Whole Wheat Raspberry Ricotta Scones

Ohhhhh yes! Another scone recipe! This one actually came to me from my dear friend A., who, knowing of my recent scone obsession, was thoughtful enough to send me this one. And unbeknownst to her, it just so happens that the ingredients languishing in my dwindling pre-move fridge are yes: whole wheat flour, raspberries, ricotta cheese, and heavy cream! Does the baking world get more cosmic than this? I would argue: it does not. Thanks A!

I broke with my scone habits and baked these fresh. I didn't have quite enough raspberries, but I did have an arbitrary pear. So I mashed up the raspberries so they were throughout the whole dough, not in pieces, and used the pear for the "chunky" fruit. So for me they were really more pear scones than raspberry but I think the raspberry would be delicious too in larger quantity. Pear really should be used more often! I loved these warm with the pear. And the ricotta cheese was wonderful with the wheat, unlike buttermilk-wheat which I have turned against.

This recipe comes from the Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2011/07/whole-wheat-raspberry-ricotta-scones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+smittenkitchen+%28smitten+kitchen%29

Ingredients:

1 C. whole wheat flour

1 C. all-purpose flour

1 T. baking powder, preferably aluminum-free

1/4 C. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. table salt

6 T. cold unsalted butter

1 C. fresh raspberries

3/4 C. whole milk ricotta

1/3 C. heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together.

With a pastry blender: Add the butter (no need to chop it first) and use the blender to both cut the butter into the flour mixture until the biggest pieces are the size of small peas. Toss in raspberries and use the blender again to break them into halves and quarter berry sized chunks.

Without a pastry blender: Cut the butter into small pieces with a knife and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Roughly chop the raspberries on a cutting board and stir them into the butter-flour mixture.

Both methods: Add the ricotta and heavy cream together and stir them in to form a dough with a flexible spatula.Using your hands, gently knead dough into an even mass, right in the bottom of the bowl. Don’t fret if the raspberries get muddled and smudge up the dough. This is a pretty thing.

With as few movements as possible, transfer the dough to a well-floured counter, flour the top of the dough and pat it into a 7-inch square about 1-inch tall. With a large knife, divide the dough into 9 even squares. Transfer the scones to prepared baking sheet with a spatula. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes, until lightly golden at the edges. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. It’s best to cool them about halfway before eating them, so they can set a bit more.

Do ahead: Scones are always best the day they are baked. However, if you wish to get a lead on them, you can make them, arrange them on your parchment-lined sheet and freeze them. If you’re prepping just one day in advance, cover the tray with plastic wrap and bake them the day you need them. If you’re preparing them more than one day in advance, once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or container. Bring them back to a parchment-lined sheet when you’re ready to bake them. No need to defrost the froze, unbaked scones, just add 2 to 3 minutes to your baking time.

Classic Scones

So basically I'm addicted to scones.

These are from our friend Mark Bittman and they are rich and creamy and biscuity and sooooo good with some Greek yogurt and a little apricot puree spread on the top. Kind of like clotted cream and jam, only my version. Thank you once again Mr. Bittman my friend.

Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/13/dining/13minirex.html?ref=dining

Ingredients:

2 C. cake flour, more as needed

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

3 T. sugar

5 T. cold butter, cut into pieces

1 egg

1/2 - 3/4 C. heavy whipping cream, more for brushing

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Put the flour, salt, baking powder and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal.

2. Add the egg and just enough cream to form a slightly sticky dough. If it’s too sticky, add a little flour, but very little; it should still stick a little to your hands.

3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead once or twice, then press it into a 3/4-inch-thick circle and cut into 2-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or glass. Put the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet. Gently reshape the leftover dough and cut again. Brush the top of each scone with a bit of cream and sprinkle with a little of the remaining sugar.

4. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the scones are a beautiful golden brown. Serve immediately.

Yield: 8 to 10 scones.

Pumpkin Bread

When I got married the lovely ladies from my parents' (now old) ward in Utah sent me the ward cookbook compiled by the RS for one of the previous marriages in the ward. It was a nice gesture, but when I flipped through it I was forced to admit that there was only one recipe in the whole book that I thought I would ever make.

It was my mother's.

I present to you my mother's pumpkin bread. And after said presenting, I will recycle the rest of the cookbook*. Sorry old ward, but this new little cook doesn't like cream of mushroom soup, Bisquick, or casseroles.

Ingredients:

2/3 C. yellow shortening

2 2/3 C. sugar

4 eggs

1 can (1 lbs.) pumpkin

2/3 C. water

3 1/3 C. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. soda

1 1/s tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1 C. coarsely chopped nuts

Directions:

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs. Stir in pumpkin and water.

2. Blend flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture. Stir in nuts.

3. Spoon into two well greased medium loaf pans (8.5" x 4.5") and bake at 350F about 70 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clearn.

Mom's note: This is a favorite at Christmas time. We also like it at Thanksgiving as an alternative to pumpkin pie. (My note: We do??? We like anything that isn't pie???)

*-- Will I regret this when I have children?

Cinnamon Rolls

When you ask someone in my family how to make one of the classic recipes, and then you ask someone else in the same family how to make the same recipe, you are sure to get a few different answers. Sometimes the same person doesn't always tell you the same way. So you just have to make things up a little as you go along.

