Thanksgiving Counting My Blessings Pumpkin Streusel Bars Wedgwood

I first posted this last year at this time... as our daughter and son in law had just closed escrow on a lot for building a home here close to us.  Little did we know there was a pandemic in our future, but... despite all that... we are still counting our blessings! I am doing this post with such a joyful heart full of thanks!

We are feeling so blessed anyway!

By Melody Beattie

Fall is here, and I made some cookies, and decided to make a fall teatime for us in the sunroom....

I used some black and white transferware I got a  while ago and some fall decor I filched from the living room and dining room, including the gold and pumpkin colored woven runner that is usually on the buffet...

along with various pumpkins and gourds, and other autumn colored things...

I always display my cross stitched wall hanging of the Fruit Of The Spirit from Galations 5:22-23 that I did a few years ago during the autumn and Thanksgiving season....

And I added one of the fall pumpkins and gourds padded tea cozies I have in the shop because I love the colors!

My teaset is by Wedgwood, England in a black transferware Italian landscape design called Lugano...named for a lake town in Italy....

If you look closely at the pattern, there is a man with a goat walking by the lake...how cute!

Here is the cream and sugar. The set is made of Queen's Ware, or what Wedgwood calls cream ware.

The shape is an older Wedgwood shape dating to the 19th century, but the pattern was actually made between 1962 and 1980. I do love Wedgwood.

A couple of weeks I pulled out the holiday teas. This is my favorite fall flavor...Pumpkin Spice from Republic Of Tea...yummy! Just makes my taste buds know it's fall!

For more information on any of the Wedgwood, Lugano pieces on Antiques And Teacups website, just click on the photos.

Those cookies are long gone, but yesterday found my pulling out the favorite Pumpkin Streusel Cake or Coffee cake recipe from King Arthur Flour. Now I am back to thinking of having something on hand when the kids stop in on a work break...

Anyone tired of pumpkin yet??? We are not! Pumpkin is still around here...

I found the recipe on the King Arthur Flour website a few years ago, and it is definitely a go-to......

Pumpkin Streusel Coffeecake

AT A GLANCE

PREP

20 mins. to 30 mins.

BAKE

40 mins. to 45 mins.

TOTAL

60 mins. to 1 hrs 15 mins.

YIELD

about 12 servings

Topping

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans, optional
• 4 tablespoons melted butter

Filling

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, optional

Cake

• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/4 teaspoon each ground ginger and nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8" square pan or 9" round pan.
2. To make the topping: Whisk together the sugar, salt, flour, spice, and nuts. Add the melted butter, stirring just until well combined. Set the topping aside.
3. To make the filling: Mix together the brown sugar, spice, and cocoa powder. Note that the cocoa powder is used strictly for color, not flavor; leave it out if you like. Set it aside.
4. To make the cake: Beat together the oil, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, spices, salt, and baking powder until smooth.
5. Add the flour, stirring just until smooth.
6. Pour/spread half the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it all the way to the edges. If you have a scale, half the batter is about 13 1/2 ounces.
7. Sprinkle the filling evenly atop the batter.
8. Spread the remaining batter atop the filling. Use a table knife to gently swirl the filling into the batter, as though you were making a marble cake. Don't combine filling and batter thoroughly; just swirl the filling through the batter.
9. Sprinkle the topping over the batter in the pan.
10. Bake the cake until it's light brown on top, and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes.
11. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve the cake right from the pan.

Tips from our bakers

• For a less sweet streusel, reduce the amount of granulated sugar in the topping to 1/3 cup.

Which I didn't  :)

So have a lovely week! We certainly will... 

a dream come true having some of the kids close!

Above graphic from The Cottage Journal

A Tale Of 3 Generations of a Chintz The Joy Of Birds And Flowers

November continues... and has arrived here with cold temperatures that have had us putting on fleeces an adding another blanket! 

But flowers and birds on chintz immediately lifts our spirits and warms us!

I have been enjoying researching some new items, and have enjoyed learning about a chintz pattern that morphed through the years into 2 other versions... similar but different.

And one of my reference books, held the key.

The Charlton Standard Catalogue Of Chintz is always a star of the chintz research books. It has been published in several editions, but this is the most recent which dates to 1999. I don't think they have published one since.

The chintz pattern I am speaking of today is by Crown Ducal, England, which was debuted in 1918, the first chintz pattern the Crown Ducal... a trade name of A. G. Richardson & Co. Ltd made.

