Summertime Strawberry-Lemonade Scones

I have a weekend brunch recipe for you - scones! You should make these tomorrow morning, I think. They're strawberry scones with a surprise ingredient - corn.

I wanted these scones to taste like summertime. What does summertime taste like to me? Well, fresh strawberries, lemonade and sweet corn.



I actually pureed sweet corn and mixed it with the liquid ingredients (egg, sour cream) for these scones. The corn made the scones sweet, nutty, moist, and gave them a beautiful yellow color.

Keeping with the corn theme, I used a combination of cornmeal and flour for the dry ingredients. I've been using cornmeal more and more in my baking. I love the texture it brings to cookies, cakes, pizza and breads.



The buttery, sweet scones are flavored with lemon zest, lemon juice and fresh chopped strawberries. I was surprised how much the lemon flavor came through. With the lemon glaze on top, these scones really do taste like strawberry-lemonade!



These scones were a little taste of summertime in the spring. Summer is just around the corner, though. :) I can't wait.


Summertime Strawberry-Lemonade Scones
Printable Recipe

1 cup fresh supersweet corn
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice + 1 1/2 teaspoons, divided use
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cornmeal, plus additional for dusting
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup coarsely chopped strawberries
1/3 cup confectioners's sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

In a food processor or blender, blend corn and sour cream until pureed.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together corn puree, egg, granulated sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice until well combined.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; whisk in cornmeal until combined. Knead in butter using fingertips or forks until well incorporated and mixture starts to clump together and form pea-size lumps. Stir buttery-flour mixture into corn mixture until just combined. Stir in strawberries until just combined. Chill dough in refrigerator or freezer until firm - about 20 minutes.

Place dough on a surface lightly dusted with cornmeal and form an 8-inch round; slice into 10 triangles. Transfer triangles to cookie sheets. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool scones on wire racks. Drizzle with glaze.

To make the glaze, stir together remaining 1 teaspoon lemon juice and confectioners' sugar in a small bowl until well combined.

Makes 10 scones

Strawberry-Lemonade Thumbprints

This week has flown by, hasn't it? I can't believe it's already Friday. It's been a busy week and I feel way behind on things. My blog reading is one of those things. I always feel so bad when I don't get to visit and comment on all the blogs I read. I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way.

It's been a busy week of recipe testing and product testing. I received a few samples this week from different companies and I've had fun trying them out.



First up, Foodbuzz sent out some coupons to featured publishers for a free box of Magnum ice cream bars. I picked out the white chocolate ice cream bars - vanilla bean ice cream covered in a layer of Belgian white chocolate.



Eric and I both had one and thought they were very good. I would probably only buy them for special occasions though, because they were pretty expensive for only getting three bars per box. The three bars-thing bothers me. There should be four.
But they were tasty!

I love ice cream novelties.



CamelBak sent me their Groove waterbottle to try out. Whoo hoo! And they're also giving away three to some lucky Sugar Plum readers! ($25 value) Whooo hooo!

"Groove is a portable filtration device that promotes a healthy and hydrated lifestyle. Now you can eliminate the purchase of disposable plastic water bottles and still get freshly filtered water – anywhere. Plus, Groove features CamelBak’s exclusive bite valve – also used by astronauts in space. It provides great tasting, freshly filtered water anywhere – in the only reusable bottles designed and proven to help people stay better hydrated."



I used my Groove in spinning class and drank the whole bottle of water. It tasted great to me... and the bite valve was kind of fun. Plus the bottle is pretty and I liked showing it off.

I'll pick three winners using a random number generator and announce the winners on Monday's blog post (Eric's birthday!). All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me when you would use your Groove (sport, activity, class, etc.) Please make sure there's some way I can contact you if you win.



Confession: I also drank water from my Groove while I was eating cookies. No joke.
Cookie eating is a serious sport.



These Strawberry-Lemonade Thumbprints were one of my favorite cookies I've baked recently. They hold a special place in my heart. They were just so good and lovely looking. I miss them. Maybe I'll bake some more and eat them while I watch the Royal Wedding.

Wouldn't these be appropriate? They're dainty, light, and I bet Kate would love them. The dough is made from butter, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and almond extract. The dough balls are rolled in toasted ground almonds, and then pressed flat and filled with strawberry jam.

Yum! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to either go to bed, or wait two more hours for the wedding coverage.


Strawberry-Lemonade Thumbprints
Printable Recipe

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, separated
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, toasted
1/4 cup strawberry jam

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a large cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, almond extract and salt until creamy and well combined - about 1 minute. Beat in egg yolk (reserving white) until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour until just combined.

