Tea and Scones

December 18, 2025

TWD: Baked-in-a-Skillet Gingerbread

Posted by teaandscones under Baking, Cake, Dorie's Everyday Cakes, Tuesdays with Dorie
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this time of the year there are certain aromas that simply make days a little more pleasant. The smell of a fire in the fireplace. The fragrance of pine wafting through the air. And the scent of fresh baking gingerbread like Grandma used to make.
And that is what Dorie delivered today. But I’ve never made it in a skillet. A new experience.

gingerbread with pieces of crystallized ginger mixed in with plenty of cinnamon, cloves, apple butter and molasses. Delicious!!

I thought I had some molasses but the pantry was bare. Fortunately, I had some FRESH HOMEMADE CANE SYRUP made with friends last weekend which, to me, tastes the same.
This is definitely a keeper.
The recipe is from Dorie’s new book, DORIE’S ANYTIME CAKES. (Pg 41).

Find out how the other Tuesday with Dorie enjoyed this traditional holiday treat.

September 23, 2025

Celebrating with Dorie: Devil’s Food Party Cake

Posted by teaandscones under Baking with Dorie, Cake, Chocolate, Cookbooks, Desserts, Dorie Greenspan, Tuesdays with Dorie
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I had the perfect time to bake this delightful, devilishly delicious, decadent chocolate cake. A young friend of ours had her 24th birthday and I baked it for her!! She really enjoyed it.

The cake is made with unsweetened cocoa which adds the deepness of the chocolate flavor. The frosting, also made with cocoa, adds more depth to the total chocolate flavor. I did increase the recipe by 1/2 so I can make it a three layer cake. It was a hit with everyone. As if it wouldn’t be.

This cake was denser than my regular chocolate cake. I was worried but when I peeked at pictures from the other TWD bakers I had done it right!

You can find the recipe on page 89 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Dore: Sweet, salty and simple.

Visit Tuesdays with Dorie to see the other baker’s chocolate cake or shortbread cookies.

September 9, 2025

TWD: Shortbread Cookies

Posted by teaandscones under Baking, Cookies, Groups, oranges, TWD
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I’m finally able to find some time to bake. And B’s favorites – cookies! I think he likes cookies more than any other sweet treat. Maybe brownies are second. Both treats he is able to just grab one (or 3) and go!

The cookies this week from Tuesdays with Dorie are her Tenderest Shortbread Four Ways. Those four ways include original, whole wheat, Rye-Chocolate and Spelt Flax. I stayed with the original recipe. I knew they wouldn’t last long. The recipe called for optional lemon zest but all I had were oranges to that is what I added. These were definitely melt in your mouth cookies with a slight orange taste. Very tasty.

The cookies were one option for this weeks’ TWD. The other option was cake. That will have to wait til next week so I can take to a birthday party.

The recipe for the cookies is on page 183 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Dorie: sweet salty and simple

Did the other bakers make cake or cookies. Check the TWD blog to find out.

July 22, 2025

TWD: YUM! Brownies

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And not just any old brownie, but Dorie’s Park Avenue Brownies.

This month we had two recipes that were just wonderful. Two weeks ago I made the Blueberry Biscuits. They were great!

This week I made the Park Avenue Brownies. SOOOOO good! Chewy and chocolaty. A little sprinkle of flaky salt and some chopped walnuts made them just perfect.

I do love a good brownie. And I found I had made these before (3/4/23) and I had very good written on the recipe. I’ll probably make these again.

For the recipe look on page 205 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty and Simple. You will be glad you did.

See what the other TWD bakers made this week at TWD website.

July 8, 2025

TWD: Blueberry Biscuits

Posted by teaandscones under Baking, Baking with Dorie, Biscuits, Blueberries, Cookbooks, Dorie Greenspan
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Two of my favorite words – Blueberry and Biscuits

I seem to have misplaced my Dorie book so I had to ask Kayte to text me the recipe. Sure am glad she did because these were sooooo good. And so easy.

Mix the usual dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt, and sugar that has been smooshed with lemon zest. Luckily I had all the ingredients. Unusual for me these days. Throw in the cold butter and then the blueberries – gently – and mix them up. I cut mine into rounds and triangles. they reminded me of scones.

I made a double batch because it was my Sunday for treats. There were only three left to take home

If you get a chance, make these biscuits. Sweet and tasty.

BTW I found my book today – ten days after I asked Kayte for the recipe.

They are in Dorie’s Baking with Dorie: Sweet, salty and simple (page 49).

There was a choice this week. These biscuits and or Park Avenue Brownies. I’m looking forward to the brownies. Check the Tuesdays with Dorie Blog to see what the other bakers made this week.

