By about April 10, the snow is out of the woods. As patches of yard melt out, we rake and thatch the brown grass as it is exposed, just as our southern compatriots rake and preen their lawns.

Raised around St. Louis, I remember the glorious springs, the Magnolias, Red-buds, Dogwoods, the profusion of flowers. I would call my mother and whine about the fact that I still had lumps of snow along my stone walls and under my eaves. She would then tease, in her best supercilious voice, “Well, I guess you just live in the wrong part of the country.”

But finally real spring would arrive at my house, with a green so lush, so vivid that each year I wonder anew at its intensity. Maybe it’s all the sweeter having had to anticipate for so long. And summers are an absolute delight. Each July when I would talk to my mother on the phone, she would tell me how hot it was. Now it was my turn to tease; “Oh dear. My Delphiniums are so tall that I have to stake them with steel fence posts to keep them from falling over!” Delphiniums were her favorite flowers, and the St. Louis climate is too hot for them to do well. She would tell me I was bad, and laugh.

My mother passed away a little over a year ago at 96. I will and do miss her and our conversations, our loving banter. This January, I started a dozen Delphiniums indoors, the tall, flamboyant variety. Even if I have to dig out and transplant other flowers to make enough space, I will set out all of them in an extravagant display. She will love it.

Lucy

Lucy

Art Nouveau Flower Stamps

Around the turn of the last century, a new style of art was born in reaction to the academic art of the 19th century, Art Nouveau. With beautiful forms and elegant curving lines, this “New Art” celebrated flowers, all of nature and the ideal of man’s harmonious place in Nature.

With our series of Art Nouveau Cookie Stamps, we have carved some of these beautiful and stylized flowers into the bases of ceramic stamps so that you can easily press out generous 3” cookies that are as lovely as they are delicious. The handles of this series are glazed white, and each stamp comes with an instruction and recipe booklet graced with an original watercolor of an Alium.

All Classic Cookie Stamps are made in America from high-fired stoneware. They are 100% lead free, and are oven, microwave and dishwasher safe.

Alium

A favorite flower of the decorative artists of 1900, this striking Alium blossom is as sophisticated today as it was more than 100 years ago.

Moss Rose

The Moss Rose, with its curving branches and lush blossoms makes a most romantic cookie, perfect for all occasions or none at all.

Lily of the Valley

Delicate and understated, elegant and sweet. The curving leaves of this beauty shelter two sprays of tiny bell-shaped blossoms.

Woodland Flowers

Nibbling a cookie embossed with delicate Woodland Flowers, one can almost see the Fairies and Pixies peeping from behind trees right out of the illustrated Colored Fairy Tale Books.

The internet in general and my blog in particular has opened up ways and channels of communication that I never dreamed possible.

A woman with whom I have become friends over my blog has worked out some gluten free recipes for shortbread, and here they are! How wonderful that she can share with all of you who are gluten-intolerant, too. NO ONE should have to go without shortbread!

Happy baking,
Lucy

From Cara Aileen:

I have really enjoyed creating these recipes! What an adventure, and to know they will be used with my favorite pans is pretty cool! I have given instructions as to how I have always made my shortbread, even before going gluten free. I do not recommend trying any other type of mixer except a paddle type. It must be watched, and each step should be mixed only enough to blend well, taking care not to over-mix or to handle the dough excessively. I also keep my butter still very cool. I feel certain the original hand mixing method would work well also, with the added step of whisking the flour blend prior to mixing it in. All of the flours are from Bob’s Red Mill.

Gluten Free Shortbread

• 1/3 Cup Rice Flour
• 1/3 Cup Tapioca Flour
• 3 Tablespoons Potato Flour (not starch)
• 2 Tablespoons Sweet Rice Flour
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt

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• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened but preferably still cool
• 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla (Gluten Free)

Preheat oven to 325.

In a prep bowl whisk first 5 ingredients together to blend well.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla at a medium speed just till mixed, using a professional type stand mixer with a paddle (I use a Kitchen Aid)

Add flour blend and mix on medium low, (setting 2 or 4) until the dough holds together. ‘Knead’ lightly to form a ball.

