Hide and Seek

"One day Rabbi Barukh's grandson Yehiel was playing hide and seek with another boy. He hid himself well and waited for his playmate to find him. After twenty minutes, he peeked out of his secret hiding place, saw no one, and pulled his head back inside. After waiting a very long time, he came out of his hiding place, but the other boy was nowhere to be seen. Then Yehiel realized that his playmate had not looked for him from the very beginning. Crying, he ran to his grandfather and complained of his faithless friend. Tears brimmed in Rabbi Barukh's eyes as he realized . . . God says the same thing: 'Nobody wants to seek me.'"
~Brother David Steindl-Rast, retold by Brennan Manning

What a wonderful little story, and a beautiful illustration of what we see going on around us in the world today. We live in a largely secular and faithless society. Men place faith in themselves and in worldly things and possessions, rather in the Great Creator Himself. The evidence is all around us, and you don't have to look very far to see the fruits of it . . . an increase in crime of all sorts, children turning away from their parents and indeed against their parents, the increasingly frequent breakdown of home and family due to divorce, increasing disrespect for others, a pervading selfishness, wars and rumours of wars . . . etc. (to name but a few.)



There was a time, and not that very long ago either, that we might have been considered to be a Christian Country, as would have the United States and Canada. Political correctness has overtaken us to the point now though, where we no longer want to be seen as such. We prefer to be known as a melting pot of various cultures and religions. You don't see that in the Islamic nations. They embrace their faith and are proud to be known as such, and, as a result, they are growing from strength to strength.

A lot of people will tell you that they are Christians, but their actions belie their words. They go to church three times in their lives . . . christenings, weddings and funerals, and the doors of most churches rarely see their shadows pass through them at any other time.

A lot of people will tell you . . . "I don't believe in organized religion." What they are really saying is . . . "I don't want to join any church or speak out for my beliefs because, if I did, I might have to recognize the things that I am doing that are wrong or sinful, and then have to make changes in my life right now that I am not ready or willing to make."

A lot of people see faith and religion as crutches or something that will stifle their creativity and joy and freedom . . . little do they know that it has the exact opposite effect, and that it is empowering and life enriching, life changing and not for the worse, but for the better.

A lot of people are afraid to offend others by embracing their faith and living it . . . but in the end, they end up betraying themselves and commit the greatest offence of all . . .



Oh how God's heart must ache when He looks down at us. Like the loving father that He is, He gave us everything we needed to make ourselves happy and to bring joy into our lives and into the lives of others. He gave us the ability to choose for ourselves and the opportunity to reach and to grow beyond that which we know. He has afforded us with the blessings of being able to reach out to others in love and sharing and compassion. He gave us a Saviour to help save us from ourselves . . . and . . . most people don't want to know . . . He is hiding in the cupboard but most of us can't be bothered to seek Him out . . . 'tis nothing new, this was all prophesied a number of years ago . . .

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of Godliness, although they have denied its power; always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." ~2Timothy 3:1-5,7

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." ~Matthew 23: 37

Probably won't make me very popular this morning, but sometimes we have words that lay on our hearts, that just beg to be said and I will always speak from my heart, even if people don't always want to read what I have to say . . .

Oh, I have a delightful cookie to share with you this morning. I love jammy dodgers. I love jam anything. What is it about jam that just makes baked goods taste better??? Yes, I even love peanut butter and jam sandwiches, a fact that Todd cannot understand. He won't even try it . . . just curls up his nose in disgust and makes disparaging comments about how weird our North American tastes are. (This coming from a man who eats marmite and loves it, need I say more! haha) I think you'll love these cookies. Todd does, and so do I!



*Not Quite Jammy Dodgers*
Makes 20-24

These lovely shortbread like biscuits have a wonderful light texture and basically just melt in your mouth. Deliciously crisp with a tasty dab of jam in the middle, these are what the British call moreish. You cannot eat just one. I dare you to try!


90g icing sugar
185g plain flour
60g corn flour (corn starch)
30g ground almonds
250g butter, cut into cubes
½ tsp almond extract
Icing Sugar for dusting
Jam such as strawberry or raspberry

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
Sift the icing sugar, flour and corn flour into a large bowl. Add the ground almonds and give it a good stir. Drop in the butter. Rub the butter into the dry mixture with your fingertips until there are no visible lumps of butter.

Stir in the almond essence. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured board and knead it a few times to form a smooth dough.

Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. (about an inch and a half in diameter) Using a 3 inch smooth edged cutter place the cutter on top of the parchment paper lined baking sheet. Drop one of the balls inside and push it down to fill the ring, flattening the top slightly with your fingertips. Repeat with the remaining dough balls, placing them about 2 inches apart. You will not be able to fit all of them on one sheet, so will have to do this in two batches.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes until they are light golden in colour. Remove them from the oven and immediately tamp down an indentation in the middle of each biscuit to hold the jam. I use the tip of a wooden spoon and make an indentation about ½ inch in diameter.

Let the biscuits cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

When completely cool, dust the tops with icing sugar and place a dab of jam in the centre indentations. Simply wonderful!

Photographs and Memories . . .

Heirlooms

Up in the attic
Down on my knees
Lifetimes of boxes
Timeless to me.
Letter and photographs
Yellowed with years
Some bringing laughter
Some bringing tears.
Time never changes
The memories, the faces
Of loved ones, who bring to me
All that I come from
And all that I live for
And all that I'm going to be.
My precious family
Is more than an heirloom to me.
~by Amy Grant

One thing that I have always loved to do, since I was a small child, is to look through old photographs of people and places gone past . . . Even now, when I travel home to visit my mother, within the first day or so of my arrival at her home, the old albums and boxes of photographs come out, and I am looking through them again.



And as I look, I ponder on these faces that I see. Great grandmothers and Grandfathers . . . Uncles, Aunts, Cousins . . . my mother as a young woman, no lines on her face, gazing adoringly up at my father . . . it's nice to see.

There are people still living . . . and people who haven't been alive for many years . . . their images captured forever within the framework of old black and white photographs. I wonder about these people. What sorts of lives did they live . . . were they happy, were they sad?? Did they have dreams that never came true, hopes and wishes, unfulfilled?? Secret sorrows and anguishes, pains and heartaches never told . . . gone forever but for the tell tale shadow of sadness in their eyes . . . the windows to their soul . . . they never lie. Did they know that down the road I would be peering into their faces and wondering about them?? And then my next thought is . . . how could they, for I had not even been born and did not yet exist here on this earth . . .



I look into their eyes and I see the same eyes looking back at me that I can see in my cousin's faces, the same mouths held in the same way, an all familiar stance or look. It's awesome to see how a nose, or eyes, carry on down from one generation to the next . . . it's helps to fuel the feelings of connection and of love and familiarity . . .



My mind is filled with stories about this one or that one, stories that my mother has told me time and time again, but which I never tire of hearing, and I struggle to remember them and to get my facts straight, and so I ask again, and she tells again, and . . . for a moment, the past and the present unite . . . the old black and white images come alive again, just for me, and they are real once more. Real people, with real lives and we are all linked together in a chain of blood and dna, a chain that goes back eons . . . all the way to Adam and then forward to who knows where . . .



One day that will be all that's left of me . . . just a few pictures in a box. Will someone wonder about who I was, and what I stood for, or will I have left a legacy that speaks for itself?? Will they look into my eyes and see the joy there . . . and the pain . . . and the hope?? Will they see all my yesterdays linked to their tomorrows . . . will the essence of my being be able to reach down through the passage of time and speak to their hearts??



There are precious few pictures of my mother's mother, my maternal grandmother. She was a shy woman who never liked having her photograph taken . . . and then I think of me. I am the same. I never like having my photograph taken either. I suffer it under duress though . . . I know how much a few photographs where I could see my grandmother's face in them would mean to me . . . and so I let people snap away, because I think one day my great great grand-daughter or grand son will want to see me and catch a glimpse of who I was, and wonder, and ponder the connection . . .



and so . . . I also paint pictures with my words. Words that speak volumes of who I am and who I was and who I want to be, and I hope that some day when these are read and the pictures are gazed upon . . . I will live on. This is my legacy and worth more than all the gold and silver trinkets one could ever have or hope to possess . . .

One thing I have always loved to do, since I was a small child, is to look through old photographs of people and places gone past . . .

Just my thoughts this morning . . .

Thanks so much for your feedback regarding my cookbook. It's been more than helpful and I think I know what I am going to do with it now, so stay tuned!



I was thrilled yesterday to see that my friend Tracy of Pink Pearl gave me this lovely Blogging Friends Forever award!!! Thank you so much Tracy. You felt like a long lost friend from the very first time I visited your page. It was that feeling and your gentle spirit that kept me coming back for more. I now have the great pleasure to pass this to some blog friends who have been here with me a long time, as well as giving this to a new friend also.

