Cranberry-Orange Scones

Not being 100% happy with my Annie's cranberry scone recipe (although it is delicious!) and still having frozen cranberries left over I chose to use the rest of my berries by making 1 1/2 of this recipe. I didn't make any major changes except using frozen vs. dried cranberries, but did add a few more cranberries than it recommended just to use them all and because I always want more than the recipes writers. The reviewers love this recipe and don't mess with the base much, but do add whatever they want in it. The dough by itself had a lovely texture and a good flavor and I'm excited to try one of these sometime soon.

Here's the link, originally from Bon Appetit 1998:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cranberry-Orange-Scones-15682

Ingredients:

3 C. all purpose flour

1/3 C. sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 T. grated orange peel

3/4 C. chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

3/4 C. dried cranberries

1 C. chilled buttermilk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl. Mix in orange peel. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in dried cranberries. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with fork until moist clumps form.

3. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Knead briefly to bind dough, about 4 turns. Form dough into 1-inch-thick round. Cut into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.

4. Bake until tops of scones are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.

Scottish Oat Scones

Never mind me, just stocking up on more scones to last me through the PICU. These are from Epicurious, and per the reviewers, I doubled the sugar and only used about 1/3 C. of melted butter and omitted the cream of tartar and they were still plenty sticky. Most of the reviewers omitted the raisins, but I had them so I threw a whole cup in. We'll see how they turn out!

From Epi-land, oh so grand:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Scottish-Oat-Scones-1585

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C. all purpose flour

1 1/4 C. old-fashioned oatmeal

1/4 C. sugar (I doubled this)

1 T. baking powder

1 tsp. cream of tartar (I omitted this)

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 C. unsalted butter, melted (I used about 1/3)

1 egg, beaten to blend

1/2 C. raisins (I doubled this)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Grease cookie sheet.

2. Combine first 6 ingredients in large bowl. Mix together butter, milk and egg in another bowl. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened. Mix in raisins.

3. Shape dough into ball. Place on lightly floured work surface. Pat out to form 3/4-inch-thick circle. Using sharp knife, cut into 12 wedges. Transfer to prepared cookies sheet.

4. Bake until light brown, about 12 minutes. Cool slightly on rack. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool completely. Store in airtight container.)

(I of course froze these after the mixing step in individual scones without patting out.)

Nutmeg Scented Scones

I'm branching out from Annie and looking for more great scone recipes elsewhere. Eventually I'll get around to reviewing my Annie scones and making a list of keepers/non-keepers, but for now let me just say that I'm loving my new scone-for-breakfast lifestyle and my supply of old frozen scones is slowly dwindling! So I'm looking for new recipes and sorted through the trove on Epicurious of four star scones to try out. This was the first one I made because the ingredients were simple and I had everything on hand. But of course I froze them all right away and omitted the glaze, so like with the other scone recipes, a real review will have to come later.

Nutmeg Scented Scones, originally from Bon Appetit 2003:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Nutmeg-Scented-Scones-108945

Ingredients:

2 C. all purpose flour

1/3 C. golden brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. freshly grated whole nutmeg or ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

6 T. chilled unsalted butter, cut into smaller pieces

1 C. sour cream

1 egg white, beaten to blend with 2 tsp. water

2 tsp. sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in processor; blend 10 seconds. Using on/off turns, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add sour cream. Using on/off turns, blend until moist clumps form. Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Knead 4 turns to form ball. Roll out dough to 8-inch square (about 3/4 inch thick). Cut square into 8 wedges.

3. Brush with egg-white glaze; sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Transfer to baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.

4. Bake scones until tops are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer scones to rack and cool slightly. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Store scones airtight at room temperature. Rewarm in 350°F oven 10 minutes, if desired.

Apricot and Yogurt Parfaits

I've been dying to make something with apricots and I've been eating a ton of Greek yogurt lately so I thought why not? But perhaps this wasn't the way to go. I burned the puree a little and it wasn't sweet enough for me. I think I'll add some more sugar and some cinnamon to my puree before I eat another round. Or maybe in the future I'll get gutsy enough to make it again. If I do, I will simmer the apricots on a lower heat and stir them more often. :) And eat them with someone else, instead of alone on a Saturday night.

(Post edit: So I took about 3/4 of a cup or so and heated it up and threw in at least 1/4 tsp of cinnamon and 1 T. sugar and lo and behold, somehow the same combination but with warm puree and cold yogurt and the cinnamon made what was blah blah blah before to something lovely and comforting, so I am repentant but definitely in favor of more sugar and the cinnamon despite the added calories. Yes.)

From Recipes For Health:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/health/nutrition/24recipehealth.html?ref=nutrition

Instructions for the puree:

2 1/2 pounds fresh, ripe apricots

3 T. sugar, preferably organic, or mild honey like clover

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, drop in the apricots and boil for 20 seconds. Transfer to the ice water with a slotted spoon or a spider, and allow to cool for a few minutes. Drain, slip off the skins, cut in half and remove the stones.

