A new Christmas tradition Rock Buns

A few years ago I purchased The Gentle Art of Domesticity *by Jane Brocket (at the recommendation of my friend Jill on a post I cannot now find on her blog) as a gift for  Mary, my husband's mother and a good friend of mine (I dislike the term Mother-in-law).  Mary and I love this book , because it is all about crafting and creature comforts.

One of these such things is Rock Buns, which have now become a seasonal treat in our house that are much enjoyed warm out of the oven with a glass of scotch.

They are sort of like scones or a giant cookie made with candied fruit and peel, and lots of spices. They are nothing like fruit cake, but are very rich and sweet (made with brown sugar), our whole family loves them.

All that being said I am not going to post the recipe, because I feel they are a unique recipe (maybe only in Canada) and needs to go along with the story in her book of the place they have in their (the authors) family.

My own mother visited Mary and discovered the book as well and so I sent her a copy last Christmas.
Recently I purchase Jane's newest book Turkish Delight And Treasure Hunts  for Mary's birthday, which features recipes from children's books. I have not read it yet, but Mary says it is quite cute. I did take a peak and the first recipe was Pickled Limes from Little Woman, which I have always been curious about and am dying to try.

*Note: If you do purchase this book, beware that when converting the recipes from English to American measurements there were some errors made and you should print a copy of the corrections .

All Things Pumpkin

One of my favorite things about fall, is all the pumpkinny flavorued things that are available, pumpkin spiced lattés, pumpkin scones, pumkin ravioli…to name a few of my favorite.

I thought I would list of few of my pumpkin endeavors and one that I plan to try when I carve up my pumpkin that has sat on our dining room table for all of October as our decorative centre piece.

Pumpkin WafflesThese I tried last year or the year before and they were a keeper. They are absolutely delish with butter and maple syrup. This year I made and froze some for Lochlan and then I can just pop them in the toaster for a quick yummy snack or lunch.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins with Streusel Topping
These I made a few mini ones, and a few loaf shaped ones and I have to say they were so rich, I should have stuck with a smaller size, the mini loaves were waaaay too intense. Also the Streusel topping was a bit much, they would be just as tasty without it I think.

Pumpkin Pasta from Jamie Oliver's website
I may make some adaptations to this, but will post later on how it goes.