Category Archives: Breakfasty

Spring Cleaning Shamrock Shake

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If you’ve been on my train for any length of time, you know I have a thing about Shamrock Shakes. They are part of our family lore, from when I was a kid through when my now-grown kids were kids, to right now when we all are just looking for excuses to be kids. The truly devoted can read an excellent brief history of the Shamrock Shake right here. For obvious reasons—like seasonality and general health—Shamrock Shakes are more therapeutic tool than dietary staple.

That is, until now!

Yes folks, I have discovered how to drink Shamrock Shakes whenever the heck I want and feel good about it. It’s the perfect thing for spring when a lot of us are trying to clean up our acts after a winter of aprés ski. This DIY version is cool, creamy, refreshing and just sweet enough to feel fun, yet responsible. It’s also substantial enough to fill the cracks without being a calorie bomb that makes you feel sad in 20 minutes.

This version passed the husband test, the kid test, the friend test, the easy test and the healthy test. You can take it in whatever direction you choose: make it healthier by adding hempy, flaxy, seedy things; make it treatier by subbing frozen yogurt for the yogurt.   

Huge shout out and thanks to Andy’s East Coast Kitchen for this one. The only things I tweaked were trying with almond milk (yes!), and backing off on the mint extract because the pure stuff is high test (batch 1, of many, was a little harsh). But as ever, you do you.

I am now semi addicted to this version of Shamrock Shakes, and looking forward to the mint that takes over my garden every year.

Cheers to you, and to a happy, tasty spring!

Spring Cleaning Shamrock Shake

Lightly adapted from Andy’s East Coast Kitchen

Makes 1 very generous serving, or two for skeptics

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup plain greek lowfat yogurt (or thick yogurt of choice)
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 1/2 cup lowfat milk (or milk of choice)
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1/2 cup frozen banana (½ large banana)
  • ~15 mint leaves
  • ¼ tsp mint extract
  • 1/2 cup ice
  • shaved/grated chocolate for garnish (optional—never gone there but why not?)

Method:

Whir it all up in a blender until creamy and uniformly green. Pour into a glass/glasses and grate a little chocolate on top for the pro version.

Notes:

For max creaminess make sure the banana pieces are fully frozen. I keep a stash of cut up bananas in the freezer so they break up easily in the blender (and to remove the baking pressure of over-ripe bananas on the counter)

Don’t leave it blending forever or it’ll heat up and be more like shamrock milk. Not so lucky.

Thanks to sister B, who pointed me to a super cool and easy-to-use recipe analyzer, this shake comes with nutritional stats. Sadly, I have not cracked the code (literally) to getting it to display on the site, but I’m working on it. In the meantime, some deets:

Spring Cleaning Shamrock Shake: 233 calories (211 with almond milk); 2.7 grams fat; 27 grams sugar.
VS
Mickey D’s small Shamrock Shake: 460 calories; 13 grams fat; 63 g sugar

All the heft and taste, none of the effort

Dirt Bread 2.0: Gluten-Free Cottage Cheese Bread

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People who know me or have seen me cook know that I am the slacker queen. It’s not that I cut corners entirely out of laziness. I cut them to find an easier way to a just-as-good or better outcome. These it no victory quite like winning the short-cut.

Case in point: Slacker chile crisp, which takes a fraction of the time effort and ingredients of the original chile crisp (PS interesting article on how chili crisp took over America right here), and which I now prefer. And then there are funitella bruschetta and easiest tomato soup both of which I will always and unapologetically make with canned tomatoes. Don’t get me started on sourdough. Not a chance I am going through that when I can make easiest French bread ever with ~3 minutes of active time.

So that brings me to today’s recipe for a nut-free, gluten-free bread that is reminiscent of the famous lifechanging loaf of bread (AKA Dirt Bread); BUT it requires fewer (and more normal) ingredients, and half the effort. As with all things miraculous, it came from Instagram, from a fleeting place I have never re-found. Let’s say a little prayer for screen shots.

