Honey Nut Scones – TWD

Happy Belated Halloween!!

Did you dress up? Did you throw a nifty party that only cool people could go to? Did you steal your kids’ candy? Did you buy a giant bag of different chocolates (because you know that’s what the kids REALLY want)? Did you turn off your porch light early so you could keep the rest of the chocolate for yourself? Are you most likely going to eat candy for breakfast?

If so, we could be great friends.

But just in case you frown upon chocolate bars for breakfast, I made you scones. It has good for you things in it like whole wheat flour, nuts and honey. Have one of these babies warm out of the oven with a glass of milk (for calcium) or orange juice (for vitamin C) or tea (cus it’s warm and yummy and what goes better with warm scones than tea??)

And don’t forget to drench your scone in more honey. If your immediate thought after reading that was something along the lines of “Duh, Jeannette… way ahead of you,” then we could be besties. For serious.

Scones are notorious for being fussy. You can’t overwork the dough or you’re guaranteed tough scones, and the dough is very easily overworked. The best advice that I have ever read regarding making scones (aside from work quickly) is this “Use your hands.” You hands are your best tool here: they are softer and gentler than any rubber spatula or wooden spoon could be; which means they will be gentler on your scone dough and agitate the dough less resulting in fluffy scones. Just be sure to have a napkin handy to turn on the faucet to wash your hands. Unless you think random bits of dough hanging out on your faucet handle-thingies (omg, what the heck are they called?!) is a decorative statement… in which case, I’d have to give you the look -_-

The only change I made to the original recipe was to use pecans instead of walnuts and I made 8 medium scones instead of 12 small-ish scones. That was a direct result of my laziness in not wanting to divide the scone dough so I just patted it into a larger circle and baked for about 2 minutes more. Next time I’ll brush with some cream and sprinkle some raw sugar on it for extra texture. There are a lot of good scone making tips here. Ya learn something new everyday 🙂

Honey-Nut Scones
from Baking: from My Home to Yours

Ingredients:

1 large egg
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup cold whole milk (I used 2%)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used pecans)

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

Stir the egg, honey and milk together.

Whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Drop in butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between — and that’s just right.

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

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

Bake the scones for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are deeply golden and firmish to the touch. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for the scones to cool to room temperature. Enjoy : )

Head on over to the LYL page to see everyone that baked scones and Far Brenton with us this week. You can find the recipe for Far Brenton (which I sadly didn’t get a chance to make) on Nicole’s blog, Cookies on Friday.

Tuesdays with Dorie is sadly coming to an end. I joined a bit late in the game but I have learned so many things and made so many great friends through this experience. I’d like to thank you all for making this something to remember.

Honey Cranberry Apricot Almond Biscotti

My mommy likes biscotti. And I like my mommy. I want her to be happy. So I wanted to make her yummy fruit studded biscotti since they are her favorite.

But dang I didn’t plan for this.

The dough was sticky and difficult to work with. I pulled the log of biscotti out too soon so the center was still a bit raw. Then, without thinking, I placed the baking sheet on a hot burner and it burned a few of the best looking biscotti. And even after 10 mins of extra oven time, they came out still slightly soft. It didn’t seem to be coming together. I’m still not completely sure that I should share this recipe with all it’s hiccups, but the end result was tasty. Regardless of the mini-stroke that I incurred trying to make these.

Below is my adaptation of the recipe. It originally called for 1 less cup of flour but that left the dough pretty soupy. My only advice it to have a bowl of flour next to your work surface and flour the heck out of your counter and hands while working with the dough.

Cranberry Honey Pistachio Biscotti
adapted from the Gourmet Cookbook as seen on Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
scant 1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons honey
1 cup whole almonds
1 large egg beaten with one teaspoon of water, for an egg wash

Directions:

Soak cranberries in boiling water to cover in a small bowl until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain, then pat them dry with a paper towel.

Put a rack in the middle of oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl), whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt until combined. Add eggs, vanilla and honey and with your stand mixer, mix (or with an electric mixer) at medium speed until dough forms. Add cranberries, apricots and pistachios and mix at low speed until combined.

