Biscuit Corn Cakes with Goat Cheese and Blackberry-Thyme Sauce ~ Pillsbury Finalist Recipe

I know I've mentioned this before, but just in case you missed it, my mom (Grandma Jane) is one of the 100 finalists in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest coming up at the end of March.  All the finalists' recipes have been made public, so I am thrilled to be able to share her recipe with you (it was a big secret until they officially published them).

Click here to read my original post about her becoming a finalist.

My little man (Caspian) and I will be flying to Orlando, FL next month to watch my mom compete.  We just found out this week that Martha Stewart will be announcing the $1 million dollar winner live on her show (oh, yeah, did I mention that the grand prize is $1 million buckaroos?!?!).  They will be setting up a set for her show in the lobby of the hotel where we are staying and announcing the winner from there ~ how cool is that?  She'll also be walking the floor while the contestants compete.  Usually the bake-off contest airs on the Food Network, but we've yet to find out the date for that one.

Who is going to win is anyone's guess.  All the top 100 recipes sound amazing.......I think it will totally depend on the judges tastes on the day of the competition.  But I have to tell you, I've tried Mom's recipe and it is awesome!  She will compete in the brunch category and the flavor profile she has created is incredibly complex.  You have the savory biscuit corn cake, the creamy goat cheese, the tart lemon and blackberry-thyme sauce.  I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it!

So here's her recipe if you would like to give it a try........

Biscuit Corn Cakes with Goat Cheese and Blackberry-Thyme Sauce

Serves 5 

(2 corn cakes per person)

If you try the recipe, let me know, I'd love to hear what you think.  This would be so good for Easter brunch if you are looking for something a little different to serve.  Also, if you would like a printer-friendly version of the recipe, you can print from the Pillsbury website by clicking HERE.

I think my little man has a pretty good resemblance to the Pillsbury dough-boy these days, so he just may be sporting a little costume for the competition.........you'll just have to wait and see!

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Lemon Lavender Tea Cookies

My mom and her husband, Allen (aka Pepo), recently attended the Lavender Festival in Blanco, Texas and they sent me this wonderful lavender cookbook and culinary grade lavender.  I had no idea there were so many ways to cook with lavender.  I thought these Lemon Lavender Tea Cookies would be just perfect for Matilda's "Tea for 2" party and they definitely were just right!

These cookies are light and contain absolutely no eggs, so they are definitely more of a shortbread.  Be careful though, because the dough tasted so yummy that I'm surprised I even got some cookies out for the party!

Makes 24 cookies
From the "Local Flavor of Lavender" cookbook
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender
2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

You will need to use dried culinary grade lavender for this recipe since that is what is suitable for human consumption.  Above is the lavender that was sent to me by my mom from the festival.

Finely chop 1 tablespoon of lavender.  If you have a coffee grinder used for grinding herbs, that would be a great thing to use or you could also use a food processor.  I opted for a basic knife.

Zest one lemon.  I like to use my microplane for zesting, but a box grater would work just as well.  Make sure you only zest the yellow part of the lemon.  The white can be pretty bitter.

Cream wet ingredients, lemon zest and sugar with a hand-mixer.  Then add in dry ingredients.  Stir until dough comes together.  It should not be dry, but not too sticky either.  If you think it is too dry, keep stirring, it will come together.

Place dough in refrigerator for 1-2 hours, until firm, or overnight.  Remove from refrigerator one hour before rolling out dough.  The next part is up to you.  You can make these like regular cookie cutter cookies and roll your dough 1/4" thickness and cut with a round or heart shaped cookie cutter.  Or you can do what we did, which was to roll the dough into two logs and slice the cookies, then coat them in sugar.  Either way, they will turn out great.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown on the edges.  Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

The dough can be made up to two days in advance and cookies can be baked one day in advance.  Freeze any leftover cookies for a sweet treat on another day!  These cookies will have your guests talking because they are delicious and a unique flavor.

The next time you have the ladies for tea or coffee, give these a try, they will love them, that is, if you don't eat all the dough first!

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Strawberry Picking and Cinnamon Strawberry Muffins { Recipe }

Last week it was finally strawberry season here in Illinois!  My husband was out of town for the week on a fishing trip with his dad, so the girls and I decided to head to our local strawberry farm to pick some fresh berries.

At the farm they give each child their own small basket and then they give each adult a larger basket.  It's not a fancy place, but it was just the perfect place for this mama and two little ladies.

The girls were very busy picking their berries.  Savannah stayed very focused and picked a ton.  Matilda, however, eventually decided it was best just to eat all the berries she was picking that way her basket would be empty and she could wear it as a hat.

We ended up with a huge basket of berries.  Both the girls started just filling up mama's basket and we filled it to the brim!

Once we had all our berries picked, it was time to head home and figure out what to do with all these gorgeous little red berries.