Whisk egg white in a small bowl. Roll cookie dough into balls, roll in egg white, followed by ground almonds. Place on cookie sheet. Press a thumbprint into each ball. Place a tiny spoonful of jam into each thumbprint. Bake 12-15 minutes or until firm and light golden. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 16 cookies

Barilla Baked Tortellini with Sweet Cherry Tomato-Pepperoni Sauce

Hey there! Welcome back. I hope you all are having a lovely Wednesday.

Today I have another savory recipe for you. I've been cooking more savory dishes lately, haven't I? I can't bake cookies every day. Well, I probably could.

I made up this recipe last night, and it was my dinner last night and tonight. And it also was really, really good.

This is my attempt to win a trip to Italy. I know a lot of people are entering this contest, so I have a slim chance of winning, but I thought I'd give it a shot. Barilla and Foodbuzz sent out an email asking for featured publishers to create an Italian inspired recipe using Barilla tortellini. Six finalists will be selected to receive Barilla Tortellini and share their recipe. Then, in the final round of judging, one grand prize winner will win a trip to Italy!

I love using tortellini in meals, whether it's for an elegant, gourmet dinner, or a quick weeknight supper. (Barilla) tortellini should be a staple in everyone's home.

As for the inspiration for this recipe, well, I wanted to create a meal that was quick and easy, gourmet, and comforting. When I think of comfort food, I think of baked pasta dishes.



I cooked the three cheese tortellini according to the package instructions and placed them in a baking dish. Then I made up a quick tomato sauce using Barilla's Spicy Marinara sauce, sauteed good quality-pepperoni, sauteed sweet cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Adding pepperoni to the sauce was totally inspired by Mike Isabella making a pepperoni sauce in the Top Chef finale a few weeks ago. :)



The sauce gets poured on top of the tortellini and is topped with dollops of ricotta cheese. Ohhh ricotta cheese. Don't get me started on how much I love that stuff. Then, the creamy ricotta is topped with Italian breadcrumbs and a drizzle of good olive oil.

The pasta is baked for fifteen minutes until the sauce is bubbly, and the breadcrumbs get golden brown and crispy. After a sprinkling of chopped fresh basil the pasta is ready to eat.

And eat I did. This baked tortellini was delicious! I was transported to Italy with every bite I took.

Can you imagine going to Italy? Can you imagine the food? I would be in heaven! I adore Italian food... pizza, pasta, bread, olives, prosciutto, parmigiano, biscotti, gelato...

Ugh. I'm going to be daydreaming about Italy all day long.


Barilla Baked Tortellini with Sweet Cherry Tomato-Pepperoni Sauce
Printable Recipe

1 bag Barilla Three Cheese Tortellini
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided use
1 cup coarsely chopped pepperoni
2 cups coarsely chopped cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 cups Barilla Spicy Marinara Sauce
1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Coat an 13x9-inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Prepare the tortellini according to package instructions; place evenly in baking dish.

Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add pepperoni and cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cherry tomatoes and cook an additional 2 minutes. Stir in balsamic vinegar and marinara sauce until well combined; bring to a boil.

Pour cherry tomato-pepperoni sauce over the top of tortellini. Place spoonfuls of ricotta on top of sauce. Evenly sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Drizzle breadcrumbs with remaining 3 teaspoons olive oil. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Sprinkle basil over the top before serving.

Makes 6 servings

Hot Fudge Chocolate Bundt Cake

Sorry for the late post today - I was busy. You know, with French toast-making, grocery shopping and cute wedge sandal shopping. All very, very important stuff.

But I'm here now and ready to post.

Did everyone have a good Easter or a good Sunday? I hope so!



We had a big feast at my parents house and it was amazzzing. So good. My parents are the best cooks. They even had HAM. I was all about the ham and ate my fair share, along with smoked turkey and brisket.



There was also salad, corn on the cob, baked beans, rolls and baked potatoes. I made homemade bread machine wheat bread, a pineapple dessert salad, and carrot cake (recipes to come!)

It was a two plate-kind-of-meal.



Eric likes corn.


My dad got a new smoker! Way to go dad! Isn't it lovely? I want one of these.



It has been pouring rain for almost a week now. It's nuts. There's literally a stream of water running through the back yard right now. I don't ever remember it raining this much. My family was stuck indoors yesterday. It was pretty boring. I was hoping my niece and nephew would be able to hunt Easter eggs, but unfortunately they couldn't. Maddy just chilled and stretched her legs all day and Jayden licked some windows.





