Fat Soft Ginger Cookies

1/2c. softened butter

1/4c. softened cream cheese

1c. white sugar

1/4c. molasses

1 egg

1T. water

1c. white all purpose flour

1c. wheat flour

1t. baking soda

2t. cinnamon

1T. ground ginger

a pinch of nutmeg

1/2t. ground cloves

1/2t. salt

Extra sugar for rolling 

Clear Decorator Sprinkles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Blend the butter, cream cheese and sugar till well blended and fluffy. Add the egg, and molasses, and water, mix well. Add the remaining ingredients till blended. Roll into 1 1/2in.-2in. balls, and roll till coated in extra sugar and then roll the tops in clear decorator sprinkles (optional) ................bake in a 350 oven for about 10-12min. Edges should be slightly browned...................centers will be a little soft:-)

Yields about 18-20 large cookies

Enjoy! 

Berry Creamy Scones...........

Well, have you ever made cream cheese filled scones.................we hadn't till yesterday........and they were well worth a try. Our scone recipe came from Annie's House. 

Boy is it a great recipe......I really want to try them the original way also!

Well here is our adaption of the recipe to get a big fat berry creamy scone!

Berry Creamy Cream scones

Scone Ingredients: 
2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour 
1 Tbsp baking powder 
3 Tbsp sugar (more for sprinkling) 
1/2 tsp salt 
5 Tbsp (2.5oz) cold, unsalted butter 
1T. lemon zest 1/4t. vanilla extract 2t. lemon extract

1 cup heavy cream (more for brushing) 

1/4c. blackberries cut up into 1/4's (set aside)

Cream cheese Filling Recipe

4oz. cream cheese

1 1/2t. lemon extract

1T. lemon zest

1T. milk..........more or less

1t. lemon juice

2T. sugar

Cream these all together in a bowl till well combined. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 F (220 C).

Place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse meal. Add lemon zest.

(At this point, you can freeze the mixture in a container for later.)

 Stir in heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon zest,  until it comes together in a shaggy ball. It will still have lots of loose, sandy pieces. If you think it's too loose and sandy, you can add a little bit more cream to bind it a bit more -- it shouldn't affect the outcome if a bit more cream is added. *Note: I find that pouring the cream in slowly and mixing it little by little is more efficient than dumping the cream in all at once.
Place batter on a floured surface and roughly work it into a ball.

Now, press the dough down into 2 circles. Spread one half of the dough with the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle on berries. Top with remaining rounded dough. Press the outer edges gently to seal. Cut it into 6 large or 12 small triangles.

Separate the individual scones and place them on a baking tray that is lined with parchment paper. Brush the top of the scones with cream and then sprinkle each one with a little sugar, or clear decorator sprinkles!

Bake for 12-15 mins until golden brown on top.

Creamy Cream cheese and berries..............

Look at that juicy berry hanging out! mmmmm!

Berry Blondie Bars

2c. brown sugar
2/3c. butter
2c. whole almonds toasted
1t. almond extract and vanilla
2 eggs
2c. flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1c. dried cranberries

Heat oven to 350. Line a 13x9in. pan with greased foil.
Combine sugar and butter in a saucepan...........cook at med. heat till butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Coarsely chop 1c. of almonds and set aside. Place remaining 1c. of almonds in a food processor. Cover a process till a paste begins to form, stir almond extract, almond paste, and vanilla into butter mixture. Stir in eggs one at a time. Until combined. Mix in dry ingredients till combined. Stir in chopped almonds and cranberries. Spread in baking pan. Bake for 25min. Cool and cut into 32 bars!

Poppyseed Almond Muffins

These scrumptious muffins were made by the Muffin Men this past Saturday.................check out the recipe on their site!

Cranberry Buckle Cake

Cranberry Buckle Coffee Cake

Batter:

3/4c. sugar

4 T. butter

1 egg

1/2 c. milk

2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. cardamon

1 tsp. vanilla 

2 c. frozen chopped cranberries

1T. orange zest

Struesel:

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

2-3 tsp. orange zest

1/2 tsp. salt

5 1/3 T. soft butter

Grease a 9x9 pan. Heat oven to 375. Batter: Cream together the sugar and butter, then add the egg and mix at medium speed for 1 min. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir in the milk alternately with the dry ingredients and vanilla, scrapping the sides down as you go. Gently fold in cranberries. Spread in pan. Struesel: in a bowl whisk sugar and flour,cinnamon,lemon and salt add butter mix to make a crumb. Sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake for 45-50 min or until done.

Varriation: use lemon zest in place of the orange zest.  And fresh or frozen blueberries in place of the cranberries!