Cinnamon Strawberry Muffins

Makes 18-24 muffins

So we had picked all of these berries and I knew we needed to make something with them because, especially with my husband being away, there was no way we were going to eat this whole basket.  I thought about strawberry scones and strawberry cake, but settled on strawberry muffins.  I added some cinnamon to make these a little different than your average muffin and oh.my.goodness - they are delicious.

If you have any berries lying around, give this recipe a try.  It's heavy on the cinnamon and heavy on the sugar - two of my favorite things.  And the tops get super-crunchy and delicious.  You're going to love it!

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, melted
1 1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Prep your strawberries by taking the tops off and cutting them in half.  Some of our berries were pretty tiny so I just left those whole.

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, except for the sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine.  Toss your strawberries with the sugar.

Add strawberry/sugar mixture to the muffin mixture and fold in gently to combine.

Spray two muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray (you could also use muffin liners, if you prefer).  Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup and fill each muffin tin just about to the top.

Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.

Allow muffins to cool and then remove from pan.  If you do not plan to eat your muffins that day, I suggest freezing them.  Strawberries tend to make baked goods kind of soggy if they sit too long.

Place them in a freezer bag and lay them flat in your freezer for the initial freeze.  You can pull the muffins out one at a time when you are ready to eat them, microwave for about 45 seconds and they literally taste like you just pulled them out of the oven.  This is also a great technique if you have guests coming for a visit and you want to bake prior to their arrival or for a quick breakfast before work or school.

We only have one of these muffins left and looking at this picture is making me think, I need to walk immediately into the kitchen and pull it out of the freezer.  YUM!

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Brett's Irish Soda Bread

You know I love hearing from you guys - it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  Well, a bunch of you either commented or emailed regarding the Irish Soda Bread that my husband made for our St. Patrick's Day celebration.  I thought, surely I posted the recipe last year, but apparently I didn't.  The fact that I had yet to post this is surprising because it is such a big part of our St. Patrick's Day tradition. 

Sorry for being such a tease - I posted pictures of something yummy and didn't give you the recipe?  How rude of me.  So here's the recipe you've been waiting for............and believe me, it's the best soda bread I've ever had and I'm not just saying that because it's my hubby's family recipe! 

Brett's Irish Soda Bread

(1 loaf)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup buttermilk

1 handful currents or raisins 

1 tablespoon of melted butter (for brushing)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Blend dry ingredients.  Cut in butter.  Add buttermilk.  Add currents or raisins.  Turn out on floured board and kneed for 1 minute.  Make dough into ball.  Press a floured knife into a cross shape on top of dough (don't cut the dough, just make an indention). 

Bake for 40 minutes.  Brush with melted butter when you remove the bread from the oven.

Serve bread with butter, preserves, or plain.

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Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love lemon.  I love lemon bars, lemon pound cake, lemon poppy seed muffins, and I REALLY love lemon cupcakes.  Here's a great recipe for lemon cupcakes with the best (in my opinion) cream cheese frosting!

Lemon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

(Makes 24-30 cupcakes) 

Ingredients:
3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Cream cheese frosting (recipe below)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat sugar and softened butter together in a large mixing bowl.  Add eggs, vanilla extract and lemon zest.

Add the salt to the flour and add flour/salt to the wet ingredients (butter, eggs, sugar, ect), slowly.  Then add half the milk, then lemon juice and then the other half of the milk, beating the mixture in between.  Do not over-mix.

Line your muffin pan with cupcake liners.  Fill each muffin tin 3/4 full.  Place in oven.

Bake cupcakes for 18-21 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Allow to cool before removing from muffin pan.

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, the next step is adding the frosting..........

Cream Cheese Frosting

(24 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

1/2 bar cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Beat cream cheese and butter together in a medium-sized mixing bowl, then add vanilla extract. Incorporate powdered sugar, slowly.  Beat until you've reached a nice, creamy consistency (see above).  

You can also add lemon juice or lemon zest to this frosting if you would prefer more lemon taste.

Finally, frost your cupcakes.......

And enjoy!

Cottage Mama's Note:  This frosting is SO delicious.  If you like lots of frosting, I would suggest doubling the recipe.  It's not too sweet and has a really great cream cheese flavor.  I also like to add extra coarse sugar on top for added crunch and sparkle.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe - YUM!

Yesterday my daughter Savannah and I were playing with her Melissa and Doug wooden cookie set in her new play kitchen.  The Cottage Grandma (my Mom) sent her this adorable set  - have you seen it?  It is so much fun - it comes with a cookie sheet, cookies, toppings for the cookies, a play knife, a play spatula, and long cookie tin (think slice and bake) - all made out of wood!  The cookies have velcro on both sides, so you can velcro on your topping, velcro it onto the cookie sheet, or put all the cookies together and practice your slicing.  So much fun!!

