Here’s my very own House of Creativity, all decked out for Valentine’s Day! Wouldn’t it be great if I could make smoke rings in the shape of white hearts come from the chimney? (Someone should invent a Valentine heart chimney insert!). Right now, snow is pouring down outside my window, big heavy flakes, a little bit heart-shaped, filling the sky . . . Of course, there is perfect music for this . . .
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
See my windows full of hearts? Our house is at the end of a long street; people come to a stop sign here and face my house, just like this. Because of all the one-way streets, pretty soon everyone has to pass this stop sign in order to get where they’re going on this island. ♥ I feel a certain responsibility to provide a some entertainment for people when they get here; it’s perfect for the short attention span! So I decorated my windows with leftover spray snow from Christmas. I made heart templates, little and big, from a piece of clear acetate. I’ve also made templates from cardboard, but they get a little soggy after about the twentieth heart! You could probably do it all faster with heart doilies!
We got a Valentine from a very special person yesterday! She knows who she is! (Thank you 1000 times ♥) Here it is, on our kitchen wall this morning, before the sun came up. This will be here from now on, every Valentine’s Day, forever! ♥ I love it!
What, I asked myself, can I give the girls this snowy Saturday that has it All? It needs to be sweet and Valentiney, it needs to include chocolate (yes, of course it does), it needs to be delicious enough to give away to someone they love, but simple enough so it’s not a lifetime in the kitchen; it needs to look good on a tea table; it needs to make the kitchen smell good; and it would be very handy if the ingredients were in my cupboard NOW. I thought about my chewy, bendy chocolaty Brownies (so here’s the recipe for those, particularly appreciated by kids, in case you are so inclined ♥) but I was looking for the true Valentine coup de grace, I wanted something heart-shaped. And, so, Voila!
ORANGE and CHOCOLATE CHIP TEA BISCUITS!
I love the flavor of orange with chocolate . . . this is an easy-to-make heart-shaped tea biscuit with melty chocolate chips, the perfect little thing to put on a saucer next to a cup of tea.
Here’s how it’s done; a concise recipe will be waiting for you at the bottom of this post, (if you make it through this whole thing 🙂 and actually, that’s not all that’s waiting for you at the bottom!)
Preheat the oven to 400°; put softened unsalted butter and cream cheese into a deep bowl . . .
Add grated orange zest (P.S. I hope you have one of these wonderful zesters! They’re like razor blades you drag lightly across the fruit, easy, painlessly, gathering the zest in the tray; then pop into your recipe! Best new invention since a MacBook Pro!)
Excuse me, time out: Water came to a boil, need to stop and fill my cup!
OK, toss the orangy goodness into the bowl . . .
Use a hand mixer to beat everything together until smooth . . . mmm, cream cheese, butter and orange . . .
Scrape down the batter in the bowl . . .
Add sour cream for richness and tender crumb. BTW, Don’t you think that when the world lost Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald that an overall mistake was made? Don’t you want to say, please, put them back? They left us music divine.
♥ H E A V E N ♥
Stir in two tablespoons of granulated sugar . . .
Gradually beat in a little flour until well blended . . . Oh-oh, check out the top of the refrigerator, we have company . . .
Speaking of Valentine’s! ♥ ♥ ♥
More beating of the flour . . .
Add mini chocolate chips — if you like walnuts, which I do, you can add them here too . . . which I would if we hadn’t run out! Almost had all the ingredients; but trust me, with them or without them, the word is Y U M.
Stir well, my little darlings . . .
Put a heaping tsp. of dough into each cup of an ungreased miniature muffin pan (I took this photo to show you what a heaping tsp. looks like) . . . I used my black-iron heart muffin pan, which I’ve had for a hundred years — I’ve truly gotten my money’s worth out of it! When it’s not in use, it makes my pantry wall look cute by hanging there. I know a secret about this muffin pan, I’ll tell you at the end of this post!
You want to fill the cups completely down into the little points, around the curved tops, so you have good shapes, and level the surface of the dough.
And bake 15-17 minutes until light brown . . .
Now look who showed up . . . Girl Kitty! Speaking of heaven!
We are complete: we have Beauty on the table, Beast is on the fridge, biscuits are in the oven, and all’s right with the world.
♥ ♥ ♥
Have a basket ready, line it with a clean tea towel . . . pop the biscuits right out of the pan into the basket, you don’t have to let them cool first.
Beautiful and delicious, they can bake as you put on the tea water, and be done by the time the tea has steeped . . . the orange is what you smell first, the chocolate melts on your tongue, and you are happy. ♥
I’m only tellin’ it how it is.
