Skip to main content

Featured

Rose Pruning Again

Late February to early March is the time for the major pruning of roses. Back in December, I did a preliminary pruning , now is the time for the last major pruning before the spring season begins.  First, a comment on hybrid tea roses. This is what most people have in their gardens. I only have a few hybrid tea roses. These are the roses that need the most drastic pruning. Basically, you cut all the canes down to about 1 foot, making the cuts right above an outward-facing bud. The result will be something like this -  Most of my roses fall into the shrub and climbing categories. These roses are pruned differently and not as severe as the hybrid teas. For shrub roses (and many of the David Austin English roses fall into this category), I first take out the older canes completely to the ground. The older canes are easy to spot - they will be thicker and darker in color. After thinning out the older canes, I remove any canes that are damaged, crossing one another and canes that ...

Chocolate Covered Cherries Cookies



Happy Valentine's Day!

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup butter (softened)
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 (10 ounce) jar maraschino cherries
* 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixer bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well. Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together and add to the butter mixture. Roll into tablespoon sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Make an indention in each cookie with your thumb.
3. Drain cherries and reserve juice. Place a cherry in indentation of each cookie ball.
4. In a small saucepan, heat condensed milk and chocolate chips until chips are melted. Stir in 4 teaspoons of cherry juice (more if needed). Spoon about 1 teaspoon of mixture over each cherry and spread to cover cherry (or if you'd prefer the cherry to be seen, drizzle the icing in stripes).
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.



Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. Phillip, these look so mouth-watering. I wish you could send me some:-).

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd love one, Phillip! A perfect ending to the day. Happy Valentine's Day :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'll have to make a batch of these for my dh. He loves chocolate covered cherries. Thanks for sharing the recipe. :) ~~Rhonda

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts