Slice of summer: Peach galette, Mississippi mud pie and scones

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned my love of Muppets. Disney movies, sure, but Muppets are right up there. I still remember seeing Muppets in Space in theaters with my mom as a kid, and seeing a friend from school. I think she was super sick, and I remember being really nervous I'd catch her cold. Anyway, I own all the Muppet movies on DVD, and I have always especially loved Muppet Treasure Island. A few years ago, they came out with Muppet Wizard of Oz, and honestly, it kind of sucked. So the November release of The Muppets, complete with Amy Adams, Jason Segal and a new soundtrack of covers of Muppet song, is pretty exciting. The music video for OK Go's cover of the Muppet Show theme song is outstanding. And the Fray's cover of Mahna Mahna is amazing too. So tonight, I start rewatching Muppet movies. So there, another facet of my dorkiness is revealed :)

Ever seen cinnamon chips at a grocery store? If you like them, and you do, I suggest picking up multiple bags of them, like I did this weekend. There's only one store in Lawrence I've seen that has them, and Aunt Betty and I went there for that and chocolate wafer cookies. It's worth it, though, for these cream scones. Cinnamon chips and pecans are perfect, and they aren't too heavy. Good thing I'm stocked up for future batches. This recipe was given to me by a local rep from the sheriff's office, and it's the best (and easiest) scone I've ever had.

I feel like I always want to make fruit desserts, but by the time I figure out what I want to make, the best fruit is out of season. So I was glad when Aunt Betty suggested we make this peach galette, a pretty easy dessert for how pretty it looks. Pastry is my least favorite thing in baking, I think, but luckily, with a galette, you're okay leaving it less-than-perfect. After all, a crooked crust doesn't affect the taste!


And continuing to make my way through Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts book, we decided to make Mississippi mud pie. Apparently it collapses when you take a slice, but I guess it's based off mud, right? True to form, though, every pie out of that book has been excellent so far. I'm thinking of making the chocolate cream pie over Labor Day weekend for when I visit Mom up north. That, and some very chocolate-y cupcakes. Any ideas?

Lake baking: Scones, chocolate cream pie and rhubarb upside down cake

My first baking sign of spring: rhubarb! Other great things about this season include all the good stories I've got coming up, the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale (May 14, mark your calendars!), a few weddings, some shows at Starlight... I'm not sure there's anything not great about spring/summer. Except maybe allergies. Oh, yeah, and another great thing: the lake.

As you can see, Daisy enjoys a good jaunt on the boat at high speed. Despite some chilly weather, I went to the lake last weekend to spend time with dad, Cathie and grandma. I read a book, went out on the boat, watched some movies, fed my family desserts. Not sure it gets much better than that!

For breakfast, scones. I got this recipe from the public information officer for our local sheriff's, actually. It comes up fairly regularly that I like to bake a lot, and he gave me what he said was a foolproof recipe for scones. Turns out, it is perfect. I sometimes don't like scones, because they can be so heavy with all that butter, but these were made with cream and so much better. He also recommended cinnamon chips, which I'd never used before. One field trip to Checkers took care of that. These were great and easy. Definitely making again.

So, from reading this blog, you've probably gathered I love (most) Martha Stewart recipes. When her new pie cookbook was released, I bought it immediately. Chocolate cream pie was the first recipe in the book, and it looked like a darn good place to start. Lemme tell you, even as someone who's not a huge fan of chocolate, this was divine. I can't wait to make more recipes in there!

And last, but not least, rhubarb upside down cake. You know, that cake I set on fire last year? It was almost exactly a year ago! Well, no fire this time. The rhubarb was very red, so it made a beautiful cake. The cake itself has a hint of orange, and then there's a crumble base. I think rhubarb is kind of nature's sweet tart, and it makes awesome desserts. I've got some left over, so I might make strawberry-rhubarb ice cream, or something. All in all, I'd say my family was fed pretty well this weekend!