Snickerdoodle Scones

I have been in a cooking rut and last night I went through my Breakfast Pinterest board and decided that I would get up and make something yummy for breakfast today.  I settled on Snickerdoodle Scones.

For the Scones:
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh is best!)
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter

For the Cinnamon/Sugar Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the Glaze:
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (use fresh)


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream and egg; refrigerate until needed.

In a separate small bowl, make the cinnamon/sugar topping be stirring together the sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until combined about five 1-second pulses. Add butter and toss with a fork to cover in flour mixture. Pulse until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal flecked with pea-sized bits of butter, about 10 to 12 pulses. Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Add sour cream mixture to flour mixture; fold with spatula until just combined. With rubber spatula, transfer dough to lightly floured work surface. Knead dough 6 to 8 times, until it just holds together. Shape into an 8-inch circle. Sprinkle with cinnamon topping. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 8 wedges.
Place wedges on prepared baking sheet and bake 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

While the scones are cooling, make the spiced glaze. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix until you achieve a thick icing.  Place into a ziplock bag and snip the tip off to drizzle over the scones. Mine was a little on the thin side.  Allow glaze to cool and set up, about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

These came out wonderful!!!  I will definitely make them again!!

Master Chef Victoria makes Cheesy Scones - Month 1

Miss V is a little behind in her YCA at Home program.  She had yesterday off from school and wasn't sick so she wanted to jump right in with Month 1.  The theme of the month was Measure up!  Measuring wet and Dry ingredients.

The recipe this month was Cheesy Scones.

For Christmas I was able to find her a Black Master Chef Coat on eBay.  She was really upset years ago when the local YCA closed and I wasn't able to get her the black one.  She absolutely loved it.  Her first tip is, always pull your hair back.  You don't want to make and serve food with hair in it, YUCK!

Second tip Mise En Place, which means putting in place, setting up.  She loved this part of class and would get everything she needed out and conveniently located on the kitchen counter.

 Scoop, Tap and Swipe with an offset spatula.

 Never measure salt over the bowl, make sure you measure it over the trash or something else so if you spill over you can toss it out.  To much salt in a recipe will make it yucky.

 Part of the YCA at Home program is the Secret Ingredient.

 Hmmm...It says it can also be used in Gum and Candy?

 A big sniff and she doesn't think so!

 Month 1 secret ingredient is DILL!

 Mixing up the dough.

 Folding it and patting into a circle that is one inch thick.

She started to cut the scone dough into 8ths with her YCA knife.  It was kind of to sticky.

 The YCA Pizza cutter is a better kitchen tool for this job!

 After the first 10 minute baking, add the rest of the cheddar cheese.

 All done and ready to cool a bit before eating.

Miss V said she loved that they were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  She liked the cheesy dill flavor also.

When you log onto your YCA at Home account, students can download extra recipes.  Miss V had a great time practicing her skills.

Pumpkin Scones

I had about 1/2 a cup left over canned pumpkin from making the cinnamon rolls.  So I went in search of another breakfast item that I could make.  I settled on Pumpkin Scones and they are from that "other" coffee shop, the one that I will not go to, because...well I am a Dunkie's kind of gal.  Anyway I made these, but they were way to sticky.

2 cups all-purpose flour (I had to knead in about 1/2 to 3/4 cup more flour)
7 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (use fresh please...)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons half-and-half (didn't have any so I used light cream)
1 large egg

Powderered Sugar Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk

Spiced Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (again..use fresh please)
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

TO MAKE THE SCONES:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a food processor, pulse 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. Form the dough into a ball.

Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet. (These a HUGE and I really should have cut them smaller, no wonder people have portion distortion)

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE THE PLAIN GLAZE:

Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.

When scones are cool, use the back of a spoon to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

As the white glaze dries, make your spiced glaze:

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 ziplock bag works great for this.  I mixed it right in the bag until smooth then snipped off a corner.

I must say the scones are HUGE!!! I should have cut them even smaller.

Basic Scones

I think I am going to make some chocolate chip scones and cut them into hearts. Here is a good basic scone recipe that you can tweak with add ins.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk (approx.)

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Stir in the egg. (If you are using one of the variations below, this is a good point to add nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, cheese, etc.)

Gradually add the milk until a thick dough is formed. (It may take more or less than 3/4 cup.)

Turn out the mixture onto a floured board and knead lightly. Roll out the dough to 3/4" thickness and cut into rounds with a 2" cookie cutter. Gather the trimmings and lightly knead, roll, and cut them as well.

Place the rounds about 1" apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with a little beaten egg or milk. Bake in a preheated 450° oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm.

Makes 12 to 16 scones, depending on the recipe version used.

Here are some add ins that you could do:

•Spiced Scones: Add enough cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice to the dry ingredients to total 1/2 teaspoon.


•Raisin Wheat Scones: Our favorite. Substitute white flour with whole wheat pastry flour or half and half white and wheat. Use brown sugar instead of white and plain yogurt instead of whole milk.


•Buttermilk Scones: Substitute buttermilk for whole milk and add 1 tablespoon sugar to the basic recipe.

Walnut Scones: Add 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts.

Cheddar Scones: Add 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese and 1/8 teaspoon dry mustard.

Dried Fruit Scones: Add 1/2 cup raisins, currants, cranberries, or chopped dried apricots.

Chocolate Chip Scones: Add 1/2 cup white or dark chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon vanilla to the basic recipe.

Lemon Scones: Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon sugar to the basic scone recipe.

I even sprinkled on red and white coarse sugar. Cute!!!

Blueberry Scones

This morning I lit a Blueberry Scone Candle from Yankee Candle Co. The house smelled so good that I decided to make some blueberry scones. I found a great recipe on the Joy of Baking website. They has such wonderful recipes.

Blueberry Streusel Scones:

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup (150 grams) fresh blueberries
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon (5 grams) pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk or cream


Brushing tops of scones:
Milk or Cream

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup (55 grams) brown sugar
1/4 cup (35 grams) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons (30 grams) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in middle of oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

For the Scones: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder 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 coarse crumbs. Gently fold in the blueberries. In a small measuring cup combine the cream, beaten egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough or the scones will be tough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (4 cm) thick. Cut this circle in half, then cut each half into four pie-shaped wedges (triangles). Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream or milk.

For the Streusel Topping: In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, and cinnamon. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until crumbly. Top each scone with a teaspoon or two of the streusel mixture. Cover and refrigerate any leftover streusel mixture.

Bake the scones until nicely browned, about 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a scone comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. These are best eaten the day they are made but can be covered and stored for a few days.
Makes 8 scones