For some strange reason when I feel under the weather I love to bake. Maybe its because fresh  baked  treats  remind me of my childhood.

I decided to treat myself to something  sweet while still  staying on a fairly low fiber diet for next weeks  procedures.

Irish Scones

Ingredients:

3 cups flour                         ¾ cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder         1 tsp salt

1 1/3 cup milk                    1 egg slightly beaten

¾ cup butter melted        1/1/2 cup raisins

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together.  Very slowly pour in milk, egg and cooled butter. Fold in raisins.  Bake in a greased and floured 9 x 5  x  2  baking dish.  Cut into squares and serve with butter, cream cheese or preserves.

I used a small  round pan and  cut them into triangles .

I made Butter in a Jar back when I was a kid as a youth activity. It was very easy and just took some time.

Ingredients:

Heavy  whipping Cream  – any amount 6 cups makes about 1 pound of butter

1/2 teaspoon per pound of butter- optional, used for preserving butter

Jar  with lid, any size, baby food jars are great for kids to make it with.

Some  people  like to  put a  clean marble in the jar and when the marble gets  quite you  know its starting to thicken. Just don’t forget to  remove the marble when you are done,

Have the children shake the jar. A figure-eight motion seems to work best, but let your kids go wild (not so much, if the jar is glass). If you have a plastic container with a tight lid, you can even roll it back and forth.

Pour Heavy Whipping Cream into jars no more then 3/4 the way full. It is best to leave room for the shaking and turning action. Next begin shaking! And Shake and Shake. Some music to shake too makes it fun for the kids and helps pass time. Something with a fun and quick beat. The best way I figured to shake the jar was to hold it length wise in my hands with the lid in my palms and the base of the jar wedge in my forearms.

It takes about 5 minutes before you notice a thickening forming in the jar. This heaviness is the beginning of the fat changing and sticking together. At this point you really just have a thick whip cream in the jar. Keep shaking.

As another 5-10 minutes pass you will notice the jar filling with the foamy cream.  It feels as if there is no room in the jar as the thick Heavy Cream is aerated even more with the shaking, but keep shaking. It will look like this:

Ingredients:

2 cups  flour                             4 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt                               2 tsp baking powder

6 Tbs butter                             2 eggs

1/2  cup  sour cream              1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat  oven to  375  degrees. Lightly butter a baking sheet. Sift flour into a bowl with sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the  butter and work your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Combine the eggs, cream  and vanilla in a bowl. Add to the flour mixture and  stir until moistened,  Flour  your hands well. Working quickly , lightly pat the  dough into a 8′ round. With a  sharp knife , score the round into eight wedges. (Dough can also be rolled and cut into  biscuit shapes.)  Place on the baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes until  the top is browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. remove scones to a wire rack and cool for a few minutes. Cut along the  score marks and  serve warm with  butter,  preserves or clotted  cream.

makes 8  scones

The last time I  made scones I was in a rush to  serve them so  I  cut them  before  baking and they turned out  fine.

and for those of you who want to make some clotted cream. http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Clotted-Cream

Ingredients;

3  eggs                                               1/2  cup butter, melted

3/4  cups milk                                      juice of 1/2  a lemon

3/4 cups all purpose  flour                  confectioners’ sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat  oven to 450 degrees. beat  the eggs and milk until they are well blended. Add flour and salt, stirring the batter until it is slightly lumpy.

Set  10′ pie  plate in the  oven to melt the  butter. when the butter is very hot , pour in the  batter and bake for about twenty  minutes or  until the pancake is brown and  puffed. sprinkle with lemon juice and confectioners sugar and  cut into wedges.

Serve immediately as it will  deflate  quickly.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4  eggs                                             2  Tbs  melted  butter

1/2  cup  cream                                 1/2 tsp pepper

pinch of cayenne                               2 tbs grated cheddar  cheese

2  toasted english  muffins                6  slices of  crisp  bacon

Instructions

Melt  Butter with Cream in skillet.  ad  eggs and sprinkle with pepper and  cayenne. when egg whites begin to set , sprinkle with cheese. Finish cooking and place on English muffin half with some of the  hot cream and  butter.  Serve with bacon slices.

serves 2

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup oil

3 cups flour

3 cups seeded Concord grapes

3 cups brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt 3/4 tsp baking soda

¾ cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla until light in color. Mix dry ingredients together and fold the dry mixture into the egg mixture until moist.  Do not beat!

Gently fold in grape skins and nuts.  Pour into two greased and floured pans.

Bake for one hour or until it tests done in the center with a toothpick. Gently remove from pans and cool.

Makes 2 loaves

I am pretty excited to  be preparing to attend a Military  Retirement  party next month. Having  never attended  a retirement party of  any  kind  I  phoned my father in law and asked for gift  suggestions.  He told me he had a  friend that gave him a  lovely gift when he retired. I called his friend and we discussed what I wanted and days later I received a phone call that the  piece was ready!   Now all I have to figure out is what to wear!

keeping busy.  

Whenever I sell a  piece of work I ask the  new owners to  send me a photo  of the  work at their house.  This photo is of  my 3rd table. I just received the  photo from the owners!