Raspberry Chocolate Crescents

Every now and again I crave a little sweet, typically after I have lunch during the work week. I'm very fortunate that I work for a company that lets me work at home full time, so when the mood strikes, I can just run to my kitchen, grab a treat and run back to my desk and computer.

Usually what I want is a cookie. Two cookies. I love cookies. Cookies are such a delightful, portable treat, not messy to eat and satisfy my sweet tooth without overindulgence.

I made these Raspberry Chocolate Crescents the same day I made the Apricot Power Bars (posted below). Poor Ole Sweetie-Pi has a nut sensitivity so he can't go near anything with nuts, and it just seems unfair that I should have something sweet and he doesn't. He loves chocolate, will help me eat any boxes of chocolate I may get for gifts at the holidays, will treat himself to a candy bar after enduring the trauma of a Wal-Mart shopping trip. He will stash bags of chocolate candies in the bread box.

Word from the galley is that these cookies are among the best cookies I've made.

Now, I'm glad Ole Sweetie-Pi liked them, and I would make them again for him, but I thought they were "just okay." I can't explain exactly what I didn't like them as much as I thought I would. I mean, really, chocolate and raspberry!

I think the chocolate chips in the famous yellow bag were not the best choice, perhaps a better chocolate, such as the Ghirardelli or even those little Dove candies would have been better for this classy little cookie. I also used a raspberry jelly, and I think a raspberry preserve or jam might have been better. The jelly liquefied and leaked out my cookies. I liked the cookie portion of it; it has a slight tang from the cream cheese, and it is nice and tender.

I would love to serve these at a tea party on a tray with other little sweets.

Do you take lemon or milk?

Peach & Raspberry Pie

Gosh, I love pie. Good ole apple is probably my favorite, but I pretty much love them all. Pumpkin, pecan, strawberry-rhubarb (now we're talking!), chocolate cream, banana cream, custard, lemon meringue, blueberry....oh I could go on and on.

So, it was no surprise to me that when I spied this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website, I knew I had to try it. The good cooks over there put a lot of effort in developing some of the very best recipes, and this recipe did not disappoint.

I used frozen peaches and raspberries, and gave my pie a generous six cups of filling; 4 cups of peaches and 2 cups of raspberries. No thin pies for me! I should have thought about the extra juiciness the added fruit would produce. When I cut into the pie, even after sufficiently cooling, it was too juicy. I used 1/3 cup cornstarch called for in the recipe, but next time I'll increase it to maybe just shy of half a cup. I think I'll add a tad more sugar. I love the tartness of raspberries, but a little extra sweetness would've have hurt. Grins.

The vanilla was a surprising touch, though not discernible in the baked pie. In mixing the ingredients, the vanilla, cinnamon and fruit mixture created a wonderful aroma and was enough to make want to me eat the filling Au natural. Heavenly!

As you can tell, I only used the filling part of their recipe because I favor pies over tarts. This pastry recipe has become my favorite. It's a No Fail recipe, and I think it's appropriately named. The only time I've messed it up was when I thought the flour didn't need all the water, and I reduced it. Big mistake. Follow the simple directions, and you will be rewarded with a pie crust that is wonderful to handle. It's velvety smooth and bakes up flaky. I'm not saying that this is the best pastry recipe ever (I think an old fashioned lard is probably flakier and more tender), but for sheer ease, I think you'll have to go some to beat this recipe.

Recipe is from Marcia Adams' New Recipes from Quilt Country, though I have seen it any number of places on the web. My picture is a little pale; the dough will actually be more yellow than shown because of the butter-flavored shortening.

Perfect Pie Crust

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups butter-flavored vegetable shortening**
1 egg
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and shortening. Blend until you have reached the texture of coarse crumbs.

In a separate small bowl, combine the egg, vinegar and water. Beat to combine.

Drizzle the liquids over the flour mixture and mix thoroughly.

Shape the dough into a patty, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for 45 minutes, or refrigerate overnight.

When chilled, divide the dough into fourths. Each fourth is one single crust; use two for a two-crust pie. Roll and use immediately or wrap each portion separately and refrigerate or freeze.

**I've seen this exact recipe using the non-buttered flavored shortening, and in a pinch one day, I tried it. It was just okay to me; I think the butter flavored shortening has a better flavor.

The dough will keep nice for a couple of days in the fridge; I have frozen it, defrosted, and used it, but it's not as good tasting, in my opinion.

Old Fashioned Raspberry Muffins

When I arose this morning, the sky was heavy with leaden clouds, the air was cold damp, and our five cats were acting all crazy, erupting from corners, chairs, and tables, chasing each other. Snow was sure to be imminent.

I've had raspberries in the freezer for a little while and thought it would be a nice treat to make raspberry muffins. I bet I have close to a hundred cookbooks and not one of them had a raspberry muffin recipe in it. Can you believe that? Me neither. I think I need another cookbook!

A quick search, and I found this gem on RecipeZaar. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed these muffins this morning. Ordinarily I would wait to post, but these were so good I just had to share it with you as soon as I could!



Now the directions say to use the paper cupcake holders, which I did not do; I rarely use them. I have an unattractive trait called arrogance which too often prohibits me from taking good advice. I don't like paper cupcake holders because I think only cooks who are too lazy to do a good job greasing their pans or to take the time necessary to wash the the muffin cups after use them (I also have a thing about lazy people.) Whatever; as I said, arrogance.

If you look closely at the photo, the outside of the cupcakes are a little too brown, I think. In this instance, I believe the paper cupcake holders would've prevented their overbrowning and made for a prettier presentation.

The heating of the milk with the lemon, butter and vanilla and zest is positively inspired. I wish you could've smelled the aroma of the lemon zest as it infused the milk (I didn't have orange). The wonderful, citrusy aroma woke up Sweetie-Pi and brought him downstairs to see what was smelling so exquisitely good.

These muffins are light, full of tart raspberry flavor with a nice balance of lemony goodness. Perhaps rolling the raspberries in a little sugar before adding to the batter would be good, for those who have sweeter taste buds.

This recipe made 18 standard sized muffins for us, filling the muffin cups half full.