Most weekends I like to bake a cake or summat like that for Saturday Tea Time.  We will usually have some sandwiches or scrambled eggs on toast and then some cake for afters. Its what works for us.  A relaxing day with a relaxing supper.

  

This recipe I am sharing with you today was adapted from a cookery book by Tamasin Day-Lewis.  I love her recipes. They are all fabulous.  I used to love watching her television programs (Tamasin's Weekends and Great British Dishes), but I haven't seen her on the telly in a while. She is the sister of Daniel Day Lewis, and also writes regularly for a variety of magazines and publications.  She is also a film director and producer in her own right.  So, very accomplished. 

 

I love and trust her recipes. They are impeccable.  I have never cooked one of her recipes that didn't turn out or that wasn't delicious.

 

In her narrative to this recipe, she speaks of Victorian Seed Cake as being hideous.  On that point we will have to disagree I am afraid.

 

I baked a traditional seed cake on here several years ago and it was lovely.  You can find that recipe here.  It was said to be William Wordsworth's sister's favourite cake, and it is not hard to see why. Its beautifully delicious.

 

So is this cake, which like the other seed cake makes use of Caraway seed as a flavouring.  Do NOT be tempted to add more than the recipe asks for or you will be disappointed by the almost medicinal flavour of the cake.

  

The flavour of caraway should not be the predominant flavour here  . . .  but only a subtle hint  . . .

 

She used vanilla sugar, but I didn't have any, so added 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste to the recipe with perfect results . . .

 

I also channelled Dorie Greenspan's method of rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar first prior to using it.  This really brings out the flavour of the lemon.  I have been doing this ever since I learnt it from Dorie. It does make a difference.

 

Those are the only out of the ordinary ingredients, unless you call ground almonds out of the ordinary.  I think in America it might be called almond meal or almond flour.  In any case it is finely ground almonds.

 

You can make your own by grinding blanched almonds in a nut/spice/coffee grinder.  Grind only to the point where they are fine.  You do not want to release their oils.  They should be powdery like coarse flour but not moist. 

 

As you can see this cake has a beautiful fine and even texture . . .  flecked with caraway seed . . .

 

Tamasin enjoys hers with a glass of 20 year old Pedro Ximenez Sherry . . .

  

We enjoyed ours simply with cups of lemon tea  . . .

 

I haven't buttered this yet to eat, but I strongly suspect that it would be awfully nice with some softened butter, or  . . . some honey butter  . . .  there I go again, my gluttony is showing.  Truth be told it is pretty darned tasty plain.

 

When I lived in Canada I used to love watching the cooking shows on Saturday afternoons . . .  well, anytime really. It was my guilty pleasure.  I used to watch Julia Child, and The Frugal Gourmet, Cooking from Quilt Country, Lidia's Italian Kitchen, and Martha Stewart of course (to name a few).  Another show I enjoyed was one starring Caprial Pence. I can't remember what it was called.  I've always been a fan of cooking television. It started with Take Thirty when I was still a teen at home and Madame Benoit, Wok with Yan and the Galloping Gourmet.

 

Nothing has changed, except at the start the cooking hosts were older and I was younger and now I am old and the cooking hosts are young!  How did that happen???  Somehow it did it without me noticing!

 

I actually don't want a lot of food television these days really . . .  I like the GBBO, and on Netflix those shows like Chef's Table and Chef's Table.  My guilty pleasure is the Pioneer Woman, but I have to watch that when Todd's not home. He can't stand her voice.  He says she sounds like a Duck quacking when she talks.  He has a point  . . .

 

So what does any of this have to do with peanut butter cookies???  Nothing really except that this recipe I am sharing is adapted from one I found in a cookbook I own by Caprial Pence. 

 

I picked it up when I was working at the Manor.  I always needed good desserts to cook for the dinner parties and luncheons.  I could justify buying cookbooks as a working expense.  😏 Not so much now.  Now they are just an addiction passion. 

 

Actually I don't buy as many as I used to . . .  there really is such a thing as having too many, and with the resources available on line that we have today, there is no need to own as many.  I don't buy cooking magazines much anymore either.   I only buy books that I know are filled with recipes I think I am going to want to cook and it is the same with magazines.  Yes, I am that annoying person who reads through cooking magazines before I buy them.

 

Anyways, this is a cookie recipe I have had flagged in Caprial's book for some 14 1/2 years now.  The book is filled with lovely dessert recipes from just about every dessert genre, but also adaptations for variations on the original theme.

 

I like that really  . . .  variations.  That is the way I like to cook  . . .  switching up and changing bits here and there.  Its more fun and works well.

 

The original recipe was for Mother's Peanut Butter Cookies, with this variation for Peanut Butter Everything Cookies.

 

The variation includes the addition of oats, orange zest, chocolate chips and  shredded coconut . . . all things that I love.

 

I actually cut the recipe in half as there are only two of us . . .  and I didn't want that much temptation hanging around my kitchen.

 

Smart move on my part because these are very incredibly MOREISH!!!!

  

They are delicious. If you bake them for the longer time you get crisper cookies.  Just saying. If crisp is your thing . . .  do bake for a tad bit longer.  I baked some at the shorter time and some at the longer time.  Both were very good, but I thought the crisper ones the best!

 

These fabulous cookies are like a combination of all your favourite cookies in one . . .  oatmeal and coconut cookies, chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies.  You can't go wrong.  Do use the orange zest. It really adds a wonderful layer of additional flavour! 

