Hand Pies

We did make it to the beach with no rain for the 4th of July. We even had no problem finding parking. Every time my children enter the cold Maine ocean water, I really expect them to come out blue. Not even their lips were blue so I know they are true Maineiacs. I may have been born in New England but I won't even put my toe into the New England ocean. I can say I have done it hence why I won't do it again.

 In Maine, it is strawberry picking time around the 4th of July. Since I had fresh strawberries, I decided to make Rebecca Rather's Fourth of July Fried Pies. I also made the cherries and blueberries. My favorite was the blueberry. My youngest daughter's favorite was the cherry but my mother in law liked the strawberry. The recipe in the book even had peaches. This time, I decided to bake the pies but next time I will definitely try frying them.

Fruit filling
1 cup fresh fruit (I tried strawberries, blueberries, and cherries)
1/2 cup fruit preserve to match the fresh fruit used

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the fruit with their matching preserves. Set aside.

Dough
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups ice water
1 large egg
2 Tbsp water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Work the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
5. Add the ice water and gently form the dough into a ball.
6. Divide the dough into thirds.
7. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll out each portion of the dough to 1/16th inch thickness.
8. Cut the dough into 5 inch diameter circles.
9. Place 1 Tbsp of the desired filling in the center of each dough round.
10. Fold the rounds in half and with wet fingers press the edges to seal using water.
11. Crimp the edges of each hand pie with the tines of a fork.
12. Beat the egg and water together to make an egg wash.
13. Lightly brush the tops of each hand pie with the egg wash.
14. Bake the pies for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Toppings:
Sprinkle with powder sugar.
Recipe adapted from the Pastry Queen cookbook.

Did you already know... 
-The first fruit to ripen in the Spring are strawberries.
-There are about 200 seeds in one strawberry.
- Strawberries and roses belong to the Biological classification Rosaceae family.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July! Do you have big plans? We are just hoping it will not rain. My youngest daughter keeps telling me that we can still go to the beach. It doesn't matter if it is raining since we will be getting wet anyways. I guess it is the perfect way to miss the crowd.

When I was growing up, we would visit my relatives in New Hampshire around the 4th of July. 4th of July was my grandmother's birthday. We would go swimming at the pond and visit with our relatives. Plus my uncles would have a fireworks war. 

 Chocolate Cookie Cutouts
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powder sugar, sifted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
nonparelis, colored sugar, other decorations

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and powder sugar until fluffy.
4. Add the egg to the butter mixture and vanilla.
5. Slowly, add the flour to the butter mixture. Mix until incorporated.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
7. After the dough is chilled, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness onto a lightly floured surface.
8. Using a cookie cutter, cut out the desired shapes. Transferred the cutout shapes to baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.
9. Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator and allow to chill for 20 minutes. (I worked in batches so the dough was chilling while some were baking.)
10. Sprinkle the dough with desired edible decorations. 
11. Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes or until crisp.
12. Allow the cookies to cool completely on wire racks.

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies.

(If you store these in plastic bags, the cookies will still taste good but will become soft.)

Did you already know...
-According to the weather channel, the weather in Philadelphia was 76 degrees F on July 4th, 1776.
-When the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, there were 2.5 million people living in the newly independent nation.
-This July 4th, 2012, there is an estimated 314 million people living in the United States.

Happy Fourth of July!

Bacon and Cheddar Scones

Yes, I did write bacon and cheddar scones! What a great combination for any time of day. These scones are really good. I served these scones with a salad for supper. The leftovers will probably be gone at breakfast by my oldest daughter. These scones were picked by Emily of Ruflove for this weeks Project Pastry Queen. 

The only difference I made to the original recipe would be I substituted chives for the green onions. I like green onions but I had chives on hand. I also grate my butter for scones in which my youngest son thought it was funny. I will admit I cheated with the bacon. I talked my oldest daughter into cooking it. My oldest daughter tells me she cooks it better than I do anyways. Since I prefer for her to continue to cook bacon for me, I will have to agree that she does an awesome job! (It is like when you want your honey to continue to do laundry so you give a lot of praise. What a great job you are doing! My whites pinks have never looked better.)

