Thursday again and time to link up with Susi over a Boca Frau. I think she's been peeking through my window because again this week we are on the same wave length. Both of us are doing scones. Maybe the Diamond Jubilee is to blame. Gettin' all fancy like.

     This week a healthy recipe, because I promised. Everyone seems to be getting fit and toned for summer so I give you this recipe to help along, courtesy of my friend Erin. It can be made gluten free and vegan.

Multigrain Scones

Ingredients

1 egg (or EnerG egg replacer)
1/4 cup maple syrup
5 tablespoons grape seed oil
1/8 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 cup oats
1 1/2 cups spelt flour (or combination of rice, buckwheat etc.)
2 tablespoons millet
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 and 1/2 cups frozen berries
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup milk alternative (almond, soy, rice etc.)

Topping (optional):

3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2 Lightly oil a cookie sheet or use a nonstick pan.
3 In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients including the lemon zest.
4 Mix the egg (or egg replacer), maple syrup, and oil together.
5 Slowly add the dry ingredients into the "egg", sugar and oil and mix into a thick dough. Add the "milk" and mix well.
6 Scoop up tablespoonfuls of the dough and drop onto the baking sheet leaving 2-inches of space between.
7 You should have enough for 8-10 scones.
8 Bake for 15-25 minutes, just until the crust is barely golden and the dough is dry.
9 Remove from the oven (and optionally, drizzle with lemon topping).
10 Let cool for 10 minutes.

Notes

You can use ground flaxseed to replace the egg. Whip 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of water until you get a gelatinous texture similiar to egg whites. Great source of your omega acids and an excellent source of fibre as well.

You can use any vegetable oil instead of the grapeseed, same as if you were making muffins.

Use gluten free baking flour and oats to make this a gluten free treat. If you are just avoiding wheat, spelt flour is a great baking flour. Has kind of a nutty finish but a great texture similiar to wheat flour. Many people who are wheat rather than gluten sensitive are fine with spelt.

     A scone to have with your tea or coffee that you can feel good about. Enjoy.

Unfortunately, this is what's currently on my counter

I guess I can always wear a wetsuit to the beach

They're slimming right?

Sweet Saturday, Haystacks

     Every Saturday, I go looking for one recipe and end up posting another.. This recipe has been a favourite for more years than I care to admit. It's simple and probably one of the first things I learned to make. That's right, a very, child friendly recipe.

     As  a kid, these were Mud Pies, I've seen recipes for them as Boiled Cookies but most people seem to know them as Haystacks. Stacking hay was never this easy or tasty, trust me.

Really stacking hay this summer,

Katie, Dad, Cathy and I'm taking the picture



Mud Pies/Haystacks

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa

1 cup coconut

3 1/2 cup rolled oats

Directions

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, milk, butter and cocoa.

Bring to a boil stirring occasionally to disolve the sugar and melt the butter.

Remove from heat and stir in coconut and oats.

Drop by rounded tea/tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper.

Let cool (or not) and enjoy.

     I like these with or without the coconut and I've seen variations with nuts, cheerios and pretzels.

My favourite way to eat them, while they're still warm and gooey. I've got the singed fingers to prove it. I hope you and your children like them as much as I do. Enjoy.

Sweet Saturday , Double Chocolate Cookies

     What could be sweeter than a Saturday? Saturday with these delicious cookies to munch on, that's what. This recipe was given to me by a friend. I love that people think I can cook, they get me to test the treats they bake.

     These cookies are very straight forward to make and can be varied in all sorts of ways. Even better, Amberlee cooks like I do and had reduced the sugar, more chocolate, less sweet, perfect.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 cups dark chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Prepare cookie sheet- I use parchment paper liners, she used tin foil, or use silicon cookie sheets

In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugars

(We both reduced the sugars by 1/4 cup for 1/2 cup less all totalled)

Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until smooth

Sift in flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder, mixing until well combined

Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop 1 inch balls of dough, teaspoon sized, onto prepared cookie sheet, an inch apart

Bake for 8-10 minutes

Let cool ( if you can)

To change these cookies up a bit you can add any chocolate or chips, milk, white, butterscotch, peanut butter, skor or just chopped up chocolate or chocolate bars. (Post Halloween cookies??)

Add a 1/2 cup of nuts or dried fruit, craisins or dried cherries would be good. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

     Thanks for sharing Amberlee, feel free to get me to taste any of the things you bake.  Enjoy.

Classic raisin oatmeal cookies

     It seems like forever since I did a recipe post. I have been busy tracing family history. Note to self, do not ever attempt to trace eight family histories at the same time. Work is proceeding better than I could have hoped with "cousins" making contact and lots of help.

