Yeasted Peach and Berry Coffee Cake for the Bread Baking Babes

Usually I try to post the BBB recipe on the 16th of the month along with the other Babes, but this month my back didn't cooperate (probably because of too much work on fixing up the back deck) so it took me until today to bake this delicious, impressive coffee cake. Our Kitchen of the Month is Judy of Judy's Gross Eats. She chose a delightful treat with yeast bread and jam.

I had eight egg yolks in the fridge from prior cooking, so I decided to use the Challah recipe from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day book. It needed exactly the number of yolks I had, plus it doesn't use milk, and it used oil instead of butter...all items that work for me. I've never made the traditional Challah braid, but half of the dough is now in the freezer so I can try that at a later date. The recipe from Judy is very similar but it uses melted butter and whole eggs.

This is a rich, smooth, tight crumb bread with a tinge of yellow from the yolks. It is easy to work with so I decided to use a tube pan as Tanna did, hoping to avoid the fallen center. Well, it rose to the top of the pan, making an impressively high coffee cake at the sides,

 but when it cooled, the center still fell. I think that all that home made jam was a destabilizing influence.

For the jam I had three peaches, a bag of frozen raspberries in the freezer, and some blackberries picked down the driveway on Sunday. None of them yielded 5-6 cups required for the jam, so I made two batches of jam; one peach and one berry using both the raspberries and the blackberries. It was a little more work and more pans were used, but I think having the two colors was pretty and the two flavors went together really well. On top half the cake had peach and half had berry. The raspberries in particular made the house smell wonderful both when I made the jam and when the cake baked.

Sweetie really liked this cake. I served it barely warm and one slice was enough, so we still have about 8 servings left! I suspect that a neighbor, the librarians or firemen will get a treat soon.

Check out what the other Bread Baking Babes have done with this recipe.

If you'd like to be a Bread Baking Babes Buddy, just email Judy by Aug. 29th with a photo and a brief description of your baking experience. The original recipe can be found on her blog, and so can her email.

Challah (to be used for the Yeasted Fruit Jam Coffee Cake)
from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day

(Note: I used the grams weights and did weigh my ingredients on a scale with a tare...highly recommended.)

2 /14 cups (18 oz. / 510g) lukewarm water (about 95 degrees F or 35 degrees C)
1 1/2 tablespoons (0.5 oz. / 14g) instant yeast
8 - 10 egg yolks (6 oz / 170g), depending on weight
5 tablespoons (2.5 oz / 71g) vegetable oil
6 tablespoons (3 oz / 85g) sugar or 4 1/2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
1 tablespoon (.075 oz / 21g) vanilla extract- optional (I used 1 teaspoon almond extract, measured, not weighed)
7 1/2 cups (34 oz / 964g) unbleached bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons (0.66 / 19g) salt or 4 teaspoons coarse kosher salt

Combine the water and yeast in a mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to dissolve. Add the egg yolks, oil, sugar, almond extract (if using) and whisk lightly to break up the egg yolks, then add the flour and salt. If using a mixer, use the paddle attachment and mix on the lowest speed for 2 minutes. If mixing by hand, us a large spoon and stir for about 2 minutes. The dough should be coarse and shaggy. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.

Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium-low speed, or continue to mix by hand using a large, wet spoon, for 4 minutes.

Use a bowl scraper to transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, then dust the top of the dough with flour. Lightly knead for 1 - 2 minutes, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough should be soft, supple and tacky but not sticky. Form the dough into a ball, place it in a clean, lightly oiled large bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a clean shower cap). Immediately  refrigerate the dough overnight or for up to 4 days. It will double in size as it cools.

On baking day remove the dough from the refrigerator about 2 hours and 10 minutes before you plan to bake. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and divide in half. If possible, use a scale to make sure the weights are very close to the same. Set one half aside for another use and use the other half to follow the recipe for the Yeasted Fruit Jam Coffee Cake on Judy's blog.

Lemon Blackberry Cake with #TheCakeSliceBakers

Unfortunately my back has been acting up for the last few days, so no blogging for a while. Even the making of this cake was affected because I needed a cake for a birthday party but needed to simplify it. I know it looks fancy, but the blackberries were picked and the jam was made before my back went out and the cute piped icing at the bottom and for the candles was done on Sunday when I was feeling better.

