Today was a beautiful day – it was warm and smelled like spring – do you know what I mean? The daffodils in the orchard had opened up, along with the grape hyacinths. Lots of buds on the apple, peach, pear, plum and nectarine trees. I just love all that new life waiting to burst forth!
There is nothing like a good cookie, don’t you agree? We serve a lot of them here – for tours and receptions, coffee hours, lunch desserts, to name a few; so I have found the recipes that work well in quantity and that I really like. And actually a lot of other people really like them, too. I have a weakness for white chocolate. I love other chocolate, too, but I really like white chocolate – and yes I know it’s not really even chocolate, but I do really like it! Anyway, I thought that it would be a great companion to cranberries – which are so Cape Cod – and pecans, so I started experimenting with recipes that would stand up to that threesome. Here is the result:
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White Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Cookie
SERVINGS
|
COOK TIME15mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine sugars, butter, shortening, salt, baking soda; cream together.
- Add eggs slowly.
- Add flour.
- Mix until just combined; do not over mix.
- Add white chocolate chips, cranberries and nuts, mix just enough to combine.
- Drop by large tablespoonfuls ( I use a #40 ice cream scoop) onto a parchment lined or greased pan.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 to 17 minutes or until golden brown on the edges.
Friday morning is muffin day at the convent. Walking back from church to the refectory for breakfast I try to guess what kind it will be today. Our muffin baking sisters excel at so many varieties it is hard to predict which type will be next. Last week they surprised us with the best banana nut muffins I have ever tasted. We haven’t had their poppy seed or those wholesome raisin bran ones in a while, both of which are big favorites so we could be having one of those today. But as I open the convent door and get a whiff of fragrant spices I know it is neither of the above. I’ll have to guess again!
We like to do a lot of seasonal decorating in and around the convent, mainly using what is produced on our grounds and in our gardens. Oktoberfest and Thanksgiving always feature an abundance of pumpkins — but now that fall is behind us and it’s decor has been remembered, we have started decorating for Advent. What is going to happen to the leftover pumpkins, many of which were still very robust and healthy? They have been sitting in the back stairwell of the convent kitchen waiting there to find out. Well yesterday some kitchen sisters chopped, cooked and mashed them up to be frozen for future use.
Aha! Is that what I smell? Have these pumpkins been turned into a heart warming breakfast for us this morning? Yes! Indeed they have. Our resourceful muffin baking sisters have just created a prize winner. Let’s name it “The Spicy Pumpkin Streusel Muffin” — absolutely delicious! Those chubby pumpkins could not have had a happier ending.Apple Streusel Pumpkin Muffins
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Apple Streusel Pumpkin Muffins
SERVINGS12muffins
|
COOK TIME |
PREP TIME |
READY IN25 - 30mins. |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven 375 degrees. Grease muffin tins or line with paper.
- In a bowl combine flour, sugar and cinnamon.
- Cut in butter; mix until coarse and crumbly.
- Set aside.In another bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
- Make a well in the center.
- In another bowl combine eggs, pumpkin and oil; stir just until blended.
- Add apples and blend well.
- Add to dry ingredients; stirring just until moist.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling three-quarters full.
- Sprinkle with topping.Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Makes about one dozen.
It’s a cool crisp October day. The kind of day that is perfect for a piping-hot cup of afternoon tea and a nice warm freshly baked piece of tea bread or coffee cake. Not just any kind of coffee cake. No, this is a day for my favorite spicy nutmeg cake.
What makes this cake so special to me? Well, to begin with, I love nutmeg and this is a nutmeg lover’s cake. The other thing is that while many coffee cakes have crumb toppings this cake has its “crumbs” on the bottom! Surprising but so delicious. Moist on the inside, crisp and crunchy on the bottom and nutty and golden on the top.
If you love nutmeg, you will love this cake. If you are not a nutmeg lover, you just may become one after trying it!
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Nutmeg Cake
SERVINGS
|
COOK TIME35mins. |
PREP TIME |
READY IN |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Grease a 9-inch cake pan.
- Blend together brown sugar, flour and butter to make a crumb mixture.
- Spread half the mixture in the pan.
- Stir nutmeg, sour cream, baking soda and egg into the remaining crumb mixture.
- Pour batter over the crumbs in the pan.
- Sprinkle with nuts.
- Bake for 35 minutes.
