Honey Butter

 Ingredients

        1/3 cup honey

        1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter

Instructions

 

• Take the butter out of the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to starting to recipe so it has a chance to soften up (room temperature is ideal).
• Add the butter to a mixing bowl, and using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until it's fluffy.
• Pour in the honey, and some salt, and continue mixing until you've got a smooth mixture.
• Transfer the honey butter to a bowl or jar.
  You can definitely add more honey if you wish; you can give it a taste and mix in more honey if needed. But remember the taste gets stronger as it sits in the refrigerator.
  

Lemon Cranberry Scone

Servings: 10 - 12 scones

Buttery and flakey scones that melt in you mouth. These biscuits have lemon zest and dried cranberries with a lemon icing drizzle.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup cold butter cubed
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 1 cups dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup whole milk or half and half
• 1/4 cup sour cream

        Drizzle Icing

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tsp milk
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375F.

• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

• Add the cold butter to the bowl and using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour. Continue until a crumbly consistency is produced. Stir in the lemon zest and dried cranberries. Make a Well in the center of the flour mixture.

• In a separate bowl, whisk the sour cream into the milk, until smooth (blender or immersion blender works well). Pour the milk mixture into the flour and stir together with your hands with a baking spatula until just moistened. (Batter should be lumpy) Work gently and be careful to not over-mix the batter.

• Spread a little flour on a baking stone (I use a pizza pan). Dump the batter onto the baking stone and pat down to make a10 inch disc. Cut into 10 to 12 equal wedges.

• Bake for 25-30 minutes. The scones should be browned around the edges and on top.

• Remove from the oven and let cool slightly.

• Make the drizzle by mixing the icing sugar with the milk and lemon juice until dissolved. Drizzle over all the scones.

• Cut and Enjoy!

A to Z Bread

An extremely versatile bread. Very moist and delicious. It's a great way to use up odds and ends of frozen berries.

Ingredients

2 C sugar
1 C vegetable oil
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 T vanilla
3 C all-purpose flour
2 t cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 C walnuts, pecans or other nuts, chopped (optional)
2 C - choose any combination of the following to equal 2 cups

A to Z Ingredients

2 C apples, grated                                  2 C applesauce
2 C fresh apricots, chopped                   2 C bananas
2 C carrots, grated                                 2 C cherries, pitted and chopped
2 C fresh coconut, grated                      2 C dates, pitted and chopped
2 C eggplant, grated                              2 C figs, finely chopped
2 C seedless grapes                               2 cups honey (omit the sugar)
1/2 C lemon juice + some zest              2 C marmalade (omit 1 C sugar)
2 C peaches, chopped                            2 C pears, chopped
2 C crushed pineapple well drained      2 C canned pumpkin
2 C raisins                                             2 C raspberries
2 C rhubarb, chopped                           2 C fresh strawberries,  chopped
2 C frozen strawberries, drained          2 C sweet potatoes, grated
2 C yogurt                                            2 C zucchini, grated

Directions

1) In a mixing bowl combine the sugar, oil and eggs, mix well.
2) Stir in A to Z ingredients of your choice and vanilla.
3) Combine flour cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt, stir into
    liquid ingredients just until moistened. Stir in nuts.
4) Pour into 2 greased 8" x 4" loaf pans. Bake at 325 F for 55-65 minutes
    or until a wooden pick inserted car the center comes out clean. Cool in
    pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

I usually measure all the dry ingredients into 3 or 4 ziplock bags and keep them
in the pantry so all I have to do is add the wet ingredients and the A to Z of
my choice ... makes for a quick way to make the breads without all
the measuring!