Chocolate Peanut Butter Scones

…And as always, I return to the world of chocolate. Nothing sinfully rich, but definitely a treat nonetheless. I wanted to congratulate my mom on making it through the whole week of passover without having any wheat or leavened items, so I baked her scones with a new recipe. It’s something I ear-marked a long time ago from Baking Sheet and converted easily to veganism.

With peanut butter mixed into the batter and chocolate chips speckled throughout, this recipe may be a bit much for breakfast and could even be considered a dessert. Whenever you choose to eat it, though, these delicious scones will have you coming back for seconds.

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Spritz-ed Sugar Cookies

I just love using my spritz gun – It makes such cute little shapes, without all the hassle of rolling out the dough, cutting, re-rolling, re-cutting… I’m sure you can understand how tedious that can become, especially in big batches. I don’t often do “shaped” cookies, because usually you have to sacrifice flavor in order to accommodate design, but I thought it could be a fun activity, and a good way to test out a recipe I might not otherwise consider.

So I whipped out my In the Garden of Vegan cookbook and set off creating “Mum’s Sugar Cookies.” I shot out a tray full of cute little dough-flowers, and they went into the oven like so:

Cute, huh? And so well defined! With high hopes, I set the timer and wandered off to clean the counters and such (I don’t cook very neatly.) 15 minutes I returned… and pulled this out of the oven…

It looks like someone set off an atomic bomb in there, they’re completely leveled! What happened?? It couldn’t be the recipe, these are supposed to be tried and true… and even they aren’t all perfect, I can’t imagine that they would be so far off…

So I threw the remaining dough in the fridge, and sulked in front on my laptop, blog-hopping as usual. Then, after the first dozen blogs or so, it hit me: I’m a moron. Clearly, they spread so much because there was too much fat, but I’m positive I used the correct amount… Somehow, I have a feeling in my bones that I skimped on the flour. By about a cup. I bet that could do it.

I retrieved my exiled dough from the chill chest and mixed in another handful of flour. Repeating the same process of using the spritz gun and resetting the oven, I waited anxiously. In the end, I was rewarded for my [relative] patience:

It worked! Now, however, I had wasted about half of the dough to the nuclear explosion effect, and there was no way I would have enough cookies to share around. Back to work making a second batch to supplement, and this time I made sure I used the proper amount of flour.

For decoration, I made a simple confectioner’s sugar glaze, and mixed in 2 teaspoons of lemon juice for interest. I must say, that little lemony flavoring made all the difference. Being plain sugar cookies, I was worried that kids might find them boring or bland, but they were gobbled up as if I had put crack in them! ….Which of course I didn’t. [Shifty look]

With one and a half batches, it made a whole field of flowers! I chose to mix in three different colors for the petals and top them with colored sugar, but they were all the same flavor. As an interesting side note, I did notice that for some inexplicable reason, red was the most popular. Heh, who knows, right? I was lucky that they were consumed so enthusiastically, because this amount would have taken my household about a decade to finish off. One little girl even took ten for herself! If you find yourself in need of quick, cute kid-pleasers… Don’t make these. The icing alone took me at least two and a half hours to complete, but maybe if you had someone to help or weren’t nearly as obsessive as me, it could be a bit simpler.

Hannah (BitterSweet)1 Comment

Ladder Bracelets

The beautiful thing about spring break, for me at least, is getting the time to work on all of those little projects that I’ve been dying to do for what seems like ages.  I’ve been accumulating so many craft magazines, books, and links, it’s practically impossible to sort through all of it!  The craziest part of the whole situation is the fact that I’m actually attempting to reorganize to fulfill my need to do some spring cleaning, so all of the crap I have lying around is driving me crazy!  The best way to take care of messy supplies:  Craft with them.

Ordinarily, I really suck at working with wire, but lately it has actually been kinda fun.  The first attempt at this sort of bracelet, though, has all sorts of issues, and I’m not so happy with it.  The inspiration came from the latest issue of Bead Style magazine, which is usually about as helpful has a computer manual written in Latin.  I’ve only received two copies because they were free, but this last one shocked me – There were actually projects I wanted to make.  Every other issue (As far as I can see) has really just been one big ad.  Even the projects are no more than lists of supplies to buy, which you’re instructed to string onto some wire, and you’re done!  I guess it’s better for inspiration… And cleaning out your bank account.  Though painfully expensive, I’ve gotta admit that the beads that they advertise are truly gorgeous.