Press dough into your shortbread mold spreading evenly and handling dough as little as possible.
Bake on the bottom shelf of your oven at 325 for 30 minutes. Shortbread will be evenly golden brown across the surface.

Cool 10 – 15 minutes then loosen up the edges with a table knife before turning out onto a wooden board as described in the regular instructions. Cut while warm.

Gluten free shortbread will improve greatly if stored a day or two in a tin or gallon size Ziploc bag

Gluten Free Almond Shortbread

• 1/3 Cup Rice Flour
• 1/4 Cup Tapioca Flour
• 1/4 Cup Almond Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Potato Flour (not starch)
• 2 Tablespoons Sweet Rice Flour
• 1/8 teaspoon Salt

• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened but preferably still cool
• 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Almond Extract (Gluten Free)

Preheat oven to 325.

In a prep bowl whisk first 6 ingredients together to blend well.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla at a medium speed just till mixed, using a professional type stand mixer with a paddle (I use a Kitchen Aid)

Add flour blend and mix on medium low, (setting 2 or 4) until the dough holds together. This will be a softer dough than the recipe above. I use a rubber spatula to ‘knead’ it into a ball.

Press dough into your shortbread mold, spreading evenly and handling dough as little as possible.

Bake on the lower rack in your oven at 325 for 30 minutes. Shortbread will be evenly golden brown across the surface.

Cool 10 – 15 minutes then loosen up the edges with a table knife before turning out onto a wooden board as described in the regular General Instructions. Cut while warm.

Gluten free shortbread will improve greatly if stored a day or two in a tin or gallon size Ziploc bag

I am working on a chocolate version, but I am not satisfied with the result yet. I will work on that a few more days I am out of the chocolate for now.

Cara Aileen

That year, we had tons of snow, literally. All of the hardware stores, Home Depots, tractor supply stores, etc. were completely sold out of snow blowers, shovels and roof rakes. A snow removal anything was unavailable for love or money. I had a friend plow my driveway, but that still left walkways, parking spaces and roofs to shovel. Each time it would snow, I would suit up with long johns and my trusty Carhardt insulated bib-overalls.

In winter in New Hampshire, style is much less important than BTU’s, and warmth actually becomes stylish in a weird way. I would start with the path to the woodshed, then hit my rhythm by the time I got to my studio/shop. As my body settled into a sort of physical mantra in the silent, white world, my mind would be free to wander.

I can’t tell you how many designs I developed shoveling snow, and how many stories. I made up bogus news items about snow shoveling competitions in which I would be the winner, I dreamed up stories about a young beaver who didn’t want to grow up and join the family timber business, I visualized what flowers I would add to my perennial border the next spring.

Instead of dreading the next snow storm, I started to look forward to it. Of course, this may mean that I’d gone nuts.

Last year, I finally bought a snow blower. I will admit that it’s big help, despite the noise and the fumes and the fact that I always get a face-full of snow. I still shovel off the roofs and clean up around the wood shed and the doors, but I shovel much less that I used to. Such is the price of being on the dark side of 65. I still love it though.

Enjoy your winter. Stay warm and dream up things that make you happy.

Lucy

I developed the recipe for the 11” deep dish porcelain pie plate that we used to make, so you will need to take this into account. If you don’t have a large, deep pie plate and you are using a 9” pie plate, why don’t you use a small pie plate too? This way you can have a pie for the “grown-ups’ table” at Thanksgiving, and a special pie for the “kids‘ table”, too. Or you can have a nice big pie for your family and a small one to give to someone special.

I will have to admit, when I have had extra filling that wouldn’t fit in my pie plate, I have been known to just eat it up with a spoon. It’s that good.
Enjoy.

Enough Basic Pie crust to line either 1 very large or two smaller pie plates

If you make up a whole recipe of Basic Pie Dough, you will have more than you need, but you can always roll out the scraps, sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar, and have bonus treats.

