CHELSEA SCONES for EASTER (versatile).....

"Easter is the one morning in all of history where the dawn came twice; once on the eastern horizon and again in Eternity.." - Craig D. Lounsbrough

Every Easter it was a pan of Hot cross buns, with sticky icing crosses slathered over top of  candied peel, raisin buns. I used to lick off the frosting, pick out the peel and dispose of the bread to the birds outside.......These Chelsea Scones are way different. Made of tender dough, which can be rolled with anything you wish: make as  the recipe for something sweet,  or with cheese, ham, mushrooms, etc. Versatile...never fail scones. My mother/grandmother's recipe from the 1930's

MAKE the SCONE BATTER first: 2 cups  flour

½ cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, Pinch salt, ½ cup cold butter or margarine

1 egg, 2/3 cup milk ( I use Oat Milk instead, sometimes) and a splash more to make a soft dough. If your dough is stiff, the scones will be tough.

1. Prepare a 13x9 pan with veggie sprayed foil. Preheat oven to 450 F. Mix all dry ingredients together. Plop butter or margarine into this, blend with pastry cutter.

3.Dump egg into milk/cream/ oat milk or regular milk, and beat till blended.

4.Make a well in centre of mixture, pour liquid into this well. 

5. Combine with dry ingredients. Do NOT knead. The mixture should resemble pastry. Takes about 20 seconds. Work quickly, as if it were pastry.

The margarine/ butter should be incorporated loosely, as if it were puff pastry.  

6. Drop onto floured silpat liner/clean counter and  pat out in a weird shaped rectangle. 

Don't worry if it looks unfinished. Don't roll with rolling pin or it gets overworked.( Less is more!)

7. Melt a 1/3 cup marg or butter, spread some of it over the scone dough. Sprinkle with fillings of YOUR choice:

Here I used a cup or raisins, handful of br sugar. You can add a smidge of cinnamon, or be creative and use cooked mushrooms, ham, cheese, whatever you wish. But nothing runny, or it adds too much moisture.

8. Roll up like jelly roll.

9. Tuck in the long and short ends, and pat down slightly.

10. Slice into 12 segments with a large, sharp knife . 

11. Place into prepared pan, brush with remaining melted marg/butter, sprinkle br. sugar over top if doing sweet version, or cheese if doing savoury version. or leave plain after brushing with marg.

12. Bake at 450 f for about 12 minutes. Add 10 minutes to bring to a nice brown on surface. Add 5 more minutes if needed. If you just shove the pan in the oven for 20 minutes the tops might be too brown. 

Let sit on a cooling rack or board. Pull apart and serve. The scone recipe, alone,  is also good molded into a ring, like round bread, cut into wedges, then baked, or cut into rounds or wedges, and baked in 450 F for about 16 minutes... 

“On Easter Day, the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer.” —Douglas Horton

Photographs 2025

 

PUMPKIN....

"I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one..." - It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (Charles M. Shultz)

PUMPKIN 1988…

 On an October day, at CFB Petawawa, Ontario, 1988, snow arrived early that week. Kinda bored, and looking for something to do, my neighbour, and I got the bright idea to make pumpkin pies. From scratch. We’d make up our own recipe. Couldn’t be THAT difficult.  

First pumpkin I bought, I kept near the kitchen vent. It shriveled up like a shrunken head. We bought about six more pumpkins. Kept THEM outside in the back yard, in the snow. THEY did NOT shrivel up, like cannibal heads. We donned puffy coats, toques, mittens, scarves, mukluks, and grabbed the axe from basement. Home made pumpkin pie, here we go……

WHACK! The axe bounced. WHACK! My neighbour gave it a go.We took turns, till those six pumpkins were hacked into chunks. Broke the axe in the cold.

 Unfortunately, we left the pumpkin boiling FAR too long, while we went out to shovel snow. Came back to a burnt pot, sizzling pumpkin seeds snapping and spitting out of the pot……..

  Dumped the pumpkin, the pot, the axe and bought a pie…..

ORANGE PUMPKIN LOAF ( 2011)

(Double recipe makes 2 loaf pans, or 11 mini loaf pans. Adjust time accordingly.)

1/3 cup butter,1 1/3 cups sugar,2 eggs,1 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 cup orange juice,1 grated and pureed orange

1 cup white  flour,1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour,1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder,Pinch salt

½ tsp cinnamon,½ tsp cloves,½ cup chopped nuts ( I use pecans)

1 cup dried cranberries/raisins mixed ( I toss in a bit more for good measure)

Beat all wet ingredients, then add ground up orange. Add all dry and combine together..do not beat, or you will be sorry…gets tough that way.

Plop into pans. The mini loaf pans are great. 

. Bake in 350 oven for 1 hour with larger loaf pans. Bake for about 30 minutes with mini pans. Just be sure to check after 20 minutes, with a sharp knife plunged into the centre to test for doneness.

Cool and wrap to freeze. Serve with anything and everything…..

Serve with anything and everything…..

"Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He's gotta pick this one. He's got to. I don't see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there's not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see." -Charles M. Schulz

PHOTOGRAPHS 2025

 

GOLDEN WINTER DUNDEE CAKE.....

Finally, I can stand long enough to BAKE! Yay me. It's been almost five years since I've actually been able to do this. So exciting.  The hardware in my leg is daunting, but I can walk between counters, furniture, etc. doors, windows, with more independent walking, every day.  I can  last about 20 minutes. Yay! Four months ago, couldn't get anywhere. Wow, it's great to be standing up again.  I can reach the baking cupboard once more (Double yay).......so HERE is my own version of Golden Dundee Tea Cake.....

Prepare five small loaf pans: Greased and lined with greased parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 F.

You can use a couple of medium sized loaf pans, or a round cake pan  if you wish instead.

                                          I like the small loaf pans, as they freeze well......

Combine 3 cups Golden Raisins in a saucepan, cover with water and boil about 5 mins . This will soften the raisins. 

Drain liquid from the raisins.

Add to the still warm raisins: 1 cup of margarine , cut up  into pieces,  beating well after each one. The warm raisins will melt the margarine.

Then to this mixture: add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. 

Add : 1 1/4 cup white sugar and beat into the raisin/margarine/sugar mixture. Beat with a large spoon or large fork. 

Add a 1/2 teaspoon of lemon/or almond flavouring , if you wish. Sometimes, I add a couple of tbsps of marmalade, if you wish...just for something different. But I didn't this time.

In a separate bowl: 3 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking powder, pinch salt.

COMBINE: Raisin mixture with the dry ingredients. Mix well.

Plop batter into the five loaf  pans , all ready and lined with parchment paper. 

Put loaf pans on a cookie sheet  and then into oven . I baked these for about 40 minutes. (I started at 30 minutes then added time, till a sharp knife inserted into centers came out clean.)

Take a piece of margarine and paint the warm cake tops with the margarine. It just gives a nice sheen. Freeze in the loaf pans. Slice and serve with a hot cup of tea and share with friends. WONDERFUL!

"

"There is nothing better  than cake, but MORE cake..." - Harry S. Truman

Photographs 2025