We are baking from The Perfect Cake from America's Test Kitchen and in that cookbook this was a four layer cake (four full layers, not two cut in halves horizontally) which means a longer baking time since two are baked at a time, not four. It also used mascarpone cheese in the icing, which is not something that I can eat due to severe dairy allergies. It's also something that I haven't found a substitute for, so I made a 'buttercream' icing using non-dairy margarine and a different recipe entirely. Because the margarine doesn't whip as light as butter and because it also has more moisture in it than real butter, the icing isn't as stable, so a two layer cake made more sense as well as being faster.

I did make the fresh blackberry jam from the recipe in The Perfect Cake, although I strained it to remove the seeds and most of the skins. Blackberry seeds just seem wrong for a fancy cake. Because I only had two layers, I was able to put some of the jam directly on a cake layer and then put the blackberry flavored buttercream on top,

plus on the top and the sides. The sides looked much better with plenty of icing instead of the veil look recommended by the Perfect Cake recipe. Since there were only two layers I felt that the extra icing was needed to balance out the cake. I got raves for the icing because it was delicious, using some lemon juice and the blackberry jam and not a lot of sugar, so it wasn't overly sweet. I used a circle of fresh blackberries on top for decoration.

The cake has both lemon zest and lemon juice. Because the extra step of whipping the whites and folding them in was too much time on my feet, I used the Perfect Party Cake recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking; from my home to yours book for the cake. It uses the dry/wet/dry/wet/dry method for adding the dry and wet ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, which goes quickly and still produces a moist, tender, fine grained cake.

Next month I hope to go back to following the recipe exactly, but I have to say that this sure did make a pretty and delicious layer cake...and it was perfect for a party of 5. We ate all but two or three slices and all the plates were clean of both cake and icing when we were done...I think everyone loved this cake!

I particularly enjoyed the lemon. It's fresh flavor was a great counterpoint to the sweet blackberries in the jam and icing. Here's a slice for you.

Be sure and check out the other Cake Slice Bakers posts to see which cake they made. #atkcake

The Cake Slice Bakers are baking from a new book "The Perfect Cake" from America's Test Kitchen.

Our choices this month are...

August 2018

1. Blueberry Boy Bait
2. Raspberry Charlotte
3. Blackberry-Mascarpone Lemon Cake
4. Peanut Butter and Jam Cake.

Visit our members to see what cake choice they baked up! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Quick Peach Crisp

The other evening I had some very ripe peaches on hand. Unfortunately I didn't have the energy to make a peach pie, which is what I had gotten the peaches for. Still, they weren't improving with age, so I decided to make a peach crisp. It goes together much more quickly than a pie and still gives me that hit of warm, nutmeg scented peaches. The day before I had made a bowl with nothing but warm, nutmeg scented peaches and that was great, but adding a crisp topping makes it special.

I started with two ripe, peeled and pitted peaches. I cut them into chunks and layered them in the bottom of a rectangular baker. In the microwave in another heat safe container I melted butter and added brown sugar and the nutmeg. Then I did the 'quick' part by adding plain granola to the butter mixture (well, not really butter - non-dairy margarine) and stirred it well to coat the granola clusters with the mixture. Usually I would have had to measure out oats and flour and salt, etc., so this was faster.

The crisp topping went over the peaches and it all went into a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 20 minutes. The result? Hot peaches, browned topping, peaches juices scented and flavored with nutmeg. What could be better? A scoop of vanilla soy ice cream. Ooops, Sweetie ate it all, so we went with some soy creamer instead. Delicious...and quick dessert for two.

Quick Peach Crisp
Serves 2

2 ripe peaches, pitted and peeled and cut into chunks
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup plain granola (I used Bob's Red Mill)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Layer peach chunks in an even layer in the bottom of a 6 x 9-inch baking pan. (You could use a 9 x 9-inch pan and double the ingredients and have enough for 4 people.)

In a medium bowl microwave the butter, brown sugar and nutmeg until the butter us melted. Stir well. Stir in the granola until all the cereal is coated with the butter mixture. Evenly distribute the granola mixture on top of the peach layer and bake for 20 minutes, or until the crisp topping is golden brown. Serve at once. Garnish with ice cream, whipped cream, or cream.