Please accept this award, my friends, in the spirit that it's given, and in turn, hand it out to others following these "rules":

1. Use the Twinks Bank icon
2. Nominate 5 other people only
3. Four (4) nominees have to be dedicated followers of your blog
4. One (1) has to be someone new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
5. You must link back to whoever gave you the award.

Here are my oldies, dedicated followers of my blog: Angie from Can You All Hear Me At The Back , Kath from My Simple Rhymes , Julie from Tulips Kitchen , Melody from Slurping Life . These ladies have been following me these past three years from when I first began blogging and followed me here to my new page from my old one and I love them to pieces. My newbie is Gloria of Canela Kitchen , who captured my heart with her very first comment and who is always so kind and faithful to me. You have all blessed my life in too many ways to count!

Ever since I was a young girl and I read the book, "Chicken Every Sunday", I have been intrigued by the delicious intricacies of Roast Chicken. There are as many ways of roasting it as there are days of the week. A perfectly roasted chicken is a joy to behold and a pleasure to eat . . .



*Perfect Slow Roasted Chicken*
serves 4

Slow roasting is a wonderful way to keep chicken moist and flavourful. This recipe has the added bonus of some lovely and buttery, lemony roasted potatoes to accompany it.

softened butter, for greasing the pan and chicken
1 medium to large sized corn fed organic chicken
4 ounces of roasting potatoes
(peel and halve or quarter, depending on their size)
2 heads of garlic, halved crosswise
sea salt and cracked black pepper
3 1/2 ounces white wine
3 1/2 ounces chicken stock
2 springs of fresh rosemary
6 bay leaves
1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges

Pre-heat the oven to 325*F/160*C. Grease a large roasting tin with softened butter and then rub the chicken all over with some more softened butter.

Place the chicken in the tin and scatter the potatoes around it. Place the halved garlic heads in as well. Sprinkle it all with some sea salt and cracked black pepper. Squeeze the lemon wedges over all and then throw them into the pan as well. Mix together the chicken stock and white wine and drizzle it over. Cover everything with a large sheet of aluminum foil, sealing it tightly, and then place it into the pre-heated oven.

Roast for one hour. Remove it from the oven and take off the foil and discard. Add the rosemary and the bay leaf. Return to the oven and roast, uncovered for another 50 minutes.

Turn the oven temperature up to 425*F/220*C. Roast for 30 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and remove the chicken and potatoes to a platter. Cover loosely and let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Serve the chicken sliced and placed on hot plates with some potatoes. Spoon some of the pan juices over all and enjoy!

Making Time To Moodle

"Develop Interest in life as you see it; in people, in things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls, and interesting people. Forget yourself."
~Henry Miller

Spending time regularly on your own, pondering on and thinking your own special thoughts often seems an incredible indulgence. Spending time on your own to explore and nurture your own God given talents seems downright impractical most of the time. We lead such busy lives and there never seem to be enough hours in the day as it is, let alone to find some that we can indulge ourselves in having fun just for ourselves! Fun just for having fun's sake!

Somewhere in the last twenty years or so, we seem to have misplaced a very essential part of ourselves . . . our Joi de vivre, as the French would say . . . our sense of zest and exuberance. We've spent most of that time nurturing family or careers, both of which, while very important, are not the be all and end all of what can help us to lead fulfilling and zestful, happy lives. There seems to be a piece of the puzzle missing, that heartfelt pleasure that comes when we discover something that brings us keen pleasure. Something that belongs to only us and is uniquely ours. Selfish as it may seem . . . we all need a hobby!



But how do you discover what that may be? The writer Brenda Ueland tells us our imaginations need . . . "moodling" . . . or in other words, we need to take the time to putter, dawdle, idle and daydream in order to flourish and discover which solitary pleasures bring us the most joy.

I, for instance, had not picked up a paint brush in many years, up until just a few months ago. My days were largely spent in work at work . . . which means cooking and cleaning up at the big house . . . and then I'd get home here, to the cottage, and I'd do it all again, cook and clean . . . with a little bit of telly and walking thrown in for good measure. Don't get me wrong here, I do enjoy cooking and cleaning, well at least the cooking bit . . . whether it be up there or here at home . . . but there seemed to be a little something missing.