I tried them with this delicious new honey I put on everything these days (it came from Door County by the way, Pat, and all you others who know about and love that neck of the woods — you have the market cornered when it comes to butter burgers and honey!) — but I have to say, although it was delicious, it was gilding the lily; these tea biscuits are good just as they are, straight from the oven; you don’t need butter, you don’t need jam or syrup; you need nothing more. If you are looking for additional cuteness, and who isn’t, you can always sift over a little powdered sugar!
Serve one of these tea biscuits next to a cup of breakfast tea; put them in a basket for a tea party; or if you have a fun Valentine’s tin — they are a wonderful surprise, arranged on a lace doily and dropped by a friend’s house.
And, the secret I had about this muffin pan? Are you ready? OK, this pan, along with the heart-shaped Emma Bridgewater tin in the picture above — they are my Valentine gift to one of you. We’re having another drawing, and even though every one of you is totally deserving, one lucky girl is going to walk away with these two memories of Valentine’s Day 2012! Just leave a comment below (click on the tiny gray letters that say “comment” and you’ll be entered! I figure if I do this often enough and long enough, sooner or later, every one of you will win something with love from the heart of the home and me! That’s my plan.
♥ ♥ ♥
SATURDAY MORNING MARTHA’S VINEYARD
XXXXXOOOOO
Have you heard Paul McCartney’s new Valentine song? Go get a tissue, this is wonderful. I hear love for his new wife in this song, but I think I hear a bit of yearning for Linda too. ♥ Sad. 🙁 But Beautiful.
Bye for now girls . . . have a wonderful weekend!
ORANGE & CHOCOLATE CHIP TEA BISCUITS
- 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 1 – 3oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
- grated zest of one orange
- 1/2 c. sour cream
- 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 c. self-rising flour
- 1/3 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 c. chopped walnuts (opt.)
Preheat oven to 400°. In a deep, medium-sized bowl, using a hand mixer on slow speed, beat together butter, cream cheese, and zest until smooth. Scrape down the bowl, add sour cream and sugar and beat well. Gradually beat in flour until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Put a heaping tsp. of dough in each cup of an ungreased miniature muffin tin (heart-shaped if you have it, but just as delicious if it’s round), filling the space completely and leveling the surface of the dough. Bake 15-17 minutes until light brown. Pop biscuits out into a basket lined with a tea towel … cover to keep warm. Can be reheated. Makes a dozen tea biscuits. Make these for you and someone you love. ♥
Thank you so much for responding, and filling me in on your blog….I have not been able to see your wonderful vids of the kitties..They’re great—I would still love those gifts you’re giving, but competition looks really rough…Thank you for your heartfelt messages, I love them. Anne
I met you once at a book signing at the Captain Linnell House in Orleans.
You were and are just the nicest! You have no idea of how much we are kindred spirits. I live in an antique home in Eastham and we have so much similar “stuff”. I laugh and think “WOW!” Love your blog! Love that you are so real, so authentic and so thoughtful. You make me feel the world is and always will be a kind and wonderful place. Bless you!
♥ ♥ ♥
Everyday is Valentines Day with you Susan, can’t tell you how much you brighten my days. I am truly blessed with a friend like you. OOXX
I laugh every time I see Jack’s cute little face!!!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Okay, I am inspired to do some Heart decorating today. Thank you for your sweet blog and sharing your recipe. Hope you and Joe have a wonderful holiday. How much snow did you get?
Enough to make it exciting, then it all went away and today it’s bright sun and barely in the 20’s!
You know, your musings are roses for the soul. Thank you……
Always look forward to a new post from you so I can sit down with a tea in hand and be completely comfortable — like a visit from an old friend. Those heart biscuits look so yummy that I need to bake a batch even before my name is drawn to win yours. Just thank you for being you!
Dear Susan,
The hearts in your home’s front windows look charming. I just went outside to clean off the six inches of snow that has fallen here over the weekend and when I looked at my front door and saw my valentine heart wreath and deep red heart window clings it brought a smile to my face. They look so pretty surrounded by the white world outside.
Your lovely heart pan! It saddens me to think that you are giving it away. What will you use? The heart tin would be enough. But what a wonderful gift you are giving one of us. Thank you.
Have a wonderful day. Off to make a hot cuppa and enjoy a good book.
It’s not my own pan that I’m giving away … I have a brand new one exactly like it, that’s the one I’m giving away! I couldn’t live without mine! Well, maybe not quite that bad, but I really do like it!
Just in case I don’t win the heart pan (boo hoo) where did you get the new one? I could buy one!
