Cake Au Citron

Cake Au Citron

2-1/4 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
5 large eggs
1-1/2 cups Vanilla Sugar
3/4 cup creme fraiche or heavy cream
7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest of 4 lemons

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-1/2" loaf pans.

2. Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside.

3. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine the eggs and sugar and mix til well blended. With the mixer at low speed, slowly add, in this order, the creme fraiche, the flour and the baking powder mixture, the melted butter, the lemon juice, and the lemon zest. Beat until very smooth.

4. Divide the batter evenly between the loaf pans. Place the pans in the center of the oven and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

5. Remove from the oven and cool in the pans on the rack. To serve, unmold and cut the loaves into thin slices. This cake can be stored, carefully covered with plastic wrap, for several days.

Yield: 2 loaves

posted by June
(12/24/99)

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Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

By Penny Padgett

Bread:
3 tbsp fresh poppy seeds
1/2 cup milk
5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
grated zest of 2 lemons
1/4 tsp salt

Lemon syrup:
1/4 cup sugar + 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

(I interpret "fresh" to mean "not rancid." I suppose if you could get real, fresh poppy seeds, they would be even better.)

In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine milk and poppy seeds. Let stand one hour.

Preheat oven to 325°F. and grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Combine flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt in small bowl. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture in three equal portions, alternating with poppy seed milk. Beat until just smooth.

Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake in center of preheated oven for 55-65 minutes, until loaf is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Place loaf, in pan, on cooling rack.

Make lemon syrup: combine sugar and lemon juice in small saucepan and heat just until sugar dissolves.

Pierce hot loaf about 12 times with bamboo skewer or cake tester. Immediately pour hot syrup over loaf. Cool 30 minutes; turn out of pan onto rack to cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature before serving.

Note: I skipped the poppy seeds.

posted by June
(12/24/99)

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Lemon Curd Coffee Cake

Lemon Curd Coffee Cake
by Joel Ehrlich
Servings: 8

1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
1/4 cup warm Water
1/3 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1/2 tsp Lemon Rind, grated
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
2-3/4 cups white Flour
1/3 cup Butter, softened
1 Egg
3/4 cup ready-made Lemon Curd
Walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 360°F. Soak the yeast in the warm (105°F-115°F) water until dissolved. Add the sugar. Mix well.

Heat the sour cream until warm. Add to the yeast mixture along with the lemon rind and salt. Beat in the first measure of eggs. Add enough of the flour to make a soft dough. Beat the butter into the dough.

Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead until smooth (6-7 minutes). Place the dough in a lightly buttered bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in bulk (45-60 minutes). Punch down.

Roll out on a floured board to form an 18" x 12" rectangle. Spread the lemon curd on the dough, leaving a 3/4" border on all sides. Carefully roll up the dough. Slice into 3-1/2" thick slices. Place the rolls in a well greased (8") pie pan in a circle. Let rise for about 30 minutes. Lightly beat the second measure of egg. Brush the cake with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with nuts.

Bake for about 30 minutes.

posted by June
(12/24/99)

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Lemon Cranberry Muffins

Lemon Cranberry Muffins

by Idlewild
Servings: 12

1 stick butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 lemons (zest and juice)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups (to 2 cups) dried cranberries
2 tbsp sugar

Cream together butter and 3/4 cup sugar. Add lemon zest, eggs, and vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Into the creamed mixture, alternate adding the flour mixture with 1 cup of milk and stir just until blended. Fold in berries. Spoon into 12 lined or greased muffin cups.

Bake at 375°F for 25 minutes. Mix lemon juice with 2 tbsp sugar over low heat until sugar melts. Paint muffin tops with glaze. If possible, serve warm.

posted by June
(12/24/99)

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Lemon Cake Cookies

Lemon Cake Cookies

by Judy Rosenberg, "All Butter, Fresh Cream... Baking Book"
Servings: 18

Cookies:
2-1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
9 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 egg yolks
1 egg (whole)
1-1/4 cups sour cream

Glaze:
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice

Cookies:
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together dry ingredients, set aside. Cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Add eggs, blend. Add sour cream, blend. Fold in dry ingredients, mix until smooth.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheets. Bake until cookies are just beginning to brown (about 12 min.). Cool on a rack.

