I'm a KAF Fangirl

I'm a doofus. I know it. Other people get excited when their favorite band comes to town and they wait in line for hours for tickets. This weekend I got all giddy because one of my faves came to town and I got in to see them - for FREE!

What hot band, you ask? Um, it wasn't a band. It was a baking demo by King Arthur Flour. You see? I'm a doofus.

But I'm not alone. I really wasn't alone on Saturday. There were 300 other people just like me who filled the hotel conference room to capacity, eager to hear whatever the good people from King Arthur had to say on the topic of Pies and Tarts (the first session), and Yeasted Breads (the second session).



Susan Reid, who works as an instructor at their Baking Center in Vermont and develops recipes for The Baking Sheet, was our instructor. She's got tons of experience, a relaxed attitude to baking, and was really fun to watch as she prepared a pie crust for an apple pie. If you'd like to watch her and pick up a few pie crust pointers, she's got a great tutorial here.

She answered questions about what makes King Arthur flour special (consistency, high protein, and their pickiness, in a nutshell) and general baking question. After the demo, the ladies and their helpers unloaded a ton of door prizes - sacks of KA flour, scone mixes, treats from their sponsors, Hershey, Red Label Yeast, Cabot Cheese and items from the KA catalog (what I call the Wish List). Even though I didn't win a prize, I was happy with sponsor coupons, a dough scraper, and coupons from King Arthur. Yeah!



One of the things that KA does that is so great (or evil, depending on how chubby I'm feeling), is send out emails with links to recipes and pictures that make me whimper, "I want it NOW!" A recent email featured pumpkin scones. Good gosh, fabulous pumpkin scones that wouldn't leave my mind, but begged to be made. So I did. With my own pumpkin puree.

So, this post, besides being a tribute to one of my favorite baking companies, is also to let you know that if you've always wondered about how to turn your own pumpkin into puree, I've got a piece on just that subject over at Simple Bites. So skip over there, read all about it, then come back here and bake some scones. You know you want them!



Harvest Pumpkin Scones
- adapted from King Arthur Flour

2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
coarse white sparkling sugar or cinnamon-sugar for topping

1) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices.

2) Work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly; it's OK for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated.

3) Stir in the Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. They look like cat kibble, but they're delicious. You'll want them in there. Trust me.

4) In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the pumpkin and eggs till smooth.

5) Add the pumpkin/egg to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together.

6) Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don't have parchment, just use it without greasing it. Sprinkle a bit of flour atop the parchment or pan.

7) Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan, and divide it in half. Round each half into a 5 to 6" circle. The circles should be about 3/4" thick.

8) Brush each circle with milk, and sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.

9) Using a knife or bench knife that you've run under cold water, slice each circle into 6 wedges.

10) Carefully pull the wedges away from the center to separate them just a bit; there should be about 1/2" space between them, at their outer edges.

11) For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.

12) Bake the scones for 22 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean, with no wet crumbs. If you pull one of the scones away from the others, the edges should look baked through, not wet or doughy.

13) Remove the scones from the oven, and serve warm. Wrap any leftovers airtight, and store at room temperature. Reheat very briefly in the microwave, if desired.

Yield: 12 scones.

MRE's

Whoever wrote the line "lazy days of summer" obviously didn't have children. There's nothing lazy about summer when it involves taking kids to swim practice, going to swim meets, working in Vacation Bible School, teaching a child to ride a bike and to swim, ferrying children to friends' houses, or putting together birthday parties for the summer babies. Where in that tangled web of to-do's is there time to have a family sit-down dinner?

Sadly, often there is no time. But rather than grab a meal to go at the drive-through, with a little forethought you can take your sit-down meal along. Crowded schedule does not have to equal empty calories.

I was sitting in the waiting room at the orthodontist (another of my summer to-do's, getting braces on my daughter) and found this recipe in a Family Fun magazine. I was taken with the concept of dinner to go - pizza all wrapped up in a tidy bundle. Simple to make, easy to pack, eagerly eaten. Just what I need for swim meets or spur of the moment picnics.

