Lavender-Vanilla Tea Cakes

There are times when only something fancy will do - but if you're clever, you don't have to work hard as well. These lovely tea cakes are a case in point: As easy to make as plain sugar cookies, but as fancy as all get out. Tea cakes are perfect with tea, of course, but these also pair well with chocolate mousse or ice cream. Best of all, the dough needs to chill, so they are a make-ahead delight.

Lavender-Vanilla Tea Cakes
by Maurita Plouff blogging at Get the Good Stuff!
Makes 3 dozen

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons The Spice House Lavender Vanilla Sugar

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set them aside.

Cream the butter using an electric mixer for about a minute until it turns a pale yellow color. Scrape it down from the sides of the bowl, add the sugar, and beat again about 2 minutes, until it is very soft and almost white. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat at medium speed about a minute, until it is fluffy and smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape again.

Slowly beat in the mixed dry ingredients, a little at a time. Mix only until the dough sticks together and there are no streaks of unblended flour. Don't overbeat - you don't want the tea cakes to be tough. Wrap the dough and chill it overnight (and up to one week). Note that the dough may be frozen up to a month if wrapped well and zipped into a plastic zip bag. Thaw the dough in the refrigerator before using.

On baking day, preheat oven to 375°F/190°C and set out a small bowl of lavender-vanilla sugar. Divide the chilled dough into 36 equal portions, and roll each into a ball. Dip each ball into the sugar, making sure that the top half is well coated. Place the sugared balls 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 13-15 minutes, until the edges just barely start to brown. Slide the parchment right off the pans and let the tea cakes cool on a rack.

Maple Pecan Muffins

This is the second time The Spice House has sponsored 37 Cooks. They have been supplying those in the know with spices, herbs and seasonings since 1957. I was born in 1957, so they have been perfecting their craft for a very long time!

The only request The Spice House had for our challenge was that we focus on baked goods and desserts. Luckily for me, that’s where my mind usually goes. I already had a great assortment of their herbs and spices for baking and cooking. I wanted to use spices or flavorings I hadn't used before. I started scrolling through their spices online. There were so many to choose from. I kept looking and the maple flavoring and maple sugar, caught my eye. The maple sugar is made from pure Wisconsin maple sap. I love making muffins for breakfast and Mark likes pecans in everything possible, so that’s how I decided on Maple Pecan Muffins.

If you enjoy cooking and baking like I do, check out their wonderful items. It will change your culinary world. Don't blame me when you become addicted to their superior products, ha ha! I used my favorite basic muffin recipe. Feel free to use yours if you prefer, and just add the natural maple flavor blend and maple sugar. Our house smelled so good as these were baking!

Maple Pecan Muffins
by Sharyl W.

Makes 12 muffins

2 cups white flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 cup milk (I prefer whole, but one can use 2%)
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon of The Spice House Natural Maple Flavor Blend
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 Tablespoons of The Spice House Maple Sugar - for topping

Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add the milk, oil, egg, and maple flavor. Mix just to combine. Batter will be lumpy. Over mixing will make dry muffins. Add the nuts to the batter.

Lightly grease muffin tins – or use paper cups – and fill about 2/3 full with the batter. Sprinkle maple sugar on top of the muffin batter. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until lightly brown. Keep an eye on them. No one wants a dry muffin! I like to brush the tops of my muffins, with melted butter, as soon as they come out of the oven. I think it keeps the muffins moister.

Buttery Dutch Baby with Berbere Vegetables

My family loves a showstopping Dutch baby. Normally I make a sweet version, but there is always room for a savory version in our brunch rotation. I hope that you enjoy this savory version as much as my family.

Buttery Dutch Baby with Berbere Vegetables
by Lindsay Blogging at Kitchen MusingsToday

Dutch Baby:
3 eggs
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon The Spice House Natural Butter Flavor
3 Tablespoons butter

Vegetable Filling:
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 teaspoons The Spice House Berbere - Spicy Ethiopian Blend
1 Yukon Gold potato, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Topping:
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon The Spice House Berbere - Spicy Ethiopian Blend

Dutch Baby:
Place a 10-inch cast iron pan on the center rack in your oven, preheat oven to 400°F.

Add the eggs to a blender and blend for one minute until frothy. Add the flour, salt, milk and butter extract to the blender. Blend on medium speed for 2 minutes; scrape the sides of the blender as needed.

Once the oven has preheated carefully remove the pan from the oven and add the 3 Tablespoons butter and return to the oven until the butter has melted. Remove from the oven and pour the batter from the blender into the hot cast iron pan. Bake 20-25 minutes. It will be golden brown and will rise quite a bit.

Vegetable Filling:

Prepare filling while the Dutch baby bakes. In a large sauté pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until it has softened, add 2 teaspoons berbere and cook about 30 seconds until it is fragrant. Add the potato, carrot and vegetable broth; simmer until the vegetables are tender. Adding more broth or water if needed. Add the frozen peas, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Taste and add more berbere or salt as needed. Cook until the peas are heated through.

Topping:
In a small saucepan add maple syrup, butter and berbere. Heat over low heat until warm.

Fill the center of the Dutch baby with the vegetable mixture and drizzle the maple syrup topping over the Dutch baby.