Glaze:
Melt butter over low heat. Add sugar and juice, whisk until smooth. Brush the glaze onto cooled cookies, let sit until glaze hardens (several hours). Cookies can be refrigerated to speed setting time.

posted by June
(12/24/99)

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Alden Amos' Cornish Pasties or Devonshire Letters from Home

Alden Amos' Cornish Pasties, or Devonshire "Letters from Home"

This is a Welsh coal-mining version of pasty from the Cardiff area, along the Bristol Channel. Recipe makes 4 nice big pasties, plus little 'dibbles' left over to treat the apron rats that hang out in the kitchen.. the dibbles (little bits of pasty dough) were rolled in sugar and tossed into the oven while the pasties were being made. They came out (amidst squealing and cheering) when the pasties went in.
Warning: this recipe is neither politically correct nor non-fattening but goddam is it good...

Pasty crust:
3 cups of unbleached flour (all-purpose works fine)
1/2 tbsp salt
1 cup of shortening, lard, vegetable, bacon fat, or unsalted butter
Ice cold water to work (not much!)

Cut the shortening into the flour/salt until as fine as cornmeal; drool in just enough ice water to make a stiff dough; knead as little as possible, but enough to work into a dough (Hint: the more you flog the dough, the tougher it will be as a crust). Put in covered bowl and age in fridge for a couple of hours, or at least until you make the filling, etc.

The Pasty Filling ("the meat of the matter"): You will need about 1/2 cup of filling per pasty, so adjust accordingly. Two rules to remember - the filling needs to be finished cooking when the crust is golden done; and real juicy is out (unless, as gramma put it, you are making them for someone you don't like.). So here's a basic filling for 4 nice pasties:

Pasty filling:
1/2 cup finely chopped beef
1/2 cup finely chopped pork
1/4 cup grated/finely chopped onion - the stronger the onion, the better.
3/4 cup grated or finely chopped potato
Salt, pepper and butter

Meat Variations: Turkey and oysters; ham and chopped liver; ham and cheese; beef and mutton, bacon and chicken, and so forth. Just keep the same basic proportions, including the veggies.

Veggie Variations: Bear in mind Gramma's "juicy" rule, above. Good combos are onions and drained kraut; apples and walnuts; apples and garlic; carrots and cauliflower; mushrooms and green peas ... but for a Welshman, there must be onions. Ok, leeks if you wanna be authentic. But always onions.

Assembling an original Welsh/Cornish Pasty:
Step 1: Drink a pint of best bitters. Light the oven, set for 350° F, or as Gramma would say, moderate'.

Step 2: Draw another pint for future reference.

Step 3: Retrieve the dough from the coldbox.

Step 4: Roll it out to make four flats, each one about 6" by 10", roughly rectangular, and 1/4"+ thick. The odd little bits are the dibbles, & now is the time to process those.

Step 4.5: Make the dibbles about the size of silver dollars.. press each into a saucer/plate covered with brown sugar and cinnamon/ginger mix, your choice. Do both sides. Stick on greased cookie sheet, stick in oven, & in 10 minutes or so you may treat the famished horde about your feet.

Step 5: Keeping fair proportions in mind, arrange the filling across the middle of each pasty blank. Work across the 6-inch way. For each pasty: put a layer of meat, a layer of veggie stuff, a layer of meat, a layer of veggie stuff, until you have used up about 1/4 of your filling. Salt and pepper each layer, and put a pat of butter on the top.

Step 6: Consult your pint of bitter.

Step 7: Now, fold, pinch & otherwise seal up your pasties.. Actually try to make them look like nice thick letters such as you would get in the mail. Place on a (very lightly greased) baking pan, on foil if you are so inclined (Sometimes they do leak!), wait for the oven to catch up a little, then stick 'em in there.

Step 8: Get another pint of best bitter. Set your timer for 45 minutes. If all goes well, even before the timer goes off, perfect strangers will come to your door, wanting to know what that wonderful aroma is.