Fresh Basil in Pesto

Most years I plant basil seeds in a wide and somewhat shallow planter. Some years the basil does well and fills up the planter. Some years I get a few spindly plants. This year the basil is happy and the planter is packed and the plants are getting tall. Time to use them and a great way to use basil is in pesto. Normally I'd make a mixture of basil, pine nuts,olive oil and parmesan cheese, with some salt and pepper added to taste.

Now that cheese is in my past, I decided to try making it without parmesan. I used fresh lemon juice and lemon zest to add some zing and some almond flour for body. Of course the star is the basil, which is as it should be. We had it mixed with some potato gnocchi that were a bit unstable so that half turned to mashed potatoes when heated in simmering water. It was a new brand of gnocchi. Wonderful in taste but I think I'll go back to the more stable kind.

The pesto was just right...lots of basil flavor heightened by the lemon and mellowed by the nuts. I toasted the pine nuts a little too much but with all that basil you would never know. The olive oil wasn't the real fancy kind used for finishing...it would be wasted for the same reason...it's all about the basil. You could taste the lemon, mostly as an afternote. A touch of salt was necessary. There is still enough in the fridge for another pasta or gnocchi dish...YAY!

No Cheese Pesto

1 cup, packed, fresh basil leaves...stems discarded
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest
juice from a lemon
1/3 cup olive oil, or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor bowl fitted with the steel blade place the basil, pine nuts, almond flour, lemon zest and lemon juice. Process until fairly smooth, scraping down sides as needed. With machine running, use the feed tube and add the olive oil in a thin stream until pesto is to your liking. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve at once.

Leftover can be stored in a small glass jar. Pour a little additional olive oil gently to create a thin layer of oil on top of the pesto. This keep air out and prevents the pesto from turning brown.

Shrimp on the Barbie

Sweetie absolutely loves shrimp. When we go to Costco he always buys some cooked shrimp to have for lunch that week. They cook the kind he likes with garlic and butter, so I have something else for lunch, but I like shrimp, too, so sometimes we get the plain kind with cocktail sauce for dipping.

Last night we had a made-up recipe BBQ Shrimp. The marinade is the made up part, since the shrimp were purchased already cleaned and with all the shell except for the very last part of the tail removed.

The marinade used both regular and Meyer lemons because that's what I had on hand. I used Penzey's Spices Greek Seasoning blend, which contains salt and pepper, garlic, dried lemon peel, oregano and marjoram, all great flavors for shrimp. If you don't have that, season the marinade to taste with minced garlic, dried oregano and marjoram, salt and pepper as well as the lemon juice.

I marinated the shrimp for about a half hour, 15 minutes, then I turned the bag over for another 15. Much longer and you start 'cooking' the shrimp with the acid in the lemon juice, like with ceviche.

While the shrimp were marinating, I soaked wooden skewers in water. Once it was time to cook the shrimp, I threaded them on the skewers, starting with the tail end and going through the largest part last. The marinade also had olive oil in it, so all Sweetie had to do was put them on the barbie and make sure to not overcook them. Shrimp only needs a couple of minutes per side.

We had them with grilled zucchini from the garden, sliced tomato from the garden dressed with olive oil, garlic and pepper and balsamic vinegar, and store bought potato salad. It was close to 90 in our neck of the woods yesterday and still around 80 when Sweetie was barbecuing, so only having to be out in it for a short time was perfect.

The shrimp were moist and succulent and lightly flavored with the citrus and herbs. These would work well as an appetizer, too. You could have a thin slice of cucumber or zucchini, pepper, a dab of yogurt or smashed avocado and a shrimp on top.

Hope that you are staying cool (or warm the the Southern hemisphere) and enjoying the summer.

Shrimp with Citrus Marinade

1 pound shrimp, cleaned and shell removed except for tail, rinsed and drained
juice of two lemons
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Penzey's Greek Seasoning blend
or
to taste: salt, pepper, lemon zest, garlic, dried oregano, dried marjoram

In a large ziploc bag place the lemon juice, olive oil and seasoning(s). Shake to distribute and let sit five minutes for the herbs to rehydrate.

Add the shrimp and shake to coat with the marinade. Lay the bag flat and make sure that the shrimp are in one layer. Let marinate for 15 minutes. Turn the bag over and marinate for another 15 minutes.