3 eggs
1 cup half and half (1/2 pint)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 cups steamed and mashed pumpkin or winter squash (fresh or canned)
1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoon brandy or orange liquor (optional)

Roll the pie crust 1/8” thick and line your pie plate(s) with it, allowing the edges to drape over the rim of the baking dish. Fold up the edges to make a rim, and crimp decoratively.
Break the eggs into a large bowl or into the work bowl of a food processor. Dip a pastry brush into the egg white and paint the crust with it.

Using a beater or the food processor, beat all of the ingredients for the filling together until they are completely combined and smooth.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust. Bake the pie(s) in the middle of a pre-heated 375° oven for 40-50 minutes. The baking time will vary according to the size and thickness of your pie. Test for done-ness by inserting a clean table knife into the center of the pie. It should come out clean. The pie will probably develop a split in the middle as it cools.
Serve the pie hot or cold with a dollop of lightly sweetened whip cream if you like.
Store any uneaten pie in the refrigerator, since the filling contains egg.
Note: Left-overs are great for breakfast.

But the Cortland and McIntosh apples are just now ready to be picked. September’s recipe for Classic Apple Pie is every bit as good now as it would have been Labor Day. Certainly, I have more time for baking now than I did then, and as the temperatures cool, I am more inclined.

Apple picking is a big deal around here. Everyone seems to have a favorite orchard where their parents used to take them apple picking every fall when they were kids. Now those kids are grown, and they take their children.

Growing up in the mid-west, I didn’t have an orchard that my family went to every fall. I grafted to the whole tradition the first year I was here, however, and now make my autumnal pilgrimage with my family over to Canterbury to my chosen orchard. I have at least one of my two sons and daughters in laws with me, and my grandchildren. They are hooked.

It pleases me no end to know that children still love spending time doing something as a family out of doors.

Lucy

2 cups washed cranberries
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 ¼ cup sugar, total
½ cup melted butter, cooled somewhat
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
additional butter for pie pan

Butter your pie pan liberally, then pour in the washed cranberries. Scatter the chopped nuts evenly over the cranberries. Sprinkle ¼ cup of sugar over the fruit and nuts.

Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until they are light lemon colored. Continue whisking as you slowly add the melted butter and the sugar. Beat in the flour and the almond extract.

Pour the batter over the cranberries and walnuts. Bake at 350° for 40 to 45 minutes, until a light golden brown. Insert the point of a knife or a toothpick into the pie to test if it is completely cooked in the middle. The knife should come out clean or with just a few damp crumbs adhering to it.

Serve hot or at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

NOTE: You can use frozen, un-defrosted cranberries in this recipe. You will have to bake the pie a bit longer if you do. I always throw a few bags of cranberries in the freezer so I can bake this pie whenever I want, whether there are cranberries available in the grocery stores or not.

1 recipe Basic Pie Crust
6 or 7 large tart apples – Jonathan, Cortland, Northern Spy, Granny Smith, MacIntosh all are good juice of 1/2 a large lemon
½ cup sugar, or a bit more, depending on the tartness of the apples
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch cloves
2 – 3 Tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces

Roll out one half of the pie crust in a 13” circle. Line your pie plate with the crust, allowing the edges to overhang the dish.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples into a medium bowl. Mix the spices with the sugar. Stir the sugar into the apples. Add the lemon juice.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie plate, mounding the apples in the middle. Dot the top of the apples with the butter.

Now roll out the second half of your pie crust in a 1/8th thick circle, and cover the pie with the top crust. Don’t worry if it looks lumpy; that’s part of the charm of home-made apple pies. Press the edges together and crimp them decoratively. Cut vents in the top crust so that steam can escape.

Bake the pie in the middle of a 410° oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° and continue baking for another 40-45 minutes. The top should be nicely browned, and the juices should be bubbling up through the vents. If the filling has cooked down away from the crust, that’s fine. Poke a small sharp knife down through one of the vents to test if the apples are done. They should be very soft and offer no resistance to the tip of the knife.

Cool the pie somewhat before serving. When hot, the filling will be a bit runny, a nice contrast to the flaky crust.

