Lemon Blueberry Scones

As promised, I’m back to tell you about the other scone I made for Tartlet 2′s Tea Party. I hesitate to call this a scone as it does not have a traditional texture at all. It is soft and tender, almost like a snack cake rather than a scone. This recipe was modified from the same one I used for the lime currant scones but you can see how a small difference in sugar and cream and the use of fresh fruit in place of dried makes a large difference in final texture. That’s why I think it’s important to understand the role each ingredient plays in final product — for example, sugar provides moisture as well as sweetens so if you want to reduce sugar, make sure you add some moisture or your reduced sugar product will be dry and dissatisfying, conversely adding extra sugar changes the texture too, etc.

Tartlet 2 and the younger set much preferred these softer, moister scones to the lime currant scones. The leftovers were disappearing throughout the afternoon and I was not the only one nibbling!

Lemon Blueberry Scones

1 3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
6 Tbsp. cold butter

3/4 c. fresh blueberries, washed and dried

1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1 egg, beaten
6-7 Tbsp. heavy cream

milk

Heat oven to 400 F.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Toss blueberries in dry mixture to dredge. Whisk together egg and 6 Tbsp. cream and stir into mixture until dough leaves the sides of the bowl, adding more cream if necessary.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead lightly 6-8 times. Divide dough in half and roll out to 1-inch thick circles. Cut into wedges. Place on parchment lined baking sheet leaving space for them to spread; brush tops with milk. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

A few weeks ago our well-loved neighbors sold their house and moved about 30 minutes away. The kids were devastated because every minute they weren’t schooling it seemed they were together. The pain was eased when they were able to visit together twice since then. When the neighbors sold their refrigerator, they brought over some things for our family, among them a bag of cranberries. So I mixed up a large batch of muffins and sent a bunch back to their house, because cranberries in muffins are easier to keep and munch than frozen cranberries and moving is a time that is difficult in the kitchen. All the things you might do rather than eat out are made more difficult by the fact that the pans and tools of the kitchen have already been packed and are they still here or at the new place? I’m glad we haven’t had to move in more than 10 years and we keep postponing our intent to move.

I thought these muffins had a good flavor, not too sweet, and made a good breakfast. The kids didn’t like them as much, probably due to the tangy taste that I enjoyed. I thought the sprinkling of sugar on top was just perfect, but if you prefer your muffins to be a little sweeter, than feel free to add another 1/2 c. sugar to the batter.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. grated orange zest

4 c. flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 t. salt

1 c. orange juice
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. oil
2 egg, beaten

2 c. chopped fresh or frozen cranberries

sugar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray muffin tins with non-stick spray or line with paper cups; set aside.

With your fingers, rub the orange zest into the sugar in a large bowl. Stir sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir the orange juice, yogurt, applesauce, oil and egg. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir until moistened; don’t overmix. Fold in chopped cranberries. Spoon into prepared muffin tins. Sprinkle tops with a pinch of sugar.

Bake 18-20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool in tins for 5 minutes; remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Makes 24 muffins.

A Night Owl’s Breakfast

When we were in Montana, Aunt Leola made a breakfast casserole in the electric roasters to feed the large reunion crowd. It was hugely popular with many of our family members. When the bikers came to visit I tried something similar in the oven but it took more than an hour to bake, which ended up being a little too early for me and breakfast was still a little too late for them. I read a few different versions of this recipe and decided to tweak it for my own purposes. Enter the crockpot breakfast casserole, perfect for the night owl cook and the early bird eater. I popped it in at midnight and it was ready for a 6 AM breakfast, and my early risers love waking up to the smell of eggs and sausage.

I think I have a 5 qt crockpot, but you can easily adjust the quantities to suit your needs. It’s the sort of recipe that is easy to adjust to taste. I was tempted to put green chili in it, but it wouldn’t have appealed as broadly. Instead, I served it with salsa. The cheese around the edge gets brown and I wouldn’t make this without a liner in the crock.

Crockpot Breakfast Casserole

3 lbs. frozen hash browns (precooked shredded potatoes would also work, I think but I was being lazy)
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 c. shredded cheese
pre-cooked meat, if desired — sausage, bacon, etc
18 eggs, whisked
salt and pepper

Line the crock with a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner. Layer hash browns, onion, cheese, and meat; repeat. Whisk eggs with salt and pepper. Pour eggs over the top of the hash browns, allowing the mixture to seep into all areas of the crock.

Cook on low for 6 hrs.

Serve with salsa, if desired.