A word here about gluten. I am a fan. I am also a little over-glutened at the moment, having taken a class at Gesine Bullock Prado’s Sugar Glider Kitchen. Her classes sell out in minutes so there not a chance I would have gotten this opportunity had it not been for Suzi the Great, knower of all the best things in life and giver of same. I now know how to properly cream butter and sugar (it takes forever), why to use room temperature eggs, Baker’s math, the virtues of cheap disposable pie pans, how to make and use a proper Swiss buttercream and so much more. I can’t wait to deploy my knowledge bombs for deliciousness

But there are times when that heft and chew of a dense, seedy, substantial bread is needed. And there are times when your gluten-free, nut-free people need something homemade and yummy. You could make them rustic Everyone Crackers OR you could be hero with a fraction of the effort and make this. It gets its body from oats, cottage cheese and eggs and its texture/cha-cha from flax, sesame and sunflower seeds. We’re talking pretty basic ingredients, and no rising involved. You just mix everything up, shape it into a football as best you can and bake it for an hour.

If you like Dirt Bread you will love this. If you’ve never committed to Dirt Bread, ease into the concept by trying this first.

What this is:

  • Easy
  • Quick (for bread)
  • Delicious
  • Gluten- and nut-free
  • High-protein
  • Cheapish

What this is not

  • Vegan
  • Yeasted
  • Shelf-stable: Store it in the fridge or sliced in the freezer

I am so sorry Vegans. Between the cottage cheese and the eggs, I’m seeing a lot of high risk substitutions, but please do let me know if you crack the code! Also, the mystery poster of this was a Brit, so all measurements are in grams. I approximated volume measurements, but live a little! Putting a bowl on a scale (<$20 people), adding each ingredient and zeroing it out after each addition is way easier and more accurate.

Dirt Bread 2.0: Gluten-Free Cottage Cheese Bread

Preheat oven to 360

Ingredients

500 grams cottage cheese (about 2 cups)
3 eggs
300 grams oats (about 3 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
50 grams flaxseed, heaping ¼ cup
50 grams sunflower seeds,  1/3 cup
50 grams pumpkin seeds, scant ½  cup.

Method

  • Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well, making sure everything is completely mushed together (no yellow yolk streaks).  Dump it onto a parchment-lined pan and use your hands to shape it the into your best, well-packed loaf like shape.
  • Bake 1 hour

Cool completely before slicing. This is key to it holding it’s shape so…patience! Store in fridge or (my fave) slice and store, wrapped tightly, in freezer so you can grab a slice or two and toast it up as needed.

The pre-baked, nice, tight football-like loaf

 

 

 

Crunch Time Tahini Granola

The internet is full of recipes that are made to look easy, but are a pain. This is especially true at the holidays where we are all looking for that holy grail food item—that thing to bring or give that is both delicious and memorable. Case in point, the Nutella puff pastry Christmas tree currently all over Instagram and so many other cleverly pieced-together videos. More often than not they lure you down the rabbit hole of something that may indeed be easy, but only after making it for a generation. And honey, we ain’t got no time for that during the holidays.

When I’ve tired of failed baking experiments I often go back to granola. In the pantheon of homemade treats—from this chocolate sauce that can be made in your sleep, to these GD chocolate dipped peanut butter balls (beware of anything that has to be rolled into individual balls! And/or dipped!)—granola is among the easiest. Not the cheapest, thanks to the precious nuts and honey/syrup, but the easiest. So, when I see easiest and granola together in one heading, I perk up.

This recipe delivers on its claim. Of course the ease comes with a price. You’ll swap out some steps and ingredients by springing for the jar of tahini. And if you go with pistachios as written (I used roughly chopped almonds), they’re the priciest option. BUT, they also require zero chopping, bringing this recipe to Level 1 on the effort meter. You will be rewarded for your lack of work with a delicious, not-too-sweet, crunch-perfect granola and extra time on your hands.

As with every recipe there is a slight catch, something that keeps the trained monkeys from taking over production. The catch here is the step of spreading the thick granola mass evenly on the cookie sheet. I used little chopping motions with a rubber spatula. You do whatever it takes, and it does not need to be perfect—we’re just aiming for somewhat even thickness so the granola at the edges doesn’t burn up while the stuff in the center stays soft and cuddly.

I wish you success in all your experiments. No matter how they turn out you deserve a gold star and a chocolate kiss for trying.  

