Brownies and Scones--only one being food

Here is an ice cream mold featuring a brownie character. I haven't been molding any ice cream but I did try black Fimo clay on just the face part. The result is kinda buggy-eyed, huh?

At Christmas, my daughter got a scrapbook sort of a book based on The Spiderwick Chronicles books by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. The scrapbook is said to be put together by a character in the book that is a brownie named Thimbletack. The book is a lot of fun, with little flaps and letters to open. I have always loved lift-the-flap books anyway. :-) A movie based on the books is supposed to be coming out soon.

I made a small cloth bag several years ago that was redworked with a Brownie. I took one of Palmer Cox's illustrations and enlarged it. After enlarging I used a light box to trace it onto the cloth using a pen with water dissolving ink. This is the pattern that I used if you want to use it. The Palmer Cox images are copyright-free I'm pretty sure. :-) Let me know if you can't save the image and I'll try to figure out a different way of posting it.

On another note, I tried my new recipe for the week and this one turned out a whole lot better than last weeks chicken fiasco. This morning I made Cherry-Almond Scones. It uses dried tart cherries from the Cherry Republic in Michigan. We love eating these cherries, which two very thoughtful people have given us, right out of the bag but cooking with them is great too. The scones just were so yummy. :-)

I started with a recipe from Martha Stewart but I couldn't resist meddling with it. I made the scones a bit lighter by using skim milk instead of cream and I like almonds with cherries, this time I just added the flavoring but next time I'll add sliced almonds too. Here is the picture of the scones and the recipe I used follows.

Cherry-Almond Scones
1 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons salted butter-cut into pieces
1/2 cup dried tart cherries-chopped slightly
1/4 cup sliced almonds-optional
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring
1 egg
5-6 Tablespoons skim milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine flour, baking powder and sugar. Cut the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse meal. Add chopped cherries and sliced almonds, toss slightly.
Beat together egg and milk seperately and add almond flavoring and lemon zest.
Stir together the liquid and flour mixtures until it just comes together. If it is way too dry a little more milk can be added.
On a lightly floured surface pat the dough into a circle 6 inches round and an inch thick.
Cut into 8 wedge-shaped pieces and place onto prepared baking sheet.
Brush with a little milk and sprinkle the top with a bit of demerara sugar.
Bake for 13-14 minutes until golden brown.
Serve while warm.

Jackie--thanks again--I enjoy hearing from you! :-) My daughter is a Brownie right now--a part of the Girl "Scouts" here in the states. I never was one--Girl Scout or Brownie that is--I was in the Camp Fire Girls when I was young which had a Bluebird group for the little girls. More on this next time...... :-) Take Care!!