Things here are tooting along nicely. We spent last week in the Smoky Mountains with my in-laws and I have come to a rather harsh reality that vacation is not vacation when you have two little ones to tend to. It’s just being away from home without the comforts of home. But we did have a wonderful time with the grandparents, uncle, aunt and cousins and of course just getting away is always nice.
Now we’re back and jumped into the Easter weekend with both feet. I’ve recently taken up baking again (having a baby while also having a busy toddler side-lined just about everything for a few months there) and forgot just how much I love it. Mixing and stirring, cutting, shaping, all with very defined rules and structure. It totally gets me and my need to have rules. If I wasn’t such a tomboy I think I could completely embrace etiquette in every facet of my life. Conner loves to bake with me and sits up on the stools and watches me and we talk about what I’m doing, why I’m adding *this* and why he can’t stick his finger in *that*.
He loves to watch things go into the oven looking one way and come out looking completely different. His favorite thing, hands down, is decorating cookies. It’s very simple - I bake them, slather on the icing and he meticulously places the sprinkles. And he is so hyper-focused on this task, it cracks me up. He will calculate where everything will go and his expression will look like this is more of a chore than something of fun. Yet when each cookie is covered and done and ready to be eaten, he will look up with those big blue eyes of his smiling and say, “That was so much fun! I want to do it again!”
I’ve also been experimenting with scones lately. I’m not that big on scones since I love biscuits - big, buttery ones - and I love super-sweet pastries. I don’t like the in between. But I found a recipe for blueberry-lemon scones, so I thought I would give a crack at it.
I don’t know much about baking scones but one thing I’ve read over and over is not to overwork the dough, which is great because that makes it much easier. The only part that I did not enjoy was grating frozen butter. That is not as easy as it sounds. However, it makes them very moist since it spreads the butter evenly across the dough. You can also replace the blueberries for cranberries and orange for lemon and those are delicious as well. Anyways here’s the recipe and enjoy!
Blueberry-Lemon Scones
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. sugar (reserving 1 tsp)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, frozen
1/2 c. dried blueberries
1 tbsp lemon zest (from the rind)
1/2 c. sour cream
1 large egg
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in blueberries and lemon zest.
In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into an 8-inch circle about 3/4″ thick and sprinkle with 1 tsp of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.