Look in my web store, I couldn’t love this pan so much and not carry it in our store . . . I put a link to the pan at the bottom of the post! xoxo
you get so much done early in the day…i need to train myself to be a morning person and not a night owl. i love the hearts in your windows and the cast iron heart pan. i have a cast iron pan that is corn cobs…it was my grandmother’s and everytime we would go to alabama from maryland to see her she would make me hot corn bread with milk over it. it is so simple but yummy…the corn meal has to be white corn meal though not yellow which is sweet. cut a big piece of hot cornbread fresh from the oven and put it in a big mug then cut it up with your spoon and immediately pour cold milk over it. it has to be eaten right away to get the hot cornbread goodness. i make this whenever i am not feeling well and it makes me feel better everytime. food memories are simply the best memories sometimes! have a wonderful weekend!
So old fashioned! My mom, being from Iowa, likes broken up saltine crackers and milk — but she never got me to try it!
My family is all from Iowa and I am well-acquainted with the saltine crackers-broken-up-in-a-bowl-of-milk “delicacy! Ugh, the idea of it turns my stomach! LOL 🙂 It must be an “Iowa thing”. (no offense intended for Iowans that read this!) 🙂
I have a couple of questions – if recipe calls for “unsalted” butter is it really necessary to use it as opposed to the “salted”? And is “self-rising” flour the same as “all purpose”?
Thanks!
Sometimes there’s enough salt in the other ingredients that you don’t really need more of it — if you don’t have unsalted butter, most often salted is OK. But self-rising flour has baking powder in it … if you used all purpose flour you would have to add it … not sure how much in this recipe, I think a tsp. would do it.
Ok, now I have a confession to make, as well as a question. The question, Susan, is this: Do you pretty much all of the time use self-rising flour? The confession is this: Back when you posted your recipe for brownies, I tried baking them and they didn’t look at ALL like the brownies in your photo. They were shiny and fudgy–but REALLY fudgy, like candy. I looked and looked at the recipe and was positive I had followed it to the “T”. I read all of the positive comments people wrote you about how good they were, etc., and decided my idea of brownies just must be different. I know it sounds funny but I was positive I followed the recipe correctly. Yesterday, after I read one of the girlfriends’ replies asking you about the flour and you replied that you had used self-rising flour, the light bulb went on!!! That is what my brownies lacked–leavening!!! I had used regular all-purpose flour!!! I even looked at the recipe a couple of times to make sure there was no baking soda or baking powder in it. So, I think we have solved the mystery of why I couldn’t make Susan Branch’s wonderful brownies!!! If you use regular flour and don’t add the salt and baking powder mentioned in the reply below, they don’t raise at all, but are rather wet and VERY fudgy! DUH….now I know what I was doing wrong!!! 🙂
Not really! LOL — You’re probably right that these brownies just aren’t your cup of tea — they aren’t cake brownies; they’re a bendy, chewy brownie, they’re supposed to be flatish and not rise — but I’ve never seen them to be wet. I almost always use all-purpose flour when I cook. But if you look at the heart-shaped biscuits, they don’t rise very much — you level them off in the pan, and they only rise a bit — that’s why I use self-rising flour — they’re light but don’t lose their shape when baking. Hope this helps. You should just walk quietly away from my Brownie recipe! 🙂
No, they look too good! I will try them again. But just to check–they really don’t have any leavening in them? The ones I baked were “wet”, didn’t get that crackly-looking shiny crust on the top that your’s appeared to have in the photo of them on the cake plate. I did expect them to be chewy, not like “cake”. But the ones I baked were sort of like soft fudge that wasn’t cooked enough–they wouldn’t hold their shape on the plate. (and, yes, I DID turn the oven on! LOL 🙂 I’ll have to try them again sometime–obviously I did something wrong… 🙂
Oh, maybe they didn’t cook long enough…. but not holding their shape, that’s REALLY not cooked, I don’t know! Make almond brittle🙂
hi joan, i use all-purpose flour too and i did a search and how to convert it to fit recipes that call for self-rising flour…. for each cup of flour, ( the all purpose) you remove 2 tsps. of flour… then to the remaining flour you add 1 and 1/2 tsp. of baking powder and 1/2 tsp. of salt to the flour.
Hope this helps…. i can’t wait to make the biscuits they look yummy!
THANKS Zinnia – that helps a lot. I wonder tho if I use salted butter if another 1/2 tsp salt in the flour will make it too salty?
Yes, I think it might . . . but everyone’s tolerance to the taste of salt is different. You could probably do without it as these are a sweet biscuit.
Hi, Joan~
I just wanted to tell you that I made the biscuits this afternoon, using regular salted butter and all-purpose flour….no added baking powder. They came out great….delicious! I think they would have puffed up more with the baking powder or self-rising flour but they were just fine…..just thought you’d like to know…
Debbie
This is what I love about cooking!
So when I came to leave a comment, I thought twice, there are so many.
BUT, your receipe made my mouth water, then my heart was warmed with you kitty…I so want to stop at that stop sign.
THANK YOU!!!!!
Hi Susan!
