Kitty's Kozy Kitchen: May 2016

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party

Weekend Potluck
Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

Thank you for your visit! xo

Monday, May 23, 2016

I'm still on a strawberry kick, but just with dishes! I love using these Pier 1 strawberry plates in the warm months. The pitcher is from Sur La Table, years ago.

This pretty teacup is one from my friend Rosie's Mom's collection. It's called , appropriately, Strawberry, by Royal Grafton. It looks like a Royal Albert, doesn't it? It has such a vintage look to it that I just love!

Before we get to the recipe, I wanted to share a picture of two little flowers that were spotted at the Dallas Arboretum! They are cousins and two of my granddaughters. My youngest son and DIL invited me to brunch overlooking White Rock Lake, at the arboretum. What a fun day!

Oh my, these chocolate chip cookie bars, recipe from King Arthur Flour are so chewy, moist and downright delectable! Don't you just love making bars instead of cookies? They're so much easier! I had several opened bags of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in my pantry (how'd that happen??), and used them all up.

Here's the recipe, if you'd like to give them a try:

2/3 cup butter
2 cups + 2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt*
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon butterscotch flavor or vanilla-butternut flavor, optional (I skipped this)
3 large eggs
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional (this adds a nice subtle flavor)
2 3/4 cups flour
3 cups chocolate chips; or a combination of different flavored chips, or chips and nuts
*Use 1 teaspoon salt if you use unsalted butter.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan. (Since I used a glass dish, I turned the oven to 325 degrees.
Melt the butter, and stir in the brown sugar. Add the salt, vanilla, and flavor, stirring until well combined.
Allow the mixture to cool slightly (if it's very hot to the touch), then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl midway through this process.
Add the baking powder, espresso powder, and flour, stirring to combine.
Stir in the chips or other additions of your choice.
Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it to the edges with a wet spatula (or your wet fingers). Smooth the top as best you can.
Bake the bars for 30 to 32 minutes, until they've risen, and their top is shiny and golden. Bake for the shorter amount of time in a darker pan; the longer time in a light/shiny pan. A cake tester inserted into the center won't come out clean; in fact, the center of the very middle of the pan may look quite molten when you dig into it. But so long as no wet batter is showing farther out towards the edges, the bars are done. As they cool, the center will solidify.
Remove the bars from the oven, and use a heatproof spatula to press down the risen edges; this will make bars with flat, rather than humped tops. Let the bars cool completely before cutting; overnight is best. Once bars are cool, wrap airtight. Store wrapped bars at room temperature for a couple of days. I ended up freezing the extra bars. When I want one, I thaw in the microwave and then heat for a few seconds....sooo good!
Yield: 2 dozen nice size bars.

I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party

Weekend Potluck
Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

Monday, May 16, 2016

Please join me for one of my favorite pies in the whole wide world...Strawberry!

This is one of my favorite teacups, which is Alpine Strawberry, by Roy Kirkham. Isn't it a pretty design with the bees, leaves and blossoms, and strawberries?

I've shared this recipe before, but wanted to pass it along again. The source of this recipe was from the Columbus Dispatch, when readers would submit their favorite recipes. I cut the recipe out, probably in the early 1970's, as a new bride. I have made this pie and shared this recipe so many times. I hope you try it!

My Favorite Strawberry Pie:

1 pre-baked pie shell
1 quart strawberries, cleaned & hulled & set aside

3/4 cup sugar

3 T. cornstarch

1 cup water
2 T. light corn syrup
pinch of salt
3 T. strawberry gelatin

Combine sugar & cornstarch in a heavy saucepan & stir. Add water, corn syrup & salt. Cook until thickened & clear in color. Remove from heat & add gelatin, stirring well to dissolve the gelatin. The original recipe said to add red food coloring, but I never do. Let cool.

Pour over the berries. I usually cut the berries in half. Mix gently & pour into the baked pie shell. Chill. Top with whipped cream.

I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party

Thoughts of Home on Thursday

Full Plate

I was featured!

Weekend Potluck
Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

Thank you for your visit! xo

Monday, May 9, 2016

Raspberry and Cream Cheese Danish

Yea! My waterfall is running again and I'm so happy to hear the soothing sound of it for my tea in the garden. Please join me for a raspberry cream cheese danish, won't you? I've made some Constant Comment tea and a new method for iced tea, which I'll share below.

