Plum Puffs at Teatime

This is another entry for Anne of Green Gables Fashion Week founded by Bramblewood Fashion.
I had a new friend over for tea yesterday afternoon, which was the perfect excuse to try out the Plum Puffs recipe from the Anne of Green Gables Treasury. Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup water
3 T butter
1/2 cup flour
1 t white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup plum jam
1/2 cup cream cheese (optional)
confectioner's sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Grease baking sheet.
2. In large saucepan, heat water and butter until boiling. When butter has melted, turn heat to low, and add flour and sugar all at once and mix them in thoroughly with wooden spoon. Beat mixture over low heat until it leaves the sides of the pan -- about 1 minute or less.
3. Remove pan from heat. Add one egg, beat until smooth. Add next egg, beat until smooth.
4. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. They should be one inch around and will double in size as they bake.
5. Bake 15-2 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven, turn heat off. Close oven door. With a toothpick, poke a tiny hole in each to allow steam out. Return the puffs to off-but-warm oven for 5 minutes. Remove and cool on rack. When cool, gently split puffs in 1/2 and fill each with a spoonful of jam and or cream cheese.
6. Arrange on a serving tray and sprinkle with confectioner's sugar if you like.
This recipe makes 2-3 dozen puffs.

I thought this recipe was much simpler in practice than it first appears! And it is not an overly sweet teatime treat at all, so at a future tea if I need a recipe to offset a bunch of sweeter confections, this would round things out quite elegantly. Anne and Diana would approve!

Homemade Applesauce

This is super!

3-4 lbs apples
1 Tablespoon cinnamon (more or less to taste)
1 teaspoon molasses
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
splash of lemon juice, more to taste

1. Peel, core and quarter apples.
2. Put all ingredients into a large pot, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. For chunky sauce, use a potato masher or fork to mash the cooked apples. For smooth, run it through the food mill or blender.
4. Serve hot or chilled. Freezes well for up to a year.

This makes about about 5 or 6 cups of sauce, depending on your apples and how they cook down, and depending, of course, on whether you use 3 or 4 pounds of apples.

I found a variation of this recipe in the June-July 2010 issue of my favorite magazine, MaryJane's Farm. And by the way, our baby is nuts over this applesauce! I have a fondness for it myself, though next time I will use a little less cinnamon.

On our walk the day after I made this applesauce I toted along the apple peels and cores and found a spot in the woods to pitch them. The deer around here look so skinny, I thought I'd help provide someone a little snack.