Apple & Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns

One a penny, two a penny! Hot Cross Buns! That’s right…it’s time for the Hot Cross Buns to make an appearance. I’m sure you’ve been seeing them everywhere, but I must say, look no further! The best Hot Cross Bun recipe can be found right here. This year I made buns with a bit of a twist from the old traditional ones I usually do and baked Apple & Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns. Let me just say, they are dee-lish! They are incredibly moist and bursting with apple and cinnamon flavour, most likely due to a fresh homemade apple cinnamon compote which is added to the dough along with golden raisins, and  bits of dried apple. And if that doesn’t tempt you, as soon as these little buns emerge from the oven, they are drenched in a syrupy apple cinnamon glaze. Do I have your attention now? Yum, yum, YUM!

On Good Friday I always make Hot Cross Buns. I just have to do it. It’s like I have no choice. I find all of the lore surrounding them fascinating! Hot Cross Buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday and the cross that adorns them is said to be a symbol of the Crucifixion. However, these little buns may even pre-date Christianity. The cross could possibly have been made in honour of the Saxon Goddess Eostre and in that case would have symbolized the four quarters of the moon. The Buns that are actually baked on Good Friday are said to have quite an array of powers besides their delicious taste. For one thing, these pastrys will never get moldy. I actually have been putting a Good Friday baked bun aside for several years now and I can attest, they do not mold!

Preserved Buns from Easters past!

Furthermore, if you hang one in your kitchen, it will not only protect your household from fires but will also work as a charm to ensure all of your bread baking endeavours will be successful. Indeed, a dried bun from the previous year, also has medicinal properties. You can grate a bit of it into the liquid of your choice to make a restorative elixir that will help sick folks regain their health. This powder can also be applied directly to wounds with the same curative results. Amazing!

Now I must stress that only Hot Cross Buns baked on Good Friday itself have these powers. So most likely you’re going to have to bake them yourself on the actual day to ensure your buns are filled with these magical properties. Hot Cross Buns are made with yeast, so just keep in mind, there are going to be a couple of rise times involved. You need to plan for it and unless you plan on getting up at o’dark thirty to start working on them, you probably won’t have them available for breakfast that morning. But you could have them ready by elevenses! They are a bit of work, but believe me, these buns are so worth it! And I had the most pleasant surprise. When I finished glazing the Hot Cross Buns I actually had some of the Apple Cinnamon Syrup left over. I set it aside and was quite happy to find that it had actually set up upon cooling, leaving me with a scrumptious jelly! Yup….Apple & Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns with Apple Cinnamon Jelly. It just keeps getting better! You’ve gotta make these delicious buns today!

Apple & Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns

recipe from: Technicolor Kitchen

yield: 20 Buns

Ingredients:

Apple and lemon compote:

• 1 ¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon (375 ml) water
• 1 lemon
• 2 Granny Smith apples, unpeeled, cored, diced
• 1 cinnamon quill

Dough:

• 5 cups (700 g) all-purpose flour (I had to add 1 extra cup flour) + 1/3 cup (46 g) extra for the piping mixture
• 1 cup (155 g) golden raisins
• 80 g dried apple, diced
• 14 g (2 sachets/4 ½ teaspoons) dried yeast
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• finely grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
• 5 ½ tablespoons (65 g) granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon (375 ml) whole milk
• 100 g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
• 1 egg

Directions:

Start with the compote: combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan, then squeeze in juice of half the lemon and stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Meanwhile, cut remaining lemon half into 3mm-thick slices, add to saucepan with Granny Smith apples and cinnamon quill. Bring to the simmer, reduce heat to medium and cook until lemon and apple are translucent (20-25 minutes). Strain, reserving fruit and syrup separately. When cool enough to handle, dice lemon, combine with apple. Remove the cinnamon quill, add it to the syrup and set aside.

Combine flour, raisins, dried apple, yeast, ground cinnamon, allspice, zests, sugar, apple compote and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan, warm over low heat until butter melts and mixture is lukewarm. Whisk in egg, then add milk mixture to flour, stirring to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes) – I used my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook to knead the dough; gradually added 1 cup flour because the mixture was too wet. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the bowl, so just slowly add flour as you are kneading until you see this.
Place in a lightly buttered bowl, cover and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (30-40 minutes). Meanwhile, line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Knock back dough, divide into 20 even pieces, then knead each piece into a smooth ball. Arrange dough in a large rectangle or concentric circles, placing balls side by side onto prepared sheet, leaving 1cm between each for dough to expand. Cover with a tea towel and stand in a warm place until doubled in size (30-40 minutes).
Preheat oven to 220°C/428°F. Combine the 1/3 cup extra flour and ¼ cup (60 ml) cold water in a bowl and stir to a smooth paste. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and pipe a cross shape onto each bun.

