These scones came out perfectly. The cold butter married with the dry ingredients to create a perfectly tender and flaky biscuit. The addition of fresh berries and lemony glaze keep the flavor bright. They are only lightly sweet and will make the brilliant compliment to an egg dish at your Mother's Day Brunch. We like to keep it simple and serve ours alongside a cup of strong coffee or with whipped cream as a decadent dessert.

Ingredients:

2 cups of fresh blueberries

2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup cold butter, cut into chunks

1 cup sour cream

1 large egg yolk

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

For the Glaze:

1 lemon

1 cup powdered sugar

½ tsp of vanilla extract

milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture is granular in appearance. Mix the sour cream and egg yolk together.  Make a depression in the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture and the blueberries.  Stir together gently until moistened taking care to handle the dough as little as possible.

Dust your work surface with some flour.  Pat dough into a 12 inch circle and cut into 8 wedges.  Place the wedges onto a baking sheet with a little room around for expansion.  Sprinkle with the granulated sugar. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Remove to a wire rack to cool.

This is seriously the most decadently delicious dessert and it makes the perfect finale to our fun fiesta menu. Laced with cinnamon, cayenne and chile powder, the final result is a dense and fudgy cake with just a hint of spice and a distinctive chile flavor.

Ingredients:

1 Box Devil’s Food cake mix

Eggs, water and oil as directed on the back of the box

1 pound semisweet chocolate chips

1 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream

4 Tbsp butter

1 1/2 Tbsp chile powder

½  tsp ground cinnamon

Dash cayenne pepper

Directions:

Prepare cake mix as directed on the box for a 9 x 13 inch pan. Let cake cool completely. Line the bottom of a 9 inch round springform pan with waxed paper, cut to fit. In a microwave safe bowl, heat the cream and butter until hot. Add the chocolate chips, let sit for 2 minutes then stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.  Stir the spices into the ganache (note: you can adjust the amounts of seasoning to your tastes. As it is written, the cake will have a distinctive chile flavor but will not be very spicy).

In a large bowl, crumble the cooled cake into pieces. Pour about half the ganache over the cake and mix well until it looks like thick mud. Scrape mixture into prepared springform pan and place in the freezer for about an hour. The remaining ganache can cool on the counter top.

Unmold cake from the spring-form pan and turn upside down on serving plate, remove waxed paper. Pour remaining ganache over cake and spread until smooth. The ganache will adhere nicely to the sides of the cold cake. Store in refrigerator until about 20 minutes before serving.

For Cinnamon Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold

1/3 cup confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tspn vanilla extract

Directions:

In a large bowl, using a mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the cream, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat.

Serve slices of cake with a dollop of cinnamon whipped cream and a tiny sprinkling of chile powder or cinnamon.

When strawberries are in season, there is little else we think about. Strawberry lemonade, strawberry pie, strawberry preserves, and now…Strawberry COOKIES!

These little gems are everything we love about strawberry shortcake in one bite. Baking fresh strawberries into the cookie is genius, and the result is a luscious, mouth-watering sweet spring treat. With a scone-like consistency, these would be a terrific compliment to a savory brunch. Or you can just enjoy them on their own like we did. Happy strawberry season!

Ingredients

2 cups strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces