Lemon Ginger Scones

This was from a week ago. I meant to post it then, I really did.I just feel so busy with school and other life things. I'm baking I swear, I just don't have the time to post about it regularly=/ Whenever I come home from school and musical, I'm basically dead. And then I just have time for dinner, school work, check my blogs, and get ready for whatever tomorrow brings. Sigh. Well here's the post:


I was feeling a tad under the weather yesterday and took the day off from school to recuperate. Don't judge.

What I like about finding recipes on blogs is that you can see first hand how a regular person thought the recipe was and how it looks. So when you find a recipe in a random supermarket magazine, it's hard to tell if it will be any good. But, with the name Lemon Ginger Scones, it was hard not to at least give it a try. I had some about to go bad ginger root on hand (I assume ginger root goes bad) so I knew this recipe was meant to be made.


From this recipe, I learned how to mice ginger, I added ingredients incorrectly then had to reach in and pull them out, I had an object fall in my heavy cream mixture and spray everywhere, and I have a surplus of crystallized ginger.


Like most scones, the ingredients are pretty basic except for the special ingredient you use to make your scone unique. I coincidentally had all the ingredients on my sick day and went ahead and made them. I have made my fair share of scones, and a lot of my early attempts were not so good=( After trying so many times I was about to give up. But I kept with it and have definitely gotten better at it. I'd have to say that this batch was the best I have ever made. I didn't over mix so I really think that helped.


These scones came out light and soft, with a melt in your mouth crumb. The ginger and lemon are so soothing. Like a throat lozenge. But not at all! I swear they don't taste like those nasty lozenges! The recipe suggests the usual circle formation and then cut it to make triangles, but I NEVER get even baking when I do that. And drop scones are just as pretty so I did it my way.


Lemon Ginger Scones
from Giant Eagle Market District Magazine, adapted by me

Ingredients:
1 c heavy cream
1/4 c water
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 c flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1/3 c crystallized ginger
6 oz unsalted butter, small chunks
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 egg beaten
coarse sugar to garnish

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) In a medium bowl, mix together heavy cream, water and lemon juice; set aside.
3) In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, lemon zest and crystallized ginger.
4) Use a pastry cutter to cut butter into the flour until butter is pea-sized.
5) Next, add vanilla, fresh ginger, and egg into the heavy cream mixture and whisk until well combined.
6) Add cream mixture to the flour mixture and mix gently until the dough comes together.
Drop rounds of 1/3 c of dough onto parchment lined baking sheet and chill for 10 minutes.
7)Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake in oven for 23 minutes. (Give or take)

Pumpkin Scones

Best for last? Maybe;) Of all the pumpkin recipes I made throughout this week, I've had this one on my mind the longest.


Scones have always been an elusive baked good for me. I've made a few varieties before, but I've only ever made one that I was truly satisfied with. It's not that I don't get the flavor across: it's that dang texture. I try and hit the happy medium between too dry or too moist, or between over cooked and undercooked. But I continue on because I love scones just that much=)Pumpkin scones are pretty high up on my favorites list in the scone area. I enjoy Starbucks pumpkin spice scone, but I knew I could recreate it, and if not, better. I had this recipe bookmarked for AGES and now I finally tried it. It did not disappoint! I will say the looks of it aren't as clean cut as some, but I think that's the best part of a scone. It's rustic nature. The way a pie crust isn't supposed to look perfect, and yet that's what makes it so perfect.


The inside texture was fabulous too. I did have to keep them in almost ten minutes longer than the recommended time, but not a big issue. My oven isn't the best calibrated. I really and truly loved the spices. It tasted just the way you would want a pumpkin scone to taste. Like Starbucks', but better. And the spice glaze to go over top? It just helped to bring out the taste even more so!


Pumpkin Scones
from Brown Eyed Baker
Yield: 12 scones

For the Scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
7 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
6 Tablespoons cold butter
½ cup canned pumpkin
3 Tablespoons half-and-half
1 large egg

For the Powdered Sugar Glaze:

(I actually skipped this. Not enough powdered sugar, and it just seemed like overkill)
1 cup plus 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
2 Tabelspoons milk

For the Spiced Glaze:
1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger in a large bowl. Use a fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious; set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and form the dough into a ball. Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle about 3 times as long as wide. Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut each of the portions in an X pattern (four pieces) so you end up with 12 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

4. To make the powdered sugar glaze, mix the powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. When scones are cool, use a brush to spread plain glaze over the top of each scone.

5. To make the spiced glaze, while the powdered sugar glaze is firming, combine all of the ingredients for the spiced glaze. Drizzle over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (about an hour).

White Chocolate Raspberry Scones

My senior year of high school starts Monday. OMG. This is pretty exciting. I'm not gonna lie, I can't wait for school to start. But it's not like I haven't been popping into my school all summer. (I accidentally wrote "pooping" the first time.. whoops) I seem to end up there a couple times a week for various reasons. I hold a couple important positions at my school, and I like to keep involved and active. I'm yearbook editor, president of our Student Ambassador program, and I've been working along side our brand new principal to plan assemblies and dances and the like. As exciting as all this is, it's a lot of work. And I still have some summer assignments to complete first...


When the school year does roll around, it always means one thing. No more sleeping in. Yupp, wake up time for me is 6 AM to catch a 6:30 bus. In that fleeting 30 minutes, I need to get dressed, fix my face ;), do my hair, gather my books and bags (both school, volleyball, and any other after school activity attire), grab any last minute notes for the office, and oh yeah, eat breakfast. With a tight schedule in the wee hours of the morning, it's easy for me to want to skip breakfast. But this is something I do not advocate. I tried it for a while one the years, and I was miserable. Empty stomachs for 5 hours is no fun. So I always try my darnedest to at least have something.


