Cinnamon Pecan Tea Cakes

These Tea Cakes are exquisite. The recipe makes one dozen. These little cupcakes are so good I would take them to tea with the Queen.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Sugar

2 cups Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Butter

1 Egg, beaten

1 cup Milk

3/4 cup Raisins

Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup light Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped Pecans

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, Cream the Sugar and Butter together. Add the beaten Egg and mix well. Whisk or sift the dry ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients and the Milk alternately to the creamed Butter mixture. Stir in Raisins.

Thoroughly combine the topping ingredients. Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups and sprinkle with the topping. Bake 20 minutes or until done.

Notes: I have taken all kinds of liberties with this simple recipe. If I do not have nuts, I use oatmeal. My children hate raisins, so I use dried cranberries or leave the raisins out. These cakes still turn out delicious. You can keep this batter in the refrigerator covered tightly and it will keep three weeks. I never keep the batter because these cakes disappear as fast as I can make them. Just be sure to leave the butter out until it is really soft and all the rest is easy.

Giovanni's Fig Tree - UPDATE

UPDATE: I wrote this in 2013 and time brings changes. Messy and Picky Blog cannot be found. Go HERE for more great photos. The Messy and Picky article can still be found in pdf format.

Whoopee! You can grow Figs in Philadelphia. I just paid off my mortgage. This is the year I am going to buy myself a brand new Paradiso Fig Tree to celebrate.

My Nonno (Grandfather) grew Figs and Wine Grapes in a small backyard in Trenton in cold New Jersey. I have fond memories of warm ripe Figs picked off our own Fig Tree. Mr. Giovanni from South Philadelphia is an inspiration. You can read about his enormous Fig Tree, his history and see more photographs at a great Philadelphia food blog Messy and Picky. 

At the link you will find the recipe for Strawberry and Fig Jam from Marisa McClellan. There are so many Fig Trees in South Philadelphia that our city is an urban foragers dream. See more fabulous Fig recipes and read about the South Philly Food Co-op Garden Tour. Philly is Foody Nation.

Giovanni's figs are available for purchase at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market by the 12th St entrance for $4 per half dozen. More / larger photos in this flickr set.

Fair Food Farmstand
Tu – Sat: 8a – 6p
Su: 9a – 5p
Mon: Closed, but starting October 5, 8a – 6p
215.627.2029
Reading Terminal Market
12th & Arch Sts

Bookies ... of the Library Kind

CLICK ME !

I hoard books. I have entirely too many of them. And I can rarely part with any one of them.

I found a site about books that I am hereby recommending BOOKRIOT.

What sold me on the site enough to subscribe and send you there was an article on literary gifts. Click the picture to go there. I have a daughter who reads. Oh how she reads. Guess what she is getting for Christmas.

The second attribute that sold me on the site was an article about cookbooks as historical and sociological sources. I love it when I find a fellow traveler.

E. H. Kern writes:

At my parents’ house, in the room where the book scorpions live, there is a cookbook from 1886. The title is Cookbook for Housekeepers. A Manual to the Current Practices of Fine Cooking and Everything That They Include. This cookbook was first published in 1822 and by 1886 it had been printed in fifteen editions.

The fact that Cookbook for Housekeepers exists tells the story of the nineteenth-century European class system. The book is not intended for the lady of the house, but for the cook working in her kitchen with a kitchen staff. 

And then I found my way to this Poster just googling 'literary gifts.' Bless my google finger. I have to have one. You can find a poster you love HERE. I have no monetary interest in these recommendations, Bookies. Enjoy.

Wildflowers in the Garden

Wildflowers are more than beautiful. Wildflowers attract beneficial insects. Those insects control garden pests without the use of poisons. And beneficial insects pollinate the vegetables, flowers and herbs in my backyard garden.

Wildflowers can also help to control insect pests. No plot is too small or too large to farmscape for productivity and insect pest control. This farmscape plot looks suspiciously like a flower border

I found this glorious Wildflower site to share with you. You can sort Wildflowers by color, region, common name and a host of other qualifications. This is an invaluable guide to garden planning.

"WildflowerSearch is a resource for wildflower enthusiasts and gardeners. With a growing interest in the environment and natural gardening, our objective is to offer comprehensive information that is easy to use, and accessible for those from the casually interested to the expert."

And one great site often leads to another.

The Tulip can be found in Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Volumes 1- 63. 1787-1863.

More images like it can be found at the National Agricultural Library Special Collections Image Gallery. 

One can find the vintage covers of Japanese Seed Catalogues and illustrations from Rare Books and Posters in the Special Collections. I spent hours going through the Special Collections Image Gallery. I wish you the same enjoyment.