Fit for a Queen, and maybe even my Gram

So this post in part can be attributed to a story my Dad told me that inspired me.  If I did a blog post every time my Dad told me a story that inspired me, I’d probably be breaking some sort of federal spam regulations, but this particular story was about my Great Grammy Stevens, who most definitely deserves a post in my blog.

Grammy never had a messy kitchen.  If it weren’t for the years my uncle put into insulting her with the appalling way he holds a spoon, I think the fact that I learned to play poker before I learned to even consider that maybe salad should be eaten with a fork would have given her a heart attack on the spot.  But messy or not, I think that she would be pleased  with my culinary adventures.

Anyways, the story I speak of dates back to the 1981 wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. My dad shared his fond memories of waking up before the sunrise and heading with a group of equally crazy friends to Grammy’s house where they ate home-made scones on her fine china.  Now, I had already been planning to get up with my mom and watch the royal wedding while making shortbread cookies, but the idea was planted and now I had no choice but also making scones to serve with tea, on fine china.

I came over Thursday night to try a new twist on one of my favorite recipes, this Gorgonzola-Stuffed Chicken Breast with Strawberry Gastrique.  I was excited to try it with the dark chocolate balsamic that I bought in Boston a few weeks back, instead of the sherry vinegar.  I also subbed goat cheese for the gorgonzola and sadly the prosciutto had to go for mom’s sake.  Still — served with a baby spinach salad with strawberries, goat cheese, cereal to stand in for the candied walnuts I didn’t bring, and the same chocolate balsamic dressing – didn’t disappoint.

I decided to make the dough for the cookies and scones Thursday night, while we watched TLC wedding preview specials.  The jam-filled scones I got from Sugar Plum, which I know I’ve mentioned before as one of my go-to blogs for finding baking recipes.

The recipe calls to toast the flour and the oats, which adds great flavor.  The dough held together perfectly overnight, and I was quite relieved in the morning to just be able to pop them in the oven instead of making the dough from scratch when I got up at 3:45am (no, that’s not a typo).

I also already had my heart set on making these White Chocolate Raspberry Shortbread Cookies, and since they only require six very basic ingredients I went through with these as well.

I think between these three recipes, I might have set a new ‘messy kitchen’ record:

Johanna