Step 9: Serve 'em up, with potato/corn chowder, or tomato soup.. follow up with yohgurt(*) and apple sauce, mixed 1/2 and 1/2.

Condiments: the default is strong mustard, with horse-radish being favored to the north. Wasabi or Japanese horse-radish (that green explosive powdered stuff) is great with the saltier versions of filling. My favorite wasabi is Strangling Samurai Death & Thunder brand.

Modern stuff: If you want to freeze them for later use, partially or mostly precook the fillings before making up the pasties. Also, only bake for 30 minutes. Chill as soon as possible, like straight into the freezer? When ready to use, go from freezer to 450° F oven for 20+ minutes, or until edible.

Microwave? I have no idea.

Enjoy! Rupert the Round and Jolly
(*) How many spellings do YOU know for yogurt?
(12/24/99)

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Finnish Miner's Pasties, and Meat and Apple Pasties

Carol in the Flatlands' Finnish Miner's Pasties, and Meat and Apple Pasties
Makes 8 Servings

Yup, pronounced Pahsties (food), Paysties (stick on your nips). Here's the Upper Peninsula Recipe.

1 cup lard or shortening
1-1/4 cup boiling water
1 tsp salt
4-1/2 - 5 cups flour

Filling
4 med potatoes, pared and diced into 1/2" pieces
1 cup raw carrots, diced into 1/2" pieces
1 lg. onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1-1/2 lb. top round of beef, cut into 1/2" pieces

Mix lard or shortening with boiling water and salt in mixing bowl; stir until lard is melted. Add flour to make a stiff dough. Chill 1 hour or more. Divide into 8 parts. Roll each part out to make a circle about 10" in diameter.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease and flour the baking sheet.

Toss potatoes, carrots, onion, salt, pepper and beef together in bowl. Put 1 cup of the mixture on one side of each pastry circle. Lift other side of the pastry over to cover the filling, making a half circle. Crimp the edges and pierce the top of the pastry to make steam vents. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake pastries 1 hour or until golden. Serve hot, cooled to room temp, or refrigerate or freeze.

Reheat before serving if chilled or frozen, about 15 min. in a 300° F oven or until heated through.

Meat and Apple Pasties
(this was done to create a complete meal for the miners in the UP.)

1 recipe of Miner's Pasties, including meat filling

Apple Filling:
4 med apples, pared, cored and sliced into 12 wedges each
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven same, baking sheet same, pastry the same but roll out an oval 11" long and 8"across.

Combine meat filling ingredients. Put 1 cup on one end of the oval (in the center of the end), leaving the other end for the apple filling, and leaving about 2" uncovered at the edges of the pastry.

In another bowl, combine the apple filling ingredients. Arrange 6 wedges in a little pile on the empty side of the pastry oval, next to the meat and potato filling. Gentle lift pastry edge up around meat and apple filling. Pinch same firmly lengthwise across the top of the pastry, to make a seam about 1/2" tall. Pinch with 2 fingers and thumb to make a pretty rope-like design. Place a toothpick on the end of the pasty designating the apple end. Bake 1 hour or until golden.

Serve hot...

Grand Larseney
(12/23/99)

Pasties Lore:

They're meat pies (sort of like turnovers) with (if they are done right) a flakey crust filled with chopped beef with diced onion, carrot, potato and turnip (or rutabaga -- never both), lots of pepper, then baked. One weighs about 5 lbs and can feed a third-world country. (ok, slight exaggeration, 1 lb and can feed my husband). Pouring gravy, catsup or anything else on top is bordering on sacrilege.
sue

Way back when the Welsh men and Cornish men were coming over to the US to work in the mines, they brought the idea of pasties with them. Pasties are squares of pie dough filled with potatoes, meat-minced or ground and turnips. The dough is then turned over the top of the filling to make a triangle and then sealed much like the top crust of a pie is sealed to the bottom. They look like a big turnover. Then they are baked until done This is a portable and filling sandwich that the men took to work for their lunch.
Marian

And the thick pastry edge was supposedly so the miners, down the pit with dirty hands and nowhere to wash them, could hold the pasty by the edge, eat the rest of it, then throw the bit of dirty pastry rim away without having wasted any of the filling.
Jenny K (in England)

