Spicy Scones

This has been a rather momentous week for me- I have successfully maneuvered my way through my first week of classes while simultaneously playing suite mother and chef.  It is quite a balancing act, between cooking and studying, but one that I am happy to take on.  For the fall, I have signed up for a farmer's vegetable share system, where I pick up a bunch of farm-fresh veggies each week.  The veggies are whatever the farm has produced that week, so they are always fresh, and it is always a surprise.

This week, among many other things, I received a bag of eight jalapeño peppers.  I have actually never cooked with jalapeños before, so it was quite an adventure.  First, my roommate and I attempted salsa.  We followed the recipe, we though, but the salsa was incredibly spicy!  We added some roasted tomatoes to try to reduce the spice, which actually made it pretty tasty, but it was still very hot.  One of my friends pointed out that since the jalapeños are fresh, they have a bit more spice to them.

So this afternoon, between studying, I decided to give the jalapeños another chance, but this time I made scones.  I have made countless sweet scones, but this was my first batch of savory.  I found a wonderful recipe from Smitten Kitten, and went with it.  I made sure to remove most of the seeds from my extra spicy peppers, and counted on the cheese to counteract some of the spice.

And I have to say, they turned out magnificently!  They do have a bit of a kick to them, but nothing like the mouth-on-fire salsa.  The scone is a rich, buttery, cheesy, deliciously savory bite with a bit of spice from the jalapeños.  They were a perfect afternoon snack today, and luckily there are a few left to snack on tomorrow!

Bon Appétit,
Margaret

Scrumptious Scones

Now, don't get me wrong, I love baking desserts and cupcakes, but often the baked goods that I appreciate the most are my breakfast pastries.  It is always wonderful to start the day with a delicious, home-baked scone or muffin.

In the past couple weeks I have made a couple different kinds of scones and muffins.  First, I made dried cherry and lemon scones, using the delicious dried cherries from Cherry Republic in Charlevoix.  The recipe is exactly the same as my blueberry scone recipe, except I used chopped dried cherries instead of dried blueberries.

Those were soon gone, so today I decided on a batch of cinnamon scones.  Again, I used the same recipe mentioned before, but to make them stand out as cinnamon scones I used brown sugar (instead of regular white sugar), 4 tsp of ground cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg.

They definitely have a good, strong cinnamon flavor to them, and will make a perfect breakfast for the next few days!

Happy Baking!

Margaret

Baking for Breakfast

Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day- especially when it's sweet and filled with fruit. These scones do just that. I have used this recipe for plain scones at least three times in the last month or so, but today I decided to throw in a little extra something. Today it happened to be dried blueberries and lemon zest, but really any fruit would work nicely. Enjoy!

Mini Blueberry Scones

Adapted from Gourmet

Makes about 16 (I got 20 since mine were smaller)

1/2 cup heavy cream plus additional for brushing the scones

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons sugar

Additional raw sugar for sprinkling scones

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

1 tablespoon double-acting baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter

1/2 cup dried blueberries

1 tablespoon lemon zest

In a bowl whisk together 1/2 cup of the cream, the egg, the vanilla, and 6 tablespoons of the sugar until the mixture is combined well. In another bowl stir together the flour, the salt, the baking powder, and the baking soda. 

Using a cheese grater that yields large pieces, grate butter directly into flour mixture and stir in with a fork. (I find that this is easier than cutting it and then trying to blend it into the dough.)  

Stir in the blueberries, lemon zest, and the cream mixture with a fork until the mixture just forms a sticky but manageable dough. 

Knead the dough gently on a lightly floured surface for 30 seconds, pat it into a 1/2-inch-thick round, and with a 1 1/2-inch fluted cutter cut it into rounds (or other fun shapes!). 

Gather the scraps, repat the dough, and cut out more rounds. On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper brush the scones with the additional cream and sprinkle them with the additional sugar (I like to use raw sugar here). Bake the scones in the middle of a preheated 400°F. oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until they are golden.