Before I became a working woman, I used to spend quite a few hours every day fulfilling my creative nature . . . knitting, sewing, embroidering, painting, putting up preserves . . . to name but a few things. I used to really enjoy those hours spent and there was a wonderful sense of pride in each one of my accomplishments . . . these were activities that were uniquely my own, singular pleasures that brought me great joy and fulfillment. Rewarding reveries. It had been a long time since I had spent any time at all in pursuing any of these activities.

and so . . .



One afternoon I picked my paintbrushes up again, and I painted a silly little picture. It was just a little chef's head and a few lemons. Quite simple, nothing too exciting. "That's quite good." said my Todd. I looked at it and thought to myself, actually . . . it is not too bad. I thought about how much joy I had gotten out of just those few minutes that it had taken me to paint it and how much I had missed doing something just like that. I realized right then, that I really needed to take time out once in a while to pursue this solitary pleasure and feed the creative me that had been left idling for so long . . . and so now I regularly take out my brushes and I paint. I can often be found doodling sketches when I find a stolen moment, and I have a huge stack of ideas and pictures that are just waiting for me to make them real and tangible. And . . . I am loving every minute of it.

I realized that once my hobby, which was cooking . . . had become my job . . . I really had needed to find something else to take it's place . . . and, as much as I still enjoyed doing it . . . it was now work and no longer play. We all need to take some time to play, time to explore our interests and singular pleasures. "Me" time. "Play" time. It's not selfish. It's not indulgent. It's a part of what brings our life into harmony, and helps to make it richer and more rewarding. As children we knew how to play . . . now, as adults . . . we need to remember how to play, and then sometimes we need to . . . play.



I've been really busy this week putting the finishing touches on my cookbook. I have some big decisions to make regarding it. Photos or no photos is one of them. I have a folder just bulging with really nice food photos that I have taken but am wondering if I should include them. Including them means that the book will cost more . . . a lot more . . . not for me, but for the people who choose to buy it. I know myself, I find a cookbook infinitely more interesting when it includes delicious looking photos. It's nice to be able to see the finished project and get some idea of what it should look like. So, here's my question to you all . . . Would you settle for a cookbook that was stogged full of lovely recipes, but no pictures . . . or would you rather have a cookbook that had fewer recipes but lots of lovely photos??? I don't know . . .

Here's a delicious snack that can really be quite low in fat, depending on whether you choose to use low or no fat cream cheese instead of the full fat one. There's not a lot you can do about the sugar content though. It's using real sugar that makes this taste all caramel like and indulgent. Apples are healthy and very good for you . . . you know . . . an apple a day and all that . . . combining them with a luscious caramel like dip, well that's just genius!



*Caramel Apple Dip*
Makes about 1 ½ cups

One might think that this would be too sweet, but it is lovely and mellow and beautifully caramel-like. It’s a bit like having a caramel apple without any of the fuss! Actually I retract that, it’s even better than having a caramel apple!
1 250g package of cream cheese, softened
½ cup soft light brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
½ tsp vanilla
5 to 6 apples washed well, cored and then sliced**

Put the cream cheese into a bowl and then stir in the sugars and vanilla, mixing it all in very well until smooth. Scoop into an attractive serving bowl and then cover and chill for several hours before serving with the sliced apples for dipping. I like to use a mixture of good eating apples, such as tart Granny Smiths and Golden Delicious or like we had yesterday, Pink Ladies. I am thinking sliced pears would also go very well with this dip.

**If you are not serving the fruit right away and you are cutting them up a bit ahead of time as I did yesterday, squeeze the juice of a lemon over the pieces and give them a bit of a toss to coat them all with it in order to keep the fruit from turning brown.

MeMe MeMe

Good morning everyone. No, that's not me singing, although it might seem like it. Maddy of Maddy's Glass House tagged me yesterday to do the Six Quirky Things About Me meme again and I was just trying to be cute. Thanks for the tag Maddy. I've only just recently done this meme, but I will endeavor to do it again. I'm not really sure that there are six things about me that people don't already know, but I'll give it a good go! I thought I would do it a bit differently this time, and without further adieu here is

Marie's Illustrated Six Quirky Things About Me:
(illustrations by Marie)




1. From the time I was a little girl, all I ever wanted to be was a mom, wife and homemaker. I wanted to be June Cleaver. I loved my dolls to pieces, literally. I wore out my bake sets. Likewise my toy irons and ironing boards. I loved to play dress up and was always the mom. I once washed my doll clothes in my parent's best bottle of vodka. Through that experience my mother discovered that Vodka was a great wax stripper for floors. Being helpful is my middle name.