So why am I telling you all this?  Well as we were playing "cookies", I remembered how much fun we had baking Christmas cookies (remember that post).  I asked her if she would like to make real cookies and she said, "yes, yes, yes!!" and so we did.  We made real chocolate chip cookies and boy were they good.  So here is my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies straight from the Barefoot Contessa herself (Ina Garten) out of her "Parties" cookbook!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 pound butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 extra-large eggs at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1.5 cups chopped walnuts

1.25 pounds semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on a low speed, mixing only until combined.  Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet line with parchment paper (I use a regular spoon for this).  Bake for exactly 15 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone).  Remove from oven and let cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Enjoy!

Cottage Mama's Note:  The Barefoot Contessa actually uses chocolate chunks - personally I prefer chocolate chips.  If you don't have a fancy electric mixer, just use a hand mixer - no problem!!

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Homemade Soft Pretzels with Honey Mustard Sauce

My husband, Brett, is a homebrewer - I don't know if I have mentioned that on the blog yet.  Brett makes his own beer and wine in the cottage basement, which is not much of a basement, more like the cottage dungeon.  And though I know I am probably bias, his beer is some of the best I have ever tasted.  Since yeast is a major component in the brewing process my hubby is very familiar with its workings.  So recently he has taken an interest in other things involving yeast such as baking bread.

Do you know what goes really well with beer?  Soft pretzels!!  This is my husband's recipe for Soft Pretzels with Honey Mustard Sauce that comes to you via Draft Magazine.  These pretzels are SO awesome!!  He made them on New Year's Eve and we gobbled them up so fast that they disappeared before our eyes.

Soft Pretzels with Honey Mustard Sauce

Makes 15-20 small-sized pretzels

Soft Pretzels:

1 package of active dry yeast

5 cups flour

1 1/3 cups warm water

1/8 cup warm water

1/3 cup brown sugar

Water, baking soda

Sea Salt

Honey Mustard Dip:

5 ounces creme fraiche (or sour cream)

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons dijon or german mustard

Salt and sugar to taste

Directions:

• Dissolve yeast in 1/8 cup warm water.
• Stir in 1 1/3 cups warm water, brown sugar and flour.  Beat until smooth.
• Knead dough until smooth and elastic.
• Heat oven to 475 degrees.
• In a saucepan, add 2 tablespoons baking soda to each cup of water.  Use enough to fill the saucepan; bring to a boil.
• Tear off some dough and roll a pencil shape with your hands.  Pick up both ends, cross to form rabbit ears and then twist the ends and pull the back to the rest of the loop (making a pretzel shape).
• Place twisted pretzels in water/baking soda mixture for 15 seconds until pretzel dough is golden or yellow in color.  Remove pretzels from boiling water and place onto cookie sheet.  Sprinkle tops with sea salt.  
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until pretzels are golden brown (see picture above).

Honey Mustard Dip

• Stir creme fraiche (or sour cream), honey and mustard until creamy.
• Add sugar and salt to taste.

Pretzels Ready to Eat

Cottage Mama's Note:  Make sure to enjoy your soft pretzels with your favorite craft beer! Pin It

Classic Sugar Cookies

Today I baked Christmas sugar cookies with my two girls.  Well, mostly with my older daughter, Savannah.  Matilda (my 5-month old) sat in her boppy chair and watched us - she was there for moral support.

I wasn't quite sure how this was going to go.  I liked the idea of doing something Christmasy with Savannah, but when I say she is my older daughter......she's not that much older at only 21-months.  Anyway, I thought we would give it a whirl - if things started to go south, I would just abort the mission - no harm done.

I made the sugar cookie dough while the girls napped and let it chill in the fridge for a couple hours.  Then I rolled out the cookies and off we went.  To my surprise, Savannah did AWESOME!!  I showed her how to use the cookie cutters and she followed my instructions perfectly.  Then I showed her how to use sprinkles which she thought was great fun!  As each batch came out of the oven, she had to try a cookie to make sure we didn't have any faulty batches - even more fun!!!  All the while, shouting, "yay, yay"!!  She had a blast and so did I.  Here's my little budding chef in the kitchen:

She had to try one of her cookies!!  I just think she looks adorable in her apron - it says "Please Kiss the Cook!" - how could I not kiss that little face!?

Very precise with her decorating.

Using the snowman cookie cutter (that was her favorite)!

I had such a great time teaching her the ways in the kitchen and I can't wait to do it again!  I'm not sure if you have a great sugar cookie recipe, so if not, here is my Classic Sugar Cookie recipe (comes from The Chopping Block Cooking School in downtown Chicago):

Classic Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

5 ounces (10 tbs) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt with a whisk.  In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add egg and vanilla.  Add flour mixture until combined, then divide the dough into 2 disks and chill 2 hours or overnight.

Roll dough and cut into shapes.  Bake on un-greased cookie sheets in a preheated 350 degree oven until edges are golden, about 7-9 minutes.  Cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.  Decorate as desired.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies.

Cottage Mama's Note:  If you plan to decorate your cookies with colored sugars (like we did) then brush the top of the cookies with egg white before adding sugar (do all of this prior to baking).  If you plan to decorate with frosting, wait until cookies have fully cooled.

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