More Meaty Muffins

This weekend our place is going to look like a bed and breakfast, I think. Tonight, The Husband’s Cousin is coming with a crew of 10 9 who will bike across Iowa next week, the Tartlets are having a sleepover on Friday night, and we have a family of six seven staying with us on Saturday night! It’s nice to be able to use our space. Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned before, breakfast just isn’t my favorite meal, nor where my kitchen skills shine best.

After the raging success of the Bacon Cheese Muffins, I decided to try a similar meaty muffin from the same out of print cookbook. I made a double batch, using Johnsonville Polish Sausage, and to half I added a can of chopped green chilies. I haven’t made a taste comparison of the two, but I did try the ones with green chilies and thought they were very good. We’ll definitely make these again. The ones in the cookbook have little bits of sausage peeking out. To do this, reserve some of the sausage and drop it on top of the muffins just before baking, rather than stirring all the sausage into the batter.

Sausage Corn Muffins (from The Muffin Cookbook, 1989)

1/2 pound smoked sausage

1 c. flour
3/4 c. yellow cornmeal
1/4 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Cut sausage into quarters lengthwise, the cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces. Lightly brown sausage in medium skillet over medium heat. Drain on paper towels.

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder in medium bowl. Add buttermilk, oil, eggs, and sausage. Stir only until blended.

Fill muffins cups 2/3 full. Bake 12-15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Makes 15 muffins. (Note: I filled mine about 3/4 full and got 12 muffins)

Cookbook suggestion: serve with honey butter (1/2 c. softened butter stirred with 1/4 c. honey).

Back From The Beach

Tartlet 4 walking along Navarre Beach where we picked up great shells

We had a good time in Florida, resting or swimming most of the time. We thought we would make like Boy Scouts this time and be prepared. So, rather than purchase the traditional souvenir bottle of aloe after we were burnt to a crisp, we took several half-empty bottles of sunscreen from last year *and* a bottle of aloe with us. Our first full day we lathered up with sunscreen and went for a bike ride (not long, about 5 miles). When we came back to the condo we basted ourselves in a cocoa butter scented sauce again before setting out for the beach — we were so proud of ourselves for being so smart. When we got back to the condo for lunch it seemed several of us had reddish splotches that looked amazingly like sunburn. What? but we had used sunscreen! That night I decided that maybe our old sunscreen had gone bad and ran out to the store for a new bottle. The next day we could all tell the difference when we put on the new stuff and it worked great. All the old bottles went in the trash, but we were glad we brought our aloe along!

Lemonade Mix Blueberry Muffins

We bracketed our stay in Destin with dinners at The Crab Trap, a beach-side open air restaurant with super cool ceiling fans, great crab, grouper, shrimp and anything else we’ve eaten there. It’s our favorite place to eat. And they serve a decent mango daiquiri. One of the things the kids love best about it is they serve kids meals in a plastic pail with a little beach shovel. They get a lot of use, actually.

The condo had the basics for the kitchen and I bought groceries that I planned for us to use entirely before we left and packed very little, about as close to camping as I like to get (especially with the nice bed and warm shower, toilet, and washer/dryer) . I made blueberry muffins one day but didn’t have lemons or lemon extract on hand and was using the last of my 2 lb bag of sugar, so I added a couple of tablespoons of lemonade mix to the batter and reserved a little sugar for the tops of the muffins. They turned out decently enough. It’s not what I would do all the time, but it worked in a pinch.

Brownies

We had a great dinner of grilled chicken, saffron rice from a package mixed with frozen peas, salad, and a mixture of strawberries and mangoes one night. I didn’t take a picture. That was also the night I cut my little finger with the crappy knife in the condo when the mango slipped out of my hand. The Husband did a great job finishing up dinner for us that night while I sat on the sofa flipping between HGTV and the Food Network, holding my finger in a paper towel. Maybe I didn’t watch at the right times during this trip, but I was really unimpressed with the Food Network this time. I don’t have cable at home so these trips are my only exposure and last year we didn’t have cable so it’s been two years, but I wasn’t as inspired as I was in the past.

Another day I tossed together a brownie/cake-ish dessert — I mixed flour, baking powder, sugar, melted butter, half a bag of melted chocolate chips, vanilla, a little yogurt, and a couple eggs and then stirred in more chocolate chips and baked it for 20 min or so. I made a frosting by heating a little butter, milk, and sugar in a pan and after it came to a boil I stirred in the remaining chocolate chips until they were well melted. It was pretty tasty. Now that I’m back to my fully equipped kitchen, we’ll have to see what I can whip up . . .