Bake for 10 minutes, reduce oven to 200°C/400°F and bake until golden and buns sound hollow when tapped (10-12 minutes).
Meanwhile, combine reserved syrup and cinnamon quill in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until syrupy. Brush thickly over hot buns, then transfer buns to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Irish Coffee Scones with Whiskey Butter

Here it is, Day 9 of my St. Patrick’s Day countdown and I think it’s time for another yummy breakfast treat. We haven’t had one since back on Day 1 when I posted about those irresistible Chocolate & Raspberry Buttermilk Doughnuts. Not that I’m opposed to the occasional slice of cold pizza, or even better, cold, left over french fries for breakfast. But I’m talking about a recipe for “official”  or ” classic” breakfast food. How about some lovely Irish Coffee Scones? Yeah, scones are perfect for breakfast. And these are for St. Patrick’s Day, so let’s do this thing up right. It’s a special occasion. Not an everyday thing. These scones have coffee, which is an essential for breakfast. And they have Baileys, I think we have established how I feel about the Baileys Irish Cream. It has been in high rotation in my recent culinary creations. So all that is missing for these to be a well-rounded St. Patrick’s Day breakfast would be a nice shot of Jameson. Oh…I’ve got it! We’ll stick it in the butter! Whiskey Butter….that’s what I’m talking about! How fantastic, Irish Coffee Scones with Whiskey Butter!

These Irish Coffee Scones are very moist, quite tender and definitely have a pronounced coffee-y/Baileys flavour. They are very light, almost more cake-like than biscuit/scone like, perhaps due to the addition of the cake flour. They are pretty easy to make, though I will say the dough is quite sticky, so just make sure your hands and prep surface are well floured. As long as you’ve got that covered, you’ll be fine. As with all scones, make sure your butter is very cold when you cut it into the flour and once you’ve added liquid to your dry ingredients, handle the dough as little and as gingerly as possible, otherwise your scones will be tough. Make sure that you don’t forget to sprinkle sugar-in-the-raw over the top of your scones, as it gives them a really lovely crunchy texture. And oh….when serving these delectable little morsels, the Whiskey Butter is not optional. It is a requirement! Start St. Patrick’s Day off right and bake up a batch!

Irish Coffee Scones with Whiskey Butter

recipe from: Buttercream Blondie

yield: 8 scones

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cold & cubed
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup strong coffee
• 1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream

Directions:

Brew coffee & set aside to cool.

Combine dry ingredients together in a bowl.

Cut in cold, cubed butter.

Whisk eggs with cool coffee and Baileys.

Add to dry ingredients and mix till it comes together. This is a wet dough at first & kind of sticky.   It will come together.

Turn dough out onto a well floured surface.

Pat dough out into a circle.  You can use a rolling pin if you want, I use my hands to shape it. ( I divided the dough in half and patted each dough half into a circle, for a more petite scone. This dough is quite sticky, so make sure your surface, as well as your hands are well floured.)

Slice dough into 8 wedges (or if you have divided the dough into two halves, cut it into 4 wedges) & refrigerate until ready to bake.  Make sure the dough is cold when it goes into the oven.

Brush with heavy cream & sprinkle with sugar in the raw.

Bake at 400° F  for 15-20 minutes, rotating once halfway through.

Whiskey Butter

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 Tablespoon Irish whiskey  (I used Jameson)
• pinch of salt

Whip butter with whiskey and salt.

Enjoy!

Chocolate & Raspberry Buttermilk Doughnuts

It’s here! It’s here! Day #1 of my St. Patrick’s Day countdown of Irish-y recipes. And ya’ll, I’m starting off with a great one! Who doesn’t swoon at the thought of Buttermilk Doughnuts? And these particular Buttermilk Doughnuts are filled with a Chocolate & Raspberry Jam that will bring tears to your eyes. Now I’m sure some of you folks out there in internet land are saying “Uh…How are Chocolate Raspberry Doughnuts particularly Irish?” Well now, keep your britches on for a just a minute and I will make the Irish connection clear.

The food scene in Ireland today is really changing rapidly. For such a long time when one spoke of Irish cuisine, bland boiled meat and potato was the unfortunate stereotype. But now a days I think most folks are aware that there is a real food renaissance going on in Ireland. The traditional Irish dishes, which were always rustic and filling but were for quite some time ignored, are being revived and served in the most hip restaurants to be found. You see, that wonderful mild climate that gives the country such gorgeous green vistas also produces an abundance of world-class fresh ingredients from wonderful grass-fed beef and dairy cows to gorgeous fresh fruit and vegetables. There is an emphasis on seasonal, locally sourced, quality food. And this new-found emphasis on fresh and local has created a resurgence in artisan producers. In recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of farmers markets in the country. Now farmers markets are amazing because you often get to meet the actual people who grow and craft the delicious food you are purchasing. (Lets take another look at those doughnuts…)

Last October, Jay and I were lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel over to Ireland to visit friends and family. Much to our delight, The 6th Annual Dingle Peninsula Food Festival was taking place while we were there. Now, if you are planning a trip to Ireland, let me just say, the Dingle Peninsula is a must see for your trip. National Geographic has declared it “the most beautiful place on earth” and it is ranked as one of Trip Advisors “Top 100 destinations in the world”.

So, if you can manage to plan it so that you are there during the Food Festival, it will just be icing on the cake. The little town of Dingle really turns out for the festival! They have a “Taste Trail” which encompasses over 60 locations from pubs to galleries to shops. Walking that food trail was incredibly fun and tasty! The way it works is that you buy a book of taste tickets and then set off on the trail. Each location has a sample of featured local cuisine. We had kangaroo skewers (betcha didn’t know there were kangaroos in Ireland huh?), Spinach and Gruyère crepes and charming butterfly cakes, a pint or two of micro brew, plus many other tasty delicacies. We could barely waddle back home! But in addition to the food trail frenzy,  there are cookery demonstrations, food workshops, live music, the Farmers Forum, farmer’s/food markets and the Annual Blas Na hÉireann (Taste of Ireland): National Irish Food Awards. Blas Na hÉireann is the biggest competition of its type in Ireland. The prestigious awards, given as gold, silver and bronze in over 60 categories, are considered to be the ultimate benchmark of quality Irish produce and its passionate producers.. That’s where the Chocolate & Raspberry Preserves that I used to fill my lovely Buttermilk doughnuts come in. (Ahhh…it’s getting clearer…) My friend Theresa and her family own The Green Apron,  a small artisan preserve company located Derryclough, Ballingarry, (overlooking Knockfierna – the famous fairy hill) in County Limerick, Ireland. She makes those stunning preserves, which won a silver award in the Blas Na hÉireann Jams, Marmalades and Conserves category! That in itself was fantastic, but she didn’t stop there. Oh no. Theresa also won the Gold in that same category for her Apricot, Orange & Almond Conserve,

Theresa & her daughter Athene accepting the Gold and Silver Awards

and she won a Silver in the Dips & Seasonings category for her Italian Butter Mix and last but not least The Green Apron won Best in Farmer’s Market for Small Producers for their stand in the Limerick Milk Market.

Four awards! Woohoo!!! Over that exciting weekend Theresa also taught a cookery class entitled “Preserving Your Harvest” and was able to man The Green Apron stall, with the help of family and friends. I tell you, she is unstoppable! I was lucky enough to bring a jar of the award-winning Chocolate & Raspberry Preserves, with a clear Irish pedigree, back home with me. Now, I must confess, I can’t tell you the recipe for it. No, no, no. Top secret and all. Well, I guess I could divulge it, but then would have to track you down and kill you all before Theresa was able to take me out. What I will say, is that if you are in Ireland, you simply must get ahold of a jar. You can find the Green Apron in the Limerick Milk Market every Saturday. They also do some other markets and fairs from time to time, so check their Facebook page for updates. Or you can email Theresa directly to discuss the possibilities of mail order. For all of you in other locales, if you’re in Ireland, try to catch her at the Milk Market, or you can find her at the next Dingle Peninsula Food Festival.