While the shrimp is marinating, soak 6-8 wooden skewers in water ( I used a broiler pan, but a rimmed baking pan would work, too) for at least 30 minutes. You can soak them longer if you like, but the shrimp cooks so quickly that 30 minutes seems to be enough.

Once the shrimp have marinated for 30 minutes, remove from the marinade. Discard the marinade. Thread the shrimp on the skewers, starting with the tail end, just above the shell and being sure to pierce the upper part of the shrimp. This will make curled shrimp, which is what they do when they cook anyway. I put five on a skewer, but you may do more or less depending on the size of your shrimp.

Grill on a preheated barbeque for about 2 minutes per side. Cooked shrimp will be opaque and pink. Don't overcook. Serve at once with lemon wedges and/or cocktail sauce, although we had them just as they came off the grill and they were delicious that way!

The Deck and the Garden

Recipes have been scarce on this blog for a while and posts, too. I blame our work on the back deck. Sweetie and I have been spending every day for the last two weeks (minus, for me, the three days last weekend when I was in LA) taking apart the old deck and refurbishing it, then putting down new deck boards and putting in new posts for railing. As is normal in the summer, this has been hot work. By dinner time there is no energy for new recipes, either savory or sweet.

We have house painters coming on Monday, so we have stopped the deck work for a while (although we might work on railings) and our perseverance paid off. Both the lower and the middle deck are done, leaving only the steps, railings, and some of the upper deck! Exciting. Here is how it looks:

It might not look like much, but the larger deck is 11 x 16 feet.

The garden is the other thing that has my attention. The squash, cucumbers, beans and...finally!...tomatoes are gradually ready to harvest (see top photo for all but beans), but I find that I need to harvest the beans daily in  order to have beans that aren't huge and tough. The basil is getting big, too. The flowers are also a joy, but need deadheading and today I began the process of weeding out the old, spent wildflowers and trimming the tops off the iris leaves. Soon it will be time to put down more bark chip mulch, too. It's certainly needed near the potted zinnia and flax in the photo below. Someone gave me a sign that says, "A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever" and they spoke the truth.

Tonight we are having grilled shrimp, grilled planks of zucchini squash, sliced tomatoes with balsamic, olive oil and basil chiffonade so maybe I'll have a shrimp recipe to post soon.

Surf

When I first started to blog, waaaaaay back in 2006, a popular pastime was to 'surf the web'. There was a lot less on the internet and not so much in the way of social media that there is now...no Twitter, no Instagram or Snapchat for instance. People had more time to just wander around from link to link and check things out.

Recently when I was looking for a recipe on my blog (which is not easy since I have been truly terrible at keeping up any kind of current recipe index...sorry) I started really looking at, and in some cases reading, old posts from years ago. It was fun! My sister recently did the same thing and told me that she really enjoyed reading some of my old posts. So I checked my stats and found that only one post in the top 10 was older than 2018. Most people looking at this blog are only reading the most recent posts. I'm glad that you are visiting, but do consider wandering around and seeing what else is here. I've posted over 1,000 recipes over the years. A lot of them are for bread, cake, cookies and scones, but there are plenty of others, too.

Don't know how to check out the old posts? Find the 'view web version' link, usually at the bottom of the posts that your computer, browser, or phone shows. If you click on that it takes you to the version which included my flawed recipe index (which looks like a photo of a table set for dinner...just click on the photo to go to the index) on the right, plus a set of links for each year I've blogged. If you click on the triangle to the left of the year, all the months in that year are listed. Click on the triangle to the left of the month and all the posts in the month appear.

Here are some links...match them with the photos above and at the top of the post, then check them out if they look interesting and look at a few posts before or after to get your 'surf' going!!

96-Proof Chocolate Bundt Cake,  8 Ingredient Mediterranean Couscous Salad,  Grilled Cheese and Basil Polenta, Quiche with Swiss Chard, Swiss Cheese and Bacon, Stuffed with Berries Summer Pudding

So try it sometime; surf this blog and see what you find. Make a comment if you find something that has an error (I know there must be some) or that you really enjoy. I look forward to hearing from you!

Lemon Sheet Cake #TheCakeSliceBakers

A little late to the party, but summer is never an easy time to find the right time to bake. As usual, we have a project for the house going on. This July it's a refurbishment of the back deck, which is a three level affair connected by steps. Sweetie and I built it together over 25 years ago, so it has aged enough to no longer be beautiful, nor totally safe.

