Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Scones

 One of the pluses of auditioning for conservatories is the traveling. I've gotten to know a few new cities, and little weekend trips to schools feel almost like a mini vacation (once you forget the stress of the audition itself).
 On a recent trip, we spent the night at a DoubleTree hotel. This hotel gained my endless admiration, because not only does it serve guests warm chocolate chip cookies, but its shuttle from the airport has a giant picture of a cookie on its side. I believe the 3-year-old sitting next to me was almost as excited as I was.
 This week, I had a couple of days off between trips, and all I wanted was to get back in my kitchen. So, inspired by those fabulous chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cinnamon scones were born. I've never been a huge fan of scones, because they're often dry and pretty tasteless, but these are something special.
 Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Scones

(from My Kitchen Craze)

Scones

2 cups all purpose flour

⅓ cup sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, cold and cut into small pieces

½ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cups chocolate chips

Cinnamon Glaze

1 cup powered sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons milk

Scones:

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the four, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Whisk together.

Add cold butter. Using a pastry cutter or two forks (or your fingers), cut butter into flour mixture, until butter is broken up into small pieces the size of large peas. The mixture should look sandy.

In a small bowl combine vanilla extract and milk. Pour mixture into dry ingredients.

Mix until the dough starts to come together and pull away from sides of bowl. Add in chocolate chips, stir until combined.

Pat dough into a large disc about ¾ inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut disc into 8 wedges. Place wedges on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 15-17 minutes, until the scones are lightly browned. Transfer scones to a wire rack to cool.

Cinnamon Glaze:

In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon milk. Mix until glaze becomes a smooth, pourable consistency. Add additional milk a teaspoon at a time to thin glaze as needed.

Drizzle glaze over cooled scones. Allow glaze to set before serving.

Note: If your dough becomes too dry, add in a few extra teaspoons of milk. If your dough is too wet, add in an extra tablespoon of flour.

Gluten-Free Fig Scones

 

    Since my mom was diagnosed with celiac disease a few years ago, I have done my best to recreate her favorite desserts. While it is great to succeed in making her favorite German chocolate cake or fruit tart, sometimes I forget about the everyday treats she misses out on due to her gluten allergy. Scones are one of her favorite baked goods, and a few weeks ago, I realized that I had never made them gluten-free for her. 

    I decided to take a basic gluten-free scone recipe and substitute the fruit it called for for dried figs, which we had around and are one of our favorites. This recipe worked out great: the scones were sweet and slightly crumbly, but also, as is so important in a scone, flaky! This is a great basic scone recipe, so feel free to adapt the spices and add-ins to your liking. Stay tuned for more variations...

Gluten-Free Fig Scones

(adapted from King Arthur Flour)

1 3/4 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter

3/4 cup dried figs, roughly chopped (leave some pretty big pieces)

2 large eggs

1/3 cup cold milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

sparkling or cinnamon sugar, for topping (I just used regular sugar)

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a divided scone pan, or grease (or line with parchment) a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour or flour blend, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and nutmeg. 

Work in the cold butter till the mixture is crumbly. 

Stir in the figs.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla till frothy.

Add to the dry ingredients, stirring till well blended. The dough should be cohesive and very sticky.

Drop dough by the 1/3-cupful into the scone pan or onto the baking sheet. Let the scones rest for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle the scones with sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, till golden brown. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes or so before serving. Best enjoyed warm, with butter and jam.

   -makes 8 scones

Orange Cranberry Scones

Scones are awesome. For the longest time I couldn't appreciate their greatness. I would always choose a muffin or other assorted pastry over a scone. And then I had these, and the world opened up to me.
Okay, so maybe not so extreme. But these are really good scones. I made them a while back when we were going away for the weekend and wanted to take a breakfast treat with us. I love the mixture of cranberry and orange, and so do my parents (this was back before my mom realized she had Celiac disease), so we went with that combo. After some searching I found Ina Garten's recipe on Food Network, which I know I can trust. I skipped the glaze because we weren't eating them the day we made them, but I've included it in the recipe.
Enjoy!

Cranberry Orange Scones (from Food Network)
4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.
Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.
Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

A new sort of TWD

Okay, sorry, no pictures here - my camera isn't working right now. I've recently realized how much there still is for me to bake from "the book", and how since I really don't have all that much time, there's no way I can finish with the rest of the group, however much I would like to. So, I've decided. I'm not giving up on the book - I've done too much to do that. But I am going to just bake whatever I want from it, whenever I want, until I'm done. And I'll try to post on here more often :)
Recently, I've made three things from Baking from My Home to Yours. The first two were actually made the weeks that twd chose them, and they were both delicious. The first was the Cream Scones. These come together quickly and easily, and are best right out of the oven. I used a mixture of currants and raisins, and they were so good.



The second was the Chocolate Chunk Muffins. I had high expectations for these, and although they were great right out of the oven, I didn't find them all that good after they had cooled. They were fine, but for the amount of chocolate in them, you would expect them to taste more chocolate-y.
Earlier this week, I made a recipe that was chosen a while back: the Split-Level Pudding. These were actually really good, although I must have done something wrong with the ganache, because it was still pretty liquid when we ate it. Oh well, it was delicious either way! We served them with whipped cream and raspberries.
So, what's going to happen with this blog? I don't know, but I'm going to try my best to post more often (and with pictures!), especially with all of the Dorie recipes I bake. Strangely, it motivates me to bake more knowing that I can choose anything I want - there's no reminder that I still have to bake this week's TWD. So, maybe there will be more posts on here than I think.

Update: I was able to find a picture of the muffins! (Obviously....)

TWD: Tender Shortcakes

Only one day late this week. Getting better, right? Right.
This week's Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Cathy of The Tortefeasor. She chose Tender Shortcakes. I liked this pick, because we had a lot of options for fillings (fill with berries and whipped cream, eat like biscuits, etc....).
The shortcakes were really quick to make. I heard people say that theirs came out huge, so I made 4 cakes out of 1/3 of the recipe. I could have made five, because mine were still really big. The dough was very crumbly, so I sort of patted it together on the baking sheet, but once they came out of the oven they held together well.
It was easier than I thought to cut them in half. For the filling, I defrosted some frozen mixed berries (we didn't have any fresh and I didn't want to go out and get them :D ). I sprinkled on some sugar and let them sit for a while. I then put the berries on the bottom half of the shortcakes (with plenty of their juice) and topped them with sweetened whipped cream and the top of the shortcakes.
These were quick and easy to make, and I will make them again. They were so delicious! These would be great for a BBQ/ other summer party. If you want the recipe, you can find it here or in THE BOOK. Enjoy!