Otherwise, you’ll just have to find your own favourite, scrumptious jam to fill your doughnuts with. Check out your local farmer’s markets and I’m sure you’ll find some wonderful artisan producers. Or get busy and make up a batch of your favourite fruit. A quality jam will make all the difference in your doughnuts. I can remember I wouldn’t go anywhere near a jam or jelly filled anything when I was younger. It was something about the texture and that fact that the jelly tasted sort of plastic and not like any particular fruit. If it was supposedly strawberry or raspberry, it often just tasted vaguely “pink”. There was never any real fruit flavour shining through, just sweet goo. That is not the case with my Chocolate & Raspberry Buttermilk Doughnuts. Not only is the cake portion of the doughnut moist and tender, but it is also bursting with vibrant raspberry preserves, with a rich chocolate undertones.

For those of you who just can’t get enough chocolate, I dipped several of my doughnuts in a chocolate glaze. I also covered some with granulated sugar. Now you know how parents supposedly don’t favour one child over another, or at least would never admit to it? Well, I gotta say, whilst the sugar tossed doughnuts are lovely, but the chocolate glazed, Chocolate & Raspberry filled ones will make you go weak in the knees!

These doughnuts are baked, not fried, sooo….I guess that means they’re good for you? Alright, it probably means they are less bad for you than their deep-fried cousins, which you will not miss in the least, especially not the calories and fat part, after you get a bite of these much trimmer little devils. There is no yeast involved, so you don’t have to worry with rise times. And the recipe is flexible, if you don’t have a doughnut pan, you can make these up as muffins and stuff them full of the jam of your choice as well.

Easy and Delicious! Now that’s what I like to hear!

Chocolate & Raspberry Buttermilk Doughnuts

yield: 8 doughnuts

Recipe adapted from: The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book

Ingredients:

For the doughnuts:

• 7 Tablespoons (3 1/2 oz/105 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 Cup (5 oz./155 grams) sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 oz./235 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Green Apron’s Chocolate & Raspberry Preserves (or your favourite preserve)

For the toppings:

Sugar coated:

• 4 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

Chocolate Glazed: 

• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Tablespoon corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon hot water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F (180°C). Grease Doughnut pan with butter or butter-flavoured nonstick cooking spray.

In stand mixer cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, beating well to incorporate  until pale and smooth.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Add to the butter mixture in two additions, alternating with the butter milk and vanilla. Stir just until evenly moistened. the batter will be slightly lumpy.

Spoon batter into each doughnut cavity until it is 1/3 full. Place Green Apron’s Chocolate & Raspberry Preserve (our your favourite jam) in a pastry bag and pipe a line of the preserves in the center of each doughnut. Cover the preserves with doughnut batter until each cavity is approximately 2/3 full. Don’t overfill the individual doughnut cups or you’ll lose the doughnut shape during baking.

Bake the doughnuts for 10-12 minutes or until the top of the doughnut spring back when touched. Let them cool in the pan for 4-5 minutes before removing.

To add sugar-coating:

Place granulated sugar in ziplock bag. Dip the cooled doughnut in melted butter. Place doughnut in bag and gently turn until coated with sugar.

To Glaze with chocolate:

In medium bowl, microwave chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup on 50% power for 1 minute. Stir until completely melted. Add hot water and mix until the glaze is smooth. If glaze is too thick, add more water until it reaches desired consistency.

Dip doughnuts into chocolate and place on wire rack until glaze has hardened.

Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Pull-Apart Bread

I know, I know. We’re getting close to the Christmas season and this Caramel Apple Pull-Apart Bread does have more of a Fall vibe to it, what with the apples and all. At least that is what you might think until you taste it. Then you will come to the realization that I did. This bread is so addictively delicious that it is appropriate, no…perhaps even required, any season of the year! Pull just one of the gooey, cinnamony, caramely, appley slices off  while it’s still warm from the oven and take a bite. You’ll see. It’s like one of those decadent cinnamon rolls, ‘cept better! And believe me, you won’t be able to stop with just one of the slices. No sir-ee. Before you know it, you’ll look down and find the loaf half gone and notice your britches seem to have suddenly shrunk as the top button pops off and shoots across the room. (I hear that fabric does tend to shrink when it gets colder.)

It looks as though this recipe might be hard to make, what with all the steps, but it really comes together very easily. You don’t even have to worry about how you throw the cut dough pieces into the pan either. The bread is supposed to have that jumbled, rustic appearance. Not to mention, the basic Pull-Apart Bread of this recipe can be customized as well. Theresa at Craving Chronicles made a Peach Cinnamon & Brown Butter version. While Tracey at Tracey’s Culinary Adventures baked up a Cinnamon Sugar loaf. Get creative and come up with your own version. But you’ve gotta make this bread. And soon! You won’t be sorry!