I've shared this teacup that my sister gifted to me before, and it's so pretty with the two shades of blue and the toile design inside the cup.

A friend gave me this Jim Shore Angel of Hospitality. I thought she would make a pretty centerpiece for my tea. The creamer was a souvenir from the Biltmore, when my Late Beloved and I visited there.

I sandwiched this pretty doily that I won from Nancy at Two Cottages and Tea, several years ago, between two glass Ikea plates. I love how you can change up the design of a plate like this.

Now, this recipe is one that Sandi from Rose Chintz Cottage shared a few weeks ago. Sandi made a Peaches and Cream Danish, which you can find here. Sandi got the recipe from Martha, at Lines From Linderhof. I happen to love anything raspberry and decided to use my homemade raspberry jam for these danishes. I already had a can of crescent rolls, but Sandi and Martha both used the Grands Crescent Rolls. Here's the recipe, if you'd like a nice, tasty, pretty treat:

Raspberry and Cream Cheese Danish

1 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (Sandi used the Grands Crescent Rolls)
Raspberry jam (or any jam or pie filling that you like)
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 tsp vanilla
2-3 TBSP sugar

powdered sugar
milk

Chill the roll in the freezer for about thirty minutes. Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Beat together cream cheese, vanilla and sugar until smooth. Crack open the tube of crescent rolls and slice the crescent roll in its original form, like slice and bake cookies. I got eight out of the roll. (Sandi got 10 out of the Grands Crescent Rolls). Put them on cookie sheets and use the bottom of a small glass to make an indentation in each one. Put some of the cream cheese mixture into the dent and then add a dab of jam on top. Bake about fourteen minutes and then cool completely.

Beat together a little powdered sugar with a bit of milk to make enough to drizzle on the danish.

Double the ingredients for a crowd pleasing treat!

I used this itty bitty measurer to make the indentions.

Here are the danishes right from the oven and before being drizzled.

When I was at the hairdresser's this past time, I picked up a copy of Martha Stewart Living magazine and took a picture of this method of making iced tea. It works out great and is the perfect temperature for me, as I don't like icy cold drinks. Be sure to add extra ice, if you do!

I am sharing this with:

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party

Weekend Potluck
Tea in the Garden
Dishing It! & Digging It!

Thank you for your visit! xo

Monday, May 2, 2016

Lavender Sugar Scrub and Lavender Soap for Gifting

I'd like to share some gift giving ideas for Mother's Day. Does homemade soap and a sugar scrub sound like fun to make? I enjoyed making them!

Don't these soaps look good enough to eat?

Wouldn't you like giving or receiving a basket of soaps and a sugar scrub?

Here are the soaps all wrapped up and ready for gifting. I actually made ten soaps from about 2/3 of the 2 lb. package. For the sugar scrub, I used cupcake liners on top of the lid and glued some lace around the band.

Lavender Soap:

I was inspired to make some homemade soap when Linda, from My Sew What Blog sent me a bar as a thank you gift, after Stephanie's Fall Teacup Exchange from The Enchanting Rose . The soap is as easy as using a coupon at Michael's, and following the directions on the package. I bought the a 2-pound block of the Goat's Milk Glycerin Soap, and added lavender essential oil and some dried lavender to enhance the beauty. I used small plastic containers and vintage jello molds to shape my soaps. I did spray the jello molds with some cooking spray to make sure the soap would pop out. The plastic molds were easy to work with. You also can buy special molds for soap making, but I thought I'd try what I had on hand.

Lavender Sugar Scrub:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

a few drops of lavender essential oil

dried lavender

Mix all together and then put into jars. Sprinkle some additional dried lavender on top. Decorate jars as desired . Double or triple the ingredients for extra gift giving!

Note: If you would like your sugar scrub to be less coarse, increase the amount of coconut oil.

After all of our hard work, how about a nice cup of tea? I'll let you sip from my Late Great Aunt Kitty's hand painted teacup. Didn't she do a wonderful job on the violets?

I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

Bernideen's Tea Time, Collage and Garden Blog Party