The original chintz, pattern number A500 with the above one, here on a teapot stand, with colorful roses, berries and fantasy birds, and was released in 1918 and was an instant success, although not seen much today.

another example...

A few years later, the pattern was updated with a matte black band, and became Ivory Chintz noted as pattern A559.

The final version was released in 1926 with lovely pink roses added to the black banding and renamed Roseland...

A wonderful art deco pattern really, and love the octagonal shapes....

All versions continued to be made, so purchasers could mix and match... always a fun choice.

A. G. Richardson, the maker of Crown Ducal, which opened in 1915,  finally closed in 1974.

But what a great legacy of chintz and other quality English pieces!

These and more items at Antiques And Teacups

https://www.antiquesandteacups.com

 

November 1st, Peach Scones, Paragon And Aynsley Teacups, Books

 

It is hard to believe November is actually here already... in a world so changed from last November!

But...what a mostly glorious summer week it has been! Sunny and warm during the day but cold and frosty at night!  

It has definitely caused the leaved to do their final color changes.

And lots of organic fresh fruit still at the local shops... although the choice is dwindling.

But... a few peaches were delivered, so... peach scones!

I remembered a print I love, and thought I would share it with you. 

And so combined with a couple of pretty teacups and the Tender Peach Scones I made from a new recipe to use the peaches...

The print is one I bought from the artist, Barbara Fox, matted print of a watercolor by living listed artist Barbara Fox that was purchased from the Loey're Gallery, Sheridan Oregon during the artist's exhibition at the Angels Camp, CA., The Best of Calaveras County Annual Exhibition in 1999.

The print is titled San Francisco, '98, and is the glass Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, and was done as a fundraiser for restoration after the 1998 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Having grown up a few miles away in what is now known as Silicon Valley, and having spent many happy hours growing up visiting with my nurseryman uncle,  I couldn't pass it up.

I am always on the look out for teacups, and found a few lovely ones.

This is a gorgeous peachy pink floral chintz teacup by Aynsley, England is what is known as a corset shape.

The mark dates it to the early 1950-1960s, and includes a pattern number, which isn't always the case. Aynsley is now owned by Belleek since 1997.

The other teacup is a gorgeous one from Paragon, England with French blue and white, gold overlay and fruit centers...including peaches!

I think it is gorgeous!

The Royal Warrant on this Paragon teacup is for Queen Elizabeth II. The mark dates to the early part of her reign, which began in 1953. The mark changed a few years later.

I used a chose a chrome basket for my sugar cubes... and an antique pair of English Regency or Georgian period hallmarked sterling silver sugar tongs in the fiddle pattern.

The sugar tongs or nips are hallmarked for London, England 1835 and the maker ABS for Adey Bellamy Savory and measure 5.75 inches long.

They have the script monogram of P T on the bow. Could Jane Austen have used them????

I love to read. And over the years have found authors I have really enjoyed, and collected their books. The book I was currently reading when I did this tea is The Duke's Daighter by Angela Thirkell. Although the cover is from a ptr-Rapaelite Victorian painter, the story is placed in world war 2 time England and is charming.

The pre Raphaelite cover is apropos, as Anela Thirkell's mother was the daughter of the painter Edward Burne-Jones, and her mother is probably the model for his painting on the cover.

If you enjoy Miss Read, English country life, a bit of romance and gently humor, the books are a delight.

And for a tea treat... Tender Peach Scones from King Arthur Flour....

Ingredients

• 2 cups (241g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
• 1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg,* to taste
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/8 cup (6 tablespoons, 85g) cold butter, cut into pieces
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup (74g) full-fat or low-fat (not nonfat) vanilla yogurt or sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup (142g) diced peach, peeled or not; fresh, frozen/thawed, or canned
• coarse white sparkling sugar, optional; for sprinkling on top
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*Don't like nutmeg? Substitute ground cinnamon, or simply leave out the spice altogether.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line it with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and baking powder.
3. Work in the butter, using your fingers, a fork, or a pastry blender.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt or sour cream, and the extracts.
5. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
6. Add the peaches, stirring just until everything is combined. This is a wet, sticky dough.
7. Drop the dough by the 1/4-cupful onto the prepared pan; a muffin scoopworks well here.
8. Sprinkle the scones with coarse sugar, if desired.
9. Bake the scones for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're a light golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
10. Serve warm, or at room temperature. Store at room temperature, well-wrapped, for several days; freeze for longer storage.
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12. They were lovely and moist, more cake-like than many scones, and reminded me more of scones we have had in Germany rather than England, but lovely indeed, and tasting of summer which we will be remembering in the coming months!
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