No snow for us here in The Woodlands, TX so I will use your wonderful idea and make my own snow on the windows! Thanks for sharing all the great ideas. When I am feeling un-motivated your blog always perks me up and gets me going again. Love Love it! Happy V Day!
Hugs,
Lisa xoxoxoxoxo
Thank you for a wonderful Valentines giveaway! Jack makes me chuckle every time I see his little moustache. I enjoyed listening to Paul’s song. I hope he is happily married to his bride to the end of his days.
Me too. ♥ Paul xoxo
Happy Valentine’s Day. Please be mine heart shaped tin!! Loved your post today. I am going over to pick up my 6 year old Grandaughter and we are going to make Valentines and heart sugar cookies! Thank you for being wonderful you. 🙂
My husband and I were lucky enough to attend Paul’s concert here in Montreal last year. We were celebrating our 25th and Paul, well, he delivered a show and a half! Almost three full hours of non-stop music and gentle banter. We were astounded by his stamina and enthusiasm. Then he showed photos, many of them were of Linda and their children, and I’m telling you, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. It was magic.
Thank you for giving all of us a bit of magic with your blog. I so sincerely love it.
Pam
Sounds just wonderful! How great of him to share that!
He was so amazing on the Grammys tonight! He’s stilll got it! What a pretty love song!
Oh! I would love to see him in concert!
I work with college students on the weekend and always bake for them. They’d love the heart-shaped biscuits!
Thank you for your inspiring blog — loved the hearts in the window! Your house reminds me of the home where I brought up my sons. Good memories!
Edie
If you don’t enter, you can’t win, right? Thank you, Susan for the wonderful recipe and the tutorial. Scritches for Jack and air kisses to Girl Kitty…Happy Valentine’s Day to you all. Love, Janet, Paul, Anastasia, Ansel & Abbey
He loves scritches! 🙂
Ooooooo, Yummm. Orange and Chocolate!! Here we are in Florida having just moved into a new winter home, and guess what I will initiate the oven with? Thank you so much for making my mouth water. 🙂
You inspire me to celebrate in the little details . . . just when I need it . . . a friend and you don’t even know me . . . Sweetness.
Thank you Susan Branch.
Susan, Everything about this blog was fun and put me in the spirit for Valentines Day! I love it that you fix up the front of your home to give away a bit of cheer and love to everyone who has to stop at the stop sign! I hope you have a wonderful ….and romantic…Valentines Day for yourself! I know this is unconventional and probably would be frowned upon by most, but my teen daughter is feeling it strongly that she doesnt have her own special someone to celebrate the day with, so I am having her stay home from school and we are going to have our own special “tea party”…and I even bought a few adorable decorations to add to it!….and then in the evening her father and I have planned to have her favorite pizza and watch a family movie together. I am going out today to buy a large heart shaped box of chocolates that I will surprise everyone with (there are actually only three of us! lol…and our two cats! ) during the movie! It will be a lot of fun! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
Happy Valentines Day Susan! I love the heart pans! I can’t wait to make the tea biscuits. Thank you for being so generous!
I so look forward to your daily blog, and the little silly videos that I think only women “get”….we like the kinder, gentler, slow moving little things that give us such great joy – like “hearing” the sound of the snow fall as you open the door, the calm gentle voice as you speak to your kitties….it’s all loving and gentle and soothing. thanks!! as I scroll down your photos what did I spy?? Door County honey! My sister lives in Door Co, just a stone’s throw from Green Bay and it’s such a gorgeous world up there year-round. I was happy to see one of their local products in the spotlight 🙂 And enjoy so much the thrill of a possible win in one of your drawings, but gosh so many entries, but we know that some wonderful woman will win – since all of us are indeed wonderful women with similar interests and tastes!! Thank you for those drawings 🙂
Can’t wait to try these tea biscuits…YUM! Happy Valentine’s Day!
I was just looking at all your goodies in your shop and thought your heart shaped pan was just darling! I can’t wait to make these little biscuits on Valentine’s morning! Such fun.
Sweet Valentine’s kitties! Thanks for the tea biscuit recipe and for always keeping us close to the Vineyard.
Greetings Susan!
What I love most about you is your child-like heart. Or, one that I perceive to be so. Fun, creative, curious, sharing, kind, and so much more! (You’d be the kind of little girl who’d have been fun to be in a sandbox with…or play dolls with…..)
Wanting to make HEARTS coming from the chimney is a possibility y’know? I’m not sure how, (yet) but if a human can go to the moon and back, why not hearts coming from a chimney?? oh….I just had an idea! Now, this is coming straight off the top of my head, hang on! Make big fat hearts, which look smoky-ish, but I think red would be more visible, don’t you? I would use lightweight weatherproof type of cellophane or something similar to do this. (Maybe found at a hardware store.) Tie on a piece of string onto each heart. Different lengths on each heart. Get your mister (please Joe?) to hike up to the top of your chimney to fasten them sort of on the inside a bit. Insert a huge fan pointed upwards inside of your hearth, open the damper, turn on the fan on high……really, really HIGH….. and WHHHOOOOOOOLAH! Run outside and look. Let me know if it works! 🙂
Much love to you.
