Day Twenty Three - Baking Cookies

Funny how the "making" and "taking" of the cookies seemed to occur simultaneously...



Day Fourteen - Waiting

 When your little it seems as if you have to wait forever for Christmas Day to arrive.

Not so much when your a grown up.

 

And yet today, I had my fair share of it.

Instead of watching the skies for Santa's sleigh however, I was obsessively checking out the windows for snowflakes. We had been promised twelve inches of snow but it seemed to take forever and a day before the first few pitiful spits of it started coming down. Even then it was very slow going and my patience was wearing thin and what with all my running back and forth to the window I thought I might be at risk of wearing thin myself. It seemed nourishment was in order and so I set out to do some baking of the non-holiday variety and whip up a Lazy Daisy Cake.

 

Now one of the best things about a Lazy Daisy Cake (a.k.a Lightning Cake) is that it is 

extremely quick (like lightning!) to make up. 

This is a very good thing when you are running low on patience.

 

Best thing #2 about Lazy Daisy Cake is that it has the most amazingly easy and delicious topping in the world. Nothing more than butter, cream, and brown sugar...YUM!

 

 And best thing #3 about making up a Lazy Daisy Cake is that it gives me the opportunity to spend time with my favorite cookbook of all time,  The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.

Not just any Fanny Farmer Cookbook mind you, it has to be the eleventh edition, have a gold cover, and, if your lucky, messages from the past!

 

My copy used to belong to a woman named Olive (love that name!) who had a friend named Polly (ditto!) I know this because of an envelope I found tucked in the pages containing a brief correspondence between the two and a shared recipe. Oh, and according to the note they also shared some opera glasses...  

 

 Olive appears to have been quite organized as documented in her menu plans.

 

 She loved to edit recipes and.... 

 

 ...leave little notes here and there!

 

 And her very own personalized index, what a great idea!

 

In the 25 minutes it took the cake to bake off I had just enough time for a quick visit with Olive. Combine that with a wipe down of the dishes and by the time I looked out the

window again the snow was flying!

 

Should you be interested in some non-holiday baking of your own....

 

Lightning Cake (Hot Milk Cake)

Small, delicious and easy. Excellent

either frosted or with a special topping

as in the recipe for Lazy Daisy Cake.

 

Set the oven at 375. Butter a square pan

8 by 8 by 2 inches.(Except I use a round cake pan!) 

 

Beat until thick

-2 eggs

-1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat in a little at a time

-1 cup sugar

Sift together and stir in

-1 cup flour (For gluten free try Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Flour)

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat until butter melts

-1/2 cup milk

-1 tablespoon butter

Stir into the first mixture and beat 1

minute or until smooth. Pour into the

pan.

 

Bake about 25 minutes.

 

Lazy Daisy Cake. Leave the baked cake

in the pan. Mix 3 tablespoons melted butter,

3 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons

cream and 1/2 cup chopped nuts or coconut.

(No nuts or coconut for us!) 

Spread over the cake. Put under the broiler and

cook until the topping is lightly browned.

Watch carefully and turn so the topping browns evenly.

 

 

Day Eight - Visions of Sugar Plums

 Today I was cold, tired, and in no mood to step foot out of doors.

And so I didn't.

 

I had for myself instead quite the frumpy time of it, lazing on the couch, drowning myself in tea, and browsing cookbooks for visions of sweets and savories I might serve up for the holidays. I was most delighted with that little gem of a book up there on the left titled,

A World of Good Eating.

 

 

 I love that it is noted to be "tested in the kitchen of a New England Housewife."

She obviously was much more industrious than me.

 

 And how cute is that copyright!

 

 I did accomplish some menu making however and was especially excited to find the section on Poland full of potential dishes for my Dad's birthday dinner which happens to coincide with

New Years Eve.

 

Paprika Chicken should do the trick along with some Golabski (stuffed cabbage), cucumber salad, pierogi, and perhaps a poppy seed roll for dessert. Yum!

 



Made Preparations

Gathering up the makings for Dundee Cake!



Made a Special Batch of Brownies.....

.....for my gluten free girl who was overloaded with homework and in need of a little pick-me-up.






Made a Batch of Scones

And you can too!

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Scones

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup craisins

1 1/4 - 1 1/3 cup whipping cream

2-3 tablespoons butter,melted

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add craisins and chocolate chips. Stir in cream with a fork until it holds together. Knead the dough on a floured board. Pat flat till 1" high and cut into desired shape (I like hearts!) Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2" apart. Brush scones with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY!