Lavender Whoopsie Cookies with a Lemon Mascarpone Filling for National Cookie Week

When the fabulous Michael of the Gay Gourmet asked me to participate in his first-ever National Cookie Week event, which he is co-hosting with Schmackary's Cookies of New York, I enthusiastically said "yes" for two reasons. For one thing, I would never say no to any request made of me by any of my gay friends - they are all simply too marvelous for words. And besides, my gay bffs always accommodate me, and I certainly wouldn't want to do anything to buck that trend.

Sweet & Spicy Lavender Honey Quickbread for the International Incident Lavender Party

Hey lavender! Are you ready for the party?

Have I mentioned how grateful I am for these monthly International Incident Parties? So often these days, my life gets overwhelmingly busy and I find myself neglecting (and missing) both my blog and the many, many food blogs I love to read. But these parties give me an assignment (the theme) and a deadline (the party date). And I always make my deadlines! Best of all, they help me stay connected with many of my fellow food bloggers. So many thanks (as always) to our awesome hostess and founder Penny aka Jeroxie!

Truthfully, at first I was a bit at a loss when I found out that this month's theme was lavender. Ironically, I had just used culinary lavender for the first time in the recent Incident Scones Party, in my lavender, cardamom, and cracked black pepper drop scones. Eek! Just how many lavender dishes can one person come up with?

Lavender, Cardamom & Cracked Black Pepper Drop Scones: International Incident Scones Party

When the theme for this month's International Incident Party was announced  - hosted as ever by the lovely Penny aka Jeroxie, along with August birthday babies Anh of  A food’s lover's journey and  Cherrie of Sweet Cherrie Pie - I must admit that at first I wasn't terribly inspired. Scones. What to do? Unlike many of my fellow party goers,  scones are not a cultural reference point for me. I didn't grow up enjoying scones at tea time.  I don't even know when "tea time" actually is.  I take coffee breaks and eat bagels.  Of course I wanted to make fun and creative scones, but I had no idea where to begin.

But then one day I was flipping channels on the TV, and I caught the end of a cooking show - I don't remember which one - about something called "drop scones." Hmmm. They looked like little pancakes. Ah, pancakes! Now that I can work with. Indeed,  a bit of research taught me that drop scones are also called Scottish pancakes. They differ from typical American breakfast pancakes in that they're smaller and not necessarily sweet, which I found appealing.