Erica XO
….gosh, I hope you didn’t take this suggestion seriously….I mean, that fan would suck all the heat OUT of your house! It was just my crazy imagination….. you must’ve thought that I was some kind of fruit loop!
By the way, I’ve wanted to say that everytime I look at the bridge of Jack’s nose, I see a flattened mouse as if I was getting a birds eye view. See it? Or is it my crazy imagination again? lol.
You definitely have an imagination, but that’s what creativity is all about! ♥
Although I read each new entry on your blog and love them all, rarely do I comment since someone else has almost always already said what I was thinking. But for this giveaway, in which the items are so dear to my heart, I will post and say “Ditto, ditto” to all everyone else has said. Indeed, I can smell that orange and almost taste those biscuits! What a wonderful treat for Valentine’s Day. Thanks again for being so reliable at keeping up with your blog and giving us something to read and enjoy and live with you when we can. And oh, those cooking and baking ideas! Incredible!
Thank you for saying hello Judy!
I did it, I did it – incredibly easy to make fresh out of the oven, hot, orange/choc chip scones for breakfast this morning with real butter and a tad-bit of summer honey with my coffee – oh my goodness, these couldn’t get any better – EXCEPT if they were baked in the heart pan!
Yay Patsy Anne, good for you!
So sorry, forgot to mention, I baked them in muffin tins but just made them about 1-1/2″ high. WORKED but not as good as the pan would work (woe is me didn’t have one but will someday 🙂 )
Susan, you are so fun! Great stuff! That Jack is the perfect one to play off of and you do it so well. Wow, how he is growing! And, that picture in the last post – the one where he turned his head – how perfect is THAT!!? Just love that little devilboy!
Thanks for this recipe! My honey’s birthday is on Valentine’s day and these will be such a sweet surprise for him!
I love the heart pan give-away! I’ve been wanting one and maybe, just MAYbe, I’ll quit “wanting” one and soon have one – you just never know! ^~^
Oh, here’s one of the things I did to decorate this year. When I put the Christmas decorations away I kept the red and pink glass ornaments out to fill my Great Gramma’s huge bread making bowl (ancient!) and laced it with some old red glass garland and threw in a few valentine decoratives and *voila* lovely!
Ok. Well, my decorative spirit has been sufficiently energized! Thanks, Susan!
Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!
♥Deb ♥
Love your Valentine decorations – my Grandmother (Nonnie) always decorated
for all holidays. I love the heart shape muffin pan and tin….I have a small
collection of hearts on my windowsill and in a dish on my desk. I loved the
Valentine boxes and card from my grade school days. The recipe sounds
delicious. Happy Valentines Day to you and Joe and all you kindred spirits.
Oh to have snow!! It is chilly in Granbury, Tx, but snow would be so Beautiful!!I Love Valentines day….all the reds, pinks, white, what fun colors..Right now I am trying by hand at some cinnamon roll cup cakes?? They look so delicious. This will be my gifted hand outs if they turn out. Love your film clips of all you do , but especially they island…My dream is to one day at least visit for a few days. Lord willing. Love to you and Joe and the Kitties.
You are so kind, with all of these giveaways!! Please count me in
Have a wonderful week!
Katherine
Happy Valentine’s Day. Love that you are such a romantic!! I also love heart shaped things.
Have a great Valentine’s Day.
Again, another amazing giveaway! I must say the heart-shaped pan and tin are darling but your blog, recipes, pictures of Jack, Girl Kitty, and Joe (now and then:)) are the real gifts. I love it all! I am planning on making your sugar cookie hearts (from CL circa 1980’s) for my students this year. It’s a favorite I can’t do without. Thanks for all you do for us girlfriends!
Lucy
PS: The new fabrics would be darling hanging in my classroom instead of paper for my bulletin boards. Hmmm…is there any way you could add teacher bulletin board materials to your new list of ideas????
I’ll do that!
Great idea! I’d use them if I was still in the classroom.!!:)
I’d buy some for my daughter’s 3rd grade class in Oxford OH…
Well Susan, I made the Tea Buiscuts this morning and they were perfect with my favorite spicy orange tea, Constant Comment. Hubbie said to tell you he loved them too. Crossing fingers and toes again to win the charming muffin pan and heart tin. Trust me, they will find a happy home here. Hope you and Joe have a lovely romantic Valentines Day, as my Robert and I will. I know one of my gifts will be Paul’s romantic CD….I dropped hints weeks ago when I heard this song previewed on a Chicago radio station. Paul’s voice still makes me melt after all these years!