As soon as deer season starts, and SOMEONE gets one, I will be making pasties with venison, for the freezer(if they don't get eaten first). Our church has a harvest auction each fall and I usually make some for that. They usually raise a lot of money, via a bidding war. We HAVE to use rutabagas, potatoes, onions, and meat, and seasoned with salt and pepper only, according to my DH's Finlander family. (I sometimes take liberty with the seasoning)
Gail

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Fireproofing Fabric

Fireproofing Fabric

I bought a 1978 magazine that has a recipe for fireproofing, ( a fabric retardant, really), fabrics, I would think you could use this on skeins, etc.?

7 oz borax
3 oz boric acid
2 quarts hot water

Dissolve boric acid by making a paste with a little water. Add the Borax and the remaining water and stir until clear.

The fabric may be dipped in the solution, sprayed, or sprinkled.

I did this to my cloths for my display stands when I was a potter/sculptor at the Renaissance Faires. I found it effective, though you have to reapply after laundering.

Debbi
(12/22/99)

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Hot Water Pie Crust

Stephenie's No Fail Pie Crust from the Old "Joy of Cooking"

Hot Water Pie Crust

1/2 cup lard (or veg shortening)
1/4 cup boiling water.

Pour boiling water over the lard and beat until cool and creamy.

Chill this if you can. (Put in freezer)

Add:
1-1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (I leave this out and it works)
1/2 tsp salt

Combine ingredients until it makes a rough ball. Chill if you have the time. Then divide in half and roll out between two sheets of wax paper.

This makes a crust with top.

Enjoy!

Stephenie
(12/20/99)

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Roberta's Great Grandmom's Pie Crust

Roberta's Great Grandmom's Pie Crust

This is a recipe handed down from my great grandmom - was the best damn pie maker in Canada! It makes a large batch, enough for 6 or 7 crusts. If you're not making a bunch of pies at once just freeze the rest of the dough. I usually roll it out into those tinfoil pie plates and freeze. Then you can just pull them out of the freezer, throw your filling in and voila!

5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 cups lard

In a cup beat 1 egg and 2 tbsp vinegar, add enough water to make 1 cup.

Add egg and water mixture to the flour mixture. Use a pastry cutter to combine. The less rolling and handling the better the pastry will turn out.

Roberta
(12/20/99)

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Jen's Stegasaurus Pies (aka Cornish Pasties)

Jen's Stegosaurus Pies (aka Cornish Pasties)

• Shortcrust pastry, cut into rounds.
• Cubed beef (small cubes, almost diced)
• diced onion
• diced potato
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• minced garlic
• egg wash

Cut the pastry into circles about the size of a saucer (4" dia.? 5"?). Place filling ingredients in a line down the middle of the circle. Brush egg wash round the edge of the circle. Fold the sides up towards the middle, crimp together (the stegosaurus part). Pierce with a fork so the steam can escape

Brush with egg wash if desired. Bake at 325º F for about 30 minutes (until pastry is done)

I find about 1oz. each of meat, onion and potato makes about the right amount of filling for the size of pasties I make. Too full and they explode, not enough filling and they look kinda mean. *g* The pastry needs to be fairly thin, but not so thin it will tear. You can make your own from scratch or you can buy prepared pie crust and use that...

Some people add carrots or turnip, I prefer not to. Parsnips tend to make it rather sweet, though some people like them too. You could make a vegetarian version with carrots, potato, turnip and parsnip though.

Haven't tried that yet.

Other alternative fillings included sliced apple with brown sugar and ginger, plums or plum and apple mix, even jam/jelly can be used for sweet pasties.

Eat them hot or cold, enjoy!!!

Jen

(12/20/99)

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Chocolate Chip Cream Scones

Chocolate Chip Cream Scones

p252, "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman
Makes 10 or more scones
Time: 20 minutes

2 cups (about 9oz) all purpose or cake flour, plus more as needed
1 scant tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp cold butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream*
1/3 cup chocolate chips (original recipe calls for currants or raisins but
you can do chocolate chips; I have and it works just fine)
1 tbsp water

*Do NOT use milk; scones are just biscuits made with cream so if you use milk, you're just making biscuits!

