I love scones and am having a lot of fun developing new combinations and varieties. Todd's having fun testing them too, I must say! He loves being my taste tester, and . . . lucky him, he is one of those people who can eat whatever they want to eat without putting on an ounce! (I know, I'm jealous too!)



They're so easy to make, using techniques very similar to that of making biscuits (a scone type of quick bread, very popular in North America, not a cookie!) But that is where the similarity ends!



Scones are a lot lighter, and in many cases sweeter, often varying between cake-like and cookie-like in texture . . . but then again there are savoury versions that are more biscuit-like.



I guess there is no definitive way to describe a scone except to say that they are delectably delicious and the perfect thing to munch on with a hot cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon. (My choice is a lovely herbal tea, but I have friends that love Earl Grey and I do love the smell of a nice hot cup of Earl Grey.)



Whatever your poison . . . a cup of something hot and a plate with a warm scone on it just can't be beat on any occasion.



Today I thought I would try some dried sour cherries, white chocolate and flaked almonds in a scone . . . three wonderful flavours that go so very well together. The sour cherries help to cut the sweetness of the white chocolate that can sometimes be a bit cloying and the flaked almonds added a delightful bit of crunch.



All in all I'd say these are da bomb!! Definitely repeatable! These are going in my success file of things I have conjured up!



*Sour Cherry, White Chocolate and Almond Scones*
Makes 8 wedges
Printable Recipe

Cherries, white chocolate and almonds . . . the holy trinity of sconedom!! Seriously, these are fabulous!

8 1/2 ounces plain flour (2 cups)
2 1/4 ounces caster sugar (1/3 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 ounces unsalted butter, chilled (1/4 cup)
125ml of double cream (1/2 cup)
1 large freerange egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
6 ounces of good quality white chocolate, cut into small bits, or use
good quality white chocolate chips
5 ounces dried sour cherries, quartered (1 cup)
3 ounces toasted flaked almonds (1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Drop in the butter and then cut it in using a pastry blender or two round bladed knives, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk together the cream, egg and extracts. Add all at once to the flour mixture, mixing it all in well and kneading until it is well combined. Lightly knead in the chocolate chips, cherries and almonds. Pat out with lightly floured hands to a 9 inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Place on the lined baking sheet, leaving some space in between each.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned. Allow to cool on the pan for five minutes, before scooping off with a spatula to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container.


Note - if you want your scones to have soft sides, place the whole round onto the baking sheet, and cut into wedges there, leaving them together and baking them as a whole. Cut them apart again once they come out of the oven with a serrated knife. Me . . . I love crunchy sides, and so I bake them apart!!

I have a special friend who is celebrating her 82 birthday today and I wanted to make her something special to help mark the day and celebrate it in a special way.



She lives pretty much on her own. She is in a lot of pain most days so no longer does any cooking for herself. Her caregiver does all it and helps to clean the house and anything else she needs, but it's a man and well . . . he just doesn't bake.



I often pop over half of whatever it is I have been getting up to in my kitchen and it is always much appreciated.



I did want to make her something extra special for today though and so I baked her a Victoria Sponge cake . . . just a small one . . .



And . . . a box of these lovely cookies. I just love Jammy Thumbprints, and I think she will love them too.



I just know she will have all sorts of people popping in off and on all day to bring her their Happy Birthday wishes and these cookies should come in really handy!



Crisp and buttery and filled with tasty, sweet jam. It goes so well with the almost shortbread texture of these lovely biscuits.



*Jammy Thumbprints*
Makes about 45
Printable Recipe

A buttery cream cheese cookie dough filled with your favourite jam and then baked until crisp and golden. The perfect teatime treat!

250g (9 ounces) unsalted butter
140g (1 cup) Icing sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
90g (3 1/4 ounces) cream cheese, cut into chunks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp finely grated fresh lemon zest
350g of plain flour, sifted (2 3/4 cup flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
2 TBS each of three of your favourite flavours of jam

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter three baking trays. Set aside.

Using an electric whisk cream together the butter, sugar and egg yolk until pale and fluffy. Beat in the cream cheese, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture using a wooden spoon, until a soft dough forms. Let sit for about 10 minutes so that the dough can firm up.

Shape TBS of the dough into 1 inch balls. Place evenly spaced about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Using your thumb make an indentation in the middle of each. Fill each indent with 1/4 tsp of jam. Bake in the heated oven for 10 to 12 minutes until light golden. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for several minutes before lifting off to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Note - if desired you can dust with some icing sugar before serving. These cookies will store well up to 3 days in a tightly covered container, but are best if eaten on the day.

What do you call a tasty little brownie type of square that is oh so buttery, rich . . . and moist.



Sweetly moreish with the lovely taste of light muscovado sugar . . .



Studded with scrummy chunks of oozing dark chocolate . . .



Sweet creamy hunks of delicious white chocolate . . .



Crunchy bits of toasted walnuts . . .



Decadently moreishly scrummily ADDICTIVE!!! That's what!!!



Bet you can't eat just one! And if you can . . . you're a much better woman than I am!



These little babies have been my undoing . . . but what a way to go . . .