These look so good. I’m going to make them for a brunch I’m having next month. I’ll probably have to make a test batch and eat them all myself first.
Excellent idea!
Thank-you so much for sharing your wonderful biscuits with us. I am going to make them for our Valentine’s Day Bible study. Love the kitties I have 2 also, they are such a joy. Your snowy day was perfect for baking.
Have a great day,
Susan in SoCal
Deja Vu, Susan! I gave this very same pan to my sister Chris for Christmas! In October, she and my other sister, Bridget, and I were enjoying our girls’ weekend when we saw it in an antique shop. I snuck back after they went home and bought it for her. I also bought Bridget darling antique wooden swan butter molds: is that going to be your next prize?? Love your blogs: so heartwarming on our bitter Chicago days!
these biscuits sound so yummy . . . I definitely have to make them . . . and thank you for the idea of using heart doilies . . . I’m going to go get my box of them out right now !! . . . still 2 days left for celebrating . . .
It’s so nice to spend my Sunday afternoon with you all! My 15-year old daughter and I taped heart doilies onto our glass front door this morning — what a darling idea! Now our home looks a little more like your warm and welcoming home, Miss Susan! Thanks for all your wonderfully entertaining posts. It is SUCH a treat when you post a new one. I’ve never had so many girlfriends!! 🙂
That cat with ‘stache cracks me up. I love that your website reminds that there are still places in the world where the gentle comforts of life are supremely valued and appreciated on these cold winter days.
Oh, Susan! The whole time I was reading and watching you make the biscuits, I was thinking that I HAD to have one of those pans! Perfect for adding that loving touch to all of your baking. This is a wonderful recipe…I am running out for oranges and I will be all set! Please enter me to win this darling pan, too!
XO,
Jane
hi susan , can’t wait to try the orange chocolate chip scones…thinking about making them for my daughter,she is expecting and it would be a nice valentines treat for her . also was gald to have a glimps into your saturday morning. being a famous author it was nice to see that your saturday morning is pretty much like most of the rest of us…you truly are just one of the girls and i mean that in a GOOD way….can’t wait to read your next blog..have a great day
I love the videos of your 2 sweet fur babies, they are so cute!!
I check in with you every day. You always make me want to ‘cozy up’ my house. I would love a heart-shaped pan to bake in for my family.
They look absolutely delicious! I love the taste of chocolate and orange together.
I love your kitties! I amso allergic but am having my kitty fix through you. Love jack on top of the fridge. I’d love to see how he gets up there. Happy heart day!
Floor to counter top, counter to fridge . . . This boy can jump!
I would love to have Jack, but I’m sure that’s not an option, so I’d settle for the beautiful pan and tin.
These sound wonderful! I want to bake them right now. I am so enjoying your blog. Thank you!
LOVE that muffin pan! how can you part with it?! I will never understand, but I WILL take it 😉 Good luck to all!
your cats are so cute and i could almost taste those tea biscuits.
I have slowly been collecting all your books online and enjoying each and
every copy. Probably the only homemade books I have seen….cover to cover.
Beautiful work. Happy Valentines day!
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
These tea biscuits are sweet,
And so, Susan, are you! 🙂
Can’t wait to try these. So cute in a heart shape. Would love to have the great pan. Don’t you love cooking in cast iron? My mother gave us a 12″ iron skillet 40 years ago as a wedding present and I still love using it today. My children fight over who will get it – so I just bought them each one.
Smart!
Thank you, Susan, for the tea biscuit recipe which I can’t wait to try. The heart pan makes them look really cute (and so do the kitties!!).
Happy Valentines Day!! Christine
I love hearts!
I Love Valentines Day…
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, SUSAN!! I love seeing all the wonderful things you do to your house and sharing all the great recipes! Your kitties are soooooo cute! Always wondering what you are doing!! Thanks for another opportunity to win one of your great give aways!! I’m hoping!!!!!!!! loretta 🙂
Everything you share shines a light no matter how dark it may be thank thank you!
Hi Susan…love your Valentine’s decorations! Thanks for the orange chocolate chip tea biscuit recipe. I am going to try it out this week! Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!
Susan,
A few of my favorite things…I love to cook in cast iron, and I too love the flavors of orange and chocolate together. I’m excited about trying this one. Thank you!
Becky
i love you. i really do. even though we’ve never met face-to-face…my heart knows you. it has for a long time. everything you right goes straight to my heart and seems familiar…because it is usually something i’ve mused about or done or wished on. anyway, happy valentine’s day from one of your many unknown valentines. thank you for all your goodness and kindness, your generosity of heart and spirit. just wanted you to know…..
