Cherry Vanilla Valentine Scones

 
A little Valentine love around the house . . . 

CHERRY VANILLA VALENTINE SCONES

 

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons cold butter

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup cold heavy cream

1 cup dried Montmorency cherries
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 teaspoons half-and-half (or milk)

Directions: 
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

Cut cold butter into small pieces.
Add to dry ingredients; cut in until mixture is the size of small peas.
(Don't overmix!)

In a separate bowl, mix together eggs and cream with a fork.
Stir into flour/butter mixture, just until combined.
(Do not overmix!)

Fold in cherries.

Turn dough out onto a generously floured surface. Roll dough to 1/2-inch thick.
Dust top with flour, then cut with a heart cookie cutter. 

Place hearts on parchment-lined baking sheet. 
Bake at 400 degrees for 9-10 minutes.

Transfer scones to a wire rack.
(I transfer parchment and all to the cooling rack immediately after removing them from the oven to stop the bottoms from further browning.)

To make the glaze, stir vanilla into confectioner's sugar along with enough half-and-half to make a  drizzle.
With a spoon, drizzle the glaze back and forth across cooled scones.

Next up . . . House Project #3: Blinds in the Sunroom 

Tech update:  Just as suddenly as I became "Anonymous," I returned to "Cheryl." 🤷🏻‍♀️

A Winter Chat

I thought I'd pop in with a little this-and-that!  

First of all . . . HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! 

I gathered a few hearts and scattered them here and there. I made the two coverlet ones. The calico hearts with buttons I purchased (several years apart!), one of them on a recent antique shopping adventure with my friend Barbara. 

On that same antiquing trip, I picked up the vanilla latte candle and the colorful penny mat under it on the sideboard. The heart on the tea tray I made many years ago, seventeen years ago to be exact. I remember because my granddaughter Eve was a baby when I sent a similar one to her family, and Eve will be eighteen this summer! Oh, how the years fly by! 

We had some more winter weather this past week. The snow fell quickly and was so pretty. All activities were canceled. I lit my candles, made a pot of chicken noodle soup and homemade biscuits, and enjoyed the down time. The snow was mostly melted within twenty-four hours and life resumed. That's my kind of snow! 

Manzy enjoyed the snow from his cozy perch. 

When Kati was visiting at Christmas, she introduced me to Elevate, an app that offers "brain training games" to boost cognitive skills. I only use the free version (you can subscribe for more games), but I love the challenge and have just completed a 50-day streak. 

I made these chocolate cherry scones for my Bible study group yesterday. They are the same scones that I made last year (Cherry Vanilla Valentine Scones) except that I drizzled melted chocolate on the top instead of the vanilla glaze. 

I came across this quote this week and it really made me think. Oh yes, there is so much that we do not see!

But I also want to take note of God's blessings that I do see, and with that in mind, I began a gratefulness journal this week. My friend Carla has been doing this for years and recently hit the 12,000 mark! Inspired by Carla, I am taking a few moments each day to simply list things that I am grateful for. 

We decided that we didn't want to compete with the crowds for Valentine's Day dinner this evening, so we have ordered carryout from our favorite Mexican restaurant. Ron will be here any minute with our meal . . . 


I hope that your week has been filled with simple delights, gratitude, and a knowledge of God's immeasurable love for us!

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." I John 4:10 

P.S. I wrote a Gathering the Moments post for November, but just finished it published it last week. So I backdated it and sneaked it into the blog, but if you're interested in reading it (Thanksgiving pictures are there), you can find it ~ here ~.