Scones

When I was pursuing my master's degree at Gordon-Conwell, a very thoughtful woman there used to bake scones for some of her classes. I was lucky enough to be in a couple of those classes. Before I tasted these, I always thought that I didn't care for scones, but my classmate made me a believer:) They may look a little underwhelming, but they are so good! This is the recipe, and I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. I think I could eat an entire batch in one sitting.

Scones:

2 1/2 c. flour

1 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

8 T. butter, chilled and sliced

1/3 c. sugar

2/3 c. milk

Combine 1st 3 ingredients in food processor. Add butter and mix just until butter is cut in. Add sugar and mix. Add milk and mix just until dough is formed. Do not overwork the dough in the mixer. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 10-12 x's. Cut in half and press into 2 8" circles. Cut each circle into 8 triangles (or 6 if you want large ones) and place on a pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes, until slightly golden on top. Lighter in color is better.

Tip: if no food processor, work butter into dry ingredients with fingers until mixture looks like very small peas. Then mix in sugar and then the milk with a fork. Follow the rest...

Humble Apple Pie

This is a recipe for apple pie that I made for Thanksgiving this past year. There's a bigger picture below of the whole pie. I combined two recipes to make this; a pie crust recipe from my mother-in-law and the pie filling I slightly adjusted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook. I got the leaf idea from a Williams-Sonoma booklet from their store. This was really easy to do, but a little time-consuming to make all the leaves. I cut each out by hand and then layered them. Okay, so I used a leaf punch to make them but it still took a long time! I started with the outside layer and overlapped the leaves as I went in a circular pattern towards the middle. I didn't want to eat it after I spent so much time on it! Whether it was just to placate me or because they truly liked it...everyone raved about it! **If I make this again, I will probably brush the crust with an egg wash to give it a nice shine.**

Apple Pie

Pastry for 9" Two-Crust Pie (recipe below)

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. Gold Medal flour (if using self-rising flour, omit salt)

1/2 t. cinnamon

6 c. thinly sliced pared tart apples (I prefer Granny Smith)

2 T. butter

dash of salt

Heat oven to 425. Prepare pastry. Stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt; mix with apples. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan; dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Cover edge with 2-3" strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil last 15 min. of baking.

Bake 40-50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through. Enjoy!

Crust Recipe

2 c. flour

6 T. Crisco

6 T. butter

1 t. salt

6 T. cold water

mix 1 c. flour and next 3 ingredients.

add last c. of flour and mix until resembles small peas.

add water.

one recipe makes a top and bottom crust.

i made 1 1/2 recipe in order to have enough pie dough for the leaves.

**this recipe can also be made in the food processor...combine all ingredients in processor bowl and pulse to combine; when resembles small peas, add water and pulse until just comes together.

That's Tasty

So I'm finally starting a food blog. I've been contemplating it for months, and have finally decided to do it with a little...okay maybe a lot... of persuasion from my husband, Andrew. Andrew and I have been living in Massachusetts for about 3 years, and my love of cooking has blossomed here. Cooking and baking have grown into something I truly enjoy and have a passion for. I love trying new food, and I love that my husband encourages my habit even when my experiments don't turn out well!

So here's the story behind my first posted recipe!

This is my mom's amazing carrot cake even though the picture isn't that great. I'm not usually one for carrot cake, but this recipe is so good. My husband doesn't like carrot cake, either, and he likes this one. This is basic and yummy! Many people add fruit and nuts to their cakes, but I don't care for either.

The first time I attempted to make this was back in college, and I made the cake for a birthday dinner for my mom and grandparents (we usually celebrated their birthdays together since the dates were so close to one another). I made this as a sheet cake, and was so proud of myself. However, when I took the cake to my grandmother's and started to cut into it, I realized that I hadn't baked the cake long enough. The center was undercooked and completely inedible. I was so embarrassed, but my family was gracious and ate around the edges anyway!
Since then, I have tried to redeem that cooking disaster. This cake was thankfully cooked all the way through and made for Easter when we had our friends over for Easter dinner.

Carrot cake:

4 eggs
1 1/4 c. oil
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. grated carrots (about 5 large)

Beat eggs; add oil, sugar, and other dry ingredients. Pour in two 9" cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 stick margarine
1 8 oz. cream cheese (can use 1/3 reduced fat)
2 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar to taste

Cream margarine, cream cheese and vanilla together. Mix in powdered sugar to taste.

Pleasing Palate

Scones

Humble Apple Pie

That's Tasty

what i love...

what i'm contemplating...

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