2. Place the apricots and sugar or honey in a large, heavy saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer 10 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until the apricots have broken down into a thick purée. Remove from the heat, and allow to cool in the pan. When cool, use a rubber spatula to scrape the purée into a jar or a container. Cover and refrigerate.

Yield: 2 cups.

Advance preparation: This will keep for two weeks in the refrigerator.

Nutritional information per 1/4 cup: 82 calories; 1 gram fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 19 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 1 milligram sodium; 2 grams protein

And for the parfait. . .

Ingredients:

1 cup apricot puree

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

2 cups low-fat (2%) thickened yogurt or Greek-style yogurt

1 tablespoon finely chopped almonds, toasted or raw

Directions:

1. Make the apricot purée as directed. If desired, add to it 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.

2. Spoon 1/4 cup thickened yogurt into the bottom of each of four tumblers or parfait glasses. Top with 2 tablespoons of the apricot purée. Make another 1/4 cup layer of yogurt on top of the apricot purée, and finish with another 2-tablespoon layer of apricot purée. Cover tightly and chill for at least one hour. Just before serving, sprinkle finely chopped almonds over the top.

Yield: Serves four.

Advance preparation: The assembled parfaits will hold in the refrigerator for a day. Sprinkle on the almonds just before serving.

Nutritional information per serving: 165 calories; 3 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 8 milligrams cholesterol; 24 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 39 milligrams sodium; 12 grams protein

Strawberry Fool

As I had all of the ingredients over the weekend and had not planned a way to fulfill my wifely duty and feed my husband something with whipped cream, I tried to make this until my blender imploded and ended up with a bowl of whipped cream and strawberries all over my counter. Never fear I added blueberries and whatnot to the cream and it was delicious, but it was not the fool.

I am all the more the fool for attempting to use a blender. Way over my head.

But here is the recipe from Mark Bittman himself:

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/recipe-of-the-day-strawberry-fool/

Ingredients:

1 pint strawberries

1/2 C. sugar, or to taste

1 C. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract, optional

Directions:

1. Hull strawberries, then wash them and chop into 1/4-inch-thick pieces. Toss with half the sugar, and wait 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they give up their juices.

2. Place half the strawberries and all the juice in a blender, and puree. Pour puree back in bowl with chopped strawberries.

3. Whip the cream with remaining sugar and vanilla until cream is stiff and holds peaks easily. Fold berries and cream together, and serve immediately, or refrigerate for up to two hours.

Variation: To make a gratin, preheat broiler, setting rack close to heat source. Hull and slice berries, and toss them in a gratin dish with half the sugar. Beat cream with half the remaining sugar and the vanilla, just until it holds soft peaks. Top berries with cream, and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Broil carefully, rotating dish so that cream browns all over. Remove and serve.

Notes from Mr. Bittman: If you have perfectly ripe, sweet berries, you may reduce the sugar called for by half. On the other hand, some berries are so tart that you will need more. I add a bit of vanilla extract to the cream for flavor, but you can consider this optional. The fool can be made with almost any fruit but is best with berries, especially strawberries.

Maple Oatmeal Scones

Just because I had some aging blueberries. Not that this recipe calls for them, but why not throw them in? One of the few Annie's scones recipes I haven't tried yet. Don't worry, there are only two more to go in the bunch. Also I froze them all, but the batter with the blueberries was delicious. Naturally because I froze them I didn't try the glaze, and probably won't since I will bake them one at a time with the other frozen scones, but I include it below.

Here's the link:

http://annies-eats.net/2007/05/07/maple-oatmeal-scones/

Ingredients:

For the scones:

1 ¾ c. all purpose flour

½ c. whole wheat flour

½ c. quick cooking oats, plus additional for sprinkling

1 T. baking powder

1 T. sugar

1 tsp. salt

½ lb. (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, diced

¼ c. cold buttermilk

¼ c. pure maple syrup

2 eggs, lightly beaten

(Approx. 1 1/2 c. fresh blueberries)

1 egg beaten with 1 tsbp. water for egg wash

For the glaze:

½ c. + 2 T. confectioners’ sugar

¼ c. pure maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt. Blend in the cold butter with an electric mixer on the lowest speed and mix until butter is in pea-sized pieces. (If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.) Combine the buttermilk, maple syrup and eggs and add quickly to the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just well blended. The dough may be sticky.

3. Dump the dough onto a well floured surface and be sure it is combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough ¾ to 1 inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into 3-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with egg wash.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are crisp and the insides are done.

(I didn't roll these out, I just dumped portions on to pieces of plastic wrap, gently teased them into round 1 inch thick shapes, and wrapped up the plastic wrap and stored them all together in a freezer bag.)