He liked his pie hot and soupy. I have added a little corn starch to the recipe to thicken the filling just a touch. With very minor adjustments, this recipe will work for a number of different berries: blackberries and raspberries or blueberries. You can also mix berries.

Recipe Basic Pie Dough
1 to 1 ½ quarts fresh blackberries (or raspberries)
¾ to 1 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons corn starch
(juice of ½ lemon for a blueberry pie)
(1/2 teaspoon cinnamon for a blueberry pie)
2 Tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces

Line your pie plate with crust. Wash your berries briefly on a colander under cool water. Shake the colander to drain as much water as possible. If you are using wild berries or ones that you are sure haven’t been sprayed, it is better not to wash them at all.

Mix the corn starch and cinnamon, if you are using it, with ¾ cup of the sugar. Mix this with the berries. Taste the filling to see if it is sweet enough for you. Stir in the lemon juice if you are making a blueberry pie. Pour the berries into the prepared pie dish and dot the top with the butter.

Cover the pie with the top crust. Crimp the edges decoratively and cut steam vents in the crust. You may want to make a lattice top crust to make this pie really special.

Bake the pie in the middle of a 410° oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350° and continue baking for another 40 minutes or so. The crust should be nicely browned around the edges, and the filling should be bubbling up through the steam vents.

Cool the pie to allow the filling to thicken, or eat it hot and soupy. Amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Note: Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of your oven underneath the pie pan to catch drips. This pie is sloppy… and wonderful.

Spring started early and hot, at least for 3 or 4 days, then we settled in for a prolonged stretch of cool, rainy early summer weather.

My peonies loved it, and though they bloomed even later than usual, they were magnificent. The rain collected in the extravagant blossoms and bowed them to the ground.

Here is a picture of my little cat Phoebe sheltering under the flowers, waiting for a chipmunk. I am happy to say that she is a chipmunk specialist.

So the days are long, the world is green, and I am goofing off, indulging in gardening, hiking in the woods, enjoying my friends and animals, and doing a little painting. I do have to start working on a series of new floral cookie stamps for next year… but not yet.

While it is so lovely out, I’m playing hookie. I’ll act like a responsible adult later.

½ recipe Basic Pie Crust
8 peaches or so, depending on their size
½ cup light cream
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 Tablespoons flour
Pinch of salt

Make up half of the Basic Pie Crust recipe and roll it out in a 13” circle. Line your pie pan with the dough. Crimp the edges, forming a ridge around the rim of the pan to hold in the juices.

Peel and slice the peaches. Fill the prepared pie pan with the peach slices, mounding them gently. Stir together the remaining ingredients for the filling in a medium bowl. Pour this mixture evenly over the peaches.

Cut 3 or 4 strips of aluminum foil about 3” wide. Fold these strips over the edges of the crust to protect them from too much browning. You may want to secure the foil with tooth picks.

Place the pie in the middle of a pre-heated 450° oven and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350° and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of baking. It would probably be a good idea to put a sheet of foil on the bottom of your oven under the pie to catch drips.
The filling will thicken as the pie cools.

1 recipe Basic Pie Crust
1 1/2 quarts fresh tart cherries
or 1 quart frozen tart cherries
1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar, depending on the tartness of the cherries
3 Tablespoons corn starch
1/8 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
3 Tablespoons cold butter.

Line your pie plate with one half of the recipe for Basic Pie Crust.

Wash, stem and pit the fresh cherries and place them in a large bowl. Mix the corn starch with 1 1/2 cup of sugar and add to the cherries, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Taste the cherries. If they are too tart, add more of the sugar. Stir in the almond extract if you are using it.

If you are using frozen cherries, be sure to thaw them completely. If the frozen ones have been sweetened, you will need less sugar than what is called for in the recipe. Taste the filling to get the right balance of sweet to tart. Add the corn starch mixed with sugar.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie plate. Dot the top with the butter, cut in little pieces. Cover with the top crust, and fold up the edges to seal in the juices. Crimp decoratively, if you like. Slash steam vents in the top crust.