     I've been updating the picture pages for the family, two beautiful new arrivals, both on my grandparents pages. I will be updating the family photos there, it's a natural place for me to keep track of the family.

    Last but not least, I have been cooking. I tested out grandma Craig's doughnut recipe. Not a success, but not a complete failure either. I actually made a mistake in the recipe so... there will be a do over there. Same thing with Irish soda bread. Still haven't got to the butterscotch pie, maybe next weekend.

     What I did make, while testing other things, was a batch of oatmeal cookies. You've got to have sustenance after all. I love oatmeal cookies and have several recipes but this is my "go to" version. It's simple, tasty and makes a lot. All good things in my book. It is also kind of healthy. Oatmeal is good for helping to lower cholesterol levels and a good source of fiber. Remember,

     As with most of my recipes, the one below is the base. I have never made it like this but will add my variations after the original.

Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup raisins

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup of chopped pecans

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together beaten eggs, raisins and vanilla. Let sit for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together, softened butter and the brown and white sugar.

In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients except the oatmeal and nuts.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar.

Add the egg and raisin mixture.

Add the rolled oats and nuts.

You should have a stiff batter.

Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 40 cookies.

     There it is, my "never failed yet" oatmeal cookie recipe. These drop cookies are kind of crunchy, kind of chewy, all delicious. To change it up, add dried cranberries or cherries or chocolate chips instead of the raisins. You could also use fresh blueberries, raspberries or chopped strawberries, just watch the cooking time as they have a higher water content. A little tip here. If you freeze the fresh berries spread out on a cookie sheet, they will stand up to the mixing better than fresh which end up getting crushed. It is purely for aesthetics Add any kind of nut you like, there are hundreds to try. Finally change the nuts to seeds: flax, sunflower or pepitas. It's all good.

I have never used all the sugar, I reduce it by at least 1/2 cup, 1/4 of each.

I don't add the nuts. I do like them, just not in this recipe.

I add two teaspoons of bourbon to the egg mixture when soaking the raisins. The plump, flavourful raisins are the appeal for me in this recipe and the bourbon adds a little something extra. Bourbon and vanilla go really well together but you can also use rum or brandy if you want to try it with alcohol.

I don't add the salt

     I am pretty sure these would freeze well if you wanted to make them ahead of time. Mine never last so I've never tried but there is no reason they wouldn't.

Enjoy.

Curried Chutney Thumbprint cookies

     This recipe was passed on to me by someone who had seen the recipe for thumbprint cookies I posted in November. It is a savoury version, perfect for those holiday gatherings.

Curry Cashew Thumbprints

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Preparation time: 15 minutes.

Cooking time: 20 minutes.

This recipe makes 45 serving(s)

Ingredients

3/4 3/4cup cup(175 ml) (175 mL) unsalted butter, softened
2 2tbsp tbsp(25 ml) (25 mL) granulated sugar
1 1tbsp tbsp(15 ml) (15 mL) mild curry paste
2 2eggeggs, separated
1-3/4 1-3/4cups cups(425 ml) (425 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 1/4tsp tsp(1 ml) (1 mL) salt
1 1cup cup(250 ml) (250 mL) finely chopped unsalted cashewunsalted cashews
1/3 1/3cup cup(75 ml) (75 mL) mango chutney

Preparation

In bowl, beat together butter, sugar and curry paste until fluffy; beat in egg yolks, 1 at a time. In small bowl, whisk flour with salt, stir into butter mixture until combined.

In shallow bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Place cashews in separate bowl. Roll dough by scant 1 tbsp (15 ml) into balls; roll each in egg whites, then in cashews to coat.

Arrange, 2 inches (5 cm) apart, on parchment paper–lined baking sheets. Without cracking dough, gently press finger into centre of each to make well.

Bake in 325°F (160°C) oven until browned on bottoms, 20 minutes. Let cool on pans on racks for 5 minutes, reforming wells if necessary. Transfer to racks; let cool.

Fill each well with about 1/2 tsp (2 ml) chutney.

Source: Canadian Living Holiday Cookbook: Fall 2010

     This recipe is a little different from mine, but I don't see how you couldn't adapt it, just add the curry paste.

     I'm also not sure why the cookies are baked then filled. I think when I try this I will just make my recipe with the substitutions.

     Thanks for sharing, enjoy.

Pumpkin Hermits

     Like most of you, I have been out and about getting ready for the holidays. That doesn't mean I haven't been in the kitchen a bit though. After all you need some sustenance to get through all that shopping.

     This recipe is a variation of one of my mother's, and father's, favourite cookies, hermits. I don't actually have my Mom's recipe for the original and this is my friend Erica's recipe for the variation. These are great little spice cookies; light, not too sweet and the pumpkin makes them really moist with just a hint of an aftertaste. They are easy to make and this recipe makes a lot, which is always good in my book.