Caramel Apple Pull-Apart Bread

recipe from: Alaska from Scratch

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus 1/4 cup or more, if needed)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs

For the Apple Filling:

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 3 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 large tart apple, peeled, cored and diced

For the Caramel Glaze:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons milk

Directions:

To the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine warm water and yeast. Let sit for 5-8 minutes until foamy.

In a microwave-safe dish, heat milk and butter together until butter is just melted. Add vanilla to the mixture and set aside.

Add flour, sugar and salt on top of the yeast mixture in mixing bowl. Turn mixer on low and add eggs, one at a time, until combined. Slowly stream the milk/butter/vanilla mixture into the bowl until a soft dough forms. Add extra flour by the tablespoon until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. Turn mixer up to medium and knead the dough for 3 minutes. Remove dough from mixer bowl and place in a greased bowl. Cover and let dough rise in a warm place for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. Peel, core and dice the apple. Melt butter just before the dough has completed its rise. Grease a standard 9×5″ loaf pan.

Once risen, punch down dough, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes. Roll dough out into a large rectangle (roughly 12×24 inches). Dough will be fairly thin. Brush melted butter over top of dough. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar/cinnamon mixture. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 6 equal strips. Sprinkle about 1/6 of diced apples over one strip of dough, then stack another strip of dough on top. Repeat adding the apple mixture and stacking dough strips with remaining dough. Cut stacked strips into 6 equal stacks of squares. Stuff stacked squares vertically into prepared 9×5 loaf pan. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise 30-45 minutes in a warm place.

Preheat over to 350ºF. Bake about 35-45 minutes, or until no longer doughy in the center (bread should register 190ºF on an instant thermometer in the center when done). If bread starts to get too brown before it’s ready, cover loosely with foil and continue baking.

Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze by adding the butter, brown sugar and milk to a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute.

Turn loaf out onto a rack with parchment paper under it. Drizzle load with the warm caramel glaze.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Banana Oat Bread

Yay! It is officially Autumn, my favourite time of the year. But last week, while it was still technically Summer, I bought some gorgeous Driscoll’s Blueberries. These berries were huge! Quite possibly approaching plum size, I kid you not! (well, perhaps I am exaggerating just a bit…). Anyway, I snatched them up right away and brought them home to make some as yet to be determined treat! I took the berries out of their little plastic carton, literally holding my breath, hoping that the outer berries hadn’t artfully arranged themselves as to obscur all of the moldy, yucky berries in the center of the package. Thankfully all of the berries in the carton were pristine, but I’m sure you’ve all experienced the disappointment of getting what you think is a great bunch of berries home to find that they are really a petri dish of various scary molds. I’ve always had great luck with Driscoll’s Berries, I usually buy their organic ones. They are always fresh and sweet. So that has become my brand of choice. And the folks at Driscoll’s have a great website which not only describes their business, but also provides some great berry recipes. It was there that I found this recipe for Blueberry Banana Oat Bread.

I’m always trying out different banana bread recipes and this was definitely a winner. The banana bread was very moist and had a great texture from the addition of the rolled oats. And those monster blueberries didn’t just look good, they were sweet and bursting with flavour!

A slice of this bread was great for breakfast as well as a welcome snack later in the day. And with all of those oats and berries, I’m sure it’s health benefits negate the calories! At least that’s what I’m telling myself…

Blueberry Banana Oat Bread

recipe from: Driscolls

yield: 1 loaf bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana, about 2 medium
• 2/3 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cups canola oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups Driscoll’s Blueberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and dust lightly with flour.

Whisk buttermilk, eggs, banana, sugar and oil in a large bowl until well blended. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in a separate bowl. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, mixing just until combined.Gently fold in blueberries. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake about 1 hour, or until browned and a pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cranberry White Chocolate Scones

I love scones! Especially the home-made ones, which put those things that a certain ever-present coffee shop sells to shame!  Scones are very easy to make, so I don’t know why I even bother with the store-bought ones. Yet every once it a while, I’m tempted while getting my morning caffeine fix and I buy one. In a moment of doubt as I’m reaching for my cash, I even think back to the last baked good I purchased there and how it really wasn’t worth the calories, much less the money. But then I convince myself that it was probably just a fluke last time and that the one that’s in the display case today look fresh. It will be different this time. But it’s not. Sad to say, the scones are always sort of stale and sickeningly sweet. What a disappointment. I should have waited til I got home, or bundled up one of my good home-made scones to take along with me for the road. I guess hope springs eternal.