Pizza Scones
- adapted from Family Fun

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup fine cornmeal
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozarella
1/3 cup finely chopped pepperoni (optional)
2 large eggs
3/4 cups buttermilk

1- Heat oven to 375 deg. F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2- Place tomatoes in medium bowl and cover with boiling water. let Stand for 30 minutes, then drain the water and stir in the cheese and pepperoni.

3- In a food processor, mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, basil, oregano and salt. Add the cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and set aside.

4- In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk. Add the tomato mixture and stir.

5- Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir until it forms a sticky dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead the dough until it holds together, about 5 times. Divide the dough in half and pat each half into a 1-inch thick disk. Slice each disk into 4 wedges.

6- Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Bake 15- 20 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Note: To make 12 smaller scones, reduce bake time to 10-15 minutes.

Luscious Lemons For Lazy Lynn

I apologize for leaving the same post up so long, but I was taking a mini-vacation. I spent 5 days with my sisters playing, baking, shopping, talking, and having so much fun that I didn't have time to put up a single post.

Now that I'm home I have to make up for time away from the family. The pile of composting bananas on the counter needs to be turned into banana bread. I need to catch up on reading and cuddling time with my kids. And then I have to put on a hard hat and grab a pickaxe and go tackle Mt. Laundry.

Instead of boring you with my chore list, I'll tantalize you instead with these scones that I made a while back. Luscious, lemony, and just right for a tea break in the middle of a busy day.



Lemon Cream Scones
- adapted from The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger
makes 8 scones

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tblsp sugar
1 tblsp baking powder
grated zest of 2 lemons
1/4 tsp salt
4 tblsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 cups cold heavy cream
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease or parchment-line a baking sheet. In a medium bowl using a whisk or electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt. Using a for or electric mixer, cut in the butter. The mixture will resemble coarse crumbs. In a small bowl or 1-cup measure, whisk together the eggs and cream. Add to the dry ingredients, stirring just until a shaggy, sticky dough is formed.

2. Turn the shaggy dough out on a lightly floured work surface and knead gently, about 6 times, just until the dough holds together. Divide into 2 equal portions and pat each into a 1-inch-thick round about 6 inches in diameter. Using a knife or straight edge, cut each round into quarters, making 4 wedges.

3. Place the scones about 1 inch apart on the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet on a rack in the center of the oven and bake 15-to 20 minutes, or until crusty and golden brown.

4. Combine the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar and stir till smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the warm scones.

How I Stopped Paying Outrageous Prices and Found Vanilla Bean Scone Happiness

I'm a master at putting things off. All of my papers in school were written the night before they were due. Even if I get all the ingredients and am excited to bake it, I usually end up baking the Daring Baker's challenge the day before the posting date.

Perhaps that's why it's taken me so long to get this post put together. It was way back in October of last year that the lovely and talented Jaden of Steamy Kitchen held the Great Vanilla Bean giveaway and I won 1/2 lb of vanilla beans from Saffron.com.

I've had it on my mental to do list for all that time to make something really excellent with vanilla to say thank you to Jaden and to Saffron.com for the windfall of vanilla beans. It wasn't until I got an email from a blog reader requesting a vanilla bean scone recipe that I finally got off my behind and put together a recipe that is a vanilla winner.

Jo, the blog reader, said that Starbucks' vanilla bean scones were her favorite study aid, but a poor student could get rapidly more so, paying Starbucks prices. Those suckers are 75 cents each for teeny bite-sized scones! Flinging my budget to the wind, I bought three of them, so that I and my staff of taste-testers could have a standard to measure against.

I came up with a recipe that I think is close. It's not a clone, but it's quite good. Mine turned out bigger than the mini Starbucks scones, but smaller than the scone-as-a-meal size. Just right. It's got a nice crumb and is moist without feeling heavy or oily. And with three different uses of vanilla, it's sweetly satisfying.