Oh thank you Jenni!! So sweet of you to say that!!
I love to read about your cats. I have 8, one of them is a Jack! along with Boots, Mandark, Cheese, Scar, Wicket, Abby, and Mortimer. Two dogs too!- Cocoa and Rondo. It’s never dull in this house (or quiet either).
I live in Maine and as you know we have some cold winters here, but I love being in on a beautiful snowy day, snug and warm with a book to read. But since I’ve joined your blog I so look forward to seeing it and reading all about you and your beautiful work and receipes,etc. It really perks up my day and it really makes me feel like I’m spending time with a friend. I must try those biscuits. Can’t live without Chocolate!!! Thanks for being such a sweet friend.
Thank you Susan, for always being so full of surprises!! I have a heart shaped cake pan that I haven’t used for a while… need to pull that out. Would LOVE to be the winner of this giveaway. Jack isn’t a baby anymore! He’s growing up so fast. We have a black & white kitty named John Wayne, (if you saw him walk away, you’d know why that name!), that’s recovering from pneumonia. A sign of that was when I walked in the kitchen & heard a meow & found him up on the refrigerator. He showed up at our house four years ago as a teenager. Your postings of Jack makes me think back to those early days with him – and how fast they went.
Finally, found the spot to “comment”. On my copy there is no “little gray” word “comment”! Thanks for such a wonderful experience I have had reading your blog. I am having my second Valentine Tea tomorrow for widowed ladies at my church. I had planned to make cream scones, but after reading your recipe for tea biscuits, I’ve changed my mind! But, alas I don’t have a wonderful heart shaped pan to bake them in – as suggested I will use a regular muffin pan – until I win yours!!!
Blessings and thanks!
Susan~
I loved seeing the snow video today. It was 29 degrees early this morning in Texas but no snowflakes so I loved seeing the ones that fell over your part of the world. I also loved seeing Jack. Oh, my goodness, that little mustache is the cutest thing ever! I can’t even imagine the joy of looking at that little face every day!
Thank you for the yummy recipe and all of the hearts and valentines. I hope that you and your sweetie, Joe, have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
Kisses~~Karen
Again, I heart your art!!!!!!
Pick me, pick me.
Please do a little tutororial on line on how you watercolor. Maybe just a little red heart?
Thanks,
Michele
Wonderful photos of those beautiful kitties and delicious scones! Honestly, I can taste them from here (the scones, that is). I’ll bet they’re even better baked in the heart-shaped pan. In our region of the world, it’s been gray and pouring rain for umpteen days in a place that always has sunshine. It feels even grayer today because my dear hubby just left for a trip 🙁 I’ll be spending Valentine’s Day cuddled up with my kitty and puppy. However, just reading your blog and looking at Jack and Girl Kitty have perked me up! Thank you! Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!
Valentine’s Day is also my big dog’s birthday! I would put kisses in the tin and make dog-friendly treats in the heart-shaped tin. I would probably make some human-friendly ones, too.
You are right. The new zesters are wonderful! Would love to win that pan…sigh… I do have some miniature silicone heart shaped mini muffin cups. Off to try your recipe in those.
Such a fun day you had. The biscuits/cookies are wonderful. Your kitties are too precious. Love Jack’s mustache and girl’s eye liner are wonderful but on this blog with the slamming screen door with the creaky closing brings back memories of several houses in my life. Hope you had a good snow and are enjoying the magic. I hope I win the tin or pan but the blog has been fun today.
I make orange-cranberry scones which are very similar to your tea biscuits. Yummy, can’t wait to try yours! I had this cute heart pan, but gave away all my cast iron molds (even an antique corn one) because I thought I was done with the kitchen………I was wrong. You have re-ignited a spark in me that wants to be creative again! So, I printed this recipe so that I can put it in my Heart of the Home Recipe Binder. Yea! Loved seeing your cute kitties again. I could watch them for hours! Thanks for sharing your snow day, too! You always include just the right amount of everything in your blog. Oh, BTW, I bought one of the micro planes from amazon…..thanks for the link. They only had 4 left! I got one with a red handle.
Love the red handles! Wait til you see how it works!
Susan, the tea biscuits are next on my to bake list! Thank you for all the pix and the cheery visit. Have a lovely Valentine’s tea with friends and a special day with Joe and the furry duo.
It’s my turn to win . . . I hope. Love anything heart-shaped and would love using the pan to bake or my grands and my hubby!
What a wonderful blog today…the recipe for the chocolate chip hearts looks so wonderful but I’m vacationing in Florida without all the necessary baking stuff to make them so I’ll have to wait til I get home…so enjoyed seeing the video of girl kitty and jack and thank you for sharing Paul McCartney’s new song…I think you’re right about his singing to his first wife, Linda. Thank you for such wonderful stories…I look forward to them each morning with my tea and my little, poodle-pomerian, Bear, by my side! You have a real knack for storytelling along with your beautiful art work!
