More treats for the grey days

Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Cake batter:

2 1/2 cups Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
½ cup butter
3/4 cup Sour cream
1/2 teaspoons Baking powder
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoons Baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Cream filling:

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Fruit topping:
1 cup Sliced apples
1/4 cups Sugar
1/4 cups Raisins
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
1 cup Reserved crumbs
1/2 cups Chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 F.In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar; cut
in butter using a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Remove 1 cup for topping. To the remaining crumb mixture, add baking
powder, soda, salt, sour cream, egg and vanilla; blend well. Spread batter
over the bottom and 2" up the side of a greased and floured 9" springform
pan (batter should be 1/4" thick on sides).
For cream filling, in a small
bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and egg; blend well and pour
over the batter in the pan. To make apple filling, mix all apple
ingredients together and carefully spoon over the cream cheese filling. In
a small bowl, combine reserved crumb mixture with the nuts and sprinkle
over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until cream cheese
filling is set and crust is a deep golden brown. Cool 15 minutes then
remove sides of pan. Refrigerate when cool. Sigh. My jeans are shrinking.

Cures for the February Blahs

On the advice of a writing friend I recently subscribed to a Canadian literary mag called The New Quarterly, and I'm glad I did!The current issue is a treasure box of poetry ( I know! me reading poetry!) stories ( damn good ones) and even articles about the mysteries of story structure. Very enjoyable. If you can't find this mag in your neck of the woods just let me know and I'll send you mine when I'm done with it :)

And that's not all! I'll even include a recipe, this time for eggless scones to have with your cup of tea while reading-



Dreamy Cream Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Use an ungreased baking sheet.
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl, stirring with a fork to mix well. Still using a fork, stir in the cream and vanilla and mix until the dough holds together in a rough mass (the dough will be quite sticky).If the dough seems very dry, add a bit more cream.

Lightly flour a board and transfer the dough to it. Knead the dough 8 or 9 times. Pat into a rectangle about 7 by 9 inches and cut into about ten scones. Brush tops with a bit of cream and sprinkle with a little sugar.
Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. These are excellent with jam or as shortcakes with fruit and whipped cream.