5. To make the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. When the scones are done, cool for 5 minutes, and drizzle each scone with 1 tablespoon of glaze. Sprinkle with some uncooked oats for garnish.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes (with or without oatmeal)

This week I have been reveling in fruit. I bought strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mango, kiwi-- green beans, tomatoes. I have been eating fruit by the bowlful for breakfast and dinner, plain or mixed in with Greek yogurt or whipped cream. Amazing. But I also had some left over buttermilk and so many blueberries that when I perused my Gmail draft of recipes to try and saw this buttermilk blueberry combo option I decided to give it go. Also, I'm trying this new thing about making food in advance and freezing it-- aka my great scone project, more on that to come-- and Ms. Shulman swears you can do it with pancakes like Annie does with scones so I thought I'd make some for lunch and freeze the rest. We'll see how that turns out.

In the meantime, these were good-- nice and fluffy as I find all of Ms. Shulman's pancakes are. Still, they weren't my favorite as I think I've decided I don't much like the buttermilk/wheat flour combination. It makes the wheat taste grittier to me in a way I don't like. If I try these again I will probably just use regular milk. I also added an additional 1/2 cup blueberries, like I do to everything that wants berries in it. I just think more is better in these cases. Also I just mix them in directly, not dropping them in delicately as she describes.

Ms. Shulman also has a version that is exactly identical to this one, only it adds 1/2 cup rolled oats and 1/2 cup milk in addition to the buttermilk. She also wants you to let the batter sit for one hour or refrigerate overnight and I was much too hungry to wait. The links to both from the NYTimes are below:

Without oatmeal:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/healthspecial2/15recipekids-pancakes.html?ref=kidsedition

With oatmeal:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/health/nutrition/10recipehealth.html

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 T. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 T. canola oil
1 cup (1 1/2 cup in my case!) fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat a griddle.

2. Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the buttermilk and whisk together. Whisk in the vanilla extract and the oil.

4. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and quickly whisk together. Do not over-beat. A few lumps are okay.

5. If necessary, spray the hot griddle with pan spray. Drop by half ladlefuls (three to four tablespoons) onto the hot griddle. Place six or seven blueberries on each pancake. Cook until bubbles begin to break through, two to three minutes. Turn and cook for about 30 seconds on the other side, until nicely browned. Remove from heat and continue until all of the batter is used up.

6. Serve hot, with butter and maple syrup.

Yield: 12 four-inch pancakes

Advance preparation: These freeze well for several weeks. If making ahead, make stacks of three or four, wrap them in plastic, then freeze in a freezer bag.

Pumpkin Cornbread

Another NYTimes recipe. I had borrowed a cast-iron skillet from a friend for our anniversary, and returned it at a Memorial Day BBQ party hosted at the same friend's house with this baked inside. I didn't eat a lot, as I am consuming smaller amounts lately, and was obligated to eat a slider instead. I will tell you that if I had to choose between the slider-- blue cheese, red onion, arugula, sauteed pear, and bacon on a beef patty-- and the cornbread I would go with the slider but what I had of this cornbread I actually really liked! It was sweeter than most cornbreads I like, but the texture was somehow better than average and the flavor was pleasing. I would make this again if I had leftover pumpkin. I still have leftover pumpkin from making this, but not enough for a second batch.

From Ms. Shulman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/health/nutrition/24recipehealth.html?adxnnl=1&ref=pumpkin&adxnnlx=1307197081-rY2NSKzWU7DKm9XVT9z6aQ

Note: I made also the Indian Pumpkin pudding from Ms. Shulman's batch of pumpkin recipes. It looked so promising and was-- in truth-- so disgusting. Way way too sweet for me and I just felt sick eating it and threw it out. A sad waste, but that's part of cooking, yes? You have to try new things and then decide whether to try again or move on. I'll just move on this time.

Ingredients:

1 cup drained pumpkin purée, canned or made from 1 pound fresh pumpkin (see below)

1 cup low-fat milk (I used buttermilk)

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. mild honey, such as clover

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups stone ground yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 T. unsalted butter (I also sprinkled the top pre-baking with some turbinado sugar)

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees, and place inside a 9-inch cast iron skillet or a 2-quart baking dish.

2. Whisk together the pumpkin purée, milk, olive oil, honey and eggs.

3. Place the cornmeal in a large bowl, and sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together. Do not overwork.

5. Remove the baking dish or pan from the oven, and add the butter. When it has melted completely, brush the sides of the pan with a pastry brush; tip the excess melted butter into the batter, and quickly mix it in. Scrape the batter into the hot pan, and return it to the oven. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes before serving.

To make the pumpkin purée: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Place the pumpkin pieces on the baking sheet, drizzle 1 tablespoon of canola oil or olive oil on top, cover tightly with foil and place in the oven. Roast for 1 1/2 hours or until thoroughly tender. Remove from the heat, transfer to a strainer or a colander set over a bowl or in the sink, and allow to cool and drain. Peel the pieces, and purée them in a food processor fitted with the steel blade.

Yield: 12 servings.

Advance preparation: This will keep for a couple of days if well wrapped. It does not freeze well.

Nutritional information per serving: 141 calories; 5 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 39 milligrams cholesterol; 22 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 320 milligrams sodium; 4 grams protein