A Dragon Scone for Good St. George

This post was written by Catholic Cuisine contributor, Charlotte from Waltzing Matilda.

The Feast of St. George is coming up tomorrow. We have spent many years slaying a cake dragon in honor of this noble and holy saint. Last year, however, we made a Dragon Scone for the feast of St. George. If you are looking for an alternative to the Dragon Cake and would prefer something not slathered in frosting, maybe give this one a try. I used a basic scone recipe (which I will include below) to make a serpentine shape. It took a little longer to bake than normal scones but otherwise, everything else was the same.

Last year, I used a left over slice of cake to make the head. This year, I think I'm just going to use another scone. That will probably mean I'll make a double or a 1.5 batch of of the recipe below.

I covered the body in homemade whipped cream and used sliced strawberries for the scales and feet. The pastry wing was also leftover from Easter brunch. I'm not sure our dragon will have wings this year. Two M&M's make the eyes. You can serve it for breakfast or as an after dinner treat.

Let us know below… are you doing anything special for St. George's Day?

Basic Scones 
(single batch: yields 12 scones or 1 dragon body)

1 1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/4 C. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. cold butter
1/4 C. sour cream (can substitute plain greek yogurt)
1/4 C. milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs (you can use a food processor just pulse it to get the coarse crumbs). Stir in sour cream (greek yogurt) and milk. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out desired shapes, place on parchment paper covered cookie sheet. (For the dragon scone, I just shaped the dough into the shape I wanted on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired. Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned.

Pin It

St. George and the Dragon Veggie Platter

With the feast of St. George falling on Easter Wednesday this year, following a weekend filled with Easter and Birthday cakes in our home, I decided to make a Veggie Platter for the feast of St. George instead of a dragon cake or our Saint George Cookies. Our veggie platter was inspired by a couple snake themed veggie trays I found through a google image search, with the addition of some lettuce wings at the suggestion of Charlotte's oldest son.  I thought it turned out great and my children love it! We will devour the dragon this evening with dinner, after reading a couple new books (Saint George & the Dragon by Jim Forrest and The Saint Who Fought the Dragon: The Story of St. George - affiliate links) that one of our boys discovered in his Easter Basket! You can also read The Ballad of St. George by Eliana Murphy over at Shower of Roses.

St. George and the Dragon Veggie Platter

Ingredients:

• Cucumbers - I used 2 for the head and body
• Carrots - I used baby carrots
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Olives - 1 can of black olives
• Lettuce - 2 leaves for Wings
• Veggie Dip of your choice

Directions: 

Using the end of one of the cucumbers and some carrot slices, create a dragon head.

Slice the rest of the cucumbers and shape into a body on a platter, wrapping around the dip bowl.

Add the broccoli, carrots, tomatoes and olives, along with the two leaves of lettuce for the wings.

Happy Feast of St. George! 

Pin It

Dragon Cupcake Cake for St. George

This post was written by Catholic Cuisine contributor, Charlotte from Waltzing Matilda.

With a cold front blowing in dropping our temps by 20-30 degrees, I did not want to head to the store with the baby to get supplies to make one of our traditional Dragon Cakes, so I decided to see what we had in the pantry. We had a gluten free chocolate cake mix, candy melts and the makings of this frosting which tasted good but could have used more powdered sugar to set up better.

This is what it looked like before decorating. The layout is pretty simple. I cut one cupcake in half to use for the eyes. Melted candy melts piped from a ziploc bag make the spikes and claws. 

Happy Feast of St. George, the dragon slayer!

O GOD, who didst grant to Saint George strength and constancy in the various torments which he sustained for our holy faith; we beseech Thee to preserve, through his intercession, our faith from wavering and doubt, so that we may serve Thee with a sincere heart faithfully unto death. Through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Pin It

Snake-Bite Calzone

This past weekend we celebrated my daughter's 8th birthday!   One of the recipes I made was a Snake-Bite Calzone, at the suggestion of Charlotte's daughter!  (Thank you Shortcake!)   I thought I'd post the recipe here, since I'm planning on making another snake dragon calzone (maybe adding a few spikes, wings and feet) for my children to eat slay on today's feast of St. George!  It would also be perfect for the feast of St. Patrick.

