Strawberry Scones

Strawberry Scones are great with Tea!

With Fresh Strawberries coming into season in Northwest Ohio, I quite enjoy using their tart goodness in a satisfying and fun food I was privileged to sample.
These Strawberry Scones were a delightful treat. The somewhat moist inside with the tart berries scattered about, together with the firm and just slightly crisp outside provided a treat that was ever-so-good. Somewhere between a biscuit, a cookie, and a cake, these Scones are the perfect treat. I love to take them with my favorite and comforting cup of hot tea. They are also delicious as a sip my robust cup of morning coffee. Scones are traditionally an English food. It is no wonder the English like tea time… because it’s a great reason to indulge in these Strawberry Scones! Enjoy!!

FRESH STRAWBERRY SCONES

1 cup Fresh Strawberries, cleaned, hulled and diced
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg 1 TLB Baking Powder
1/2 cup Half & Half 1/2 tsp Salt
2 cups Flour 1/2 tps each Cinnamon and Nutmeg
1 /3 cup Sugar 1 Lemon zested
6 TLB cold Butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (you can lightly grease the sheet instead)

Place prepared strawberries on a paper towel to absorb any liquid.
Combine the half & half, egg and vanilla in a small container and set aside.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, spices, salt and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Use a pastry blender, or two forks and the butter to the flour mixture and cut it into pea size crumbs. Fold in the strawberries. Pour the cream and vanilla mixture over the above mixture and quickly stir until blended. Rest the dough for 2 minutes.Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead 4-5 minutes until smooth. Move the dough onto the baking sheet and pat into an 8-inch disc. Using a serrated knife cut into 8 wedges and space them about 1-inch apart. You can also just form circles with your hand and place them on the baking sheet.

Bake until lightly brown and crusty, about 16-18 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool slightly before eating.

Submitted by Suzanne Holman, Napoleon

Honey Nut Crunch Pie

Ingredients

4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup light-color corn syrup
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 12.5-ounce can dry roasted mixed nuts
1/2 cup butterscotch flavor baking pieces
1 recipe Pastry for Deep-Dish pie
1 recipe Honey-Nut topping

Preparation

*Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. For filling, in a large bowl combine eggs, corn syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar, melted butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt; mix well. Stir in mixed nuts and butterscotch pieces.
*Prepare dough for Pastry for a Deep-Dish pie. On a lightly flour surface, use your hands to slightly flatten dough. Roll dough from center to edge into a 14-inch circle. Wrap pastry circle around rolling pin; unroll into a 9-inch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it. Trim pastry to 1/2 inch beyond edge of pie plate. Fold under extra pasty. Crimp the edge high as desired.
*Pour the filling into the pastry shell. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Remove from oven. Carefully spoon Honey-Nut topping evenly over pie. Bake about 10 minutes more or until topping is bubbly.
*Cool on wire wrack. Cover and chill in the refrigerator within 2 hours.
***Honey-Nut Topping***
*In a small saucepan combine 1/3 cup packed brown sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, and 3 tablespoons honey. Bring to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup dry roasted mixed nuts.

Streusel Coffee Cake

Moist, buttery, and packed inside and out with a brown sugar streusel, this coffee cake is as versitile as it is delicious. You can keep individually wrapped slices in the freezer ready to pop in a brown bag lunch for school, a hike, or a holiday road trip. The recipe itself is short and sweet, but it's still a great one for aspiring bakers, with lots of measuirng, mixing, and other fun cooking jobs.

Ingredients
*Cinnamon Crunch Topping
1 1/2 cups pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspooon cinnamon
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
*Sour Cream Cake
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk

Instructions
*Butter a 9-by-13 inch cake pan. Dust the pan with flour and remove the excess by turning the pan upside down and tapping the bottom. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
*To prepare the Cinnamon Crunch TOpping, first coarsely chop the nuts, or have your child put them in a sealable plastic bag and lightly tap them with a rolling pin to break them into pieces. Then combine the nuts, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a bowl, using clean hands to mix the ingredients. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
*To make the Sour Cream Cake, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set it aside. Using an electric mixer, preferably a large stand mixer, cream the butter on medium-high speed, gradually adding the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, baeting well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract and blend briefly.
*Whisk together the sour cream and milk. Mix about a third of the mixture into cremaed ingredients until smooth. Then blend in abouta third of the flour mixture. Continue alternately beating in the liquid and dry ingredients by thirds.
*Spread half the batter in the prepared pan. Evenly sprinkle half the toppin on it, pressing it lightly into the batter. Spread the remaining batter evenly over the topping. Then cover that layer with the remaining topping. Bake the coffee cake on the center oven rack for about 40 minutes, until nicely browned. A toothpick inserted at the center should come out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool completely.
*For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar adn milk in a large bowl and whisk until smooth and suitable to drizzle. If needed, you can make the galze thinner or thicker by adding a little more milk or sugar, respectively. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze on the cooled coffee cake. Makes 12 or more servings.