You might notice that I use one vanilla bean to make 16 scones. "Well, where's the cost savings in that? Do you know how much those babies cost?" you ask. I do; that's why I was so giddy to win the contest and get 1/2 pound of vanilla beans for free. But you don't have to enter a contest to score big. Just go to Saffron.com. You can buy a pound (a whole ginormous pound!) of vanilla beans (that's about 100 beans!!) for only $20. And they're really nice beans, too. I know because I've been baking with them since October. Seriously good beans, people.

(I wasn't paid for that shameless plug, I just wanted to say thank you for the awesome haul of vanilla beans and to let you, my readers, in on the secret of where to get vanilla beans without taking out a second mortgage on your house or selling a kidney.)

So, thank you, Jaden, for the contest. Thank you, Saffron.com, for the wonderful vanilla beans. And thank you, Jo, for motivating me to make these lovely scones!

Triple Vanilla Scones - makes 16 scones

4 cups flour
1/2 cup vanilla sugar*
1 tsp lemon zest
1 vanilla bean
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into small chunks
2 eggs
1 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2-4 Tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 400 deg. F. Place the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

Cut the vanilla bean into 2 pieces, approximately 2/3 and 1/3.

In a food processor combine the flour, sugar, zest, baking powder and salt. Scrape the seeds from the larger vanilla bean piece into the processor, reserving the empty bean for making vanilla sugar. Pulse until it’s all combined.

Add the butter to the food processor and pulse until the butter is in pea-sized and smaller pieces.

In a large bowl combine the cream, vanilla, and eggs. Beat to combine thoroughly. Dump the flour mixture into the bowl and stir, just until the flour is incorporated. Stirring too much will result in tough scones.

Divide dough in half. Pat each half into a 6-inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 equal pieces (triangles). Place the pieces on two ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 15 - 18 minutes, rotating the racks midway through baking. The scones should be light brown on top.

Let the scones cool on the sheets for 30 minutes, then paint with the glaze. A silicone basting brush is ideal for this job.

To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and the seeds scraped out of the smaller piece of vanilla bean. You can adjust the consistency of the glaze to your liking. A watery glaze will give just a shimmer of sugar to the outside. If you like a more substantial glaze (like the Bigbuck’s scones), make it as thick as white glue.

This recipe can easily be halved, or, when you’ve gotten your scones cut and onto the baking sheets, put one in the oven and one in the freezer. Let the unbaked scones freeze for about 30 minutes, then wrap them in plastic wrap and put them into a ziploc bag. To bake, unwrap them and place on a baking sheet, increasing the baking time slightly.

* If you don't have vanilla sugar on hand, make these with plain granulated sugar. Then save the scraped out bean seeds. Put them in a jar and cover them with granulated sugar. Let this sit for a week or so and you'll have lovely, fragrant vanilla sugar to stir into your coffee, sprinkle on your muffins, or to make more Triple Vanilla Scones!

Here pig!

A friend of mine used to work in a supermarket bakery. She told me the part of the job that she hated most was putting out samples. Instead of saying over the store intercom, "Attention shoppers, we have samples of our delicious fudge cake back in the bakery. Come try some," she wanted to shout "Soooeeeeeeee, pig, pig!" like a hog farmer putting slop in the trough so all the little piggies would come running.

This thought made me laugh until one day I realized I am one of those little piggies. Unless I'm really hungry, I can pass by the sample tables with no problem, but there is one that's my downfall. At Whole Foods they have amazing little lemon poppyseed scones and the first thing I do when I get there is to see if they have any samples out. If they do I snag one for myself. And two for the kids with me, who then complain that they didn't get theirs. So I send them back to get their own. "And pick up one for me, while you're there," I sing out after them. Oh, oinkie me.

The last time I went to Whole Foods, they had no samples out. None! Perhaps security spotted me getting out of my car in the parking lot and they radioed ahead so the bakery staff could whisk all the samples out of sight. Whatever the reason, I was out of luck in the lemon poppyseed scone department. Denied! A reasonable person, at that point, would probably just purchase a package of the treats to take home. I am not that person. Instead I went home sans scones and did an internet search for lemon poppyseed scones. I found one on Epicurious, I made it, and cured the craving. Ha ha, take that Whole Foods!