What I've found, is that during my 50 minute ride to school (grrr.....) I have plenty of time for relaxed eating with no stress of missing the bus. However, there are some items you can't easily eat during a bumpy bus ride. (Though I did actually have cereal once or twice. It worked well the first time, but not so much the second... It was quickly put to an end.) I have found that yogurt messes, overnight oat messes, and baked goodies travel well, though=)!


I have then decided that I will put my freezer to use. I'm going to bake some lovely goodies and then freeze them so I can have quick and easy breakfasts for the bus ride! It's genius, yes? And there are so many breakfast treats out there I can't wait to try, and this will give me an excuse to make them=)


First up: Scones. What can be a better combination than raspberry and white chocolate?! I wanted some fresh fruitiness in them, as well as a little touch of decadence. That basically sums up this scone perfectly=)


I do think I should have made them a bit flatter to get a more even cook through, but these tasted amazing none the less. Now, I can't wait for school to start just so I can eat these!


White Chocolate Raspberry Scones
adapted from Noble Pig

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/4 cup plus
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg yolk
1-1/2 cups fresh raspberries (6 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400o F. In a food processor, pulse together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter and pulse until pea-size pieces form. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and egg yolk. Slowly pour buttermilk mixture through feed tube into processor, pulsing until dough just comes together.

Transfer dough to a slightly floured surface and sprinkle raspberries on top. Knead three times to fold in raspberries (my raspberries were mushy so they broke down, if yours are in good shape, they will stay intact). Gather and pat dough into a 1" thick rectangle and cut or pull apart into 2" pieces. Place pieces, about 2 inches apart on two parchment or silicone lined, rimmed baking sheets, sprinkling tops with 1 Tablespoon sugar.

Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let scones cool slightly on sheets on wire racks. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Store in an airtight container up to 1 day).

Scottish Scones

I have a scone baking curse. I love 'em to death but yet I can't make them myself. Whenever I mention that I want to make scones, my family cringes at the notion and persuades me out of it. But, my cousin Lauren (who has her own wonderful blog), told me to try her favorite scone recipe. And after I made my way through some items on my "to-bake" list, I finally made them.

As they popped out of the oven, the heavens opened. I had at last made some great scones! The hallelujah chorus played in the back ground as I took my first bite, then my next, and my many others after that.

The only bad thing about this recipe? It only make eight! These went so fast! I will for sure be making a second batch.

Scottish Scones
Adapted from the Pillsbury Cookbook, seen on Lauren's blog

Scones:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup "quick cooking" oats (Quaker Oats or something else that you would use for oatmeal)
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ cup butter
½ cup milk

Topping:
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and ½ tsp cinnamon. Blend well. Using pastry blender or fork, cut in ½ cup butter, until mix is crumbly. Add milk all at once, stirring just until moistened. On a well-floured surface, gently knead dough five or six times, or enough to work the dough into a ball.

Placed on baking sheet; press into six inch circle, about one in thick. Brush top with melted butter. In small bowl, combine sugar and ¼ tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top. Cut dough into eight wedges. Separate slightly. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.
I actually needed quite a bit longer to get mine golden brown, almost 15 minutes! But that was just me.

Makes eight scones.

Toasted Almond Scones

Toasted Almond Scones

Now that school's started I've been thinking about trying to focus some of my baking on easy-take-with-you breakfast items. The first of which on my list is scones!

I adore scones, but haven't had too much luck making them. My first try was some Strawberry Sunrise Scones, and they came out way too doughy and soggy. They were underdone, yet I had put them in for way over the recommended baking time. So, they tasted okay but not premium scone quality. I also made Ina Garten's famous Cheddar Dill Scones, which was probably the WORST baking experience of my life. They were absolutely terrible. I can laugh about it now, but back then it wasn't so funny. 4 cups of flour was in the recipe and more was needed for kneading, but before you even took a bite of the finished product, you could taste the flour that was inhaling into your lungs. What I mean is; no cheddar taste + no dill taste + all flour taste = TERRIBLE!

It had been a while since my bad scone experience and I was ready to try again. I found a recipe for Toasted Almond Scones and had to try it. I love almonds and this recipe has it in three ways; almond extract, almond slivers, and ground almond.

It was simple enough to make. The only tricky part for me was cutting in the butter in which I gave up using the pastry cutter and found my hands worked fine.

I did eat them, though. I don't like tossing any recipes so I just slathered it in butter then added strawberry or blueberry jam on top of that. Then they were "okay". I probably did something wrong, so don't be afraid to give them a try. also, if anyone has a no-fail scone recipe, it would be greatly appreciated. I love scones, but they just don't love me!

Toasted Almond Scones

Ingredients:
1 cup blanched almonds (whole, slivered or sliced), toasted
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup cold heavy cream
1/4 cup cold whole milk
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional for topping)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Divide the toasted almonds in half. Finely ground 1/2 cup in a food processor or blender with the sugar, taking care not to over grind the nuts and end up with almond butter. Finely chop the other 1/2 cup.

Stir the egg, cream, milk and almond extract together.

Whisk the flour, ground almonds and sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes together. Don’t overdo it. Stir in the chopped almonds.

Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that’s about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and top each scone with a few sliced almonds, if you’re using them. Place them on a baking sheet.

At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don’t defrost before baking—just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.

Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firmish. Transfer to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for the scones to cool to room temperature.