Easy Tahini Granola

From Jenné Claiborne via Food52 Genius Recipes

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (125g) well-stirred tahini
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 cups (180g) old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 to 1 cup (60 to 120g) shelled raw pistachios (or another nut or pepitas)
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  1. Stir everything together: Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with a rack in the center. Line a sheet pan with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the tahini, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt with a silicone spatula until it’s smooth and evenly combined. Stir in the oats, pistachios, and chia seeds.
  2. Bake the granola: Spread the wet, sticky oats onto the sheet pan in a thin, even layer. Bake for 10 minutes, then, using oven mitts, take the pan out of the oven and stir the granola—this will help it finish baking evenly. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the granola is dry and golden brown, another 5 to 10 minutes. Keep a close eye toward the end to make sure it doesn’t start to burn at the edges.
  3. Eat, Store, Give: Let the granola cool completely to crisp up, about 20 minutes, before breaking it into clumps with your hands. Eat as one does with granola. Store in a sealed container at room temperature for a week or more if you are disciplined. Pack it up in mason jars or treat bags for giving.  

It’s crunch time!

 

 

Weekday Smoothie

I was going to post this on the weekend, but I’m your friend and friends don’t do that. Weekends are about pancakes and muffins and doughnuts and bacon and omelets and cinnamon rolls and maple syrup. Always maple syrup. So, posting a smoothie with vegetables and beans on a weekend just feels wrong. But on a Monday? The gloves are off baby—this is what you get.

I have a friend who is gorgeous (I have quite a few of those) and she once explained to me her diet philosophy of being “all about oatmeal” during the week, and then loosening up on the weekends. Clearly it works for her, and it leaves ample room for both discipline and fun.

On to this smoothie, which firmly belongs in the weekday repertoire. I’ll never lie to you. I’ll never tell you “this tastes just like a milkshake” or “you’d never know this was healthy” or that your loved ones will beg you to make this or that you will not be mocked when you open a can of beans for breakfast. But I will tell you I am mildly addicted to this because sometimes the cold goodness of a very healthy smoothie that is packed with nutrition from real ingredients is really comforting. And sometimes, well, I just need to get beyond the oatmeal.

If this intrigues you, I hope you try it and enjoy it. If the concept of this grosses you out, I hope you have a nice week and I will see you with something more fun very soon. Happy Monday!

A Breakfast Double Date…. get it?

Weekday Smoothie

Makes 1 huge or 2 small smoothies (as pictured above)

From Hey Nutrition Lady

Ingredients

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1 cup frozen cauliflower (the riced stuff in the freezer section is best)
  • ½ cup black beans
  • 1-2 medjool dates pitted (2! or more if they are deglet)
  • 1 cup oat milk or milk of choice (use what you’ve got)
  • 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

  • Place all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth. (really smooth!)
  • Pour into a glass and sprinkle hemp seeds over the top if desired. Serve immediately.

NOTES: You need an aggressive blender — or a lot of blending in an ok one — to really get this smooth, which is key. Gooey Medjool dates are ideal here, and I say live a little and add another if you need to ease into this. If you only have deglet, or if your medjools are a little dry, cut them up and rehydrate them with some boiling water (or a bit of your morning coffee supply) for a few minutes. You can also use an unfrozen banana and add some ice cubes, which also helps with the crappy blender situation.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Say Thank You!

It’s a dreary Sunday here in the east, with the promise of rain to take what’s left of our precious snow. As if in anticipation of this day, a heavy Priority Mail box from California recently arrived. Cousin D, in a race to save her California hillside of citrus from a cold snap, did a mass harvest and shared some of it with me. As a former Vermonter, D knows the mixed blessing of March in New England–winter’s easing its grip, but…the mud!–and the curative power of Meyer lemons. On top of that, she’s just darned thoughtful!

Rather than reinvent the citrus wheel, I’m going to revisit some favorites from Lemonpalooza 1, (Lemon simple syrup, and roasted lemon shallot vinaigrette for an off the hook chicken bread salad) and from the sequel, Lemonpalooza 2 (lemon pudding cake, preserved lemons and the lemon blueberry sunshine loaf that I discovered the last time Cousin D bestowed her citrus bounty on me.)

