Excalibur Cookies

That stack of seed catalogs is still on my desk. All I have had time to do is thumb through the tomatoes in the Territorial Seed Company catalog and casually ask Dave,

” Should I plant okra again this spring? What about watermelon? Cantaloupe?”

I silently wonder how much of my time this spring might be needed to care for my Mom instead of tending the garden, but with the ever present hope of a dyed in the wool gardener I will likely order the full array of plants and seeds anyway.

I have to admit that seed catalogs are just a small percent of the volumes that arrive in my mailbox. Most go straight to the paper recycling container at our neighborhood grade school but occasionally I find something interesting in one of them such as the cookie recipe in the holiday edition of the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Catalogue. The King Arthur folks describe them as a cross between a cookie and a bar. They call them Lemon Jam Slices. I decided to try them because they looked easy and I could use my homemade jam for the filling. I substituted lemon juice and zest for the lemon powder in the original recipe. I was pleasantly surprised about how quick and easy the recipe is to make. The cookies disappeared quickly too.

The Sands, Taylor, and Wood Co. is the parent company of King Arthur Flour. They have been producing flour and other products since 1790. Excalibur is a retired name for one of their flours. Come to think of it these cookies filled with raspberry jam would be great for Valentine’s Day.

Excalibur Cookies

1 cup (8 oz.) soft butter

1 cup (7 oz.) sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Juice and zest of one lemon

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup raspberry or apricot jam

Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 Tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them.

Beat together the softened butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and lemon juice until fluffy.
Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat in the egg yolk. Mix in the baking powder and flour until well blended.

Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each piece into a log about 12” long and 1” in diameter.

Put two logs on each prepared baking sheet, leaving several inches between them. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to make a trough down the center of each log. Fill the trough with jam. I used a spoon but you could go to the trouble of using a pastry bag.

Bake the cookie logs for 18 to 20 minutes, until they are set and lightly browned around the edges. Let them cool about 3 minutes, and then carefully slice them on the diagonal into 1” pieces. I found that I needed to wash my bread knife frequently to get a clean cut because my jam stuck to it as I was slicing.

As the cookies continue to cool, make the glaze:
Sift the sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon juice. Heat the butter and milk together until the butter melts; then add it to the sugar and juice. Beat until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cookies.

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies depending upon how thick you slice them.

Leap of Faith

As the days grow longer the winter grows stronger.

My folks would quote that in German. It rhymes in German too and it is all to true in any language.

For most of the first two weeks of January our thermometer didn’t rise above freezing. The fields were frozen solid and covered with powdery snow. But the past few days have brought us a warm front with the temperature nudging 50 degrees on a few warm afternoons. The smell of wet earth and the muddy footprints on the kitchen floor have turned my thoughts to the tall stack of seed catalogs on my desk. The catalogs started arriving in the mailbox at the end of the lane in early December, each one holding its own promise of distinctive vegetables and fabulous flowers. I have my favorite places to order seeds and plants so I set aside their catalogs. Territorial Seed Company, The Cooks Garden, Select Seeds, Kitchen Garden Seeds, McClure and Zimmerman, White Flower Farm, and Trees of Antiquity are the major sources of the seeds and plants that make up my garden.

Territorial Seed Company is my favorite source for tomato plants, herbs, and supplies including some kitchen equipment. The Cooks Garden has a wide variety of lettuces and salad greens along with other vegetables and flowers. I always order their Spring Mix lettuce. Select Seeds specializes in heirloom flowers and foliage although they offer a few herbs and vegetables. If you are looking for flowers that grew in your grandmother’s garden, look there. Kitchen Garden Seeds has a nice variety of vegetable and flower seeds. McClure and Zimmerman are exactly what they claim on the front of their catalog, quality flowerbulb brokers. They have most every flowering bulb, corm, tuber, and rootstock you could want, heirloom and otherwise. White Flower Farm has a wide variety of annuals, perennials, shrubs, bulbs, and edible crops all of the highest quality. Trees of Antiquity is a new source for me. Last year when my Montmorency cherry tree died I went looking for a source of heirloom fruit trees so I could plant a replacement. I found a huge selection of heirloom fruit trees in Trees of Antiquity’s catalog. Their selection of Apple trees is especially impressive. I ordered my cherry tree and it will likely arrive in March.

Ordering seeds and plants is a leap of faith, a belief in the future, and the promise of honest hard work. I haven’t had time to plan my garden or put in any orders yet, except for the cherry at Trees of Antiquity. My Mom’s declining health has kept me busy just keeping the family comfortable, fed, and clean but somehow I will find the minutes and hours in the days and months to come to plan and plant my garden. The last time I spoke with my mother-in-law, Dorothy, before she passed away last October I promised her I would plant a yellow grape tomato this spring. Territorial Seed Company has just the plant to fill that request.

Somehow I will also find the minutes and hours in what I expect will be trying and emotional days ahead to continue to post to this blog. I may not post as regularly as I would like but I will continue.