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or food processor, reserving 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Cut the butter into bits and either pulse it in the food processor (the easiest) or pick up a bit of the dry ingredients, rub them with the butter between your fingers, and drop them again. All the butter should be thoroughly blended before proceeding.

Beat 2 of the eggs with the cream; with a few swift strokes combine them with the dry ingredients. Use only a few strokes to stir in the chocolate chips. (This is to prevent the flour gluten from developing too much - the idea is flaky, not chewy.)

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it ten times; no more. If it is very sticky, add a little flour, but very little; don't worry if it sticks a bit to your hands.

Press the dough into a 3/4" thick rectangle and cut into 2" rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass. Place the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet.  gently reshape the leftover dough and cut again; this recipe will produce 10 to 14 biscuits.

Beat the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon of water, and brush the top of each scone; sprinkle with a little of the remaining sugar.

Bake 7 to 9 minutes, or until the scones are a beautiful golden brown. These keep better than biscuits but should still be eaten the same day you make them.

Jen
(12/18/99)

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Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Yippee! I'm going to the party (even if I can't spell it!). I will wear flame retardant wool and eat my favorite bread pudding with whiskey sauce (recipe to follow) of which there will likely be more sauce than pudding

Bread Pudding

1/2 cup Butter
2 cup Milk
2 Eggs
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Raisins
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Salt

Stale bread - cubed or whatever

Fill a 3 or 4 quart casserole dish with bread cubes.

Combine first 9 ingredients and pour over bread.

Bake in 350°F oven for 30 to 45 minutes until set. Serve warm with Whiskey Sauce.

Whiskey Sauce

1/2 cup Butter
2 cups Sugar
2 Eggs, beaten
1/4 to 1/3 cup Whiskey, Bourbon, or Rum (whatever your pleasure!)
1 cup Milk

Melt butter and sugar in saucepan. Remove from heat and stir into eggs. Add bourbon and milk and stir well. (Will thicken a bit when cooled).

Roberta (off to have a wee spot of port and watch the snow swirl around in the wind! Will gladly direct some of that snow your way Claudia!!)
(12/18/99)

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Anne's Chocolate Chip Cookies (Hearty)

Anne's Chocolate Chip Cookies (Hearty)

Cream together:
1 lb. of butter
4 cups brown sugar {dark or dark/light mixed}

Beat in:
5 eggs {6 if they're smaller}
3 or more tbsp *real* vanilla {don't use fake stuff!}

Sift together:
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt {or a little more}
2 tsp baking soda
a little nutmeg if you like it

And add to the butter sugar egg mixture. This will be a very stiff batter.

Add:
4 cups rolled oats
4 cups Wheaties cereal {or wheat-based equivalent *not* cornflakes!}
2 pkg chocolate chips {semi-sweet or milk choc. or mix...}
Nuts if you like them {1-1/2 cups walnuts or pecans}

Mix thoroughly.

Use about 2 tbsp batter per cookie, 12 to a standard-sized sheet. Bake 8 - 12 min {or a little longer if necessary} at 350°F. Makes a bunch but they never seem to last...

8 dozen of these lasted about 20 minutes at a JP Aerospace work session!

Good luck
Anne
(12/17/99)

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Peanut Butter-Stuffed Jalapenos

Peanut Butter-Stuffed Jalapenos

The perfect appetizer for wild game. Wait...don't gag...they are great and not that hot!

Take pickled jalapenos, the thick walled kind, slice long ways and remove seeds and stuff with peanut butter.

Make sure you eat the whole thing in the first bite. Excellent with margaritas, venison, elk or bison.
...AND NO I AM NOT A BLOODTHIRSTY CLUB CARRYING CAVEMAN, sometimes I just eat like one. I'm not kidding-they ARE good!!

elaine in northern colorado
(12/16/99)

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Mary's Broccoli and Pasta

Mary's Broccoli and Pasta

Was it the recipe for broccoli and pasta? If so it's a snap.

