English Tea Cakes

I have been really into simple baking lately. Nothing fancy or overly complicated. Just nice, easy cookies. I need to take on something more unique but maybe later. I loved the introduction to this recipe and had to make it, English Tea Cakes from the 1951 edition of The Cookie Jar. Tea cakes are similar to cookies, right?

The only thing I was missing was the currants. I had raisins and golden raisins but no currants. The British school teacher calls for currants and so I must get them!

I got a box of Zante currants, which are basically really small raisins. They are kinda cute!

Creaming butter and sugar! I tried for an artsy shot. 

Time to add the currants! These are fun. I am going to have to find more recipes with them. It does seem like a lot of currants...

Believe it or not, I actually read all through the instructions it just never clicked that this was more of a bar recipe instead of a cookie recipe. The recipe did not give dimensions for the pan except 'shallow.' Okay...I just grabbed my largest cookie sheet. I hoped it will fill out the pan in the oven, like a cake.

Hmm... It did not fill out the pan. Damn. It kind of looks like an uneven sheet cake. Oh well.

Time to cut them into little squares. I used a pastry cutter instead of a knife and it worked so much better! I was actually able to cut in straight lines. Wow!

Look at these delicious cuties! The currants all fell to the bottom of the tea cakes but next time I'll just have to cover them in flour first.

I just happened to decide to bake on a beautifully bright day. Sunshine and light tea cakes!

These are moist yet light delicious snacks! The thinner parts of the pan turned out much crisper than the thicker center but all parts were edible and tasty. Next time I would either bake it in a smaller pan or spread it out more evenly. I loved the little Zante currants! It felt like you got more currant flavor through out the cakes. These kept very well in a sealed container on the counter.

My Rating: Keeper! Easy and just different enough.

Dylan's Rating: Yum! I like the thinner ones better.

Friend Rating: "I did my best to make them last all week- last one this morning- They were GREAT!"

Brown Sugar Short Bread

Most of my recipes I find by randomly flipping through my cookbooks. Sometimes I have a craving or an idea but most of the time I pick something that I have all the ingredients for. Or sounds really weird. Several of the recipes in The Cookie Jar, 1951, sound really good but call for tons of ingredients. I am not giving cookies to the entire neighborhood. I am not making 8 dozen cookies. This is one of the few that was small and simple. 

Who doesn't love short bread?! You don't need a fancy cookie everyday. This recipe is typical and modern. Okay, looks super easy. Doesn't call for a lot.

Everything I always have on hand! Sometimes the brown sugar is light...sometimes it is dark. I just happened to have both today!

Mixing everything together. Kinda crumbly...

Kneading dough on my awesome marble slab. (Ignore my nails...I haven't painted them in a while and not just because I couldn't decide on what color. The red vs. coral debate is difficult)

Looking good! If you do not have one, I highly recommend getting a marble slab for cookies. It is amazing! My wonderful boyfriend got me one for the holidays and it makes a world of difference. It keeps the dough cool when you roll it out and so you don't have to worry about melty cookies. You know what I'm talking about. It is also great for pie crusts!

My marble was just a little small for the dough. I could have just rolled out half but where is the fun in that? Time to cut out cute little squares.

Did you know flour makes your hand slippery and can cause your phone to go flying out of it?

Looking back, I probably should have measured the cookies and made then a little more uniform in size.

There was no time listed so I tried to keep an eye on them. Naturally the smaller ones browned far quicker than the larger ones. Even with the larger ones, I think I left them in for too long. Short bread is never browned.

These turned out quite pretty! And a perfect amount.

I kinda wish that I used a fancy cookie cutter for them. Not too fancy. Just a little scalloped edge.

These were not bad. They didn't have a lot of flavor. I felt like something was missing. It could be because of me. I definitely made them too thin and too small and over-baked them. I think a nice dusting of raw sugar before baking would add to them.

My Rating: Kinda bland but a nice starter recipe. I want to try it again.

Dylan's Rating: "Good! but some are nice and soft and then the next one is like eating a rock."

Banana Drop Cookies

Despite the crazy one day of snow and the single obnoxiously cold day, spring weather is in the air. Daffodils are blooming! And it is time to do a little spring cleaning. Goodie. My house is too messy so I decided to tackle the fridge and freezer and what do I find?! Frozen bananas! So I took a break to bake. I really wasn't in the mood for breads or muffins so cookies from The Cookie Jar were perfect. Bonus: I found my missing mini chalk easels! And I think I need to work on my handwriting. In my defense, they are tiny easels and the chalk is huge.

 Looks super simple with no unusual ingredients. I used walnuts.

 I did not include the bananas in the picture. They looked really gross.

I love directions with a little bit of mystery. These instructions and directions were not well laid out. I am assuming that the nutmeg is part of the group sifted together with the flour. The mixture is quite dry.

 See, I told you the bananas looked gross.

These came together easily. I made them smaller to have more to share.

 My house smells like banana bread! So yummy! Yes, there is a missing cookie. So what?

These looks so nice! A pleasant change from all the holiday chocolate.

These are delicious little bites. A mixture of banana bread and banana muffin tops that you can pretend is a healthy snack. The spices are very subtle and you almost can't taste them at all. I would add more cinnamon and larger nuts. They were not quite as popular at my workplace as other cookies but people are "dieting." And they are chocolate fiends.

My Rating: Great and a unique way to use leftover bananas hiding in the freezer.

Friends and Family Rating: "These are really good! I hope you have more." "Yum!" "10 out of 10"