I promise you these Lemon Cranberry White Chocolate Scones will not disappoint. They are just chock-full of favourites of mine, namely cranberries and white chocolate. The lemon zest gives them a wonderful fresh zing as well. Slathered in butter, clotted cream and topped with strawberries…pure heaven!

One taste of these lovelies and you’ll be ruined for the coffee shop scones. They’ll still have you for their coffee elixirs, so you shouldn’t feel but so bad for them. And one day maybe I’ll learn.

Lemon Cranberry White Chocolate Scones

recipe adapted from: The Sweet Chick

yield: 8 scones

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 Tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1″ pieces
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (I used Craisins)
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• heavy cream to brush over tops of scones
• Demerara sugar to sprinkle over scones

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place flour, sugar, and baking powder in bowl of food processor. Whirr a few times to combine. Add butter to flour mixture and process until mixture resembles coarse sand. Place flour/butter mixture in large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl mix egg and milk until blended.  Add to the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, cranberries and white chocolate chips. Mix gently. The batter will be a dough like consistency.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Divide into two equal sized portions. Roll dough out into circles which area about an inch thick. With a knife or pizza cutter, cut each of the dough circles into four equal sized  triangles.

Separate the triangles and place on prepared cookie sheet. Brush the tops of each scone with cream and then sprinkle with Demerara sugar.

Bake at 425° F for 15 minutes or until tops are golden.

Enjoy!

Dueling Muffins! White Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Muffin vs. Blueberry Blackberry Streusel Muffin

So how would you like to have a freshly baked muffin every morning for breakfast? And not just any muffin, but one with your favourite add-ins. And wait, it gets better. What would you say if I said that your significant other can also have their favourite muffin, freshly baked, even if it isn’t the same flavour as yours. No, I’m not going to tell you to hire a personal chef. It’s much easier and less costly than that. The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion has shown me how this is actually possible. They have a great recipe listed for All-Star Muffins. It is a basic muffin recipe, that you are able to customize with your favourite ingredients, like apple cinnamon, peanut butter chocolate chip, carrot raisin….you get the picture. But the brilliant thing about this recipe is that once the batter is mixed, it will keep for up to one week in the refrigerator! This is a great recipe to keep handy so that you can mix up a batch of muffins the night before a big breakfast or brunch. With all of that prep work done, you can just heat up your oven and get right to baking in the morning.

But how does everyone get their favourite muffin? Here’s what I did. I mixed up a batch of the batter, then divided it in half. To the first half (my favourites) I added Rum soaked dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Right before I popped these muffins in to bake, I sprinkled some crushed pistachios over the top.

Then I took the other half of that muffin batter and mixed in my husband’s favourites, blueberries and blackberries (I’ve mentioned he is all about fruit in baked goods…) and topped them with a delicious streusel before they went in to bake.

I only baked two muffins on that first day, one for me and one for him. I took the rest of the dough, scooped out muffin sized servings and stored them in 1 cup Tupperware containers so that each morning for the rest of that week, we could just wake up, turn on the oven, make our morning coffee and tea, put two of the pre-scooped muffins (one for him one for me) in muffin tins, pop them in to bake and 20 minutes later we would have freshly baked treats! Of course you could just leave the batter in the bowls in which you mixed it and just scoop a serving out from there each morning, but room is at a premium in my fridge, so the little Tupperware containers worked out much better for us. The muffins were fantastic, moist and delicious. Though we each tried a bite of each other’s, we both insisted that our muffin was the best! Try a batch of these with your favourite mix-ins today and you can rise and shine to a freshly baked treat every morning for a week!

All-Star Muffins

recipe from: King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

yield: 16 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups (14 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose or cake flour (14 ounces)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick, 4 ounces) butter
• 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease 16 muffin cups or use paper liners.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with a handheld or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla and sour cream and mix until incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low-speed just until the batter is smooth. Do not over beat the muffins here if you want to keep them tender. Mix just enough to moisten the flour. Don’t worry about any small lumps you might see.

At this point decide if you wish to bake all of the muffins or whether you will be keeping the batter in the fridge to bake freshly all week. Use a muffin/cupcake scoop to fill the desired number of muffin tins and bake for 18 to 24 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the muffins from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack. Muffins left in the pan to cool the entire time risk becoming tough from steaming.

