded dietary disaster.  This past week I managed not to slave over a hot stove and opted instead for salads, sandwiches and even a couple of chilled soups.  So,  I was looking for something sweet and light and summery to finish off the meal.  Years ago a neighbor of mine showed me a great low budget dessert idea that is quick and perfect for those hot summer evenings.  The added benefit is that it’s non-dairy.

Now almost everyone has a can of some kind of fruit in the pantry, or even a bag of frozen fruit in the freezer.  (This is so easy it’s almost embarrassing.)

Frozen fruit dessert

What You Need

 

 

 

 

Take a can of fruit such as peaches or pears or cherries (preferably packed in a light syrup or water) and put it in the freezer for a couple of hours.

Or use canned fruit

Canned Fruit

When it’s frozen, open the can, put the fruit and the liquid into the food processor or blender.  Distribute the chunks evenly and puree.  If you’re using frozen fruit add a little water for a smooth consistency.

Once the fruit is pureed, I blend in a couple of large dollops of non-dairy topping to make it creamier.  You could leave it out if you like your dessert more sorbet like, or if you have a strong bias against whipped topping, you could also use whipped cream, but then it wouldn’t be low budget or low calorie.

Blend until everything’s smooth and creamy. The result will be something similar to soft serve or sorbet.

This is what it looks like

Frozen fruit puree and whipped topping

 

 

 

 

 

Put it into an ice cream dish and serve immediately,

Frozen fruit dessert

Fruit dessert

or place the mixture into a covered container and put in the freezer to harden for later.  I promise it’s delicious and you didn’t even add any sugar.  And…this the best part, it counts as a serving of fruit.

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Tea and Lavender

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I’ve been making jelly this week, successfully for the most part.  However, cooking is a creative art.  Jelly making on the other hand, is science, which was never my best subject and things happen.  Now everyone knows that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  But what do you do when life gives you lavender jelly that just doesn’t jell, can’t jell, won’t ever jell.  I have no idea what I did wrong, just lost my focus at some point and now I have to think of something to do with all that beautiful lavender liquid.  Luckily, I have a habit of saving glass containers, including bottles.  After rummaging in the cupboards for a few minutes, I came up with a “saved” maple syrup bottle, complete with screw top lid.  Out comes the funnel, and by some miracle, there was just enough bottle for my lavender disaster.  Once in the bottle, of course, it becomes lavender syrup, and it’s just crying out for some pancakes, or some English muffins, or maybe some scones.  Guess I’m baking this afternoon.  So a beautiful mess becomes a yummy by-product, and of course there’s still the jelly.

 

A Sweet Mess

A Sweet Mess

Lavender Jelly

  • 3 ½ cups water
  • ½ cup dried lavender buds
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 (1 3/4 ounce) box dry pectin
  • 4 cups sugar

Directions:

  1. In a large saucepan over high heat bring water just to a boil
  2. Remove from heat and stir in dried lavender flowers.  Cover and let steep for 20 minutes
  3. After 20 minutes, strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a deep kettle or pot, discarding the lavender flowers (your house smells wonderful at this point)
  4. Stir in lemon juice and pectin and continue stirring until the pectin is thoroughly dissolved
  5. Over high heat, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down
  6. Add in the sugar, and when the solution returns to a hard rolling boil, let it boil for 2 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  7. To get a soft gel boil 2 minutes and for a medium gel boil for 4 minutes
  8. To test for “jell” (Keep a metal tablespoon sitting in a glass of ice water, then take a little of the mixture and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon.  If it thickens up to the consistency you’re looking for, the jelly is ready.  If not, you can mix in a another 1 teaspoon up to one half of another box of pectin and bring it to a boil again for 1 minute
  9. After boiling, transfer the jelly into hot sterilized jars.  Fill them to within ¼ inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them
  10. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes.  Remove jars to wire rack and let cool before serving.
  11. Makes about a dozen ¼ pint jars.

Blueberry Scones

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups sifted all purpose flour
  • 1 cup sifted barley flour
  • 1 ½ cups frozen blueberries
  • 2 ½ tablespoons sugar, plus some extra for sprinkling on top
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon lemon zest
  • ½ cup coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cup almond milk, soy milk or regular 1% milk

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  2. Mix together all the dry ingredients (flours, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest)
  3. Mix the coconut oil into the dry ingredients (you can use a pastry blender or your hands)
  4. Add in the blueberries, vanilla, and slowly mix in the milk.  Don’t overwork the dough, just until it barely sticks together
  5. On a floured board knead the dough slightly.  It should be smooth and easy to handle when done.
  6. Divide the dough in half and pat into two 1 ½ inch thick rounds.
  7. Cut each round into six pieces
  8. Place on a lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheet
  9. If you want lighter, fluffier scones, place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
  10. Sprinkle the scones with the extra sugar and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden.
  11. Let cool on the baking sheet

So now it’s time for a cup of tea and a nice warm scone drizzled in lavender syrup, or lavender jelly.  Ymmm.