Addison Embroidery
at the
Vicarage

Home of a Quilter: sampler in counted cross stitch

This sampler is one of the loveliest birthday presents I think I’ve ever had. It was made for me by my mother-in-law quite a long time ago and has always hung where I can catch sight of it every day because it makes me smile. There’s mother at work on a quilt (very nicely framed up) while 4 little bodies lie asleep on the beds above – 2 boys and 2 girls making perfect symmetry.

Home of a Quilter sampler in counted cross stitch: detail.

From time to time I think I’ll buy a quilting frame – or have one made but I usually end up quilting on my knee without any sort of frame or sometimes with a large circular frame. I always sewed for pleasure or relaxation, usually at the end of the day while watching television, listening to music or being read to – so the last thing I wanted was to have to sit on a hard chair in front of the equivalent of a table. However, for the altar frontal (here, here, here, etc. and for the beginning here ) I think I may have to get a frame so that several people can work on it together.

Home of a Quilter sampler in counted cross stitch: detail

When my children were little there were few shops specialising in American patchwork fabrics and equipment all of which seemed very exotically different when glimpsed in magazine articles. I wonder if many of you remember The Patchwork Dog and the Calico Cat  near Camden Lock? I think the name was the thing that grabbed me and sometimes the lure was so great that I would strap one child on my front, with the other in a buggy and head over by tube from the leafiness of Chiswick. How one hauled oneself  + baby and the buggy up and down tube station steps, I now have no idea – all I know was that sometimes the urge to go somewhere was so very great that the will to do it trumped all inconvenience and low scores in the risk assessment department. (Of course, idiot that I am, I now I know that the 27 went straight from Chiswick to Chalk Farm and that would have done nicely but I wasn’t so into buses then and it was before the internet had bus routes at our finger tips.) Anyway I googled The Patchwork Dog and the Calico Cat and found this article about the woman who set up the shop but returned to America in the 1990s and thought others might be interested.

Pecan puffs

Pecan Puffs

Adapted from a recipe for pistachio puffs in Miranda Gore Browne’s book Biscuit (Ebury Press, 2012), these are macaroon-like and reminded some biscuit samplers of Ricciarelli  which are ground almonds and mixed peel instead of ground pecans and lemon zest – so very similar.

Ingredients

150 g pecans (shelled but whole)

25 g ground almonds

175 g golden caster sugar

zest of 2 lemons

50 g plain wholemeal flour

2 large egg whites

icing sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/160 degrees C for a fan oven/Gas Mark 4 grease and line baking trays with baking parchment. This recipe makes:

24 biscuits about 5 cm across and you will need 2-3 trays for those OR

30 smaller biscuits for which you will need 3-4 trays

Grind the pecans either in a food processor or by putting them in a plastic bag and bashing them with a meat tenderiser or rolling pin. (Meat tenderiser is much more satisfying). I liked quite a lumpy rough texture so stopped before the ground almond stage. Reserve a teaspoon or so of these to sprinkle on top before cooking. Put ground pecans and ground almonds in a bowl together along with 125 g of caster sugar and the lemon zest. Add the sifted flour (with wholemeal, the flour will sift easily, leaving the wholemeal bit in the sieve and this can then just be tossed in  on to the sifted flour – it’s all about incorporating a bit more air).

In another bowl whisk the egg whites until the soft peak stage. Now add the remaining 50 g sugar a bit at a time. When all sugar has been added continue whisking until the mixture is stiff and glossy,

Add the meringue mixture to the dry ingredients, folding it in gently with a metal spoon, until no dry clumps remain.

Put dollops of the mixture on to the prepared baking trays, at least 3 cm apart. 2 dessert spoons (1 to help the mixture off the other one) will produce bigger biscuits while a well loaded teaspoon will give you  the smaller ones).

Before putting in the oven, sprinkle the rest of the crushed pecans over each dollop. Bake for about 15 minutes until the biscuits are puffy and beginning to turn golden. Allow them to stand for 5 minutes on the trays and then transfer them with a spatula to a wire cooling rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar. These keep well in an air tight container.