Girl Kitty’s California cousin, Calista, says, “Purr . . .”
Oh my the orange, the chocolate the adorable heart shape, I love these tea biscuits! And the tin, well its too cute for wors so I won’t try. I listened to Paul sing his valentine song, oh how glad I am he seems to have found some peace again after the dreadful years with the “H” person. It is nice he has a wonderful daughter to show for all the heart ache. And the cat video, lots of smiles and giggles even if i am a dog person at heart! Thanks susan, have a lovely end of the weekend.
Love, love,love Paul McCartney’s song…thank you Susan
I am going to make these muffins for my whole family even though they won’t be heart shaped but my heart will be in them:) I decorate with antique valentines that have been in my family. Thank you Susan.
ps, I found the little gray comment as you see.
I would have loved to have the heart tin for the blueberry muffins I made this morning for breakfast. We got our first significant snow for this winter. It has been snowing and bitter cold here in Southeast Ohio since Friday night. Sun is out today and will probably see snow begin to melt and be gone by mid-week when we will have temperatures back in the 40’s and 50’s. I love seeing your pictures of the Vineyard in the snow and all seasons. Brings me back to my many times on the Vineyard and wanting to come back. Hope you and Joe have a wonderful Valentine Day!
I can’t wait to try these out! Heart shapes are my favorite! Happy Valentines Day!
Thanks Susan for the Valentine’s Day inspiration! I took my yummy scone recipe an cut the dough into hearts and they are in the oven as I write. It is always fun to read your blog and settle into the little things of life that when added all up make for sweet wonderful memories. Now to brew up a pot of tea and enjoy the yummy darling scones hot out of the oven. Oh sweet Valentine…. reminds us to love our loved ones a little more sweetly and a little more deeply. HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
~Marjorie~
Happy Valentines Day Susan and to Joe. So love the pics of Beauty and the Beast. They are so darling. Have a wonderful week and thank you for the most wonderful blogs. Love love love them.
Have you ever tried making them with lemon zest?
I think they’d be great, not sure about lemon and chocolate though!
I just love love and all things heart shaped. Wishing you a wonderful Valentines Day with your sweetie, my sweetie and I are celebrating it on the 16th, I have to work Valentine’s evening. Love, <3 <3 <3
Susan, your blog entries always brighten my day. Please include me in the drawing.
Well, over 1000 comments so as the year goes by you’ll have to deplete your storehouse of wonderful goodies if we are ALL to win something! Your posts are wonderful and I look forward to them. Thanks for the giveaway. Here’s hoping its my turn this time.
Ooh! Can’t wait to make these tea cakes in my new heart muffin pan! 😉 Happy Valentine’s, Susan! XO
The recipe sounds so goods. This blog is so up lifting and Door County is my favorite place ever. Arlene from Minnesota
Wow, Susan…it’s always fun to visit with you! I love how you decorated your windows!
Hi Sue….You are definitely our Valentine! The lovely music, wonderful recipes, the antics of your darling kitties, and decorating ideas, you give me such inspiration. I made the milk cake this afternoon, looking forward to it after dinner. The snow looked so pretty, we got a slight dusting as well, it looked like Girl decided to stay in where it was nice and warm, (smart). Thanks again.
Great recipe and Door County is my favorite place evber. Arlene from Minnesota
HOME IS WHERE THE HEARTS ARE! I CAN’T WAIT TO TRY THIS RECIPE. THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR WONDERFUL BLOG IT KEEPS ME INSPIRED.
Love that u made white hearts! Perfect & almost elegant looking! Rita
Thank you for a cheerful message on a dreary winter day. Heartwarming 🙂
Thank you for reminding me to sit down with a cup of tea on this chilly day! Happy Valentine’s Day!
Your biscuits sound yummy! I can’t wait to try them! I love hearts; I have them all over my house. The wall in my sewing room is covered with them. I lost my best friend 18 years ago after her heart transplant failed, so I try to wear a heart every day in remembrance of her and her beautiful spirit. Thank you for sharing your beautiful spirit with all of us!
This recipe sounds so yummy! I can’t wait to try them, and figure out which gluten free flour works best as a replacement for this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing this with us!
Even though I live deep in the woods, you inspire me to decorate all my windows, too. Even if it’s just the birds that admire it, I’d be content. Thanks for all your inspiration. It’s the little things that matter!
You get to come home to it! We went out yesterday afternoon, when we came home, there were my hearts, all so darling, waiting for us!
Started the day with your Christmas Coffee Cake – delicious! Thank you for your comfort-filled web site! I always feel like I’ve stopped by for a visit and a hug!