Turn dough out onto a WELL-floured surface and knead a few times. The dough will still be QUITE sticky! Halve dough. Using floured hands, form each half into a slightly flattened 13-by-2-inch log on baking sheet, spacing logs about 3 inches apart. (Making two loaves was quite a task so I just made one large log instead) Brush logs with egg wash.

Bake until golden 25 to 30 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet on a rack for 10 minutes. (Leave oven on.)

Transfer logs to a cutting board. With a serrated knife, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch thick slices. Arrange slices, cut side down in one layer on a baking sheet (it’s fine if slices touch each other). Bake, turning once, until golden and crisp, 20-25 minutes. Transfer biscotti to racks to cool.

Optional: melt a bit of white chocolate and drizzle onto the cooled biscotti and allow to harden.

Classic Banana Bundt Cake – TWD (Rewind)

I know, I know. This isn’t what you came to see.

It’s Monday night and I finally remember the impending TWD. I quickly consult my lovely Blackberry Memo clearly marked “Baking (TWD)” and find that I don’t have everything that I need and let’s face it, I’m not going out. I’m lazy, see? So instead I become as resourceful as I can, grab the bible…erm book and flip through it looking for great recipes that I previously missed out on, telling myself it’s ok to miss a recipe once in a while.

My intentions are good, cross my heart. As long as I’m virtually feeding you SOMETHING delicious, I get a free pass… right?

So instead of this week’s TWD pick you get to hear about the black bananas I found in the back of my fridge (that I’m almost certain have been there for a month) and see this beautiful mini bundt instead of the caramel pots de creme you came to see. Let’s pretend it’s a fair trade. 🙂

I halved the recipe, used greek yogurt (which may explain the thickness of the batter) and baked in a 6 cup bundt pan.  This bundt cake is dense and tender. It comes together like a dream! You mash your bananas and everything else is toss in and mix. Dorie says to rap the pan against your counter to release some of the bubbles and to even the batter but my cake batter was so thick and heavy (think: a thick muffin batter) that it was impossible and unnecessary to do so. I leveled it off with my spatula, popped it in the oven, said a mini prayer and baked it up. It baked up beautifully golden brown and smelled amazing. The cake is delicious on its own but I just couldn’t stop myself from adding some honey glaze all over it! Sue me. But I did forget the ceremonious chocolate chunks. Sadness.

For the honey glaze I whisked together 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons of honey and a light splash of heavy cream until uniform. If it’s too thick to pour add a small bit more cream.

For the recipe to this fab cake, click here.

If you love banana, try this one. I bet it would be great baked up in a square pan topped with cream cheese frosting, caramel drizzle, or even a peanut butter buttercream. Then served right out of the pan to friends with forks in hand.

For the caramel pots de creme, head on over to Peggy the Baker for the recipe. I’ll be making it soon. But I’m sunburnt. And lazy. End excuses.

 

 

Honey Brownies – TWD

Oh honey honey.

It’s Wednesday, it’s gloomy but nice outside, and I am stuck inside watching soap operas.

If I had it my way, I’d be sitting in the big squishy couch at Starbucks sipping a grande upside-down skinny caramel macchiato surfing the web or typing up posts or at the river baking away with friends.

But things don’t always work out the way you’d want them to.

Kind of like these brownies. They have potential, they have the right idea, but they just can’t seal the deal. A honey brownie sounded SOOO good in theory. I love honey and I LOVE brownies but it just didn’t work out. The honey completely takes over and overshadows the chocolate completely (not surprising when there’s an entire cup in this recipe). I’m thinking of tweaking this recipe to lessen the blow of the honey and up the power of the chocolate because I refuse to believe that honey and chocolate don’t work.

I’m stubborn that way.

I want to take a moment to say that these brownies aren’t horrible, Dorie rarely drops the ball with my taste buds. With that in mind, I hardly consider them a flop as they disappeared at my mother-in-law’s office and were a hit with all her co-workers. These just weren’t a 100% hit with me. But if you LOVE honey, I suggest that you make these and have them with a cup of tea!!

Thank you to Suzy of Suzy Homemaker for choosing these. Head over to her blog for the recipe (or simply click here!)