Chockablock Cookies

The Crumbler! My new name for this cookie after I changed some of the ingredients and sold these as a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis at their annual walk event. I took my daughter and one of her friends to sell the cookies. Here's her friend, at the table. They also needed to earn community time for high school graduation requirements so, it didn't take a lot of convincing to get them out there first thing in the morning!

Having this idea in advance of knowing that Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet was going to select it had me excited! First, I made the recipe exactly using dried cranberries, peanuts, coconut and chopped bitter sweet chocolate. I found the chocolate to be overwhelming and the cookie itself unattractive. In the second batch I reduced the molasses to 1 TB and increased the granulated sugar. I also used golden raisins, peanuts and reduced the amount of bitter sweet chocolate to 10 oz. and added fresh nutmeg and cinnamon. This made a more balanced cookie and much more attractive. On the rack you'll see in the bottom row each cookie; the darker being the original recipe. Check out Mary's site because she did so many different versions of this cookie which all look fantastic!

We sold approximately 50 cookies that day which was great considering that free subway sandwiches and drinks were given away to all walkers. This cookie was a great success! If you're interested in learning more about The National Multiple Sclerosis Society you can go to http://www.nationalmssociety.org/.

Sweet Cream Biscuits

Happy Biscuit Baking Tuesday! This week's selection comes from Melissa of Love At First Bite. If you check out her site, you'll see how diligent she was in attempting to make a perfect biscuit. I think she got it right with the White Lily flour and over the top when she made sausage gravy to go with them. Drool City!

I used all purpose flour for my biscuits. I have the worse depth and height perception. I didn't roll out my biscuits, but patted out the dough. Still no clue, and ended up with some biscuits an inch high vs. the suggested half inch.

But guess what! They rose!!! Not as pretty as I would have liked, but they tasted yummy. Lorrie from With a Grateful Prayer Thankful Heart made an apricot butter to go with hers. I had strawberry rhubard preserves handy so I turned that into a butter spread. Oh so yummy!!! The outside of my biscuits were a little crunchy and had a littly grainy textural look on the outside. Inside, these biscuits were soft, fluffy and a little dense. I ate two of them and my tummy is VERY full!

Swedish Visiting Cake

Was this a cake a "sleeper" or what! Very easy to put together and quick to bake. I didn't have a 9-inch cast iron pan so, I went with a 9-inch cake pan. This cake has a tremendous almond flavor rounded out with lemon. I have to say, my cake didn't rise much. I did whip up the eggs using a mixer and figured that's where the height would come from since there was no leavener.

I kept looking at the picture in Dorie's book and looking at mine. Dorie's ... mine ... Dorie's ... mine. Nope, not the same height. This cake was absolutely delicioso!!! A definite keeper!

Coconut Tea Cake

Boy, this has been a confusing two weeks for me by switching the selected baked items. I feel left out as not too many bakers took the offer to switch weeks. I'd like to know who baked something special for Easter other than our weekly TWD?


So, this week I chose Coconut Tea Cake which was selected by Carmen Cooks. I made this cake to take to my brother's home for Easter dessert. I had already made two carrot cakes and Dorie's Almost Fudge Gateaux. I was a little "baked out"! I made this cake on Sunday afternoon after church! Needless to say, I delivered this cake a little warm! After reading some of the posts from the prior week, I decided to make the lime coconut version. I toasted my coconut and made a lime glaze as well as a blueberry coulis. It's Easter!!!!


Although it's not a pound cake, this cake was very moist and had a dense but fluffy crumb. I could definitely taste all of the flavors this cake had to offer. The lime was a delight and everyone agreed. I was barely able to steal a slice home so that I could snap a pic!