Just Like Starbucks?

On New Years' Eve, I had a full clinic scheduled.  I decided that since my nurses had to come because of that I'd make something fun.  I found a recipe for cinnamon scones that were supposed to be like Starbucks.  Admittedly, I have never had one of these scones so I can't really compare.  These were pretty good but dried out quickly.  Maybe that's just scones?

Starbucks' Cinnamon Chip Scones from On Your Plate
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup cinnamon chips
1/2-3/4 buttermilk (or skim milk)
for glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon water
sift together the dry ingredients and work the butter in until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add in the chips and toss together. Slowly add the milk until the dough just comes together. Roll the dough out into a square that is approximately 1 inch thick. Cut into triangles and brush with egg wash. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Let scones cool completely and then drizzle with glaze.

Scones for Daddy

When Daddy mentioned that he thought I should make scones, I asked him what kind he thought I should make.  Due to some cookies that I made earlier (sorry, can't share the recipe yet!), he suggested orange scones.  So, I went in search of a good recipe.  I found a couple and this one looked good to me.  I didn't have any nuts, which it didn't call for, but I thought they would make a good addition. 

Oh, well!  The dough, once again, was too sticky to form into a disc and cut, so I just freeformed it.  I kind of like the free form version because it gives lovely little pieces that stick up...perfect for my favorite act of nibbling!  I served these with honey and they turned out great! 

Orange Scones
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold butter
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp orange extract
Additional sugar
 
In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, orange peel and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a bowl, whisk milk and egg. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
Lightly spoon dough onto baking stone or greased baking sheet.  Top with extra granulated sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Scones with Sarah

I was recently informed by my dad that I haven't made scone in a while.  He's right...in fact, I haven't made scone since I made these...in October!  Yikes! 

I made them with my friend, Sarah.  It's so funny because we'll both decide we need to hang out and when I ask what she wants to do we usually end up cooking something.  I guess we would rather do something where we could talk as opposed to watching a movie and having to pay attention to that instead of each other (and Luke!!!).  Anyway, after giving her the peach scones from so long ago, she said she wanted to make some. 

So, I found this recipe from Emily and we went to baking.  This is actually the FIRST scone recipe I've made that has allowed me to form a disc and cut the scones into triangles. 

It turned out DELICIOUS!!!  I highly recommend this recipe...and have another scone recipe coming, specially made for my dad this weekend! 

Cranberry, White Chocolate & Toasted Walnut Scones (Recipe adapted from Emily at Sugar Plum)

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (spooned into cup & leveled with knife)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries, soaked in hot water
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
2 large eggs, divided use
1/4 cup yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; whisk in 6 tablespoons sugar until combined. Knead in butter, using fingertips, until well incorporated and mixture starts to clump together, forming pea-sized lumps. Gently stir in cranberries, pecans and white chocolate chips until combined.
In a small bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, yogurt and vanilla until combined; sprinkle into flour mixture and toss together using a fork.

Turn shaggy dough out onto a floured surface, and gently pat and knead until it comes together, handling as little as possible. Form two (6-inch) rounds. Insides of the rounds should be thicker. Slice each round into 6 equal triangles and place on cookie sheets.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks until ready to serve.  Enjoy!

Just Peachy!

I always have a hard time finding good scone recipes. Either they are too dry or the dough is SO sticky that I can't follow the directions of "roll the dough to 3/4 inch thick." The other day, I saw a recipe for peach scones linked from Anna's site. It's a King Arthur recipe, so I figured it was worth a try since I had some Farmer's Market peaches in my fridge that I didn't want to go bad. The recipe calls for either using a scone pan, which would be cool but I don't have, or using a drop method. Perfect! It also claims to be a sticky dough...let me say, this was one of the best doughs I've made. Not dry enough to roll, but definitely not overly sticky. I was a bit upset that I forgot to dust them with my turbinado sugar, but they still turned out great. Not an overly sweet dough but the cooked peaches add the perfect amount of sweetness and tartness. I shared them with my friend, Sarah, and she said that they were delicious. I would definitely make these again as they were fairly easy and "Peachy Keen!" Try them out for yourself! Peach Scones
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Mellow Pastry Blend
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt or sour cream (I used Greek yogurt which is yogurt that tastes a lot like sour cream!)
1 cup diced peaches, fresh or canned (for fresh it's about 1 medium peach)
2 tablespoons coarse sugar

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a divided scone pan, a 12-cup muffin pan, or a baking sheet. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, nutmeg, and baking powder. Cut in the butter, using your fingertips, a fork or a pastry blender. (Use your fingertips...it's fun and quick).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and yogurt or sour cream. Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients. Add the peaches and stir just until everything is well-combined. This is a wet (not so much), sticky dough, good for drop scones.