So anyway, I tried again and came up with this.  I like it a lot more, so I’m almost okay with letting go of some of those nice glass beads.

They really do look pretty nice, probably much better in person, because as I’m now learning, jewelry is one of the hardest subjects to photograph.  In fact, I had so much trouble with backgrounds and lighting, the above picture was actually taken on the lid of my toilet!  That’s why it’s a bit reflective… but look how clear and bright it is!  (Don’t worry, it was clean.)

I tend to get better pictures outside, so the rest were taken on my patio, in case you were becoming worried. 

Hannah (BitterSweet)3 Comments

Blooming Brooch

I’m almost finished knitting a very special shawl (Which you’ll hear much more about soon….) and I realized that it would probably need a brooch to be worn.  I don’t think I’ve ever owned a brooch before this day, so I set off to work on a little beaded flower.

I hope the colors will match…! 

Hannah (BitterSweet)2 Comments

Sweetness for a Bitter Holiday

Still frustrated about not finding many vegan sweets that my family can eat during Passover, I opt to help out and make one of the traditional dishes of the season, which actually happens to be vegan by default. (Again!)

Found at every traditional seder is Charoses, a food that is meant to sweeten the bitter tears (The salt water and bitter herb) that represent the pain of slavery. In this application it is eaten with matzoh, sometimes in addition to moror (Horseradish,) but it has many other tasty options. This depends on how you like yours, so I’ll get to that later.

Charoses is so simple, there isn’t even a written recipe in our house, so I’ll try to approximate measurements if you’re interested in trying it out for yourself. Don’t stress out, there’s nothing precise about it, and it only requires three things:

Apples, wine, and nuts.

First things first, peel and core three apples, preferably a sweeter variety like Fujis are ideal. Throw these into a wooden bowl, along with a good handful of nuts – Walnuts are traditional, but I find them a bit bitter… And besides, we already had pecans on hand, so I used those. Maybe start with 1/2 cup, and then depending on how your mixture looks you can add in more? It’s really up to you.

Now, mash those bad boys up real good! …But don’t massacre it! You’re looking for a chunky mixture, not a puree. That’s why I tend to use the hand-chopper, but if you’re just not into that or want to save time, you could probably get the same results from a food processor, as long as you kept an eye one it.

With the addition of about 1/2 cup of Manischewitz, (Or, I suppose you could substitute a sweetened grape juice if you don’t want to use alcohol) this is what mine looks like. By no means is this the only way it should come out. I’ve seen other people make theirs so smooth it’s more like applesauce! As something that smooth, it could make a tasty dip for unsalted crackers, or a spread for toast… Chunkier makes a great sandwich filling… and if you throw it under the broiler with some brown sugar, cinnamon, and crumbled matzoh, it makes for a warm and comforting dessert.

If you do try it, just play around with it! There are so many areas open to variation, and then the sky is the limit with what you can do with the end product.

Hannah (BitterSweet)7 Comments

My Fuzzy Strawberry

Strangely enough, no matter how long I searched, there isn’t a single pattern on the internet [for free] that instructs you on how to make just a plain, stuffed strawberry.  Sure, there are pouches and flat refrigerator magnets, but not what I was after.

It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty damn proud of this little guy!  Not only did I somehow manage to crochet it, but I didn’t even use a pattern!  When I started, I realized I didn’t even know how to decrease with crochet, so I think my ‘skills’ have already come a long way.  Nonetheless, the leaves were impossible to crochet, (I tried about 4 different methods) so I ended up cutting them out of felt and sewing them on, carrying over the same thread to attach the little “seeds.”

Sadly, to get it to look that acceptable, it took me about two and a half hours, and in the process I stabbed myself so deeply with the needle that I bled on my shirt before I realized my finger was gushing blood.  Still, I’ve never made anything with a pattern before, with the exception of simple scarves, so I’m not complaining.

Hannah (BitterSweet)4 Comments