Cousin Connie's Chocolate Pie

A few months back, my bride's cousin Connie, from Tennessee, was visiting our area, and one night after dinner she asked if we wanted dessert. Well, who am I to turn down an offer like that? Exactly! The next thing I know, Cousin Connie is serving up her chocolate pie. It was pretty darned good! So, with Kudos to her, here is her chocolate pie recipe adapted with some of the ingredients from The Spice House.

Cousin Connie's Chocolate Pie
by Glenn Edwards

Here's what you're going to need:

1/4 cup of The Spice House Natural Processed Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup of self-rising flour
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of The Spice House Madagascar "Bourbon Islands" Pure Double Strength Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup of unsalted butter, melted
Refrigerated pie dough (or if you prefer, your favorite pie dough recipe or frozen pie shell)
9-inch glass pie plate

Start by sifting the flour and cocoa powder together, then add the sugar, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. You can use a whisk to mix all ingredients, although I've found that it's far easier to use and electric mixer with a whisk attachment.

Next, place your pie dough in the pie plate - you can crimp or not. Add pie mixture in the pie plate and bake at 300°F for 45 minutes.

Sunny Paris Olive and Ham Cake

Have you ever had a tried and true recipe that you make over and over for gatherings? The French love to make savory cakes for outdoor gatherings, picnics and hikes. It's a perfectly portable and delicious treat. One that my family is fond of is an olive and ham cake. It's delicious on it's own, however, once I opened and smelled the Sunny Paris spice blend from The Spice House, I knew that it would take my recipe to a new level, and it did! The spices are so fragrant in the Sunny Paris blend, it will brighten up any dish. I can imagine adding it to vinaigrettes, soups, grilled veggies, fish, chicken, an old shoe...you get the point! It's very versatile.

Sunny Paris Olive and Ham Cake
by Tonda
Adapted and Translated From Marmiton's Cake aux olives

4 eggs
250 grams bread flour - approximately 1 1/3 packed cups (I used King Arthur Bread Flour)
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used an Anjou)
2/3 cup canola oil
1 packet (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) of yeast proofed in 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon The Spice House Sunny Paris Seasoning
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese
1 1/2 cups honey ham, diced in 1/4 inch cubes
1 cup of whole manzanilla olives, sliced
Butter for the loaf pan

Heat oven to 355°F.

Mix the eggs and flour until just blended. Add the white wine and oil and mix until well blended.
Add the yeast and Sunny Paris spice blend, and continue to mix until the spice blend is evenly distributed. Add the cheese, ham and olives and mix until incorporated.

Butter a 9 x 5 loaf pan, then pour the mix into the pan. Bake at 355°F for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Test for doneness and bake longer, if needed. Serve at room temperature.

Maple Pecan Baklava

The word baklava means “many leaves”. I have always loved this Middle Eastern treat, but was hesitant to make it. A few weeks ago I did a review of a Middle Eastern cookbook and made the baklava rolo and ended up making a small pan of traditional baklava as well. It wasn’t very difficult and my family loved it.

At that point, I had decided that a pecan pie-like baklava might be a good idea and when this 37 Cooks challenge became available I jumped at a chance to be creative with The Spice House spices. In the past, I’ve ordered several times from this company and love their attention to detail and their fast service. In addition to the Maple Extract and Cake Spice mix, I ordered a few other items – I need to add that their Asian Flavors Gift Box spice collection is one of the most flavorful spice collections I have tried to date. I have used those spices a great deal in my savory cooking.

Now back to baking, I ended up making an 8 x 8 pan of the pecan baklava and used the remainder of the filling to make a baklava rolo. Photos of both of these treats are shown here and for directions for the baklava rolo, you can check out the recipe here.

Maple Pecan Baklava
by Jenny Blogging at The Cookbook Junkies

Syrup:

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon of The Spice House Maple Flavoring

Filling:

3 cups of chopped pecans
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 tablespoon of The Spice House Cake Spice

1 pound (about 24 sheets) phyllo dough
About 1 cup (2 sticks) melted butter

1. To make the syrup: Stir the sugar, water, and maple flavoring in a small sauce pan over low heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Stop stirring, increase the heat to medium, and cook until the mixture is slightly syrupy, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

2. To make the filling: Combine all the filling ingredients in a food processor – and pulse roughly five times – until the mixture is finely chopped.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.

4. Place a sheet of phyllo in the prepared pan and lightly brush with butter. Repeat with 2 more sheets. Spread about a 1/4 cup of the mixture on top of the sheets. Repeat this step roughly 4 times until you have reached about a half inch from the top of the pan. The top should have two sheets of phyllo lightly brushed with butter. Trim any overhanging edges.

5. Using a sharp knife, cut 6 equal lengthwise strips (about 1 3/4 inches wide) through the top layer of pastry. Make 1 1/2-inch-wide diagonal cuts across the strips to form diamond shapes.

6. Just before baking, lightly sprinkle the top of the pastry with cold water. This inhibits the pastry from curling. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 300°F and bake until golden brown, about 15 additional minutes.

7. Cut through the scored lines. Drizzle the cooled syrup slowly over the hot baklava and let cool for at least 4 hours. Cover and store at room temperature for up to 1 week. If the baklava dries out while being stored, drizzle with a little additional hot syrup.