For breakie, squeeze some on top of the classic Dutch Bunny to put a big smiley face on your day, orrrr nothing says “I love you” and also “Don’t mess with me” like Sassy Sansa Lemon Ginger scones. If you really want to jumpstart summer, make up a Lemon Beach Pie.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with plowing through your lemons as straight up lemon juice in and on everything. Tea? Smoothies? Sprtizers? Cocktails? Yes please!

If you’ve already embarked on spring training, squeeze them up for some minty snap pea salad, lemony shrimp and bulgur salad, lemon cauliflower couscous or pretty much anything that could use some fresh zip.

Wherever you are on this spring day I hope you find some brightness and warmth.

PS. We’re taking votes for your favorite lemon recipes. First vote is by Aunt D for lemon posset, in Lemonpalooza 1. Solid choice!

 

 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

And, an entire summer later, we’re back in the blogosphere. Long story short, there has been plenty of cooking and feeding going on, but not a ton of uploading and chronicling. Thanks to some kind friends I’ve gotten back to using real, hard copy cookbooks, and the Internet has been as relentless as ever serving up delicious wins and epic fails. Now, it’s time to revisit these favorite recipes so I, a: remember where they are, and b: can share them with my peeps!

We’re going to start back nice and easy. Then we’re going to get a little weird. I promise it’s all good stuff, but weird nonetheless. For now, we have Blueberry Breakfast Cake that I made more times than I can remember last summer. It’s like a delicious collision of a Dutch Bunny a blueberry muffin and a cheesecake.

This comes straight from King Arthur Flour, and it is foolproof. My only additional note is to use a cookie sheet on the rack below if you are using a springform pan, so you don’t bake any blueberry goodness onto your oven floor. Yes, I learned that the hard way.

Other than that, this is bombproof, and perfect for those late harvest blueberries or the ones in your freezer. I hope you love it!

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Ingredients:

  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (124g) granulated sugar
  • 6 tablespoons (85g) melted unsalted butter
  • 1 cup (227g) ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup (227g) sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (120g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups (255g) blueberries, fresh or frozen
  • cinnamon or confectioners’ sugar, for serving (optional)

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8″ round cake or springform pan that’s at least 2″ deep. 
  2. In a large mixing bowl, using a whisk attachment (or by hand Laura Ingalls Wilder style), beat together the eggs and sugar until thick and lighter in color. Add the butter, ricotta, sour cream, and vanilla.
  3. Add the flour, salt, and baking powder, mixing until combined.
  4. Pour the batter into the pan and scatter the berries evenly over the top.
  5. Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes if using fresh berries (55 to 65 minutes for frozen), until the edges of the cake are lightly browned. The cake should be set throughout, although it will still jiggle when gently shaken.
  6. Remove from the oven and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to firm up. Serve warm with cinnamon or confectioners’ sugar (if desired).
  7. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.

  

Squash Season with a side of Pumpkin Muffins

Those cute Halloween pumpkins?  Going, going…gone! It’s time to put them to work. It seems we skipped right over apple season. I know that we didn’t really skip over it. Pies and crisps were made, cider was chugged. But apples did not get their due on Bring It this year. Let’s just blame COVID and move on.

Move right along to squash.  The phrase “too many squash” is never uttered in my kitchen (by me at least). Butternut and denser, drier kabocha squash fill the void left by watermelon at summer’s end, finding their way into my cart every time I go to the grocery store.  This year, I hit the jackpot when a friend shared her bounty of homegrown butternut squash and sugar pumpkins (thank you Carole!), so we’re having a full-on Squashtacular.

To celebrate, I’m sharing a round up of my favorite winter squash recipes, with a bonus new pumpkin muffin recipe at the end. They are my faves by far after way too much experimenting. For me, pumpkin baked goods can be a tough sell, as they usually involve way too much sugar, oil and spice to overcompensate for being vegetable based. They’re like the macho player of baked goods.

BUT, put squash in the savory role, and it becomes something else entirely, something comfortable with itself that doesn’t have to try too hard. It adds body and nutrition and enough sweetness to become its own special treat without dressing itself up like dessert.