Bacon and Cheddar Scones
3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup unsalted butter, grated and chilled
2 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup chives, chopped
10 slices bacon, cooked and chopped into 1 inch pieces
3/4 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 egg
2 Tbsp water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. 
2. Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper in a large bowl on low speed.
3. Gradually add the butter to the mixer. Combine until the pieces are crumbly and the size of small peas.
4. Add the grated cheese and mix until just blended.
5. Stop the mixer and add the chives, bacon, and 3/4 cups of buttermilk.
6. Mix by hand until the ingredients are incorporated. If the dough is still too dry add 1 Tbsp of buttermilk to the dough until the dough forms into a ball but do not over mix.
7. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured flat surface.
8. Pat the dough into a ball.
9. With a floured rolling pin, flatten the dough into about an 8 inch circle that is 1/2 inch thick.
10. Cut the dough into 8 to 10 equal wedges.
11. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water.
12. Brush each wedge of dough with the egg wash.
13. Place the scones onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
14. Bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. The scones should no longer be sticky in the middle.
15. Serve warm.

Recipe adapted from Rebecca Rather's cookbook The Pastry Queen.

Did you already know...
-In 1797, the scrub board was invented to improve washing clothes.
-In 1851, James King patented the hand powdered drum washing machine.
-In 1874, William Blackstone built a machine that would wash dirt from clothes and then washed the dirt away. He presented the machine as a gift to his wife for her birthday.

Muffin Tops with berries and cream

At the end of the school year, we discovered our grocery store no longer carried frozen muffin tops. They were the go to quick breakfast we could pop in the toaster oven before we ran down the street to chase the bus. I'm just joking about chasing the bus since we do have a great bus driver and he waits for us. I think he waits because he knows I will be rewarding him for his patience the next day with some kind of dessert. I will admit sometimes I feel guilty and wish I was the mom who made their children a big breakfast every school day. I just don't see it happening anytime soon besides on the weekends. My children have never complained and they do eat breakfast every morning but sometimes it is a cooked muffin top.

I had to make these red, white, and blue!

Well, I figured I would get a head start and try to make up some muffin tops. My Aunt E made some blueberry muffins when we were visiting and gave me her recipe. My youngest daughter loved the muffins so I had to tweak it to be more of a cross between a muffin and a biscuit. Since I made it at night, I even added berries and whip cream for a delicious dessert. I haven't froze the cooked muffin tops yet but I think they will come out fine. My youngest daughter already told me that she liked these muffin tops better.

Berry Muffin Tops
2 1/2 cups Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cups low fat milk
2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
1 egg
1 cup chopped berries (I used fresh strawberries and blueberries)


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Mix the bisquick, sugar, milk, butter, and egg until incorporated.
4. Fold in the berries.
5. Spoon about 1/2 cup of batter onto the baking sheet. Space the batter about 4 inches apart.
6. Bake the muffin tops for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Allow the muffin tops to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe by Jen of Sweet Morris.
*There are many homemade recipes for Bisquick online but I haven't tried them out yet.

Did you already know...
-In 1930, a General Mills executive was served fresh biscuits on a train and asked the chief his secret. The chief told him about his pre-assembled mix of some of the ingredients. The executive went back to the company and  asked the companies chemist to create a baking mix.
-General Mills introduced the Bisquick baking mix in 1931.
-Bisquick is available gluten free.

Roasted chicken

I love roasted chicken meals. My family always think I spent a lot of time cooking them. I don't tell them differently since I want them to be impressed. I didn't even peel the potatoes for this dish. I talked my husband into scrubbing them for me. I also cheated by using baby carrots.

My husband would call this a winner winner chicken dinner. The original recipe called for Herbes de Provence seasoning but I wanted to use up the herbs I already had in my kitchen. I did research Herbes de Provence and some recipes called for lavendar and some recipes said the original does not contain lavender. Since I didn't have any lavender, I just made this roasted, herb chicken. Please feel free to express your opinion of Herbes de Provence with or without lavender.

Roasted Herb Chicken with vegetables
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 lb. bone-in chicken breast and legs
2 tsp dried rosemary
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
1 tsp marjoram
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1 lb. small red potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cups baby carrots

Directions:

1. Preheat ove ot 425 degrees F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
3. Spread the chicken and vegetables onto the parchment paper.
4. In a bowl, mix the wine, oil, and the herbs.
5. Spread the wine mixture over the chicken and toss.
6. Arrange the chicken skin side down.
7. Roast the chicken for 30. Turn the chicken and stir the vegetables.
8. Continue to cook the chicken for another 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. The vegetables should be tender. 

Recipe adapted from McCormick website.

Did you already know...
-In 1889, Willoughby M. McCormick formed his company at the age of 25 years old in Baltimore.
-Mr. McCormick sold root beer, flavoring extracts, fruit juices and other products under several different trademarks.
-His products were sold door to door during this time.