Baked Ham

For the most flavorful meat, get a smoked and salt-cured country ham. Before baking, put the ham in a pot of water and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover, and let it sit overnight before baking, Supermarkets also offer ready-to-eat, fully cooked hams that require only a bit of seasoning and quick trip to the oven.

Ingredients
Whole or half ham, precooked, cured, or smoked
2 cups apple cider
3 tbsp. Dijon-style mustard
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 can pineapple slices

Instructions
*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the ham flat-side down in a roasting pan with the apple sider. Bake a whole ham 10 minutes per pound, or a half ham 15 minutes per pound, or until a meat thermometer reads 130 degrees. Baste the ham with the liquid in teh pam from time to time during baking.
*When the ham is cooked, remove it from the oven and slide off the skin and most of the fat, leaving a quarter-inch layer. Lay the ham in the pan, fat-side up this time, and make crosshatches using a long, sharp knife.
*In a small bowl, make a paste of the mustard and brown sugar and rub it all over the ham. Add pineapple slices at this point if desired. securing the pieces with toothpicks. Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees.
*Return the ham to the oven and backe 15 minutes more or until it appears to be glazed, but before the sugar has a chance to burn.
*Tip: The ready-to-serve and canned hams available in supermakets require only this final embellishment and not the preliminary baking.

Holiday Pretzel Treats

Salty pretzels combined with sweet chocoalte for these fun treats that make a yummy gift few can resist.

Ingredients
Bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels
Hersey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug
M&M's candy

Instructions
*Heat the oven to 170 degrees. Set a number of bite-size, waffle-shaped pretzels in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hersey's Kiss or Hershey's Hug.
*Bake for 4 to 6 minutes (the white chocolate will melt more quickly), until the chocoaltes feel soft when touched with a wooded spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly press an M&M's candy into the center of each Kiss.
*Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place then in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes.

*A DDVB favorite*

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

Kids will have a ball making these rich treats. Although the centers are traditionally creamy, you can add graham crackers to the mix if you prefer crunchy. Makes about 7 dozen buckeyes.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups peaut butter
6 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 whole graham crackers, pulverized into crumbs (optional)
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions
*Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper; set it aside. Using a wooden spoon, mix together the peanut butter, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, adn graham crackers, if desired, in a large bowl. (The dough will look dry).
*Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Set them on the prepared cookie sheet and insert a toothpick into each ball. Chill them in the freezer until hard, about 30 minutes.
*Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproff bowl set atop a pot of simmering water over medium-high heat. Stir continuously until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat. Using the toothpick as a handle, dip the balls into the melted chocolate, leaving a small circle at the top uncovered. Place the dipped candies back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until the chocolate is set, about 2 hours. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

O Christmas Treat Pizza

This Christmas pizza treat will require and adult's assistance, but the kids will love trimming the "tree" with spinach and feta snowflakes.

Ingredients
1 package frozen, chopped spinach
Yellow, red, and orange bell peppers
Olive oil
Cornmeal
Pizza dough for one 12-inch round pizza
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 to 1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
Feta cheese

Instructions
*Heat oven to 450 degrees. Cook the spinach, drain, and press it to squeeze out excess liquid. Set aside
*Use tiny cookie cutters to shape circles and stars from the peppers, set aside.
*Coat a 12-inch pizza pan with olive oil, then sprinkle on the cornmeal. Roll the dough into a circle and place on the pan, pushing the edges to the rim.
*Spread the tomato sauce on the dough and sprnkle on the grated Romato cheese. Top with the chopped spinah and then drizzle olive oil over the spinach. Sprinkle the crumbled feta over the spinach and arrange the pepper circles.
*Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the bottom of the crust is browned. Cut the pizza into triangular slices and then trim the crust to form a trunk. Finally top each slice with a yellow star. Makes one 12-inch pizza.