My go-to squash recipes start with the ever-satisfying Sugar and Spice Squash Soup, featuring the brilliant threesome of red curry paste, coconut milk and candied ginger. For an even simpler, an very similar version try almost instant Halloween Soup.

Almost instant squash soup, with pro toppings for extra credit.

For appetizers, you can’t go wrong when you invite caramelized onions into the mix with some butternut squash on toast. Work through your kale supply with the easily made ahead Roasted Squash, Kale and Cranberry salad.

If you’re willing to get a little weird on pizza (or pasta) night, try Butternut Squash Sauce, or an easy, outstanding creamy pumpkin pasta  (a little crumbled bacon on top shuts the doubters right up).

And finally, my baked goods comment notwithstanding, I’ve fallen back in love with Knockout Vegan Pumpkin Pie. It’s all about the crust, which I made with hazelnuts instead of pecans this time. Soooo good. 

If you still have some pumpkins hanging around, fergawdssakes get them into the oven! …and save a bit to try these healthyish whole grain muffins that are proud to be themselves—just sweet enough, moist but not greasy, and only mess up one bowl in your kitchen. Happy November…the countdown is on!

Proud Pumpkin Muffins

Based on these from Cookie and Kate

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

  • ⅓ extra-virgin olive oil or melted coconut oil 
  • ½ cup maple syrup or honey (as if…maple all the way baby!)
  • 2 eggs, at room temperature (or 6 Tbsp aquafaba)
  • 1 cup pumpkin (or winter squash) purée
  • ¼ cup milk of choice (plant, animal, whatev)
  • 2 teaspoons pumpkin spice blend (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon ground allspice or cloves)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour (preferably white whole wheat)
  • ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top
  • Optional: 2 teaspoons turbinado (raw) sugar for a sweet crunch

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 325. Grease or line all 12 cups of your muffin tin.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup or honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs or aquafaba, and beat well. Add the pumpkin purée, milk, pumpkin spice blend, baking soda, vanilla extract and salt.
  3. Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix with a large spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). If you’d like to add any additional mix-ins, like nuts, chocolate or dried fruit, fold them in now. (a heaping half cup chopped walnuts is outstanding)
  4. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with about a tablespoon of oats, followed by a light sprinkle of raw sugar and/or pumpkin spice blend if you’d like. Bake muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
  5. Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. These muffins are delicate until they cool down. You might need to run a butter knife along the outer edge of the muffins to loosen them from the pan.
  6. These muffins taste even better after they have rested for a couple of hours! They’ll keep at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. They keep well in the freezer in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months (just defrost individual muffins as needed).

 

Triple Apple Muffins

Welcome to apple season. Yes, we have been here for a while, but last week’s windstorm that brought down all those high, out-of-reach apples has brought urgency to the situation.  That, and the King Arthur Flour Mother Ship has deemed it Apple Week so , let’s join in.

I’m not a huge muffin person. I like muffins enough, but most muffins are a thinly disguised excuse to eat cake in the morning. Nothing against cake, but I don’t need more reasons to eat it for breakfast. These muffins, however, are pretty healthy on the muffin meter. First, they’re packing  apple overload–in grated, chopped, and sauce form. They’re made with whole wheat flour, olive oil for the fat and maple syrup for the sweetener. They’re also easy to make, though they  do require chopping and grating, plus a little more effort if you channel your inner Laura Ingalls and make your own applesauce (I had to do it. See windstorm, above).

This recipe is good to have in your arsenal for apple season, and as advertised, do indeed get better after hanging out for a bit,

Triple Apple Muffins
From Cookie and Kate

From thought to table in half an hour. Maple syrup and a triple dose of apple makes these healthy muffins a bite of New England.

Ingredients

  • 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup grated apple
  • 1 cup apple diced into ¼” cubes
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½ cup maple syrup (or honey*)
  • 2 eggs, preferably at room temperature (or 6 tbsp aquafaba**)
  • ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (or non dairy yogurt of choice**)
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar), for sprinkling on top

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease or line all 12 cups on your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Blend well with a whisk. Add the grated apple (if it is dripping wet, gently squeeze it over the sink to release some extra moisture) and chopped apple. Stir to combine.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil and maple syrup and beat together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the yogurt, applesauce and vanilla and mix well. (If the coconut oil solidifies in contact with cold ingredients, gently warm the mixture in the microwave in 30 second bursts.)
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a big spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). The batter will be thick, but don’t worry! Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with turbinado sugar. Bake muffins for 13 to 16 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
  5. Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.