2. I love walking in the rain, which is probably a good thing, as I live in England. I love catching raindrops on my tongue, which is probably not such a smart thing these days. I love splashing in puddles. One of my favourite childhood memories is of standing beneath the overhang of our garage roof while the heavens poured buckets down in front of my eyes, just several inches from my relatively dry space. I can remember the sun was still shining and it seemed magical and mysterious and the smell was incredible . . . wet pavement and sunshine all at the same time!!!




3. I love chickens and roosters. I have quite a collection of ceramic and wooden ones and would love to have my own chicken coop with some laying hens. I don't think my boss would go for that though, so it will have to remain a dream for right now. I can remember visiting relatives when I was a girl in the states that had lots of chickens and being allowed to feed them. That's probably where my love affair with them started! I could listen to them clucking away and scratching in the dirt for hours. It's a sound that speaks home to me . . .




4. I believe in making the most of every experience that life hands you, be it good, or be it bad. Every cloud has a silver lining and there is always something to be gained. All of my strengths have been accrued through my weak moments in life and lessons learned . . . quite often . . . the hard way.




5. I believe in taking time to smell the flowers and in experiencing every rich moment of this life I have to live. I want to feel every sunset, and rejoice in every sunrise. I savour the feeling of sunlight on my face and the grass beneath my toes. I drink in the smell of the earth around me . . . in early morning, in late evening, no matter the season, no matter the location . . . I have five senses and I thank God for the blessing of them and I use them, consciously.



6. Life is one big cake and I'm here to eat it. I relish every crumb, and I'm not fussy about which flavour I get either. From the inside to the outside and every bit in between . . . it's all good to me. I love the icing, which is a bonus, but I'm also smart enough to know that the real treasure comes from the inside. Without the inside life would be too sweet to swallow . . .

Now, I'm not going to tag anyone because I just did that, so you can all breathe a huge sigh of relief now . . . all together . . . ahhhhhh . . .



I was thrilled and amazed to receive an award this week from Cathy of Home Sweet Home, Noble . It's an I love your blog award! Thanks so much Cathy! (By the way, I love, Love, LOVE your pincushions!!!) This is the very first one ever of this particular award that I have gotten and it means the world to me!

Now I have to pass it on to seven others so here goes: Rhondi , Tracy ,Prudy , jenjen , Raquel ,Gloria (Canela) , StitchinByTheLake

I love all your blogs and am passing this lovely award on to each of you!! Actually I really love all the blogs I visit regularly, or I wouldn't be visiting them regularly, so if I am a regular visitor of yours, take it, this award for you too, and enjoy!



I'm also ashamed to say that I received this swell award from someone some weeks ago and I now can't remember who it is that gave it to me. I really do appreciate it and I wish I could remember who it was so that I could thank them properly. Whoever you were, I do thank you from the bottom of my heart and I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to let you know that.

We've had some incredibly dismal weather here lately. Summer seems to have taken a flying leap out of here and it has felt more like autumn these past few days. The damp and cold seem to seep right into your very bones. These are soup days . . .




*Simply Tasty Tomato Soup*
Serves 4

This delicious soup couldn’t be easier or tastier. It’s so simple I am almost ashamed to write it down…but it’s too good not to share so here goes!

½ cup finely chopped onion
1 TBS butter
1 (14 ½ oz) tin of diced plum tomatoes with garlic and olive oil
1 (10 ¾ oz) tin of condensed Tomato soup, undiluted (Campbells)
1 cup milk
Boiling water as needed

Melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the onion until soft and tender. Stir in the tomatoes, untrained, condensed soup and milk. Add boiling water to give you the consistency you desire. (probably only half a cup or so) Bring almost to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer on low for 10 to 15 minutes until all the flavours meld and soup is quite hot. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil on top and a hearty sprinkling of cracked black pepper.

While I'm at it I'll give you the recipe for that incredibly delicious sandwich you see there on the side!


*Grilled Spinach and Cheese Sandwich*
Serves 2 to 4

These sandwiches are really tasty and quite simple to make. It’s a delicious way to get some spinach into your husband and kids without them complaining! I like to use a hearty bread with these, such as an Oat, Honey and Barley loaf. You need a sturdy bread to keep up with the filling!

