Scones!

In my opinion, scones should always have an exclamation point. They are exciting, so very British, and, as Nellie asserts, rather romantic. Also, I had always considered myself a wretched baker (not patient enough to be precise in measuring), and so when I first tried the below recipe (a combination of two I found online) last spring, I had low expectations - which were far exceeded when the scones came out near-perfect. A second try this weekend proved them even better and sconier than the scones before. I recommend you all give these a try, if nothing else to boost your self-esteem.

Basic Scone
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated white sugar (a similar recipe called for 1/3, but I went for the more conservative)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (the other recipe called for 1/2)
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces (note: I used salted as it's what I had on hand, and the scones were better-than-fine. Also, the other recipe called for the butter to be frozen; I just used it straight from the fridge, and that was hard enough.)
2/3 cup buttermilk (or, add 1 Tablespoon lemon juice to 1 cup milk; let stand 5-10 minutes)

"Flavor" (I made lemon ginger scones; this could be adjusted for any ingredient)
1/2 cup crystalized (or candied) ginger, chopped into small pieces (Really inexpensive packs of candied ginger are available at the Chapel Hill Trader Joes.)
Zest of one large lemon

Egg Mixture for brushing top:
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place rack in middle of oven. (note: Based on type of baking sheet, I have moved the rack to middle/top of oven, so as not to scorch the scone bottoms.)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like small, coarse crumbs. Stir in the chopped ginger and lemon zest (or other chosen ingredients). Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and very lightly stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over-mix the dough.

Transfer to a lightly-floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 3/4 inch thick. (The other recipe called for dough circle to be 1 1/2 inches thick and bake longer.) Transfer the dough circle to a baking sheet that is either lined with parchment paper or lightly-floured. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into 3 or 4 pie-shaped wedges (triangles). (note: I consider these to be American-Sized scones, and next time will cut them very small and more snackable, 5 wedges per half.)

Make an egg wash of one well-beaten egg mixed with 1 Tablespoon milk and brush the tops of the scones with this mixture. You may want to sprinkle the tops with sugar after applying the wash.

Bake for 14-17 minutes or until golden-brown and a toothpick or fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. (If making the thicker, 1 1/2 inch scones, bake 20-25 minutes.) Remove from oven and transfer scones to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 6-8 (or, Rebecca-style, 10) scones.


If you're interested, here is a recipe for Lemon Curd, which is fantastic with sweetly-flavored scones:

Juice fresh-squeezed from 2 large lemons
Zest of one large lemon
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed

In a 2-quart saucepan, combine lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, eggs, and butter. Cook over medium-low heat until thick enough to hold marks from whisk and first bubble appears on surface, about 6-10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate. Keeps for about one week. (Note: I did not stir as regularly as I should, so there were little bits of cooked egg-white in my curd this time around. You can't taste it or tell a significant difference, so I didn't worry about it. If I were taking this to a fancy tea or something, though, I might have been a bit sheepish over it.)

Smoothies

Okay, I know everyone probably already knows how to make smoothies, but if not, here's an easy and yummy recipe... and people should still have their blenders out of storage from making the tomato soup! (Hint: The quality of the yogurt really matters--if you use non-organic, you can really taste the artificial sweetener and other fake stuff.)

~1 cup Stonyfield Farms vanilla yogurt (lowfat or fat-free)
~Several ice cubes
~2-3 servings of fruit (I usually use 1 fresh banana plus about a cup of frozen strawberries and/or orange or pineapple chunks.. you can buy pre-cut frozen fruit that is especially made for smoothies)
~a few squeezes of fresh lemon
~1-2 tbsp honey

Combine in blender. Easy and yummy! If you like your smoothie to be more drinkable, you can add orange juice.

Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

Cal was watching Paula Deen on the Food Network the other night, and she was (unfortunately for our waistlines) making these unbelievably simple cookies. In an shameless plug for her merchandise, she mentioned that the recipe is in a cookbook of hers that we happened to have (thanks, Christina!). Cal promptly got out of the Ugly Green Recliner, headed straight for the kitchen, and made up a batch in 10 minutes. Now I crave them all the time. Not good. (But, really, oh so good.)

1 c. crunchy* peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all together in a bowl with a spoon. Scoop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 minutes (according to the recipe; we cook 'em a minute or two less so that they're gooey) at 350 degrees. Sprinkle on top with sugar.

*In his first experiment, Cal did half creamy, half crunchy. Indisputably better with crunchy. Suit yourselves, though.