Maple Scones

Recipe challenge, week twenty-two (which was supposed to be last week)

I don't bake much anymore.  There's a plethora of reasons why and why not.  It probably has to do with the fact that I'm always doing eight things at once so it's really hard to complete a task within a given timeframe.  Baking requires that.  

I honestly have nothing to say about these other than they are good.  I mean, really GOOD.  I made them, ate three, and then took the rest to school and dropped them off in the lounge.  They were gone in an hour.  These scones are both chewy and flaky at the same time.  I don't know how I achieved that but it was pretty remarkable (if I do say so myself).  

Maple Scones

3/4 cup milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk)

1 t. apple cider vinegar

1 egg

1 t. maple extract

2 t. vanilla extract

2 1/4 cup flour (plus more for rolling)

1 T. baking powder

3 T. COLD butter, diced

1 egg, beaten

1 T. sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, vinegar, egg, and extracts. 

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder.  Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, a potato masher, or two forks.  If you feel like getting fancy, you can use a food processor or blender.  You just want the butter to be in tiny chunks, mixed in with the flour. 

Using a wooden spoon, mix the flour/butter into the wet ingredients just until blended.  Don't over mix.  On a floured cutting board, roll it out into a 10 inch circle (a lot like pizza dough).  You want it to be about half an inch thick.  Place it on a greased cookie sheet and slice it into wedges (I use a pizza cutter).  Brush the top with the beaten egg and then sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees with 18-22 minutes until golden brown. Allow it to cool and then drizzle with the glaze. 

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 t. maple extract

1 t. milk (or enough to give it a smooth consistency)

Whisk together the sugar, extract, and milk until very smooth. 

Store these scones, covered, for up to a week.  

{Healthy} Cranberry-Orange Scones

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                                    Happy Hunger Games!

Are you going to fight the crowds today???  I might wait 'til Sunday... 

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These scones were quite delicious and I had the dinner of champions on this particular Monday:  Cranberry-Orange Scones and booze.  Boozey Strawberry Slush to be exact.  I'll get around to that recipe one of these days.  It was really good.  Something tells me it would have been even better if I had fresh limes...

I didn't particularly feel like baking on this day, but I had bought the buttermilk and the orange over a week before and I really needed to use up those ingredients.

So.  I adapted a recipe.  I mixed.  I baked.  I tasted.  Perfection.  I went on to enjoy three of them with my strawberry slush.  At 4pm.  Like I said, dinner of champions.

Then I arranged some scones on a plate and picked up my camera.  No memory card in it.  Okay, I must've left it in my computer.  Oh.  It's not there.  Well.  Now what?  I ripped this place apart, couch cushions included.  I checked the pockets of everything I had been wearing for the previous 3 days, even though I knew, *I KNEW*, I was just using it the night before and thought I had left it in my computer.  So either the Toshiba ate it, or someone broke in and took only an SD card with pictures of food on it.

It's particularly unsettling when  you lose something you know you just had.

I went to Wal-Mart and shelled out $10 for a new one. 

That night, as I was climbing into bed, there was my memory card.  Underneath my comforter.  How that happened, I'm still not sure.  I'm glad it happened though because: #1 Now I have a back up memory card.  #2 I didn't lose the pictures of the milkshakes and quesadillas I had taken the day before.

 I really don't need another excuse to make more milkshakes..

Cranberry Orange Scones
makes 10-12 scones, depending on size
adapted from skinnytaste.com

*I got the idea to adapt this recipe because I made some delicious orange scones a few years ago.  They were a Food Network recipe, and used tons of butter.  This recipe actually tastes better than that one.*

3/4 cup cold buttermilk
1 egg
2 t. vanilla extract
1 t. orange extract
1 T. orange zest
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1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
3/4 cup craisins
1 egg white
sugar for sprinkling

In a bowl, whisk the buttermilk, extracts, egg, and zest.   In another larger bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder, and then cut in the butter with a pastry blender (or use two forks).  Fold in the craisins.  The mixture should be crumbly.
Slowly add the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
Form into a flat disk, like a thick 9-10" pizza.  Place on a greased baking sheet.  Cut into wedges (10, 12, it really doesn't matter).  Brush with the egg white and sprinkle with some sugar (about 2 teaspoons).
Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown.  Mine took 18 minutes.
After cooling, scones can be stored in a tupperware container for up to a week.