Snake-Bite Calzone

adapted from Kraft

Ingredients:

• 1 can (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza dough
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 31 pepperoni, divided
• 1 egg white
• 1 drop each yellow and green food coloring, divided
• 2 manzanilla olives
• 1 cup pizza sauce

Directions: 

Heat oven to 350°F.  Unroll the pizza dough on lightly floured work surface; roll or flatten to 17x10-inch rectangle.

Cut 1 pepperoni slice to resemble a snake's tongue; set aside. Arrange remaining pepperoni slices over dough rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border around all sides.

Combine cheeses. Top pepperoni with spoonfuls of the cheese mixture. 

Roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion, starting at one long side; pinch seams together to seal. Place, seam-side down, in "s" shape on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray to resemble snake.

Insert olives into one end of dough for the snake's eyes. Add pepperoni tongue.

Beat egg white and yellow food coloring lightly with fork; brush about half over dough. Add green food coloring to remaining egg white; brush randomly over dough to resemble a snake's splotched skin.

Bake 30 to 35 min. or until golden brown. Meanwhile, heat pizza sauce just until warmed.  Serve the calzone with the pizza sauce.

Pin It

Dragon Cakes for St. George

Did you make a Dragon Cake in honor of St. George today? Did your kids have fun slaying their dragon? We'd love to see it!

Pin It

St. George -- A Boy's Feast Day!

I have to thank Jessica for inviting me to be a part of this terrific idea. I'm honored to be a part of these very inspiring women.

I had a few additional thoughts about this feast of St. George. Last year we missed celebrating this feast, but I can't let it pass without doing a little something to honor this soldier-saint. My 4 year old son is a typical boy, playing knights and soldiers to his heart's content.

Ann Ball's Catholic Traditions in Cooking goes away from the English tradition and presents Gazpacho and Moros y Christianos, Spanish dishes, to celebrate the day freed from the Moors.

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding is very common on this day in England. But any good English recipe, like fish and chips or shepherd's pie would be good.

There is also a Melachrino Cake from Greece served on this day. Ann Ball has a simpler recipe than Cooking With the Saints.

I was continuing the idea of a dragon theme. Matilda's dragon cake is just so awesome, but for some other fun, how about Taco Dip Dragon? I also found a Dragon's Breath Dip, but that isn't as colorful. Now how about a Red Dragon Pie instead of Shepherd for this day?

As for me, I served my roast beef yesterday. I'm going to incorporate skewers or toothpicks in my meal, either with the meat or the fruit for dessert, so we can mimic St. George slaying the dragon. I wish I knew of a source for those little swords that are used for cocktail drinks, as there are quite a few feasts we could use those!

St. George, pray for us!

Photo from Taste of Home Pin It

In Preparation for St. George's Day

First of all, let me say "thank you" to Jessica for providing such a lovely place to gather and for inviting me to contribute. I am putting together this post from my archives since I won't be making our dragon until the day before or maybe the day of St. George's Day this year.

My oldest son has always loved St. George. We even had a father/son party once with a homemade dragon pinata. The little boys loved it and I think the Dad's did too!
Last year, we kept things very low key. I made a dragon shaped cake for the children to devour and you can do the same with a box cake mix, a couple of cans of frosting, food coloring, a package of Ding Dongs and four Hershey's kisses.
I used two 9 inch round cakes. The first, I cut down the middle and "glued" the flat bottoms together with frosting to make the mound that is his belly. The second one, I cut something like this (it has been too long for me to remember specifically):
I used the Ding Dongs, cut in half, to make mounds on the head for the eye sockets and the feet. Cut them into triangles and they can be extra spikes. Toothpicks help hold them in place. Frosting will cover so many mistakes so never fear if it doesn't look pretty at this stage. The eyes and nostrils were made by inserting the pointy end of a Hershey's kiss into globs of frosting. The final touch was turning butter knives into kid friendly swords with some strips of tin foil to hack away at the more cute than ferocious beast.

Here is another variation for those who need more visual assistance. That would be me! I am such a visual learner! Happy baking!

Pin It