Today we stopped early enough that I whipped up the Lemon Sheet Cake from The Perfect Cake cookbook (no 'buttermilk' in the title since I didn't use buttermilk). Except for using non-dairy margarine and soy creamer as substitutes for the butter and buttermilk, I followed the recipe exactly. Those substitutions are necessary if I'm going to eat any of the cake, and I soooo enjoyed this cake that I'm glad I did.

This cake is tender, moist and has a heavenly true lemon flavor. The crumb is fairly tight and the crust delicate. I love the lemon sugar glaze even though it does make the cake pretty sweet. The sprinkle of lemon zest enriched granulated sugar over the glaze adds just the right touch of crunch, and even more lemon appeal and sweetness.

Allow some time at the beginning to zest and juice the lemons...takes 5-10 minutes, but is well worth the effort. Otherwise this is a fairly basic cake recipe where you cream the butter with the sugar that has been enriched with the lemon zest, then you add eggs, then the dry ingredients in three parts and the wet ingredients in two parts, with the dry added last. Using cake flour is wonderful since it makes the cake delicate and tender.

I know that quite a few Cake Slice Bakers also make this recipe. Who can blame them? This cake if just fine by itself and even better with a few ripe strawberries or raspberries or blackberries or blueberries and since this is berry season that's easy to do. I added a few  strawberries from our garden and it was the perfect summer treat with the luscious lemon cake!

Do visit the other Cake Slice Bakers to see how their cakes turned out. There is at least on who did the cake pops and one who did the almond meringue layers with fruit. No recipe, but do consider buying the book because every recipe so far has been flawless.

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through.  This year it is The Perfect Cake from America's Test Kitchen #atkcake.  We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook,  Instagram, and  Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes, or visit our blog where the links are updated each month. If you are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers are baking from a new book "The Perfect Cake" from America's Test Kitchen.

Our choices this month are...

1. Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake
2. Apricot-Almond Meringue Cake
3. Refined Strawberry Shortcake
4. Party Cake Pops

Visit our members to see what cake choice they baked up! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Screwing Around

Time can be a destroyer or a healer...strange that it works both ways.

This month we are focused on the destroyer aspect as Sweetie and I have begun to rebuild the back deck that we first built together over 25 years ago. Many rainstorms and lots of sun have aged the wood and in some cases weakened it. It's sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. We take some of the old apart and figure out what can stay and what needs replacing and if anything can be improved on in the process. So far we have added a couple of posts for additional handrails,  a bow to our advancing age...the deck isn't the only thing that has been affected by time. We've also decided to try leaving off a railing on the lower level and to leave off a step connecting the middle level with the lower level. There are still steps to each, but we were often a bit anxious about it when we had folks seated at tables on the middle level...so easy to scoot a chair too far back and have it go lower unexpectedly. Now there will be railing around much of the middle level which will actually feel nicer.

Twenty five or so years ago the quality of redwood available for decks was far superior to what is around today. We checked out a number of suppliers and none of them had anything as clear or with few small knots like there was then. It's too bad, but I suspect that with the major fires last October, there has been a run on materials and it's hard to keep up with demand.

We have discovered that we can also only work about 4-5 hours a day on the deck instead of 7-9 when we were so much younger. Being retired means that it really doesn't matter. Pi doggie really enjoys having us there since hanging out on the upper back deck has been his preference for many months now. He is keeping an eye on us and making sure we do good work.

I do hope to post a lovely cake in the next day or two since the 20th of the month is reveal day for the Cake Slice Bakers. Probably won't have a ton of other posts on food since the project takes precedence over baking and most cooking, too.

The healing aspect of time has been in evidence lately, too. On Tuesday we remembered our son Max, lost 19 years ago on July 17th in an auto accident. The loss is still great and sometimes overwhelming, but the years have taught us how to deal with it and healing has happened, too. Come August 12th, his birthday, we will celebrate all that he meant to us and to others while he was alive. In the meantime, we miss you Max, every day.

Singing Hinnies with the Bread Baking Babes

This has been a hot summer for us. Lots of days in the high 80s, the 90s, even a couple triple digits ones. As you might note if you look at other recent posts, not a lot of baking is going on. When it was time for me to select a recipe for July as the Bread Baking Babes Kitchen of the Month, I decided to go with something that didn't require an oven. I'm not the only one of us contending with high temperatures!

