Treat of the Week for Work: Lemon Blueberry Scones and for my bestie! :)

I profusely apologize, to whoever you are, reading this blog, because I didn't post yesterday! I know, I've tried to be pretty good about updating daily and baking daily, but yesterday was just a no go. I struggled throughout the day to stay awake- even at work! The worst part is that these days I'm interacting with people in a one-on-one sort of way- doing interviews! So, yawning about 3 minutes into an hour-long interview doesn't exactly set the right tone for people who are volunteering their time. But, everybody's going to have those days every once in a while, so again I'm sorry and I hope you'll forgive me as I share these light and fluffy, delightful lemon-blueberry scones.

Also, a few days ago I sent in a photo from this blog to PhotoGrazing.com, a site that shows off various pictures of food from bloggers and other sites. They said that any pictures that got chosen would be put up within 48 hours, so by this morning I had sort of lost hope that I would get a spot on this beautiful site, but lo and behold- at 9:55 this morning my picture was up there! If you want to go take a look, search for this web-link, or the Rhubarb Apple Crisp I made on Sunday.

Lemon-Blueberry Scones

(from Inspirational Ingredients)

Yields about 15 scones (When I doubled the recipe it made 30)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Flour
• 1 – 1 1/2 cups Blueberries (use however many you have or like, I used more becausewell, I like more)
• 1/4 cup Sugar plus extra for dusting
• 1 tbsp Lemon Zest
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 3 tbsp fresh Lemon Juice
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream
• 1/2 Stick Butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Egg – Beaten

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
1. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest
2. Cut butter into squares and add to dry ingredients until just combined
3. Add egg, sour cream, vanilla, lemon juice and blueberries and mix until
it just comes together.
4. Move to floured surface and knead softly until combined and form into a circle
about an inch and 1/2 thick.
5. Drop 1 1/2 inch scoops of dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet
6. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
7. Bake for Approx. 20-25 minutes or until just golden brown.

Happy Baking!

Jessica

Cranberry-Orange Scones and the Hike from Hell!!

What a day! This morning I made some yummy and light cranberry-orange scones, with whole wheat pastry flour that happen to be a perfect snack. BUT, right after baking them my mom and I decided to go on a hike. We really enjoy hiking and try to challenge ourselves a little more each time we go, so we were planning on a 4-5 mile hike. Sounds reasonable right?

Well, when we got there I took charge of the map and decided we should try to do the 5 mile hike... which started by going uphill. Fine right?

About an hour into our hike and a few twists and turns later, we realized we were NOT on the hike we had planned! We were actually on a 7.5 mile hike- and hour and a half, 4 miles if you will, going uphill nonstop!!!

So, we ended up doing a 3 hour long hike, in the middle of the day, with only 1 bottle of H2O each! But you know what? We did accomplish it! And I don't know how soon we'll be looking to repeat it.... but at least we made it through! :-)

And now, have a scone recipe!

Cranberry-Orange Scones

(adapted from King Arthur Flour)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup nonfat milk
• 1 tablespoon orange juice (I used pulp-less)
• 1 large egg
• the grated peel of 1 medium-to-large orange

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, then add the butter, rubbing it in till the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Stir in the cranberries.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, orange juice, egg and orang peel. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir till the dough just comes together.
5. Scoop out globs of dough and drop onto the baking sheet. (Or you can use the authentic triangle scone technique, but I like the rustic look of the drop-scone)
6. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes or until they're golden-brown. Remove them from the oven and serve immediately.

Happy Baking!

Jessica