Customized Directions:

White Chocolate, Cranberry, Pistachio Muffins: Soak 1 cup of cranberries in 1/3 cup orange juice, water, rum or bourbon. ( I used Rum!). Fold them into the muffin batter. Fold in one cup of white chocolate chips. Garnish the top of the muffins with crushed pistachios. ***As a variation you can use 2 cups of any dried fruit like apricots, cherries, dates or raisins if you prefer and also top with any type of nut you like.

Blueberry/Blackberry Streusel: Fold 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries and 1 1/2 cup fresh blackberries into the batter. Sprinkle the tops with streusel (recipe below) before baking.

Streusel

• 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 6 Tablespoons (3 ounces) brown sugar, firmly packed
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) soft butter

Mix together the flour, brown sugar, salt cinnamon, and butter in a small bowl, until the mixture is crumbly.

**If you are splitting the basic muffin batter to make two different types of muffins, remember to half the above add in measurements.

Blueberry Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes

Don’t put that cornmeal away yet! I know you just used it to make the batter up for those tasty Mini Corn Dogs. This time around it’s on the menu for breakfast in some delicious Blueberry Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes. Good lands, I just knew this dish would be fantastic! How could it not when its got all those great ingredients, buttermilk, cornmeal and fresh blueberries!

I had never made a cornmeal pancake before and was a bit nervous about doing so, thinking the cornmeal might make a pancake heavy. However, we really do love cornbread around here and my cornbread isn’t heavy at all. So, I gave these pancakes a try and we were not disappointed. The pancakes were wonderfully light and fluffy but had a great texture and taste to thanks to the cornmeal. Even though there were blueberries in the pancakes, we served them up with extra berries on top and drizzled with maple syrup. What a fabulous lazy Sunday morning breakfast!

Blueberry Buttermilk Cornmeal Pancakes

recipe from: Tracey’s Culinary Adventures

yield: 15 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups (7 3/4 oz) all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pint blueberries, rinsed

Directions:

Whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. In a large measuring cup, whisk the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, and gently whisk just until combined – the batter will still be lumpy, that’s what you want.

{If you aren’t going to serve the pancakes until you’ve cooked all of them, preheat oven to 200 F. Spray a wire rack with cooking spray and set it inside a baking sheet then place the baking sheet in the oven.}

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet set over medium heat (you could use butter too if you’d rather). Once the oil starts shimmering, use paper towels to wipe the pan so only a thin, even coating of oil covers the bottom and sides. Use a 1/3 cup measure to portion the batter into the pan. Sprinkle some blueberries over the surface of the pancake. Cook on the first side until the edges are set and the bottom browned, about 3 minutes. Use a spatula to flip the pancakes and cook on the second side until golden brown and cooked through, about 2 more minutes. {If not serving immediately, transfer the pancakes to the wire rack in the oven.} Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan if necessary.

Serve with butter, maple syrup and/or more blueberries!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins

Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins! I don’t know if these are for breakfast or dessert. (I think the answer is “yes!”) They are wonderfully moist and bursting with flavour. I was skeptical of the chocolate/orange combination for a long time. Remember those chocolate oranges? I wouldn’t go anywhere near them for years, but once I finally tried it, I was sold. I already knew that the banana/rum combination was a winner!

Throwing them all together in these muffins, well I just knew I couldn’t go wrong! Oh, and did I mention they are chock full of white chocolate as well? They sure are!

I found the recipe (sans the Rum) on Rock Recipes, a great blog from St. John’s, Newfoundland (“The Rock”), Canada – Gorgeous recipes from a gorgeous spot!

St. John’s is one of my favourite places. Jay & I try to head up there every summer to escape the oppressive Virginia heat, which is in full swing this week. It has come very close to hitting triple digits in the past two days. And oh yeah, the humidity is here as well. I tell you, I just wake up in a bad mood knowing I have to drag the poor dog out for a walk in weather like that. That’s why I need something incredibly delicious for breakfast. You know, something to sooth my summer frayed nerves after my morning stroll on the sun.

Lucky for me, my air conditioner is a real champ. It’s working overtime to cool me down so that  I can enjoy my luscious Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins with a nice cup of coffee, while I dream of moving up to St. John’s next summer!

Chocolate Orange Banana Rum Muffins

recipe adapted from: Rock Recipes

yield: 20 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
• zest of one orange, finely chopped
• 3 Tablespoons Rum
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup good quality cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• juice of one orange
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line muffin tins with 20 cupcake liners. Set aside.