That's Erica, the slightly singed brownie, with another friend Haley.

When I was talking about cooks who can whip  amazing things up off the top of their heads, I was talking about Erica.

Pumpkin Hermits

Ingredients

¾ cup butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree, canned or fresh, strained *

2 tablespoons molasses

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt**

1 cup dates or raisins

1 cup pepitas (raw shelled pumpkin seeds) /nuts

Directions

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs, pumpkin puree and molasses.

Whisk together all dry ingredients, except raisins and nuts. Add to the pumpkin mixture, mixing until well combined. Stir in raisins and nuts.

Drop by rounded tablespoons on to parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until firm to the touch.

Makes about 60 cookies.

* The straining is optional. Sometimes pumpkin puree can hold a lot of extra moisture.

** I omit the salt.

     I love both variations of these cookies and will post Mom's version when I get it. It's always nice to have these around when you are looking for something that isn't super sweet.

     I use raisins and pecans when I make mine. I don't particularly like the pepitas and my Mom's recipe uses raisins and walnuts. Not a big fan of those either, everything has walnuts in it and there are so many other different kinds of nuts out there to try in your baking.

    You can actually use almost any kind of roasted squash for pumpkin. It will change the taste slightly, but they are interchangeable. This is where Jack from Halloween goes at my house. I use a battery powered light in my jack o' lantern so no wax or singeing and it gets cut up and roasted the day after. Another, nothing gets wasted tip. Enjoy.

Whipped Shortbread cookies

     These are another of those things that are always at my house during Christmas. My Mom always makes them, as does just about everyone else on both sides of the family. These melt in your mouth shortbreads are easy to make, which is good, because you end up needing a lot of them around our place. They are also completely different from the commercial variety. Imagine my disappointment when I first tried the store bought cookies.

There they are again, Ma and Pa Craig



     This recipe stands out as the only thing my mother bakes that my father hates. He calls them "sand cookies" and thought it was hilarious that in French they are called "sable" which translates to sand. I love these cookies, so does my Mom, so sorry Dad, you're out voted.

Whipped Shortbread cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cup flour

½ cup icing sugar

Chopped Maraschino cherries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together butter and icing sugar and add the flour and mix until well combined.

Drop teaspoon sized portions onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and garnish with a piece of the cherries.

Bake for 10 -15 minutes, or until the edges brown.

     These cookies come out of the oven really soft, so let them cool before you handle them or they will crumble into pieces. I'm pretty sure they freeze well, but they have never lasted long enough for me to try.

     These are what I grew up knowing as shortbread. I have seen a hundred recipes that are quite different from this one. The crisp variety which seem to be the most popular I always knew as sugar cookies. What ever you call them they are delicious and disappear by the dozen at our holiday gatherings. Happy baking and enjoy.

Ginger Sparkles

     This is a recipe given to me by a co worker. It is a ginger cookie that his mother always makes for the holidays. It is a smaller quantity recipe than my gingerbread and a great introduction to ginger cookies. Besides, every holiday needs a little Sparkle.

Ginger Sparkles

Ingredients

2 – 2 1/4 c flour (sifted)
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 c butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons molasses

Saucer of white sugar for rolling

Directions

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together shortening, molasses and sugar, beat in egg, then rest of ingredients.  

Roll into 1“  balls then roll in white sugar.

 Bake 11-12 min on an ungreased, parchment paper lined cookie sheet.


     You could also use coloured sugar to roll the cookies, if you wanted to have sparkle and colour.

     Thanks for sharing the recipe, Bob. Happy baking and enjoy.

Gingerbread

     This is the second most requested recipe I have, the Christmas cake being the first. I have had this recipe for so long I don't remember where I originally got it from. It wasn't a big thing when I was growing up although I do remember Marilyn bringing an amazing tree to Grandma Fisher's once. It was something I started after I had moved to the city and it has become part of my own Christmas tradition.

     I love the taste of ginger; ginger beer with Grandpa Craig, ginger tea, ginger ale ... I'm sure you all get the idea. Leo said this recipe reminded him of the Ginger Snaps Grandma, my Great Grandma, Woods made. I like this recipe as plain cookies but everyone else loves the houses. I've had a hard time convincing some people I really make the houses, so here are the pictures to prove it.

The finished product

My house turns into Santa's workshop

And another



For all the deer hunters in the family



All in a row

Santa's little "not helping " helper

Santa's real helper, ROFL

         For a couple of weeks, every year, my house is like the North Pole. The smell of the gingerbread baking, the sugar and all that that candy, turn my kitchen into a kid's dream. The big kids seem to like it too. Decorating the houses has become something of a tradition in my house as well,with a little input from everyone.

