Fruit Jewels

Well, it's been a while. I have no excuse but that just how life is. This is actually a recipe I made a while ago but am just now putting here. 

I found a great stash of old cooking pamphlets from a used bookstore this fall. This great margarine pamphlet was one of them. I love it! I don't know the year but maybe 1950's. Maybe

So many delicious sounding recipes but let's go for something a little different: Fruit Jewels!

I actually had to but a lot more for this recipe than usual. I don't normally keep maraschino cherries, dates, or even margarine on hand. Chopping the cherries was fun. I'm lazy so I just stuck them in a bowl and used my kitchen scissors to cut them up. The dates were already precut because I hate cutting dates! they are so sticky!

There doesn't seem like there is enough dough for all the mix-ins...

Easy recipe to follow. Just mix. I like that. Sometimes it's great to just have a simple recipe. I love how bright the cherries are!

These turned out so cute! More texture than the recipe picture but I think they look even better.

I was a little nervous because I am not usually a fan or maraschino cherries but these were tasty. They stayed nice and moist. No crispiness here. They had a light, not too sweet flavor and, even though the recipe says it makes 2.5 dozen. I don't think I got even 2 dozen from it. I'm not upset about that. I probably made them a little larger than they were supposed to be but I think they were the perfect size for me. And made the perfect amount. Because these were so moist they tended to stick together after a day or so and so they had to be eaten quickly.

My Rating: Delicious! Definitely something a little different to make again.

Peanut Cookies

Holy cow! It has been a while. There was a lot going on so I had to take a break from baking. But I am back! I found some great new cook books filled with delicious sounding recipes. The first one I ha to make involves peanuts just for my sweetie. He's been very patient during the baking drought.

I pulled this recipe from  the 1940's Metropolitan Cook Book which was put out by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. This is one of the several cookbooks I found while on vacation.

Looks simple enough and it does not look like it is going to produce 15 dozen cookies. Yeah! One common problem I am having with some of these older recipes is the amount of cookies I actually get from them. Despite what he says, neither I nor my boyfriend need 5 dozen cookies in the house.

I decided to use unsalted butter as the fat since I always have lots of it on hand. Had to buy some peanuts but gave my sweetie the rest of the container. It lasted less than a week. 

There doesn't seem like there is enough butter...but let's keep going. Gonna add the eggs.

It's starting to take shape. A nice and fluffy dough!

Always read the entire recipe first. Sometimes I don't but it is a good practice to get into. I was not paying attention and added the peanuts to the cookie dough.

It did not feel like there was quite enough peanuts so I added more to the top. 

After just 12 minutes I got these fluffy cuties!

My kitchen smells like peanuts! 

These baked up nice and fluffy. And smell delicious!

These came together quick and easy and didn't require anything special. I didn't even have to bust out the standing mixer! They were very light in texture and flavor. These will not be mistaken for peanut butter cookies. The peanut taste was barely there. If I hadn't mistakenly added peanuts to the mix there would not have been much peanut flavor. That being said, they were delicious. Easy enough to throw together in a pinch and you just have to remember to add extra peanuts.

My Rating: Pretty good. Easy for a last minute cookie.

Dylan Rating: "Needs more peanuts but it's nice."

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!"