The scones, as made per the recipe turned out really big, like Starbucks size scones. I prefer mine dainty, so I'll give you the recipe as I'm going to make it next time. If you want gigantor scones, just divide the whole ball of dough into eight pieces.


Sooeeee Scones
adapted from Epicurious

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp grated lemon rind
1 tsp kosher salt
10 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup whole milk

1- Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Position rack in the upper third of the oven.

2- Mix flour, 1 cup sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt in food processor.

3 - Add butter and ccut in, using short pulses, until mixture resembles coarse meal.

4- Whisk egg and lemon juice in medium bowl to blend. Add this to the flour mixture in the food processor.

5- Process, using short pulses, until moist clumps form.

6 - Add 1/3 cup milk. Use short pulses, just until dough comes together, adding more milk if dough seems dry.

7 - Scrape dough out onto a floured surface. Divide dough into 3 equal parts.

8 - Shape each 1/3 into a ball, then flatten it into a round, about 2 to 3 inches across.

9 - Cut each round into 8 wedges. Transfer wedges to a large baking sheet; brush with milk. Sprinkle the tops with remaining Tbsp sugar. If they seem crowded, use 2 baking sheets, position them in the upper and lower third of the oven, and rotate them top to bottom halfway through cooking. The scones will spread out while baking.

7 - Bake until scones are light golden brown and a tester inserted into center comes out clean. The cook time for 8 large scones is about 25 minutes, so start checking after 15 minutes for little scones.

8 - Transfer scones to a cooling rack.

9 - These can be made a day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Variation: Instead of sprinkling with sugar, try a drizzle of lemon glaze on top.




And now, a little bit of back business. A while ago, the lovely Aimee of Under The Highchair awarded me an E is for Excellence award.


Thanks, Aimee! I can hardly believe that people come here to read my ramblings and I'm blushing to receive this award. I'd like to pass it along to several bloggers who consistently impress me with the quality of their blogs.

Deborah of Taste and Tell, who always dishes up something delicious
Gigi of GigiCakes, who makes delighful and charming things to eat
VeggieGirl for her boundless enthusiasm for all things vegan
The Recipe Girl for her delicious recipes and great outlook
and
LyB of And Then I Do the Dishes, who has had amazing photos and mouthwatering recipes from the start

I enjoy you all so much and am proud to pass on this award to you. Also, be sure to go to Under The Highchair and check out the amazingly beautiful project Aimee's been working on!

For Gabrielle

By March I'm ready for spring. I want tulips, birds chirping, and warm sunshine. Yes, we've got cherry blossoms, and I did hear birds serenading me this morning, but our sunshine is still in it's liquid form. Buckets and buckets of it coming down. Enough already!

But in an effort to be a glass half-full kind of person (or is that rain gauge 3/4 full?) I've found an upside to the continuing dank drizzle. It gives me a reason to forego gardening, an excuse for warming up the kitchen by baking, and a great opportunity to have a friend over for tea and scones.

Scones are such friendly pastries. They can be a quick grab-a-bite as you're dashing out the door, or they can be lingered over, their aroma mingling with the steam from your hot tea or coffee.

I wanted to try the Cream Scones from my new best-loved cookbook, Baking: From My Home To Yours. I studded them with dried blueberries and they turned out delightfully - flaky, tender, with just the right amount of moisture. So here's your chance to banish the end of winter blahs. Bake some scones and share them with friends!

Cream Scones ( makes 12 darling small scones)

1 large egg
2/3 cup cold heavy cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

Preheat oven to 400 deg. and center a rack. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Stir in the egg and cream together.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and coat the pieces with flour. Working quickly with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pieces that are pea-size to pieces that are oatmeal flakes and everything in between.

Pour the egg and cream over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes together. Don't overdo it. Still in the bowl, sprinkle the berries over the dough and gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. 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 it on the baking sheet. (At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped air-tight. Don't defrost before baking - just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firmish. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.