One of the oddly named recipes that I have been meaning to try for a while is Singing Hinnies. So for July we will be making Singing Hinnies. What on earth are those you might wonder. Well, they are a scone-like griddled bread from Northumberland in Northern England.

"There are many thoughts about the derivation of the name but I’m sure it is the noise they make as they cook.  Apparently a mother explained to her daughter that they would soon be ready as she could hear them singing.  She then referred to her daughter as ‘hinnie’ – a Northumbrian term of endearment, hence the ‘singin’ hinnie’." Thus wrote Laura Fitzpatrick of the blog Hello Eco Living. 

I mainly used her recipe, with a few variations, plus there are suggestions below for making your own changes. If you are going to be a Bread Baking Buddy, and I hope that you do that, the only requirement is that they are scone-like and contain a fruit like currants or raisins and that they are cooked by griddling.

They are the perfect breakfast  or tea time treat and come together in less than 30 minutes using pantry staples. You can use all butter or margarine, or use part butter and part lard if you have a good supplier of lard. You can use a food processor to pulse the cold fat into the flour mixture before adding the currants and mixing the rest by hand in a bowl, or use the traditional method of rubbing the fat in by hand or cutting it in using a pastry cutter or two knives...your choice.

Another choice is to add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to the flour mixture and then add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the milk before adding it to the flour mixture after the fat is cut in. This will probably produce a slightly higher singing hinnie, but it might take longer to cook. A key element here is a cast iron skillet or a griddle or similar cooking surface that is heated on a low heat. Mine was at the perfect temperature when, as I flipped the hinnies to the second side, they 'sang' from the fat particles hitting the hot griddle. That will happen if it is too hot, also, but not if the heat is too low (which is what I had at first...that's how I know).

Do handle the dough lightly and minimally as you would a scone or biscuit mixture to keep them from being tough. Cut straight down with your round cutter and don't twist so that they will rise well. I found that I needed a full 9 tablespoons of milk to wet the dry ingredients so that they would hold together to be rolled out. I rolled them to a half inch thickness. They do puff up a bit when they cook and thicker might make it harder to griddle them fully without burning the outsides.

These are delightful, rather like a rich but thinner scone. The griddled part gets a nice browned butter flavor and the currants give a bit of sweetness. I used a small fork to split a couple of them and added more butter, but decided that I preferred them unsplit, just as they are when they come off the griddle. They are very tender on the inside and just a bit crisp on the outside. Do eat them while still warm! Jam and butter are optional. Tea goes really well with these.

Be sure to check out the other Bread Baking Babes for their take on this rich little goodie. If you go to Web View of this blog, the links to their blogs are on the right, down a little way.

If you'd like to become a Buddy and get one the beautiful badges that Elizabeth created (similar to the one above), just email me at plachman at sonic dot net with a photo and the URL of your post, plus a brief description of your experience making these. The deadline is July 29th. I'll try to post the roundup on August 1.

Singing Hinnies

225grams (8ozs) plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 grams (4ozs) butter (or margarine)
50 grams (2ozs) currants
Milk to mix to a dough (about 6-9 tablespoons)

Sift the flour and baking powder (and baking soda if using) into a bowl.  Rub in the fat (or cut in with pastry blender or two knives) and stir in the currants.  Add enough milk to make a dough.  Roll out onto a floured tray or board and cut with scone or biscuit cutter into rounds of chosen size, usually about 3 inches wide.

Heat pan (griddle or cast iron skillet work well) and lightly grease.  Place scones onto griddle on a very low heat so that the scones can cook very slowly.  Turn once and cook on other side.  To check that they are cooked remove one of the scones and tap it gently – it should sound hollow. The top and bottom should be browned but not burnt.

Serve warm, either split and buttered, or not. Strawberry jam should be great with these.

Finished Painting

Just realized that I never posted the finished sea painting that I did for K.  She was here just after the 4th of July for a visit, but taking it home on the plane (the plan) wasn't feasible once we factored in Uber for the ride home from the airport. Too many large items to juggle. The painting about three feet high and 54 inches wide, in three panels. One day soon Sweetie and I will attach the hanging wired to each of the three panels, snug it up in bubble wrap, secure it in a cardboard box and mail it UPS, with fingers crossed.

