baking and baking and more baking............

Hey everyone!!  What a fun and exciting week so far!!  I have made some new and absolutely delish goodies up!!
First is my new CHERRY BLACK RASPBERRY PIE, with a butter streusle topping, then I made up some ice cream cakes that were pistachio and red velvet with locally made vanilla ice cream (disaster happened to them)  some strawberry lemonade sorbet, chocolate ganache filled chocolate thumbprint cookies with pistachios, rhubarb cakes, cardamom sugar topped black raspberry muffins,

I am trying to use up the rest of last years crop we had frozen, cardamom goes so well with berries I made a nice little sugary topping with some cardamom for these muffins. 

My cherry pie filling along with some black raspberries for added sweetness and a bit of zing flavor burst!! 

Some butter crumb streusle topping on top

all baked and ready for market. 

My Grandma Roses's southern buttermilk shortcakes! 

Scooped out middles of my red velvet cupcakes replaced with some cream cheese frosing

And the scooped out part makes a cute little hat for these guys!

These are my sweet roll dough filled with some cinnamon streusel crunch

A pretty pink peony in the garden. 

Strawberry banana muffins

Another new one for me my Coconut Macaroon Pies

If u like macaroons then this is a must have for ya!!  LOL I just have to drizzel chocolate in the bottoms and ontop and they would be perfect for me!  LOL

Some graham crackers, hamburger buns, blueberry lemon buttermilk muffins, carrot cakes, and lots of cookies and I think that was about it for the last 3 days of baking.  I still have some things to make for market on saturday but tomorrows market goodies are done!  NOW on to our little disaster!  The big freezer at the kitchen shut off in the middle of the night last night, of cource yesterday Susan and I made some wonderful little ice cream cakes and sorbet and some ice cream sandwiches made with my chocolate chip cookies that all became one bit melted glob at the bottom of the freezer!  I so wish I would have taken pics of the cakes, they were so adorable and well we just had to try one too and we all loved it!! the bottom layer was my pistachio cake, then a layer of locally made vanilla ice cream then a layer of red velvet cake and top it all off with another layer of ice cream and some chocolate sprinkles on top.  CUTE CUTE and YUMMO!!  but all gone..........=( oh well I will make more on friday. 

Hope yall have a great night!

Talk more soon!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

SW MI farmers market~!~

All I can say is WOW!~ chickawowwow!   We had a wonderful day at South Haven Farmers Market sat!~!~  Even with 11 bakers booths there we sold out of alot of my offferings!   I offered my cheese filled ravioli and pierogies this week which sold out and all my muffins and coconut macaroon pies were a big hit!!  I am just thrilled and so thankful for being able to do this and also make enough to stay in business and grow!! It was a cold day but everyone who tried the watermelon lime ice loved it!!  More to make this week!~!  I sold alot of cookies, my grandmother Rose's slovenien kolachky recipe went over excellent!!  I did them with some of our homemade apricot preserves.  Several hamburger/sandwich buns were sold and actually I had enough to bring a couple home for hubby and I for sandwiches today!!  yeah!! It isnt often I get to bring things home and we enjoy them ourselves.
NEW THIS WEEK!!!  My PB&J cookie pies were a HUGE HIT!!   I used my fluffy soft n chewy peanut butter pies and filled them with some fresh strawberry infused buttercream filling!~!  To use fruit in my buttercream's I simply puree the fresh fruits then cook a bit to thicken them up and then add small amounts to the filling.   YUMMY!!  I am not a big peanut butter fan but I had to have one of these guys!! and they were great!! 
This week I have a girl coming to kitchen to help, scoop out dough and weigh out some ingredients so I can have a nice big variety this sat for the HARBORFESTIVAL IN SOUTH HAVEN MI!! 
My mom and I did 40 pounds of pickeled asparagus "clucking hot' and mild available and are making strawberry peach preserves and more blueberry jalapeno preserves. 
I will put my camera in my bag early tomorrow to be sure I have it with to share out newest creations this week!! FROZEN ICE CREAM PIES AND LAYERED CAKES using locally made ice cream and my made from scratch goods!!!  and more ice's.
Hope yall have a great and peaceful sunday!! we have to go pick up a load of wood to start stockin up for winter and also need to do some farm chores and trim Ms Rosie May's and Beau's hooves!  Soo much to do!!! 
HUGS
Darlene
~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Pickeled radish, watermelon lime ice and more

HEY YALL!!  What a baking week!!  and a hot one outside too!! We have been in the 90s for 2 days now and humid as all!!  GOSH what a difference from last week but that is ok tomorrow is gonna drop again in the 70s and be perfect!! except there is a 60% chance of thunderstorms which may or may not even happen!!  We will see in the am, I have Allegan market unless it is stormin I am plannin on goin. 
WE ARE MAKING FRUIT ICE NOW!! well similar to sorbet!!  The first batch was a trial and is goin to markets this week!! Watermelon lime!! what a combo!  So far all the taste testers love it including me!!  I used a seedless sugar sweet baby watermelon and squeezed fresh lime juice then zested 2 limes to make 2 9x13 pans.  This was super simple and used very minimal sugar like only 1 cup maybe for the whole batch which since the watermelon was so sweet I cut back to between 1/2 and 1 cup.  U make a simple syrup and puree the fruit in a processor then mix the two to blend good and pour into shallow pans to freeze, you do have to stir it the first few hours on and off and break up the chunks but after that I left it alone overnight in the freezer.  So refreshing!! We already have about 6 more different flavor combos to try out one being blackberry cardamom! this was Susan's idea, last summer I took her some black berries from our farm and she made a syrup with cardamom and oh my gosh it intensifies the flavor of the fruit so much!!  I was gonna try a lavender lemon one and mabye a strawberry basil or peach basil one too!!  so many cool things to make.  We are on a roll with goin forward to making some ice cream cakes and frozen deserts I cant wait to start offering them at markets!!

