I have been in a chocolate mood lately, a result of stress for me and not fluctuating hormones.  Fortunately, I came across this article: Eating more chocolate associated with fewer cardiovascular events.  Well, of course , I had to make something with chocolate for my heart, preferably with some butter and cream.  And sugar.  It was all for my heart, you see.

So I whipped out the recipe for Double Chocolate and Cherry Scones with Crème Fraiche and Cherry Preserves from Baking Obsession, one of my favorite blogs.  Because I had no idea where my dried cherries were, and I needed a chocolate fix fast, I omitted them and substituted chocolate chips for the chocolate chunks.  I needed the full amount of cream, including the optional 2 tablespoons to pull the dough together.

These were freaking fantastic.  Even my husband, who likes chocolate but prefers other flavors, thought they were amazing.  Definitely on the repeat list.  And if I could give one bit of advice, use a really good cocoa.  I used Pernigotti

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, which is absolutely amazing.
continue reading "Fantastic Chocolaty Chocolate Scones"

These may not look like much, but boy, were they good!  My usual go-to scone recipe is one by Dorie Greenspan, namely her Cream Scones.  But, cream has a lot more calories than buttermilk, and I wanted to expand my repertoire, so I dug up this recipe and fiddled with it a bit.  I added lemon zest, white chocolate, and dried cherries, plus a little extra sugar.  I am not a big fan of really sweet stuff (usually), but I increased the sugar because I served these with a brunch and I needed something sweeter than these scones would have been had I followed the recipe exactly.

Two tips:  leave the white chocolate in big chunks or it will melt into the batter, or use white chocolate chips, which will hold their shape better.  Finally, these scones rise quite a bit, so if you make 8 scones out of the recipe, as I did, they will be big.  These are definitely on the repeat list!
continue reading "White Chocolate Cherry Scones – Day 3 of Chocolate Week"

Come on in and set a spell. I have some stories to share. Have a bit of tea and a “really exceptional” scone, to quote my husband. I’ll get to these luscious, cheesy scones in just a bit. Continue reading after the jump . . . .
continue reading "TWD – “Really Exceptional” Apple-Cheddar Scones."

No Tuesdays with Dorie for me this week, as I’m on vacation (I’ll be back tomorrow.) But I did whip up something else before I left . . .

I bake a fair amount of scones and biscuits for a variety of reasons: they’re quick, easy, affordable, and a great way to Clean Out the Pantry. So, recently when I found myself with some scallions and cheddar that needed to be used up, and little time for baking, I turned to The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook for some inspiration, and found it in the recipe for Scallion Cheddar Scones.

These were a big hit at Chez Chow. I have no idea why, but they smelled like bacon when I was baking them. And whether you eat bacon or not, you have to admit that nothing else smells quite like it does.

Will I be making these again? In a heart beat. I’ve hidden some scallions and cheddar in the back of the fridge expressly for that purpose!
continue reading "Luscious Cheese Scallion Scones"

And neither does cream, that is why I was compelled, compelled, I say, to make some milk chocolate pecan scones. Woe is me!

My favorite type of scone is a cream scone, and I like them flaky, not cakey. Scones are a great way to use up buttermilk or cream, fruit, zest, and of course, chocolate. You see, chocolate doesn’t last forever – you have to use it up, especially white chocolate, which has a shorter shelf life. Dorie Greenspan’s scone recipe is wonderful, and I have used variations of it several times, but I wanted to try something different.

So, I found myself with several large hunks of milk and white chocolates left over from my voluminous Christmas baking, and a pint of cream which was screaming that its expiration date had just passed. I got to work, and after consulting several books, I came up with the following recipe.

I decided to live on the wild side and used Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor from King Arthur Flour for the flavoring instead of vanilla extract. The scones were fantastic, with rave reviews from Master Chow, a die-hard walnut fan! Will wonders never cease? The great thing about scones is that the raw dough freezes really well, so you can make and shape them, then pop them in the freezer (well wrapped), to bake whenever the urge hits you.

A couple of hints/thoughts: (1) Don’t overwork the dough. (2) If you don’t have a food processor, a great way to incorporate the butter is to use a box grater and grate the frozen butter into the dough. (3) You can make 6 or 8 scones. I flattened out the dough a bit more than I normally would, and made 8 because our sugar intake has risen alarmingly between Tuesdays with Dorie and the Daring Bakers.   Recipe after the jump . . .
continue reading "Chocolate Doesn’t Last Forever"

I am a big fan of Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Her descriptions of each tasty treat, along with wonderful pictures, are enough for me to put on five pounds, just by reading. Alas, I do not have Kathy’s (of A Passion for Food) metabolism. That girl can eat!

So, I decided to try her Cream Scone recipe. Delicious. These are flaky with a rich, buttery taste. Ah, butter. Further proof that God loves us! Of course, I snatched one up right out of the oven – I should have listened to Dorie and let them sit for about 10 minutes. The flavor will really develop during that time, and the scones will pull together and not be quite as crumbly to eat.

There was a small mistake in the recipe (it called for currants but did not include an instruction for adding them into the dough). I tweaked it a bit to suit my tastes: I eliminated the currants and added chocolate chips, plus some vanilla bean paste. If you don’t have the paste, substitute two teaspoons of vanilla extract. Dorie gives great instructions on how to make the scones by hand, but they are a snap to put together if you mix the whole batch in a food processor so that you don’t over mix the butter or the dough.

 Cream Scones

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking from My Home to Yours”

1 large egg
2/3 cup cold heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces and chilled
3/4 cup chocolate chips
cream or milk, and sugar for glazing

Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 425 degree F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat.

Stir together the egg, cream, and vanilla bean paste.

In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and pulse about 5 or 6 times, until you have a mixture that includes both pea-sized and smaller pieces of butter. Add the cream mixture and pulse two or three times. Do not over mix! You will finish pulling the dough together in a moment. It should still appear rather crumbly.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Gently work in the chocolate chips. Knead only about 8 to 10 times as you pat the dough into a circle, about 3/4 of an inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut the circle into six wedges and place on prepared baking sheet.

Brush tops of scones lightly with cream or milk, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake 20-22 minutes until tops are golden and firm.

After removing from oven, let scones rest for about 10 minutes before eating them. If you have the willpower to do so, that is.