Eventually Eric and I couldn't take it anymore and had to get outside. We took a stroll through the rain with matching Silver Dollar City girl umbrellas.



Eric likes skipping with his girl umbrella.


...and we did some umbrella spinning. Just like the kind they did in the olden days.


I'm going to end this Easter recap with a picture of Elmer.



He's going to be ninety-one next week. Happy Birthday, Elmer!

I don't have the carrot cake recipe/pictures quite ready yet, so I'm posting a chocolate cake recipe I made a while back. Hot Fudge Chocolate Bundt Cake!

Eric and I did some damage on this cake. We didn't dare share it with any friends, family or co-workers because it was so delicious.



I adore making bundt cakes. I wish I had a bundt cake pan for every season. Has anyone ever made that famous tunnel of fudge bundt cake recipe? I've always wanted to make that.



This cake doesn't have a tunnel of fudge in it, but it's very chocolatey and has chocolate chips in every bite. The recipe is pretty basic... I used cocoa powder, ap flour, sugar, butter, eggs, oil and sour cream in it. The glaze on the cake is basically a homemade hot fudge sauce; it's made with butter, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and chocolate chips.



I give this recipe two thumbs up. I think you should surprise someone you know with this cake on their birthday. It would make their day! Or you could just make it for yourself tonight. I think you deserve it.


Hot Fudge Chocolate Bundt Cake
Printable Recipe

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup oil
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water

Glaze
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons corn syrup

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a bundt pan with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt; whisk in chocolate chips until combined.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, oil, sugar and vanilla until creamy - about 1-2 minutes. Beat in eggs until combined - about 1-2 minutes. Beat in sour cream and water until combined. Gently stir in flour mixture until just combined. Place batter into cake pan.

Bake 45 minutes or until well risen, cake pulls away from edges of pan, and a wooden skewer inserted into cake comes out with moist crumbs attached. Cool 12 minutes on a wire rack before running a knife around outside edges and inverting cake on a platter to cool.

To make the glaze, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat; stir in sweetened condensed milk until warm, but not scalding hot. Stir in chocolate chips and corn syrup until melted and smooth. Spread and drizzle glaze over cake.

Makes 10 servings

Hot Cross Buns

Good Friday everyone! Or do I say Happy Good Friday?

Are you excited for Easter Sunday? I love celebrating Easter with my family and can't wait.

I also love Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, too. Those are my favorite things to eat on Easter. Remember when I made those Reese's Peanut Butter Egg Cookies two years ago? Why haven't I made those again?
Do you say "Reesees" or "Resez"?

I also really like Honeybaked Ham. I don't think we've ever actually eaten Honeybaked Ham on Easter. I think that's what other families do, and I want to be like them. I'd probably be the only person who would eat it, but I don't care. Maybe I'll bring my own ham and gnaw on it while everyone else is eating turkey.

I'm trying to narrow down what I should make for Easter dessert. The choices are carrot cake, carrot cake whoopie pies, hummingbird cake, and strawberry-lemon trifle. What do you think? Family members feel free to weigh in.

Guess what? My grandma and Elmer are coming to visit on Easter. I might have some good stories for you on Monday.



I made some Hot Cross Buns for you on this Good Friday. I've never made hot cross buns before, and I didn't really know much about them. I researched and learned more about them, studied different recipes, and made my own.

I won't bore you with all the hot cross bun details, but basically they're sweet yeast rolls with either raisins, currents, or candied fruit/citrus in them.

I chose to use raisins in my hot cross buns... well, half of the buns. The other half I left plain because Eric doesn't like raisins. Fun fact: I used raisins from the box of raisin bran that's taking me months to eat. I'm not a raisin bran-lover. Give me some Blueberry Morning!! You know what I mean? Grandma and Elmer know what I'm talking about. They like Blueberry Morning. Fun fact: Grandma calls cereal, breakfast food. Is that what they called cereal back in the day?

It seems like that would be confusing...
"Good morning, honey. What would you like for breakfast today?"
"Say, pour me some breakfast food, why don't you? That would be real swell."



But anyway, I made these rolls today and they hardly took any time and were easy to make. I made a buttery, sweet yeast bread dough using my stand mixer, and used cinnamon, allspice and raisins for the flavoring.

After allowing the dough to rise an hour, I divided it into twelve balls and let them rise 30 minutes. The rolls get a cross cut into them followed by a bath of egg wash. Bake them for 15 minutes and they're done!

A little powdered sugar cross gets basted on the rolls after they've cooled, and then they're ready for eating. These were so good! They turned out beautifully and tasted delicious. I would recommend soaking your dried fruit, though. My raisins got a little caramelized.