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I struggled for so long to figure out how to make it a painting I could love.

English Muffins

Usually I give gifts to folks having a birthday...or at least a card...but I rarely receive a gift from the birthday boy or girl. I guess that just goes to show you that I know have the best friend ever. We met for coffee and tea for her birthday and she arrived with a charming packet, wrapped in a checked cloth, which was a gift for Sweetie and me. Of course I had a card and gift for her, but this was unexpected to also get a gift and it was such a great gift...homemade English Muffins.

K was home, so we enjoyed them for breakfast with a nice fruit salad and some tea and coffee and peach preserves. Delicious!

Since I didn't make them I don't have the recipe. Michele did a wonderful job. They had no dairy and were perfect after their time in the toaster after being split in half.

The sun was shining and we ate outside and enjoyed the summer garden with all the colors of the flowers. Thank you Michele!

Blueberry Muffins - #TheCakeSliceBakers extra

Since the late fall The Cake Slice Bakers have been baking from The Perfect Cake and posting on or after the 20th of the month. Often we have also had another cake cookbook to choose a recipe from with the rule being that it has to be posted by the 19th of the month. Something has always gotten in the way of my baking that extra recipe, but this month, July, I did!  Happy 4th of July!

I love to bake with seasonal fruits. July is the season for blueberries and our market had them on sale, too. Lovely, purple-blue fat juicy blueberries seemed perfect for blueberry muffins. Our 'extra' cookbook, Maida Heatter's Cakes has a great recipe for blueberry muffins. Muffins are, essentially, small cakes. I made that even more apparent by baking them in giant muffin tins. The muffins came out of the pan looking like little cakes bursting with cooked blueberries and their juices, with a nice browned top and tender interior.

As I often do, I made a few changes. Besides the size of the pans, I also substituted 1/2 cup almond flour (finely ground blanched almonds) for the same amount of flour. Instead of adding the lemon zest with the wet ingredients, I rubbed the zest into the sugar before adding the sugar/zest to the dry ingredients. Since dairy is a no-no for me, I used soy milk instead of regular milk and non-dairy margarine, melted, instead of the melted butter. Finally, I sprinkled some sanding sugar over the tops of the unbaked muffins right before they went into the oven.

When I was younger and could burn off the calories more quickly, I would have blueberry muffins quite a few times in the summer when they are in season. Now I'll probably only have them this one time... a much appreciated seasonal treat. We'll still enjoy them with our morning yogurt or cereal of course and in a fruit mixture with other delicious summer fruits. But blueberry muffins this good should be baked often, so, dear reader, it's up to you. They do freeze well after all. Just remember, when mixing the wet into the dry ingredients, mix as little as possible and gently for the most tender, delicious blueberry muffins!

Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 regular or about 5 super sized

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour (finely ground blanched almonds)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons (half stick, 1/4 cup) butter or margarine, melted and cooled a bit
1/2 cup milk or soy milk or almond milk
about 1 tablespoon sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Oven rack should be in center of oven. Use paper liners if you desire, or butter the muffins cups, even if pans are nonstick.

In a very large mixing bowl, combine the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Pour the granulated sugar in a mound over this combination and add the grated lemon zest on top of the sugar. Using clean fingers, rub the zest into the sugar. You will smell the lemon oils being released into the sugar and will see the sugar become moist. Once zest is rubbed in, whisk all the dry ingredients together until fully combined. Add the dry blueberries and use your finger to lightly mix them with the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In a small bowl place the lightly beaten egg. Add the butter and milk and use a fork to combine thoroughly. Gently make a well in the dry ingredients center and pour in the wet ingredient combination. Using the fork, gently and quickly combine the wet and dry using as few strokes as possible until just mixed.

Use a small measuring cup or disher to fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with the batter. If desired, lightly sprinkle the tops with sanding sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Test for doneness. Pressing lightly on the tops in the center will cause them to spring back after pressing when done. If needed bake another 2-5 minutes.

Place baked muffins, in tin(s), on a cooling rack for ten minutes. Use a table knife or small offset spatula to carefully remove the muffins from the tin and set them right side up. Muffins in paper cups will be easy to remove, but you may need to use the knife if they have stuck to the tin.

Serve warm or cooled. Usually no additional butter is necessary.

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