When I wanted to make cinnamon rolls I went to two different sources for information and quantities and what not and I present to you the amalgam of everything that has best worked for me. These cinnamon rolls, however you do them, are delicious. Just ask the Robber, who ate ten of them in under 24 hours. :)

The roll base is the same that I use for dinner rolls and can be found previously on this blog here: http://vegetabletuesdays.blogspot.com/2010/12/dinner-rolls.html

Ingredients:

For 2 dozen rolls (you can also make one dozen rolls and one dozen cinnamon rolls):

2 3/4 c warm water

6 T sugar (optional: add 2-4 T. more for sweeter dough)

2 T yeast

3 t salt

1 c dry milk powder

1/2-3/4 c yellow shortening (or vegetable oil)

2 eggs

~9 c white bread flour

For filling for 2 dozen rolls (modest amount first, extravagant second. I like being extravagant):

1/2 - 2/3 C. brown sugar

1 - 1 1/3 C. granulated sugar

2 - 3 1/3 T. butter

4 - 5 T. cinnamon

For glaze for 2 dozen rolls:

3.5 T. butter

4.5 C. powdered sugar

1.5 tsp. vanilla

5-7 T. warm water added 1 T. at a time

For filling mix, of which you can make a lot of and then use 2/3 - 1 C. per dozen rolls instead of making filling everytime:

2 C. brown sugar

4 C. sugar

1/4 lbs butter (1 stick)

1 C. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Pour water over sugar in large bowl. Dissolve yeast and let stand, uninterrupted. When foamy, add milk.

2. Alternate 1/2 C. additions of flour with salt, eggs, fat and stir until all flour added to bowl.

3. Knead 10 minutes with additional flour. Allow to rise, covered in a warm place, until volume of dough has doubled.

4. Make filling by combining ingredients and using pastry cutter or fork to cut in the butter.

4. Punch down. Divide dough in half. Roll each half out into a large rectangle and add desired amount of filling. Roll the rectangle into a log and cut into twelve rolls. Place rolls on baking sheet or in 9 x 13 pan and allow to rise until doubled again.

5. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool. When cooled, frost with glaze. (Glaze is easy to make, you can melt the butter before adding it if you like for a smoother glaze.) Rolls can be microwaved again for 30 seconds to re-warm and stored in plastic airtight bags for a few days.

Lemon Cream Scones

The second of my apricot scone recipes. I used fresh lemons straight off the property lemon tree so I think these will be quite tangy and flavorful. The reviewers on Epicurious pretty much make this as is and all rave about it, so I'm excited to try these scones out tomorrow at breakfast! The only change I made to this recipe is using about 1 1/4 C. apricots instead of 3/4.

From Bon Appetit May 1996, by way of Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Cream-Scones-1923

Ingredients:

2 C. all purpose flour

1/4 C. plus 2 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 C. chopped dried apricots (or more!)

1 1/4 C. whipping cream

3 T. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 425F. Mix flour, 1/4 C. sugar, baking power, salt, apricots, and lemon peel in mixing bowl. Add whipping cream and stir until dough just forms.

2. Turn dough out and lightly knead on floured surface. Form dough into 10" diameter 1/2" thick round. Cut into 12 wedges.

3. Transfer wedges to baking sheet. Combine remaining 2 T. sugar and 1 tsp. lemon peel in small bowl. Brush scones with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Bake scones 15 min. until light brown.

4. Note: Can be prepared 1 day ahead, cooled, wrapped in foil and stored at room temperature.

Apricot Sour Cream Scones

You can never have enough scones, right? I'm actually in California and on a hiatus from my scone-per-day diet, but in planning a little breakfast triple date-o for Saturday scones came up as an option and could I resist an opportunity to try out a few new scone recipes? I could not! Of course I made the lemon blueberry scones, they are the best. I also had two new recipes that wanted apricots, so even though three types of scones is excessive for six people, I figured I could make both and freeze the leftovers for the Robber to enjoy after I'm gone back to NY.

Practically every Epicurious reviewer stated that the recipe as written is too dry and they added extra liquid. I took the advice of one reviewer and added an additional 1/3 C. whipping cream and found that was sufficient. I also didn't have quite enough sour cream for 2/3 C. and topped that out with perhaps 1/4 C. buttermilk. I will tell you: the dough was delicious. So sour and yet sweet with the brown sugar. I, along with most reviewers, also doubled the apricots. Other reviewers substitute in any old dry fruit that they want with these. There was controversy as to the need for the glaze, I of course froze mine and didn't try the glaze out but I include it below.

Originally from Bon Appetit November 1997 by way of Epicurious:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Apricot-Sour-Cream-Scones-4412

Ingredients:

2 C. all purpose flour

1/4 C. packed light brown sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

5 T. chilled unsalted butter

2/3 C. sour cream (+ 1/3 C. additional liquid)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. chopped dried apricots (I doubled this.)

1 large egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)

Additional light brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Mix the first 5 ingredients and chopped apricots in a large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender (or you can freeze it first and then grate it with a cheese grater ala Annie).

2. In separate small bowl, combine sour cream, additional liquid, and vanilla. Make a well in center of flour mixture and pour in liquids. Mix just until wet. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead gently until dough coalesces into formed ball.

3. Flatten dough into 8-inch round. Cut into 8 wedges. (Or you can drop the scones in rounds onto a baking sheet instead.) Transfer wedges to baking sheet. Brush with egg. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

4. Bake until golden, about 20 minutes (or less, watch them closely). Serve warm or at room temperature.