Notes

*If you are baking with honey: Honey tends to brown quickly, so to avoid overdone muffins, bake muffins at 325 degrees Fahrenheit until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23 to 25 minutes.

**Veganize these by using flax eggs or aquafaba, and non dairy yogurt

 

Game of Scones: The Iron Scone

You knew it was coming: the crowning glory of all the build-up, the driving force of this obsession—the Iron Scone. Until last week, I thought this culminating creation might need to be something with dragon fruit. But after Dani Girl’s  Ring of Fire joyride, methinks there will be no dragons or dragon queens ruling the Seven Kingdoms.

I’m betting on tradition and some sense of justice to win out, so I went with a classic currant scone. Currants happen to be an excellent source of iron, and to bring the theme home I made these scones in a cast iron pan. Instead of making familiar wedges, I made these as a more British version of scones, by cutting them in circles and nestling them together in the pan.

To find the perfect starter recipe for this grand finale, I deferred to royalty, and consulted with King Arthur Flour’s legendary baker and blogger PJ Hamel. She pointed me to her go-to basic scone recipe that lives on the KAF website. The recipe itself is excellent, and is essential scone reading. In addition to the many tips at the end of the recipe, PJ added this bit of scone wisdom:

“Don’t overbake. You want them just barely light brown. Otherwise they’ll be dry. And they’re like biscuits: the more you handle the dough, the more you risk making the scones tough. So, once you bring the dough together (after adding the liquid), don’t keep stirring; turn it out of the bowl, shaggy mess that it may be, divide it in half (a scale helps), and gently pat the two pieces into 3/4″ to 1″-thick rounds. And do refrigerate (or place in the freezer) for 30 minutes before baking; this helps their texture.”

So there you have it. The beauty of this scone is that it can be adapted to any flavors and ingredients, to accommodate whomever lands in that throne: White Hot Jon Snow; Sassy Sansa; Bittersweet Tyrion; and even the ghosts of the Loving Lannisters. Indeed, we could have started this whole Game of Scones journey with this master recipe and tweaked it accordingly, but what would be the fun in that?

The Iron Throne, which, quite honestly, does not look very comfy.

The Iron Scone

From King Arthur Flour’s Basic Scone Recipe

I pared down the recipe to the necessities, and included my own adaptation for the cast iron pan version (in bold), but I highly recommend going to the KAF site for their Baker’s tips at the end of the recipe. Another very cool feature of the recipes on the KAF site it being able to toggle between measuring by volume, ounces or grams. I like to weigh my flour and but not necessarily the rest of the ingredients. So, go King Arthur…way to support the new ruler!

Ingredients:

Dough

  • 2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup cold butter
  • 1 cup to 2 cups dried currants (or add ins of choice)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extractor the flavoring of your choice
  • 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup half-and-half or milk. (see tips in KAF recipe, but basically you’ll need more liquid in cold dry weather and less in hot humid weather.

Topping

  • 2 teaspoons milk
  • 2 tablespoon sugar, turbinado sugar or cinnamon sugar, optional

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
  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 fruit, nuts and/or other mix-ins if using.
  4. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla or other flavor, and half and half or milk.
  5. Add the liquid ingredients 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. If using a cast iron pan or skillet, line it with parchment paper. Wing it or check out this slick trick.
  7. Scrape the dough onto the floured parchment or pan, and divide it in half. Round each half into a 5″ circle (if you haven’t incorporated any add-ins); or a 6″ circle (if you’ve added fruit, nuts, etc.). The circles should be about 3/4″ thick. (If using a cast iron pan or other skillet, use a biscuit cutter or the top of a can or drinking glass to cut each circle into rounds of whatever size makes you happy. Arrange them in the lined pan so there is about ½” of space in between them. Mush scraps into scone-like shapes. They too will be delicious.

