What a wonderful night! at the gorgeous historic YWCA, in a room full of people and that pleasant murmur of conversation.

Our five storytellers, Davita Fitzgerald, Becky Ann Harker, Kris Harrington, Liz Hill, and Terry L. Shears, told us stories, sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, always engaging.

We ate desserts and purchased books to donate to the children’s library at the YWCA. Huge thank you to Flutterby Books of Hubbard for supporting these book purchases!

Tricia Perry (center) of WYSU was our lovely emcee.

The Friends of Fellows Riverside Gardens donated mums that we gave to five winning attendees.

Although this one is keeping mum, we know his Mum won a mum!

We thank everyone for coming out and making our evening so much fun for us.

By request, here are a few of the recipes of the desserts we served (with notes from Karen).

Rose-Scented Plum Crumble Tart

Crust

1 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/8 tsp. coarse salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 large egg yolks
1 T. cold water

Filling

2 lbs. small plums, halved and pitted (I bought fresh, local plums from Marcie Applegate)
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
2 T. cornstarch
pinch of coarse salt
1 tsp. rose water (from Jerusalem Market on Belmont)

Crumble

1/4 c. packed brown sugar
4 T. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. coarse salt

Crust: Blend flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add yolks and cold water; blend with a fork until dough comes together. Pat into a disk, wrap in plastic, refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

Let dough stand at room temperature until pliable. Roll out on lightly floured surface to about 13″ round, about 1/4″ thick. Fit into 11″ tart pan. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour.

Filling: Toss to combine plums, sugars, cornstarch, salt and rose water. Spread in tart shell in a single layer.

Crumble: Combine brown sugar, butter, flour and salt. Mix with fingertips until clumps form. Crumble evenly over filling.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in lower third. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet until juices are bubbling and topping is browned, about 50 minutes. Tart is best served the day it’s made.

Marbled Cheesecake

Crust

1 1/4 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts
1/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. butter, melted

(I had cookies left from our Eat Your Words! cookie decorating project, so I made crumbs with them and added 1/4 c. melted butter to make the crust.)

Filling

4 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese at room temperature (I prefer Organic Valley)
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
4 eggs
1/3 c. flour
1 T. vanilla
3 (1-oz.) squares semi-sweet chocolate, melted (I prefer Dagoba organic chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350. Press crust lightly onto the bottom of a 9″ springform pan.

In large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk, then eggs, flour and vanilla.

Measure 1 1/2 c. batter into medium bowl. Add chocolate, mix well. Spoon half the vanilla batter into the prepared pan then half the chocolate batter. Repeat. With knife, gently swirl batter to marble.

Bake 50 to 60 min. or until center is barely set. Cool, then chill. Garnish with shaved chocolate.

Applesauce Loaf (recipe from Karen’s Aunt Kit)

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/4 c. applesauce (I like to make my own and leave it chunky)
1/2 c. raisins (I like organic Thompson’s or golden raisins)
1/2 c. coarsely chopped walnuts

Cream butter and sugar, add egg. Stir together the dry ingredients, gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in applesauce, raisins and walnuts. Bake one hour in a greased and floured loaf pan. Cool in pan 10 min., cool on wire rack. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.