June 3, 2025

TWD: Oatmeal Cookies with Nuts and Chocolate

Posted by teaandscones under Baking, Baking with Dorie, Cookies, Tuesdays with Dorie
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This month’s two recipe choices from Baking with Dorie: sweet, salty & simple I know my husband will eat gladly. One is the lemon meringue cake and the other is the one I made: the oatmeal cookies with nuts and chocolate. (P 168)

I knew Bill would eat these cookies because I had made them in October of last year. And he liked them a lot.

Oatmeal cookies with lots of chocolate, walnuts, and raisins, just the way he likes them.

Dori said the recipe would make 45 cookies but I made mine smaller and ended up with 75 cookies.

Go over to TWD and see what the bakers made this week.

February 11, 2025

TWD: Brown-Sugar Oat Squares

Posted by teaandscones under Baking with Dorie, Cookies, Dorie Greenspan, oatmeal, simple, Tuesdays with Dorie
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If you want a super SUPER simple bar cookie this is the one you want! Put all the ingredients in a processor. Give it a whirl. Press the curds into the pan and bake. How simple is that? Oh, and sprinkle the tops with Turbinado sugar and more oats.

AND they are so good!! A hint of cinnamon and allspice give them a ton of flavor. THESE are perfect for a quick sweet bite after lunch or a midafternoon snack.

These cookies/bars are from Dorie Greenspan’s BAKING WITH DORIE: SWEET SALTY AND SIMPLE. (page 210) and were one of the choices for this month’s Tuesdays with Dorie. Check out how the other bakers liked these cookies/bars.

January 30, 2025

W30: Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Posted by teaandscones under Asian Flair, chicken, Food, Soup, The Whole 30 Cookbook, Whole 30, Whole 30 Food Freedom, Whole30 Thursdays
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it is still pretty chilly in the deep south. We had snow last Tuesday. It was nice while it lasted, but it didn’t last long. Which, I guess, is a blessing because we’re not used to that kind of weather down here. but since it was still cold, I made another soup. Snow and soup just seemed to go together.

this was another delightful Asian-ish soup from Melissa Hartwig’s Whole 30 Cookbook. The wonder flavor came from the garlic, onions, fresh ginger, and fish sauce. The recipe also called for lemongrass, which I did not have so I used a suggested substitute – lemon zest so I added about a tablespoon of lemon zest instead of the lemon grass. I’m also not a fan of fresh chilis so instead of the Thai red chili, I used a tablespoon of Thai red chili curry paste. I think it was a good choice in both cases.
When I make this again I would decrease the amount of broth and coconut milk. There was , I think, too much soup for the other ingredients.

And check out Kayte’s version of this soup.
This is a tasty soup. If you want to try it it is on page 171.

January 29, 2025

WWDH: Dessert

Posted by teaandscones under Baking, Cookies, Donna Hay, Easy, oatmeal, WWDH
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This month Kayte and I started back with one our Cooking/Baking themes – Wednesday with Donna Hay.

Since we have been experimenting with Whole 30 many of our other cookbooks have been rather neglected. Like the several we have of Donna Hay’s. We started using her books many years ago. But she got pushed to the back burner. (HAHA).
It was Kayte’s idea to not to pick recipes but rather weekly themes. Mostly because Kayte received the new cookbook and I did not.
Week1: Breakfast .

Week 2: Lunch.

Week 3: Snack.

Week 4: Dinner.

And my favorite, Week 5: Dessert.
This is week 5 so I made food processor cookies. It was an easy choice because Hubs has two favorite cookies – PB and Oatmeal/Raisin, which these happen to be.

I made a smaller cookie from the recipe and ended up with 44 nuggets of oatmeal raisin chocolate chip tastiness.

This recipe is from Donna’s off the shelf. (P160)

January 28, 2025

TWD: Tender Biscuits.

Posted by teaandscones under Baking, Biscuits, TWD
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There is nothing better than a good biscuit. Especially in the South. Any “good Southern Belle” HAS to be able to make a good biscuit. Although I was born in the South I was not raised there so my biscuits have been hit and miss. I am now, at my more advanced age, quite able to make a decent biscuit. Dorie’s Tender Biscuits is a good basic biscuit.

I used the Food Processor to make these biscuits. Dry ingredients followed by lots of chunks of butter followed by the wet ingredients and mixed together. I patted instead of rolling out the dough folding it several times which gave me a nice layered tenderbiscuit.
I had mine with butter and Cane Syrup (which we helped a friend make)and Hubs used some Homemade Mayhaw jelly. So good.
The recipe is in Baking with Dorie: Sweet Salty and simple. (P 42)

More biscuits can be found at TWD. Check it out.