Beat sugar and oil in a bowl until well combined. Add eggs, orange zest, mashed banana and rum. Mix well.
Sift together dry ingredients and fold into banana mixture alternately with orange juice.

Fold in the white chocolate chunks.

Pour batter into lined muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center which comes out clean is the best indicator that the cupcakes are fully baked.

Place on rack to cool.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pork & Chorizo Breakfast Biscuits

These Spicy Pork & Chorizo Breakfast Biscuits have got it going on! All of the makings of a fantastic breakfast; spicy sausage meat, fluffy scrambled eggs and salty hash browns, cradled right there between a flaky, buttery biscuit. Perfect when lazing about on a slow weekend morning, but also portable for those of you whose weekends are a bit more action packed!

A couple of weeks ago, I shared a great recipe for Spicy Pork & Chorizo Sliders. They were really great! We just couldn’t stop thinking about eating more of them. That’s when I decided I could serve them for breakfast with just a few tiny changes. I whipped up a batch of Buttermilk Biscuits (fantastic recipe listed below), prepared some frozen hash browns, scrambled up some eggs and grilled up a fresh batch of Pork & Chorizo sliders. I put them all together and Voilá! – A most delicious breakfast biscuit was born! These aren’t big, honking biscuits, like those Pillsbury Grands for instance. They are rather petite, ( 2 1/2″) so they fit the slider sized burgers perfectly. I suppose you could make larger biscuits and correspondingly larger Pork & Chorizo patties, but there is something fun about the smaller appetizer like size. But to each his own. Feel free to do whatever makes you happy! (and these Breakfast Biscuits will definitely put a bit of spring in your step!) We were already in love with these spicy little sliders, and just jonesing for more, so making them work for another meal was just the perfect idea. Not to mention, who doesn’t love flaky, crisp on the outside and tender on the inside Buttermilk Biscuits?!!  Including the hash browns put this creation over the top!  Get your weekend off to a great start with these Spicy Pork & Chorizo Breakfast Biscuits.

Spicy Pork & Chorizo Breakfast Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1/2 batch of Spicy Pork & Chorizo Sliders
• 16 frozen potato hash brown rounds – (I used McCain’s Homestyle Baby Cakes frozen hash browns – you could also certainly prepare home made potato hash browns if you’re feeling industrious)
• Scrambled eggs ( about 8-9 eggs for 16 biscuits)
• 1 batch Buttermilk Biscuits (recipe below – or store-bought if you’re feeling less industrious)

I’m sure ya’ll don’t really need directions on how to construct these Breakfast Biscuits, but here goes…

Directions:

Prepare half of the recipe for Spicy Pork & Chorizo Sliders (or double the biscuit recipe – depends on how many you’re serving ) Preheat your grill.

Prepare the hash browns according to the package directions. Set aside and keep warm.

While the hash browns are cooking, prepare the buttermilk biscuits according to the recipe listed below.

While the biscuits are on the cooling rack, grill the Pork & Chorizo Sliders. Set aside and keep warm.

Scramble the eggs.

Assemble your biscuits.

Enjoy!

Buttermilk Biscuits

Yield: Sixteen 2 1/2″ Biscuits

Recipe from: The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups ( 7 1/2 oz/235 gram) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups (6 oz./185 grams) cake flour or white pastry flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup ( 4 oz./ 125 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 Cup (8 fl. oz./ 250 ml) well-chilled buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a food processor, combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Process briefly to mix. Add the butter and using short pulses, mix the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the buttermilk all at once, and pulse just to moisten all the ingredients. The dough will stiffen during mixing. It should be slightly shaggy, but not overly sticky or wet. Do not overmix the dough.

Sprinkle a work surface with cake flour. Scrape the sides and bottom of the work bowl and turn out the dough; it will be very soft. Sprinkle the top with cake flour. With floured hands, gently knead the dough just a few times. Pat the dough into a loose rectangle about 1 1/2 ” thick. With a plastic dough scraper or large silicone spatula, fold the rectangle like a letter, overlapping the short sides in the middle to make 3 layers. Roll or pat out the dough as needed to prevent sticking. Using a 2 1/2″ inch biscuit cutter dipped in flour cut out the biscuits by pushing the cutter straight down and lifting up without twisting. Cut as close together as possible for a minimum of scraps. Pack together and reroll the scraps to cut out additional biscuits.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake the biscuits until firm to the touch and the tops and bottoms are golden brown, 15 – 18 minutes. Place on rack to cool.