*Double Chocolate Chunk Blondies*
Makes 48
Printable Recipe

Butterscotch flavoured brownies, moist, delicious and stogged full of white and dark chocolate chunks, and toasted walnuts. Moreishly delightful!

140g of butter, melted (1/2 cup, plus 1 1/2 TBS)
400g light brown muscovado sugar (3/4 cup, plus 1 TBS lightly packed)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs, beaten
300g plain flour (2 1/2 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
50g of toasted walnuts, coarsely broken (1/3 cup)
50g of good quality white chocolate, coarsely broken (1/2 medium sized bar. I use Green and Blacks)
50g of good quality dark chocolate, coarsely broken (1/2 of a medium sized bar. I use Fair trade dark chocolate with 72% cocoa solids)



Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F. gas mark 4. Line an 8 by 12 inch baking pan with foil. Lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

Place the butter into a large saucepan and melt over low heat. Once melted stir in the muscovado sugar and stir in completely. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for several minutes to lukewarm. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold into the wet ingredients, mixing only until thoroughly blended. Do not beat or overmix. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the nuts and chocolates evenly over top.

Bake for 25 minutes, until just firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes. Lift out by the foil and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack. Cool completely before removing the foil and then cutting into squares. Store in a tightly covered container for up to 4 days.

One thing that I have enjoyed since moving over here to the UK, is learning about and how to cook traditional dishes from all over this wonderful land. There is a wonderful variety of recipes available and most are steeped in wonderful history and tradition.

I just love learning the traditions and histories of different food stuffs, don't you?



Over here in the UK they call cookies biscuits and there are many delicious and scrummy regional varieties.



Like these Cornish Fairings . . . a sweet and gingery biscuit commonly found in Cornwall. Their name is said to have orginated due to their having been sold at feeast and fair days down in Cornwall. A 'fairing' is basically any type of gift bought at a fair, edible or otherwise!

Most town or village fairs over here have a certain type of food attributed to them and more often than they are spicy things . . . probably going back to Medieval times when spices were greatly loved and widely used.



According to Wikepedia, this particular recipe is reputed to have originated at the "maid hiring" fair, held the week after Christmas in Launceston.

Whatever their origin, they are quite tasty! Kind of like a spicy gingernut biscuit, but with added little bits of candied mixed peel.

Very easy to make, quick to bake and really scrummy with a hot cup of tea, herbal or otherwise I am sure!



*Cornish Fairings*
Makes 20
Printable Recipe

A traditional biscuit from the West Country. Sweet and spicy, with the added surprise of chopped mixed peel. Using two sources of raising agents makes the biscuits crack. Scrummy!!

100g plain flour (about 3/4 cup)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp mixed spice
40g of caster sugar (about 1/4 cup)
50g of unsalted butter, chilled and diced ( 3 1/2 TBS)
1 TBS very finely diced mixed peel
3 TBS golden syrup

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Butter several baking sheets and set aside.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl along with the salt, baking powder, soda, ginger and mixed spice. Stir in the sugar. Drop in the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the mixed peel and then the golden syrup, mixing it all to a stiff dough.

Using your hands, roll the dough into 20 marble sized balls. Place them well apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 7 minutes until golden brown and cracked on top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for several minutes before scooping off to finish cooling on a wire rack. Let cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

When we lived down in Kent we were really spoiled. We were surrounded by Orchards and in the autumn had our pick of windfalls . . . several varieties of apples, and pears . . . not to mention hedgerows filled to over flowing with sloes and blackberries



On the Estate where I worked as the cook we also had apples, pears, figs and fresh plums as well, not to mention cages filled with raspberries . . . yes, we were very lucky!



When we moved back here to Chester, in our effort to be self sustaining we put in several fruit trees. Dwarf apple, pear and plum, all self propagating. Next year we hope to put in an apricot tree and perhaps some raspberry and blackberry canes. We are lucky enough to already have strawberries and rhubarb.



I hadn't really expected to get much out of the fruit trees this first year but imagine my surprise when the plum tree produced some plums! We have been waiting patiently all summer for them to ripen, and I reckon I got a nice little basket full of them.



Oh, can anything be better than fresh fruit you have grown yourself? I think NOT!



Well . . . okay . . . so this delicious slice comes a close second!



It has a nutty buttery base almost like a pastry, and then a layer of hazelnut cake, stogged full of lovely plums. The whole thing is topped with a crunchy nutty streusel. Moreishly scrummy!!



The best part is that you use the same basic recipe to produce all three layers, with just a few alterations made for each. Easy peazy, Lemon Squeezy!!

A tasty dollop of creme fraiche or clotted cream is the perfect accompaniment, natch!!




*Plum and Hazelnut Crumble Slice*
Serves16
Printable Recipe

It's a pie! It's a cake! It's a crumble! It's all three and delicious! Perfect to share over a cup of tea or served warm as a dessert with lashings of cream or custard!