    Unbaked, lightly frozen scone pucks in their iron home

  8. Brush each circle with milk, and sprinkle with coarse white sparkling sugar or cinnamon sugar, if desired.
  9. If making wedge shaped scones: slice each circle into 6 wedges, using a knife or bench knife that you’ve run under cold water. 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.
  10. For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones (on just the parchment if that is easier to fit) in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Chilling the scones relaxes the gluten in the flour, which makes the scones more tender and allows them to rise higher. It also chills the fat, which will make the scones a bit flakier. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.
  11. Bake the scones for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they’re golden brown (mine were smaller, and done in 20). When you pull one away from the others, it should look baked all the way through; the edge shouldn’t look wet or unbaked.
  12. Remove the scones from the oven, and cool briefly on the pan. Serve warm. They’re delicious as is, but add butter and/or jam, if you like.
  13. When the scones are completely cool, wrap them in plastic and store at room temperature for up to several days. To reheat room-temperature scones, place on a baking sheet, tent lightly with foil, and warm in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.

Make ahead: This is straight from the KAF Bakers Tips, but I had to include it here too because it was a revelation: “Want to make scones well ahead of time? Simple. After the unbaked scones’ 30 minutes in the freezer (or whenever they’re frozen solid), place them in a zip-top plastic bag. Return to the freezer, and store for up to a month. Bake as directed (without thawing), adding a couple of extra minutes if needed.”

To bake up just a few scones at a time, any size oven-proof skillet will do.

Game of Scones: The Loving Lannisters Gluten Free Apricot Almond Scone

OnSome things just should not go together, like siblings and sex. Similarly, the terms gluten free and scones really do not belong in the same sentence. And yet, just as Jaime and Cersei somehow seem to work as the couple you love to hate, it turns out that gluten free scones are darned tasty.

As we come in to Episode 5, let’s review our cast. We have the White Hot Jalapeno Cheddar Jon Snow (AKA, the true hot king) Scone, the Sassy Sansa Lemon Ginger Scone and the Bittersweet Tyrion Whole Wheat Mini Scone. But now, just in time for Mother’s Day we head south to warmer climes and the Mad Queen, Mother of the Year, evil twin Cersei

For these scones I used Pamela’s gluten free baking mix, as recommended by Santa Cruz Susan. Susan is kind of an angel on earth, which is to say, the opposite of Cersei. Susan apologized that using a mix is sort of cheating, which happens to be appropriate for this particular scone, because nobody cheats more than Cersei, and gets away with it.

The Loving Lannister scone features apricots, prunes and almonds, all members of the prunus family. Not coincidentally, prunus siblings have a bitter cyanide compound in the seed that makes them poisonous (kind of like kisses from Spain). Toxic combos that are related to each other? Could there be a more perfect scone to honor the first family of King’s Landing? And sure, you don’t expect to get black-hearted prunes and golden apricots in one bite, but social norms never stopped a Lannister. And who doesn’t like a little plot twist?

Cooking notes: For this scone, I defied the recipe and tried to make them into the traditional round mound, cut into wedges. It required a lot of back alley repair, which nobody needs to see or repeat. Give yourself a pardon and make them as drop scones, as directed. They are unexpectedly delicious!

Oh beHAVE you two!

Gluten Free Apricot Almond Scones

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2-1/3 cups Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix
  • 1/3 cup sugar (preferably coconut or demerera sugar), plus 1 Tbsp for sprinkling
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup dried apricots and dried prunes (in any proportion), roughly chopped
  • 1/3 cup almonds, roughly chopped or painfully slivered
  • 4 tbsp butter (as cold as Cersei’s heart, which is to say frozen if possible)
  • 1 egg, beaten (ruthlessly)
  • 2/3 cup milk or cream

DIRECTIONS:

For scone newbies, see Queen Bee’s Kitchen’s short course in sconeology here for some excellent guidance. Feel free to substitute any dried fruit or nuts of choice, even if they are “just friends” and unrelated to each other.

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix the dry ingredients (through almonds) together. Cut in the butter using two knives (or make it easy on yourself and grate it in). Add the milk and beaten egg. Mix together with a fork. Dough will be thick. Drop large, tall dollops of dough (scones will spread when baking) onto lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with remaining coconut sugar. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until they look dangerously irresistible.