This is my pickeled radishes!!  I made a brine like for my pickeled asparagus then sliced some fresh red radishes from market and let them sit in it for a couple of days.  It is really good, I had them on my turkey sandwich today.  

A poor pic of my watermelon lime ice

I zested these limes then squeezed the juice for the ice with them.  

A few pans of my lemon tea cakes, they just need to be dipped in lemon glaze. 

And I made 4 batches of my honey cinnamon graham crackers.   Instead of using a fork to poke holes in the grahams I used a round star tip.  We have great tool to use now that cuts them into squares so I can get them pretty much the same size now!! YEAH!! WOOPIE!! 

Also I made some strawberry banana bread, my glazed pistachio bread, choc chip cookies, my rustic roasted pepper n mozzarella tarts, cranberry pecan lemon cookies, peanut butter whooopie pie cookies,  cheddar pepper bread, shortbread flower cookies, those little cream filled shortbread cookielets in strawberry and chocolate ganache' and some of my taco seasoning packages also.   I think that might be it for now.    I do have everything ready to bake some upside down caramel apple cakes and also some cherry almond crisp.  Those will be baked tomorrow after market. 

Allegan Market thursday, Saugatuck Green Market friday, and South Haven Market on saturday!!  Full market week this week~  YEAH!!

So hope yall have a great night! Will be back soon to share more baking!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~

Super sunday!!

Today has been just super wonderful and sunny!   My mom and I made some jam this am, I planted more squash in our garden and more tomato plants that have been patiently waiting to get their little roots in the dirt and grow.   Also it has been a glorious day of eggs hatching.  A customer brought us some turkey eggs they found abandoned in the woods last weekend so we put them in an incubator and hoped for the best.  WELLLLLLLLLLLL 6 have hatched right now and one more is working on coming into the world.  Here are some step by step pics of what we got to witness (which we never tire of experiencing on the farm)

U can see the little chips off these eggs, you can put the egg up to your ear and listen to the eggs slowly cracking and a faint little "chirp" inside at this point

A bit more off this one, you can just barely see the beak inside

A close up of the beak along the left side of egg

the membrane inside the egg wasnt peeled yet but very close and the chick will be out

THERE IT IS!! this one I captured and snapped at the perfect time, it happens so fast you pretty much miss it, they are very eager little ones to get stretched out! 

These were the first ones to hatch all the rest followed very closely

Arent they litle cuties!!   So we have 7 little baby turkeys now.  They are in a box with a heat lamp on them.  "Welcome to our farm little ones!"

This was a new concoction I made for us the other night, will definetely be made again for markets this week!!  "Rustic mozzarella roasted pepper tart"  I made some of my pie dough, rolled it out to about a 10 in circle, sprinkled some olive oil and some fresh parmesean and romano cheeses, then topped with some roasted red pepper slices and pieces of some fresh tomatoes, the edges were folded over the top and brushed with olive oil.  I baked them and when done added some fresh minced sweet basil and oregano.  OH this was a perfect light supper and the flavor was really something!!  GREAT!!

I like that you can do it without a pan they were baked on stones and had a nice crisp crust.

So hope yall had a great weekend, almost over now.   Monday will be a full day of gettin cookie doughs made and maybe some bread dough to freeze and also pickeled asparagus. So far I have done up 50 pounds and now want to make some "clucking hot" pickeled asparagus and also I have some pickeled radish and carrots in the fridge at kitchen I cant wait to taste.

Have a wonderful sunday evening!!

Will be back with more soon!! thanks for stopping by chicken scratch farm!!

HUGS

Darlene

~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~

Wonderful Wed!!

What a great day I have had!!  Worked at the kitchen getting ready for market tomorrow and then came home played with the boys for awhile then worked a bit in the garden outside.

So here is my newest item!  A  COOKIELET a little cookie tartlet.   starting out with a shortbread cookie crust I pressed them into a mini muffin pan, baked til golden.  

I piped chocolate ganache' around the inside bottoms

Piped some homemade raspberry infused whipped cream filling into each one then dipped the tip in raspberry puree and sprinkleld some powdered sugar on top. 

Blueberry muffins with a butter crumb crunch topping

Red Raspberry almond muffins, and some cinnamon swirl coffee cake muffins

I strained some fresh red raspberries and then put them thru a sieve to use in the whipped cream

Whipping the cream up

Another newbie to satisfy your sweet tooth!! mini fudgey almond tarts.   Baked in little 6in springfoam pans these came out perfect and just the right amount.  A bit of almond glaze ontop. 

My glazed pistachio bread.  Most requested bread at markets!!  Never get tired of making it either!! LOL

Hope yall have a great week and be safe!!  There really are some terrible storms and tornados hitting across the country.   It was a perfect day only in the low 70s so much nicer than the past few hot and humid days we have had.  Sun is a good thing!!  Thanks for visiting and be back soon with more goodies!!
ALLEGAN MI MARKET TOMORROW 8-2
SOUTH HAVEN MARKET SAT 8-2
HUGS
Darlene
 ~~LIVE LIFE JOYFULLY~~and SIMPLY~~