 

There are few things on earth as enjoyable as a nice hot cup of tea and something sweet to enjoy along with it.  Because of my religion I only drink herbal blends. We don't do regular tea or coffee.

 

There are some really lovely herbal blends available today  . . .  more than there have ever been.  You can buy it loose leafed, or in bags . . .  if I am doing a bag, I like the bio-degradable pyramid bags . . .

 

Scones are something I really enjoy with a nice hot cup of tea . . .  they are not hard to make and you can spread them with all sorts . . .  butter, clotted cream, jam, etc.  Hot tea . . .  something sweet.  You cannot beat the combination.

 

People tend to lump North American Biscuits together with Scones, but they are really not the same thing at all.  North American baking powder biscuits generally use all vegetable fat, and sometimes cream . . . scones usually use all butter, and sometimes butter and cream.  The two things are not the same thing at all, no matter how similar they might look.  Scones are sweeter as well, which makes them perfect for enjoying with a hot cuppa.

 

Scones are not all that difficult to make really.  You just need to remember a few basic rules to ensure scone perfection.  The first thing you will want to do is to sift your flour baking powder and salt into a bowl  I find that aerating the flour in this way makes for a lighter scone, and sifting it together with the baking powder and salt ensures that all are mixed together evenly.  I do this from about 6 to 8 inches above the bowl, which really helps the air to get in there.  I also always use self raising flour. You can buy it ready made or make your own. (I give instructions on how to that on the main page.)

 

Make sure your butter is really cold and cut it into cubes quickly.  I just measure it and then using a sharp knife cube it right into the bowl.  Remember you want it to stay as cold as possible. Once you have the butter in the bowl take  your thumb and first two fingers on each hand and rub the butter into the flour using a snapping motion.  When you are done it will look like fine bread crumbs. Its actually okay to have a few larger bits as they will help with the rise also, creating little pockets of air as the butter melts.  It is then that you can take a round bladed knife and stir in the sugar  . . .  and then the milk/buttermilk and any other bits you are adding.  Today these scones are just plain.

 

Pat the dough gently out to a 1 inch thickeness and then using a sharp round cutter, and a straight up and down tapping motion cut out your scones.  This ensures an even rise, without any lop-sides.  I also try to get as many scones as I can from the first cutting.  You can of course bring the scraps back together and cut out more, but do be aware that every subsequent cutting will result in a tougher scone.  I do have an excellent pictorial tutorial here.

  

Today I created a lovely flavoured butter to go with our warm scones.  I did cut the scones out rather small this time, so as to get more., and I brushed the tops with a bit of buttermilk before baking.

This Clementine & Cinnamon Butter is really nice . . .  you can use any leftovers on your toast tomorrow.  Its quick and really simpl to make and the flavour is beautiful.

 

How to Brew The Perfect Cup of Tea 

1. Always use high quality loose leaf tea, and store it in an air-tight container at room temperature. Use 1 rounded teaspoon for each cup you intende to serve.

2. Use freshly drawn water - that way it will contain lots of oxygen to give your tea the best flavour. 

3. Put the tea into a warm pot. Add freshly boiled water to the pot, dump it out and then refill with more freshly boiled water.  Add your tea leaves.  Brew for 3 to 4 minutes, then serve. 

 

See those bubbles on the top of my cup. My mother always called that "money."  She said if you had that in your cup you were going to come into some money.  I like to think that's true.  Mayhap I should buy a lottery ticket . . .

 

Prior to my moving over here to the UK, I only ever considered icing on cakes to be of the butter cream variety, or fluffy icing . . .  sometimes seven-minute boiled frosting.  

I would never have thought of an icing simply composed of icing sugar and lemon juice, or a glaze icing.

 

It just was not something I had ever come across with the exception of glazed donuts and the like.  

More often than not, here in the UK, the icing you will find on a cake will be of the glazed variety, and I have to say, I quite like it.  Especially on simple cakes such as this one I am sharing today.

 

I have adapted this recipe from one I found in this book, "Cakes" by Liz Herbert, based on recipes favored by the well-known Women's Institute. 

You just know if it has their approval it has to be good.

 

And this is indeed one very good cake! 

  

It is a simple cake, rather than a celebratory cake, rather plain to look at, but that doesn't mean that is is a plain cake!

 

It is a fabulous cake  . . .  with a soft crumb . . .  and little hidden bits of orange marmalade strewn throughout . . . 

 

The marmalade adds just a hint of bittersweet in contrast to the normal sugar which is used.  Not at all unpleasant.

 

In addition, there are the finely grated zests of one orange and one lemon to add flavour.

 

She used half butter and half margarine in her cake.  I used all butter.  

It worked beautifully.  I never have margarine in my house.  Just butter.

 

It whips up quickly and bakes in not much more than half an hour.  It also smells rather lovely while it is baking!

I love the smell of a cake baking, don't  you?

 

But then again, what cake doesn't smell good when its baking!!!  

The icing is simple as I say  . . .

 

A glaze composed of icing sugar (or confectioner's as it is also known) and fresh lemon juice.  

Perfect. Sweet with just a bit of tang  . . . 

 

This get spooned over the cooled cake and then allowed to set. 

  

In the book she gives the option of candying your own orange zest to decorate the top of the cake when completely done . . .

  

I had used all of my orange zest in the cake itself, but I did have some candied orange peel that I chopped and then used to decorate it which not only looked great but also tasted fabulous!

Some other cake recipes which you might enjoy:

 

This is a wonderful teatime cake.  Perfect for mid-morning break, tea parties and just because . . . I think you will really love it.