Spellbinders

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Years ago my mother made these cookies and we all thought they were delicious. She only made them once, but they were memorable. She never bothered to make them again because she thought they were trouble, owing to the fact that she arduously drizzled her glaze from the tip of a spoon. Had she known about icing bottles, way back when, these cookies may have made an appearance far more often. When I stumbled across the recipe late last week, I had to make them to see if they really were as good as I had recalled. Yep. No doubt, these are yummy.

Spellbinders

1 ½ c. flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
1 t. soda
1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 c. butter, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
1 c. quick cooking oats
1 c. sweetened flaked coconut
1 c. salted Spanish peanuts
½ c. finely crushed cornflakes

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Combine flour, baking powder, and soda; set aside

In the work bowl of a stand mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add egg; beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients, blending well. Stir in oats, coconut, peanuts, and cornflakes. Using a cookie scoop, drop by onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with bottom of glass dipped in additional cornflakes or sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Drizzle with glaze in a spiral fashion.

Glaze

Mix 2 tablespoons butter in a 2-cup measuring pitcher. Add 1 cup confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon hot water, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until consistency of a glaze. If necessary, thin with a few drops of hot water.

 

 

Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake

It was 102 degrees here today, so not the best day for cranking up the oven, but I've been in such a mood for something lemony all summer long. Having recently returned from a lengthy baking hiatus, it was good to get back into the kitchen and bake. This Lemon Cream Cheese Pound Cake from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy food blog is one of the best pound cakes I've ever eaten.

The glaze was not part of the recipe. I just stirred lemon juice into powdered sugar and drizzled it over the top.

It was well worth the hot kitchen.

This post is linked to:

Cast Party Wednesday
What's Cooking Wednesday

CINNABON Bakery Mix Product Review

I love to wander through Sam's during the holiday season. I love the piles of bright red poinsettias, the potted Norfolk Pines sprinkled with pixie dust, the aisles of festive wrap, ribbon, boxes, and cards, the reindeer, the scary over-sized decorations, and the aisle of prepackaged baskets full of artfully displayed name-brand over-priced goodies. Ahhhh, the holidays. It was during one of my jaunts that a particular product gave me pause. I'd rounded a corner and there it was, a mountainous stack of boxes of Cinnabon baking mix. I could almost smell the heady aroma of hot cinnamon and glaze. I hesitated grabbed at it and put it in the cart, shoving fruit and vegetables out of the way to make room for this star. I could hardly wait to get my treasure home. 

The box, a 2-pack, says it makes either 16 scones, 36 muffins, 2 coffee cakes, or 2 bread loaves. I decided to make scones because I just love that wedge shape and it called for a full cup of cream, so they just had to be authentic. Having only recently priced (Yikes!) and purchased cream, I thought these had better be good.



The process is simple thanks to four packages of ingredients for each pack.   

I gathered my utensils and followed the instructions. 



 I dumped the packet of backing mix into a large bowl, shook in some raisins, and added the egg and cream. I stirred the ingredients together until just mixed.

The top was sprinkled with the packet of cinnamon swirl mix.



Seven stirs incorporated the cinnamon quite well.

I formed an 8" round (with floured hands, this was not mentioned on the box but should have been).

  

 The round was cut into 8 wedges (again flour is needed here, on the knife)

     

The scored round is then topped with the streusel mix.

 

Into the oven for 35 minutes, it came out looking like this. I can't begin to describe how fabulous the house smelled while the baking was going on. It smelled so good I wanted to swoon; I think Heaven must smell like this.

I slid it from the baking sheet onto a rack to cool. Once slightly cooled, the final step is to drizzle with glaze. Is this beautiful, or what? Aren't you dying for a bite?

 

Obviously I was. My husband, who was eating his lunch of a hot dog, was poised over my scone, fork in hand waiting to try it.

DELICIOUS! This is a great product, two thumbs way up.

One caveat. This does not have the denseness of an English scone. (My husband's observation, he the maker of classic English scones.) This is true, this version (and those you find at St. Louis Bread Co/Panera) all have a texture that more closely resembles a coffee cake. But I say...who cares? It's wonderful. And I have another set of ingredients left!

RECOMMENDED! 

Sweet Potato Pecan Bread

I have been cooking and baking up a storm ever since the month began.  I think I've hit upon the PERFECT cranberry sauce recipe this year -- a new one, so I'm excited about that.  And I've been test-baking things for the bread tray that overflows every year on Thanksgiving Day. 

Since I grow my own sweet potatoes I always like to include a dish or two using them.  While we're on the subject, let me encourage all of you to grow these.  I use containers as I'm an avid patio gardener since it's the only place in our yard that gets a decent amount of sun.  You'll need to buy slips (or grow your own, but buying them is so much easier and gobs faster) and plant them in late June.  I used three square 14" containers that were easy to handle come harvest time.  I simply dragged them into the yard, turned them upside down, dumped out the dirt, and then scooped up the potatoes.



Here's the harvest from just one of the containers I grew.  It's well worth it for the fun and the excitement of the harvest (not to mention the fresher than fresh taste!)



I was in the mood for something sweet today so chose this recipe for Sweet Potato Pecan Bread.  I cut it in half in order to make just one loaf, but once I tasted it I was sorry I hadn't made two.

Redolent with sweet potatoes and pecans, this moist loaf would make a great beginning or ending to any day. Here's the recipe:

SWEET POTATO PECAN BREAD

2 1/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup water

2/3 cup oil

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups mashed sweet potatoes

(fresh is best but canned will do)

3 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Glaze*

 

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the sugar, water, oil, eggs, and sweet potatoes mix good. Add dry ingredients and mix to combine; add pecans and mix well. Divide the dough into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Cool in pans before removing.

Source: Southern Chef in Louisiana





*The original recipe did not call for a glaze, but I thought it enhanced the loaf so I added my own:

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

1 T. cream

1/8 t. cinnamon

1/8 t. freshly grated nutmeg

Stir together until thoroughly blended and drizzle onto cooled loaf.