Oh, and the cookie mix giveaway winner was commenter #38 - Sara!



Congrats Sara! I'll email you about shipping information.

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway! I loved reading all of your answers. I have some good giveaways coming your way soon, so stay tuned.


Hot Cross Buns
Printable Recipe

3/4 cup warm milk (not hot)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon granulated sugar + 1/4 cup
2 large eggs, room temperature, divided use
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
3 cups bread flour
1/2 cup raisins, soaked in hot water (optional)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir together milk, yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer; allow to sit 10 minutes or until bubbly. Using the dough hook, mix in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, butter, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice until well combined. Mix in flour and raisins on low speed until combined. Increase mixer speed to medium and allow to knead for 8 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.

Place dough in large greased mixing bowl and lightly cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm area for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and form balls. Place on two greased cookie sheets. Lightly cover with a towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes in a warm area.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Using a shap knife or scissors, cut a cross into each dough ball. Whisk remaining 1 egg with a teaspoon of water until well combined; brush over dough balls. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer buns to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons of water until well combined. Drizzle glaze into a cross over the tops of buns.

Makes 1 dozen hot cross buns.

Strawberry Cupcakes + Naturally Nora Giveaway

Hey everyone!

No time to waste - we're having a giveaway today.

Naturally Nora, a company that makes all-natural baking mixes, sent me a few samples of their products.

Nora (yes there really is Nora!) is a former Campbell’s Soup company executive who became disenchanted with over-engineered processed foods and launched Naturally Nora when she couldn’t find convenient desserts that she felt good about serving her own children.

She has been successful due to the fact that her products have received rave reviews and gratitude from bakers for their “scratch-in-a-box” simplicity and amazing homemade taste. She offers the only all-natural confetti cake (yellow cake with colored sprinkles) on the market and after only three years the line can be found at retailers nationwide.

There are times when boxed cake mixes, brownies, cookies, etc. are very convenient. We always had mixes around when I was growing up; perfect for last minute birthday parties, school treats, and nightime brownie cravings.

You won't find any mixes in my house now, for two reasons. One, I have a baking blog, so I can't really be baking from mixes, and two, I don't like the ingredients in packaged mixes.

They're filled with artificial ingredients, thickening agents and chemical fillers. Gross. That's awful! It makes me incredibly angry... I feel like the food companies are poisoning us. Shouldn't it be illegal to put that kind of stuff in food?

Take a look at a comparison of Naturally Nora's yellow cake mix and other leading companies' yellow cake mixes.

They only use the necessary ingredients for cake. I love it.

I would definitely keep some of these mixes around the house for those emergency situations, because they were awseome. And no, they didn't pay me to say that! I'll always give you honest reviews of products I try.



I sampled the Alot'a Dots cake mix with Alot'a Dots frosting mix. So good! These cupcakes tasted like Funfetti, but better. They were very soft, fluffy, and tasted like they were made from scratch.





I also tried the Doubly Fudgy brownie mix. There's no way anyone could tell these brownies were made from a mix. They were fudgy, delicious, and I loved the bites full of chocolate chunks.





I went all Sandra Lee and used the yellow cake mix to create a recipe of my own: strawberry cupcakes with a whipped strawberry icing.



I used fresh strawberry puree in the cake batter, and used the frosting mix, whipped cream and strawberry jam for the icing.



I took these cupcakes into work and everyone LOVED them!

Now here's your chance to win Naturally Nora's Spectacular Sugar Cookie Mix and the Marvelous Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix.



-Simply leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite Easter/Passover dessert is, and you'll be entered in the giveaway.
-"Like" Naturally Nora on Facebook and leave a comment on this post telling that you did so, and you get a second entry.

I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner and post the results on Friday's blog post. (I can only ship to U.S. residents, by the way.)

You might as well enter... we're talking about free cookies!


Strawbery Cupcakes with Whipped Strawberry Frosting
Printable Recipe

2 cups coarsely chopped strawberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 box Naturally Nora yellow cake mix
3 large eggs

Strawberry Frosting
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 box Naturally Nora white frosting mix
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup strawberry preserves/jam

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a blender, combine strawberries and water and blend until well combined and smooth.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together melted butter, cake mix, egg and strawberry mixture until well combined - about 2 minutes. Divide batter into muffin cups. Bake 20 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool on wire racks.

To make the frosting, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Reduce mixer to medium speed and beat in frosting mix, butter and strawberry preserves until well combined and smooth - about 2 minutes.

Spread or pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes.

Makes 24 cupcakes