250g of butter (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
(your butter should be very cold)
225g of caster sugar (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
(Plus extra for sprinkling)
284g of ground hazelnuts (3 1/3 cup)
5 ounces plain flour (1 cup plus 2 TBS)
plus an extra 2 TBS
2 large free range eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling
half a dozen or so large ripe plums, stoned and sliced
2 ounces flaked almonds (1/4 cup)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/375*F/ Gas mark 4. Butter an 8 by 12 tay bake pan well. Line with parchment paper. Set aside.

Place the cold butter, 225g of sugar, and ground nuts into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles a rough crumble. Measure half of it out into another bowl. Set aside. To the remaining crumb mixture add the 5 ounces of flour and pulse just until it forms a dough. Press this into the bottom of the prepared pan. Place in the heated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Return the remaining crumbs (Reserve 2 heaped dessertspoons for the end) to the food processor. Tip in the extra 2 TBS of flour, eggs, cinnamon and baking powder. Pulse to a soft batter. Scrape onto the baked base and spread out evenly. Top with the sliced plums. Sprinkle with a bit of extra sugar and cinnamon. Return to the oven and bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes.

Stir the flaked almonds into the remaining measure of the crumbs, mixing in well. Remove the cake from the oven and spinkle evenly with the almond mixture. Return to the oven and bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares to serve.

mmm . . . mmm . . . mmm . . . This was my ABSOLUTELY favourite kind of day . . .



An "I've bought too many bananas and they are not getting eaten up before they've turned all spotty!" kind of day.



A "Let's turn the oven on and crack out the whisk and bowls!" kind of a day.



A "Let's turn up the volumn on the banana bread, and stretch what I can do with it!" kind of day.



A "Scrummy, toffee, nutty, fudgily moreish banana bread!" kind of day.



Got bananas??? This could be YOUR kind of day!



*Fudgy Banana Nut Loaf*
Cuts into 10 slices
Printable Recipe

A super moist and fudgy banana loaf chock full of pecans and chewy toffee bits. Very scrummy!

20 chewy toffees, unwrapped and cut into bits
2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (Approx. 8 ounces)
2 medium eggs, beaten
4 ounces of butter melted (1/2 cup)
4 ounces greek yoghurt (1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp rum extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 ounces light muscovado sugar (1/2 cup packed)
200g of self raising flour (a scant 2 cups)
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g of toasted pecan nuts coarsely chopped (1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Butter and line an 8 by 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Mash the bananas in a bowl. Beat in the eggs, butter, yoghurt and extracts. Mix well. Stir in the sugar. Whisk together the flour and baking powder. Fold into the liquid mixture along with the 2/3 of the pecan nuts and 1/2 of the toffee bits. Spoon into the prepared pan and level the top. Sprinkle the remaining nuts and toffees over top.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until well risen and the top feels springy. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin on a wire rack. Once cool, peel off the paper and cut into slices to serve.

I saw a recipe the other day for a Gooseberry and Ginger Wine Crumble. I thought to myself, that sounds rather good . . . scrummy even . . .

I didn't have any gooseberries though . . . nor could I find any, neither fresh nor frozen . . .



What I do have though, is a very healthy and very large and very productive rhubarb patch!!



The whole time we lived down in Kent at Oak Cottage, I could never get my rhubarb to grow and amount to much of anything. Here in Chester, on the outskirts of a city . . . my rhubarb is growing happily quite madly and profusely!!!

So, anyways, I thought to myself that rhubarb and ginger wine would probably go very well together, maybe even better than gooseberries and ginger wine. Rhubarb makes a lovely crumble, the best of all the crumbles in my opinion.




So what you have here today is a delicious recipe taken from another one of those balls that I grabbed and decided to run with.


The ginger wine idea from one recipe . . . added to my own rhubarb and my own crumble topping recipe that I added a teaspoon of ground ginger to this time . . . in order to further enhance the ginger flavours, of course!



I scored a winning goal with this one! I ended up with a moreishly scrumptious dessert filled with lovely flavours . . .

A sweet yet tart fruit filling, with just the merest whisper of ginger, topped with a buttery crunch filled with the goodness of oats and butter and again a mere whisper of ginger.



All in all this is my favourite crumble ever!



Don't forget the cream or lashings of custard! They are a given!!!




*Rhubarb and Ginger Wine Crumble*
Serves 4 to 6 (depending on how greedy you are)
Printable Recipe

A delicious crumble. The Ginger Wine really helps to bring out the flavour of the rhubarb. Lashings of custard or clotted cream are a must!

1 pound of rhubarb, washed, trimmed and cut into
1 inch slices (about 10 to 12 stalks)
200g of caster sugar
3 TBS ginger wine

For the crumble topping:
150g (1 cup) plain flour
3 TBS old fashioned porridge oats
1 tsp of ground ginger
125g pf butter, chilled and cut into cubes
pinch salt
3 TBS caster sugar
4 TBS soft light brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a medium sized baking or pie dish. Set aside.

Place the rhubarb into a bowl and toss together with the sugar and gingerwine. Spoon into the prepared baking dish.

Whisk together the flour, ginger and oats in a bowl Rub in the butter with your fingertips until you have a lumpy, buttery mixture. Stir in the sugars and the salt with a fork. Drop the crumble topping evenly over top of the fruit.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the fruit is bubbling through and the topping is crisp and golden. Delicious!