Cookin' With Leo

By Leocthasme

Well the years come and go and about the time you think one thing is over here comes another day of some sort or other to get you cookin’ again, so to speak. Anyway, I done enough Turkey Fixin’ over the years so I ain’t gonna tell everybody how to fix their turkey but instead I conjured up my Dear Sweet Italian Fairy Godmother to ask her how she celebrated Thanksgiving, but since she is Italian, she had no inkling of what Thanksgiving was all about.. Big help she was. So I tried to call in Aztec Annie, but she was no help either, since she only hangs around the Fountain Of Youth and says her job is to keep it well hidden and wherever it is they don’t need no special Thanksgiving days, whatever. So, I went back to my meditation with a few more tall cool ones and finally decided that Turkey and Fixin’s is fun but how about the toppers for all that Fixin’ and finally came up with a great desert to finish off the day. Well I do hate to tell ya’ll, but this is almost as much fixin’ as the Turkey in the first place. So if’n ya’ll got a nice big bunch of in laws and out laws maybe you can get one of ‘em to help out here. Gook Luck, I didn’t get much help from my Fairy Friends,, but then I don’t have to fix no turkey either since we are going to sponge off the in-laws and out-laws this Thanksgiving, anyway.

So, here is a desert you can put together and bring to the feast. Just call it a sticky pile of pears, whatever.

Two parts here, first we are gonna’ make some scones, whichever.

Here is what you need:

• 2 cups flour, sifted
• 1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar
• tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut up in bits and pieces
• 2 or 3 pears, about a pound, peeled and chopped into ½ inch pieces, about 2 ½ cups
• 1 egg
• 1 cup and 1 tablespoon milk, divided
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts.

And now for the frosting:

• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Ok lets put it all together. First heat the oven to 425°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and a dash of salt into a large mixing bowl Use two knives to cut in the butter and mix until the mixture resembles large coffee cake crumbs. Stir in the pears. Beat the egg and ½ cup milk in a small bowl, then stir into the flour mixture. Mixture should be wet enough to form a soft ball. If too dry, add 2 or 3 more tablespoons milk, or if too wet add 2 or 3 tablespoons flour. On a lightly floured board turn out dough and press into a 12 inch round ¾ inch think and cut into 8 wedges. Lift wedges with a floured spatula and place on the baking sheet, brush with remaining milk and sprinkle with walnuts. Bake about 15 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, heat the brown sugar and the butter is a small saucepan until all the sugar is melted and blended with the butter. Bring to boil and add milk, stirring constantly, bring to boil again. Cut heat and stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Drizzle the mix over the scones.

There should be 8 frosted scones arriving at the Thanksgiving dinner if you haven’t eaten half them on the way.