½ bag fresh spinach chopped
1 cup grated emmenthaler cheese
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup good quality mayonnaise ( I use French)
1 TBS Dijon mustard
4 to 8 slices hearty whole grain bread
4 to 8 slices smoked streaky bacon, cooked until crisp
Mayonnaise for spreading before grilling

Stir together the cheeses, spinach, mayonnaise and mustard. Mix to blend well.

Spread the bread slices each one side with some mayonnaise. Put half of them into a large heated skillet mayonnaise side down. Divide the cheese mixture evenly amongst the slices. Top each with two slices of the cooked bacon and then top with another slice of bread, mayonnaise side up.

Grill in the hot pan until lightly toasted on each side and the cheese is melted. Let sit a few minutes before cutting in half to serve. Yummy!

*C* Is For Cookie

A house should have a cookie jar
For when it's half past three,
And children hurry home from school
As hungry as can be!

There's nothing quite so splendid
On which a child can sup,
As great granola grabbers
And sweet milk in a cup!

A child should have someone
Waiting with a hug,
No matter what they bring home,
A puppy or a bug!

For children only loiter
When the bell rings to dismiss,
If no-one's home to greet them
with a cookie and a kiss!
~author unknown



Welcome to the Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 Edition of Tuesdays With Dorie! This is the one day a week that I, along with umpteen gazillion other baking aficionados get together and bake a delicious recipe from that wonderful Baking Bible written by none other than Ms Dorie Greenspan herself, Baking, from my home to yours. It's a lovely group, which numbers over two hundred something of the nicest women, a few men and some of the best bakers on the planet! One thing we all have in common is our love for this book and it's author. Each week we get together and bake the same recipe and then compare notes afterwards, which is a whole lot of fun. If you be interested in participating you can check us out here. It's a very easy group to join, all you need is a love of baking and of course to own the book, which can be purchased at Amazon.com for as little now as $6.23, which is a real bargain!



If you are thinking that this week's recipe had something to do with cookies, you would be right. This week we baked Granola Grabbers, from page 82, as chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking . Michelle, Michelle, Michelle . . . you don't know what you did to me! I've had my head in the cookie jar ever since! These cookies are very M-O-R-E-I-S-H!!! (which is the British word for A-D-D-I-C-T-I-V-E!!) Need I say more!



I really would like to say here that I had made my own granola to use in this recipe, and normally I would have had my own homemade granola to use, but this week for some reason I had none left and no time to go to the store to buy the ingredients to make it, sigh . . . However I did have a delicious bag of Sharpham Park's finest organic West Country Spelt Granola in my cupboard that was just begging to be used. It is a wonderfully tasty mixture of spelt flakes, walnut pieces, seeds, apples and blueberries, baked with a delicious honey coating. I know, I know . . . Dorie said it was best to use a granola that didn't contain fruit, but I had to use what I had to use and there was no way I was going to stand there and pick out all the fruity bits. I just took my chances!



I am happy to say I had beautiful results with this recipe, despite the fact that my granola did contain some fruit. I didn't want to add peanuts as I have never liked whole peanuts in cookies, so I added some more walnuts instead. I also left out the almonds as I totally forgot them, but I did add an extra handful of raisins as Todd and I are both real raisin lovers. I didn't have any wheat germ either so that also got totally left out and replaced with nothing. I just went with the flow! I ended up with a lovely cookie batter that was a bit sticky but very easy to manage and wrestle onto the cookie sheets. It stayed together well and was very easy to scoop out onto the pans. I chose to roll mine into balls, which I slightly flattened before I put them onto the sheets.



Oh my!!! But they did smell heavenly when they were baking, and, I confess, I did eat one or two (or maybe even three) while they were still warm from the oven. (It's a cook's prerogative you know!) I think another couple got eaten that evening while Todd and I were sitting in our comfy chairs watching the telly and I have been munching on them for breakfast ever since. (Granola is definitely breakfast food, doncha know!)



This was one of the nicest cookies I have ever eaten and I want to thank Michelle from the bottom of my heart for picking this delicious recipe! If you want to give these cookies a go, you will have to check out Michele's page later on today when she posts her entry. In the meantime I suggest you check out the Tuesday's With Dorie blog roll, where you can see a lot of the other delicious creations from this week!

Next weeks recipe will be Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte, as chosen by Amy of Food, Family and Fun . Oh My Goodness . . . there goes the diet for sure!

And now . . . back to my breakfast . . . mmmmm . . . these cookies be mighty good!