Divide the dough among the compartments of the scone pan, or drop by the scant 1/4 cupful into the cups of a muffin pan or onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle the scones with coarse sugar, and bake them until they're golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes (on a baking sheet), or 18 to 20 minutes (in a pan). Yield: 8 to 12 scones. I got a baker's dozen!

Cute Little Pumpkin!

What a blessing it was to be a part of the Christmas music at church! I'm kind of sad that it's over. If you'd like to see pictures follow this link. Also, if you're in the Jackson, MS area and get WLBT it will be on tv at 2pm on Christmas day! A good way to celebrate Christmas. Anyway, just before Thanksgiving, I made some pumpkin scones that I found on Maryanna's site Taste and See. They have this FANTASTIC spiced glaze on top...I really think that made the scones. I didn't do the plain glaze and did change a couple of things, so for the original recipe, go to Maryanna's! Since pumpkin is holiday-ish, I thought I'd share with you so that you can try them for yourself! Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin

Spiced Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Directions:
Scones:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Usually, the instructions here say to knead; however, EVERY time I make scones, I find the dough too sticky to do this. So, I just spread the dough out into a large rectangle directly on the baking stone (or sheet) and scored the dough into triangles using a pizza cutter.
Bake for 14–16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. When you remove from the oven, re-cut the scored scones using a pizza cutter. Place on wire rack to cool.

Spiced Icing:
Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour). A squirt bottle works great for this, or you can drizzle with a whisk.

Back with Berries

I'm back for ARF! Last week, I got busy and just didn't get a post up in time...but this week, I return with a berry filled scone. After posting about the banana scones a couple of weeks ago, I went in search of a blueberry scone. What I came across was a recipe from Eating Well (I really think I may change subscriptions from Cooking Light to Eating Well...any thoughts on that?) that I adapted a bit to make it blueberry. They are not sweet scones, but the blueberries add the perfect amount of sweetness and tartness. To me, it was just so much fun to bite into a blueberry and have its flavor meld with the wholesome wheatiness of the scone. So, try these out...they're healthy and yummy! One of the things a favorite pediatric attending told me...if you tell your child such-and-such is a treat, he'll think it's a treat. SO, if you bring you child up on less sweet muffins/scones, he'll think that's how they should be rather that the sweeter version. Sweet or not, these are very good! Check out the other great recipes over at Cate's. Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones

4 tablespoons (2 oz.) reduced-fat cream cheese, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (I used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat (regular) and 1/2 cup bread flour b/c I didn't have pastry flour)

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup blueberries

2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly oil a large baking sheet or coat it with nonstick spray. Place cream cheese and butter in freezer to chill, about 10 minutes. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut cream cheese and butter into flour mixture using a pastry blender or your fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Add blueberries and gently incorporate. Make a well in the flour mixture. Add 2/3 cup buttermilk, stirring with a fork until just combined.

Transfer half of dough to a well-floured surface and gently press into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. With a floured knife or pastry blender, cut into 8 wedges. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake scones for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden and firm. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Serve warm.

I'm halfway done with my board exams! Only Ob-Gyn, Psychiatry, and Internal Medicine left. :-) For this week's ARF Tuesday at Sweetnick's, I submit a scone with banana and bran that I made many months ago. At first I thought this was a recipe from Dorie, but after an extensive search through her book (and all the other cookbooks I have) I realize that it came from Cooking Light! I didn't even remember finishing this recipe because of how strangely it started. I don't know what the issue was, but the instructions said to knead. Please, tell me someone...how do you knead a "muffin" batter? Something was wrong that day b/c my dough was not thick enough. So, I just added a bit more flour and didn't knead...I just placed the batter/dough onto the stone. Turned out okay but I'd like to try it again and see if the outcome is better! Visit Cate's site to see the other great entries. Banana Bran Scones adapted from Cooking Light Nov 2007 Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)

1/2 cup wheat bran

2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup ripe mashed banana (about 2)

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1/4 cup fat-free buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons fat-free buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife.

Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through cinnamon) in a food processor; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Combine banana and brown sugar in a medium bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Add flour mixture and 1/4 cup buttermilk alternately to banana mixture, stirring just until moist. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 1 1/2 minutes with floured hands. Pat dough into a 6-inch circle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cut dough into 8 wedges, cutting into, but not through, dough. Brush 1 1/2 teaspoons buttermilk over surface of dough; sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 400° for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan; cool on wire racks.