    This is a straight forward recipe that needs no special equipment or advanced cooking skills to make. It is a large recipe if you are using it to make cookies, but the houses use a lot. I typically make about a dozen houses and need three batches of this to make them. This recipe freezes well if you make more than you can bake and it also keeps for about a week in the refrigerator.

     If you are decorating, you'll need the royal icing recipe for the "glue". I'll post it directly after.

Gingerbread

Ingredients

1 cup shortening- vegetable or lard, I have used both

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 3/4 cups brown sugar- I have used everything from light golden to almost black Demerara

1 tbsp molasses- I use really dark molasses but you can use whatever kind you like

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt - I usually omit or half the salt, I usually don't cook with salt at all

1 tbsp ginger

1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp allspice

6 cups flour - I have used white, spelt and whole wheat and all work but change the texture. White is the lightest, then spelt then whole wheat.

3 eggs

1/2 cup milk- I cook with homogenized, but 2 percent or skim is probably fine

Directions

Cream shortening, sugars and molasses in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together all the dry ingredients, and in yet another bowl mix together the eggs and milk.

Alternate mixing the dry and wet mixes into the creamed shortening mix. That's it. You should have a dough much like pie crust in consistency.

Roll it into a ball, I  knead it by hand a little to make sure it is well mixed and then chill it for about an hour. It rolls out better cool and I have a marble pastry board I chill and roll the dough on.

It just makes it easier to work with. If the dough is a bit sticky, don't worry, you roll it out on a floured board so the flour will solve that.

Roll it out to a thickness of 1/4 inch and then cut out whatever shapes you want.

Bake in a pre heated 350 degree oven for 10- 15 minutes, until touching the dough doesn't leave an imprint and it is a golden brown.

It needs to cool for about 2 hours; it will harden up as it cools so you won't break it as you are working with it.

Royal icing

This never really works like the recipe, at least it never has for me. You have to play with it to get the consistency you want.

3 tbsp meringue powder

2 cups icing sugar

6 tbsp water

Combine all ingredients and beat for 10 minutes until it forms soft peaks.

I start with half the water and add more as I need it, if you start with all 6 tbsp , mine is always way too runny. Good if you are doing a glaze I guess but...

If you want to stiffen it up a little, or a lot, just add  more icing sugar, not the meringue powder.

     If you are going to make houses, here are a few tips that I have come up with over the years.

Decorate on the flat. The most common complaint I have heard is that the candy slides off the house. I have seen shows where they decorate a finished house and have no idea how they get everything to stick.

     I use long hat maker's pins as nails to hold the walls, and roofs together as they dry. I've tried propping them up with things but they always shift. Remember to remove the pins.

     It takes a couple of hours for the icing to dry so be patient and do it in stages. You can see from the photos above how I do mine.

     A generous dusting of icing sugar hides a million design flaws, enough said.

     That's it. I have a lot of fun making these. Shopping for the candies to make the roof shingles, windows etc, decorating them and watching people devour them. My houses are completely edible, it's no fun if it isn't.

The only limiting factor is your imagination.

     If you want to do this with kid's, and I always recommend cooking with children, make the gingerbread ahead of time so you don't have to wait for it to cool. You have to wait for the icing to set between decorating and assembling so don't test their patience any more than you have to. LOL

     Another, it just wouldn't be Christmas at my house with out it, recipe. Enjoy.

Thimble cookies

     It seems only fitting to post this after the apple butter recipe because this is where I use mine. I always knew these as thimble cookies, but have also heard them called thumbprint or jam cookies. This is a great recipe and the nuts add a nice touch. These are really easy to make and so much better tasting than what you can buy in the grocery store.

Thumbprint/Thimble cookies

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature                            

¼ cup white sugar

1 large egg separated *                                                               

1 cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¾ cup finely chopped, toasted nuts (optional)

½ cup jam, jelly or preserves

*If you aren’t rolling the cookies in nuts, use the whole egg in the recipe not just the egg yolk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla and egg yolk.

Continue beating until combined

Add flour and mix until combined.

Chill for approximately 30 minutes or until you can make 1” balls that aren’t sticky or difficult to form.

Beat egg white lightly.

Dip the balls of dough in the egg white, then lightly roll into the nuts.

Using your thumb, the end off a spoon or thimble, make indentations in the dough and fill with approximately ¼ - ½ teaspoon of your favourite jelly, jam or preserve.* Bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet on the centre rack for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown

My personal favourite combinations are crabapple and pecans, grape and almonds and maple apple butter, cinnamon and walnuts.

* I use my 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon so the well is big enough to hold all the jelly, you can nver have too much filling.

     This recipe is so forgiving, it is easy to make, doubles and triples easily if you are making a lot and the raw dough freezes well if you want to prepare them ahead of time or just keep some on hand.  Enjoy