You can make your cherry pie extra pretty by giving it a latticed top crust. Weave strips of pie crust at right angles to each other over the top of the filling, then fold the edges of the bottom crust up over the ends of the strips. Press together and crimp the edges, creating a raised rim of pie crust to hold in the juices.

Bake the pie in the middle of a pre-heated 410° oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350° and continue baking for 40 minutes or so. The crust should be golden and the juices should be bubbling up through the holes in the crust.

This recipe is for a nice juicy pie, so be sure to put a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of your oven under the pie plate to catch the drips.

I understand your concerns, but in this case, you can relax. First off, let me say that I am a potter and have been for more decades than I care to discuss. I have never used lead or any toxic chemicals, and have always been super careful with any products that have been produced for me by vendors.

We started making the cookie stamps in China in 1996. All of the resins and paints used on the handles had to pass FDA tests for food safely, even though the handles themselves do not come into contact with the cookie dough. The ceramic bottoms are made of a lead-free clay body composed of silica (sand), feldspar (from granite), kaolin (an ingredient in Kaopectate), other clays, and iron. All of these ingredients are non-toxic and inert. We have always stipulated the formula, and our body and body color are copy-righted.

In addition, the ceramic is fired to a high enough temperature that the particles vitrify and become glassy. This chemically binds them in such a way that even if lead were contained in the body (which it isn’t), it could not leach out into foods. The only time lead is a problem is if it is under-fired and therefore not chemically bound in glass, AND if it comes in contact with acid foods. This would certainly be the case if you put orange juice into an under-fired ceramic pitcher that had been glazed with a lead based glaze.

The original cookie stamps with the figurative handles were all made in China. Between 1997 or ’98 and 2001, a few cookie molds and I believe only 2 shortbread pan designs were made in China. Other than that, BB products have always been made in the United States by small potteries. We also had a pottery in England make some cookie molds and shortbread pans for one year, but I can’t remember the year. No matter. It didn’t work out anyway, and THEY didn’t use a clay body with lead in it either.

Bottom line, all BB products are and have always been totally safe.

This is probably more information than you either expected or wanted, but I feel that consumers have the absolute right to know what they are using so that they can make informed decisions. This is especially true when it comes to making food for their families. I’m glad you gave me the opportunity to lay it all out.

Have fun baking,
Lucy

Note: You will need to use a large pie plate. The 11” Ibis Pie Plate that we used to make is unavailable, so use the closest approximation you can. You will just wind up with a thicker pie. You also might want to put a sheet of aluminum foil in the bottom of the oven to catch drips.

1 recipe Basic Pie Crust
4 cups fresh rhubarb, cut into ½” pieces, about 1 pound
OR unsweetened frozen rhubarb
2 “large” eggs
1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups sugar, depending on your sweet tooth
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons neutral oil (not olive oil)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Line a pie plate with one half of the pie crust, allowing the edges to drape over the rim. Prick the entire surface with a fork.

Break the eggs into a mixing bowl. Now take a pastry brush and dip it into the egg white. Paint the bottom crust with the egg white.

Beat the eggs until they are light. Beat in the sugar, flour, oil, and vanilla. Stir in the pieces of rhubarb. If you are using frozen rhubarb, it doesn’t have to be fully defrosted when you add it to the filling. Just be sure that the pieces are separated and not frozen together in a block.

Pour the filling into the prepared pan, cover with the top crust and fold up the edges to seal in the juices. Crimp the edges decoratively if you like. Cut steam vents in the top crust.

Bake at 410° in the middle of the oven for about 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350° and bake about an additional 40 – 50 minutes*. The pie should be well browned, and the juices should bubble up through the steam vents. If you are using frozen rhubarb, it will take a little longer for the pie to bake.

This pie is good hot from the oven, warm, room temperature or cold. Just be sure to refrigerate any uneaten portion, since the filling does contain eggs.

*Note: Baking time will also vary depending on the pie plate you use. Pyrex and ceramic dishes take longer than do metal pans.