Cook the broccoli, a pound or more, in medium sized pieces, but not too done. A little crunch is OK.

While the broccoli is cooking you can also start the pasta water.

Take a hot chile pepper. We bought a whole plant from a neighbor, and hung it in the kitchen. Failing the neighbor's plant, you could use some hot chile flakes. Or add cayenne but not at the start of the recipe.

Cut the stem off the pepper, and slice in half. Remove seeds and inner membrane. Or leave in if you want it hotter. Chop the pepper coarsely.

Heat some olive oil (don't use expensive extra virgin, all the aroma will cook away, or use canola) in a small pot, maybe a butter melter. Heat the pepper gently, ok if it browns a little.

While it's heating, chop a couple of garlic cloves finely. Add to the oil. When it's cooked, set aside.

Chop the broccoli into about 1/2" dice. Put in a larger pot and pour on the oil/chile/garlic. If you want to add tofu, cut into 1/2" squares, or smaller, or even puree it. Add to the mix.

Cook the pasta.

I guess Carolyn D., an official Italian sauce maker, would say to put the broccoli sauce into the pot of drained pasta. But we usually put the pasta in our own plates and add as much sauce as we want.

You can make this with a little or a lot of olive oil. Sometimes I'll add extra virgin in the dish, because it tastes so good. You can also use grated romano cheese.

I don't like tofu all that much, and it just disappears into this dish.

Mary
(12/12/99)

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Cream Scones

Cream Scones
Makes 10 or more scones
Time: 20 minutes

2 cup (about 9 oz.) all purpose or cake flour, plus more as needed
1 scant tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp. sugar
5 tbsp. cold butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
     (DO NOT use milk; scones are just biscuits made with cream so if you use milk, you're just making biscuits)
1/3 cup chocolate chips (original recipe calls for currants or raisins but you can do chocolate chips; I have and it works just fine)
1 tbsp. water

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or food processor, reserving 1 tbsp. of the sugar. Cut the butter into bits and either pulse it in the food processor (the easiest) or pick up a bit of the dry ingredients, rub them with the butter between your fingers, and drop them again. (note: use a pastry blender.) All the butter should be thoroughly blended before proceeding.

Beat 2 of the eggs with the cream; with a few swift strokes combine them with the dry ingredients. Use only a few strokes to stir in the chocolate chips. (This is to prevent the flour gluten from developing too much - the idea is flaky, not chewy.) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it ten times; no more. If it is very sticky, add a little flour, but very little; don't worry if it sticks a bit to your hands.

Press the dough into a 3/4"-thick rectangle and cut into 2" rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass. Place the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet. Gently reshape the leftover dough and cut again; this recipe will produce 10 to 14 biscuits. Beat the remaining egg with 1 tbsp. of water, and brush the top of each scone; sprinkle with a little of the remaining sugar.

Bake 7 to 9 minutes, or until the scones are a beautiful golden brown.

These keep better than biscuits but should still be eaten the same day you make them.

 p252, "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman

Jen
(12/12/99)

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Fruitcake Recipe (humor)

Fruitcake Recipe (humor)

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups dried fruit
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
lemon juice
nuts
1 gallon whiskey

1. Sample the whiskey to check for quality.
2. Take a large bowl.
3. Check the whiskey again to be sure it is of the highest quality.
4. Pour one level cup and drink.
5. Repeat.
6. Turn on the electric mixer; beat 1 cup butter in a large, fluffy bowl.
7. Add 1 teaspoon sugar and beat again.
8. Make sure the whiskey is still OK. Cry another tup.
9. Turn off mixer.
10. Break 2 legs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.
11. Mix on the turner.
12. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it loose with a drewscriver.
13. Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity.
14. Next, sift 2 cups of salt. Or something. Who cares?
15. Check the whiskey.
16. Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
17. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something.
18. Whatever you can find.
19. Grease the oven.
20. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees.
21. Don't forget to beat off the turner.
22. Throw the bowl out of the window.
23. Check the whiskey again.
24. Go to bed.

Who the hell likes fruitcake anyway?

Hic....... Anneliese
(12/10/99)

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