7-5-12 Scones Two Ways

Background: Back in January, Marcus and I were visiting Albuquerque on a house hunting trip. We went to the casino and Marcus won a little bit of money while I lost everything, as usual. He said he'd buy me something with the money he won. The morning we were flying back to SLC, we were in a Sunflower grocery store, and I saw a cookbook: "The Best of Fine Cooking - Breads". I've only attempted bread once, so I thought it would be a good book to have. I took Marcus up on his offer to buy me something with his winnings, and got the book. These scones are the first recipes I tried from the book. Marcus loves scones. I made these for him to try and take to work to share with his team.

Chocolate Chunk Scones
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/chocolate-chunk-scones.aspx

Lemon-Glazed Banana Scones with Crystallized Ginger
http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/lemon-glazed-banana-scones-crystallized-ginger.aspx

Fortunately, finecooking.com has the recipes, so the're here for you!

Here are the ingredients for the chocolate chunk scones:

The recipe says to use a baking sheet with parchment paper, but I recently bought a silicone mat that you can re-use over and over and NOTHING sticks to it. One of my favorite new kitchen tools.

1. Whisk together dry ingredients. Add chocolate (I used semi sweet chocolate chips rather than a block of semi-sweet chocolate) then cut in butter. The recipe says to use a pastry blender or two table knives. I do not have a pastry blender so I used the knives. Worked fine...

2. Mix cream and egg yolks together in a small bowl, then add to dry ingredients. Mix slightly with with a fork and then finish mixing with your hands. DO NOT OVERMIX!!!!!! Just until it forms a sticky ball, then move it to the pan and shape into a disc 7 inches in diameter and 1 inch high.

3. Separate the disc into 8 equal segments.

4. Brush with egg/heavy cream glaze and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.

Oh yeah, these are as good as they look...

For the lemon-glazed banana scones, here are the ingredients:

1. Mix dry ingredients and lemon zest in a bowl.

2. Add chopped banana and crystallized ginger. Crumble the butter in with your fingers.

3. Add heavy cream and mix with a fork until until you get dough. It doesn't take long. Remember, don't overmix!!!!

4. Dump bowl onto a lightly floured surface and mold into a 7 inch diameter and 1 inch high disc. Cut the 8 equal pieces on the floured surface. Transfer to your pan (with the silicone mat) and keep them 1 to 2 inches apart.

5. Glaze with heavy cream and sprinkle sugar on top. I used turbinado sugar I had on-hand.

6. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate pan and bake for 10-15 more minutes, until golden brown. Move to a cooling rack for about 5 minutes.

Before you make the glaze, put a piece of wax paper under the cooling rack so that you don't make a mess when you drizzle the glaze on the scones.

7. Mix glaze ingredients in a bowl. I used more lemon juice than the recipe called for. I thought the glaze was too thick, and the extra lemon juice helped to make it more to my liking.

A couple of tips...Marcus's mom and grandmother keep their butter out on the counter. I have always kept mine in the fridge. I started letting mine stay out at room temperature after visiting them. You will ALWAYS have softened butter ready to go if you do this...

Any time you use fresh lemons, you can chop up the leftovers and throw it down your garbage disposal. Run the garbage disposal and your kitchen will smell like lemon and it will de-funk your disposal!

8. After the scones have cooled slightly, drizzle the glaze on top. 

I packaged up the scones for Marcus to take to work in the morning. Happy Friday, Carmax Service Center!!!!

PS - If you ever wonder how you can get away with cooking or baking higher-calorie foods and not gaining weight, here's the secret: set aside one or two for yourself, and take the rest to work. They'll be gone by the end of the day, and no guilt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huzzah!

PPS - Both of these scones taste amazing....you should make them and tell me what you think.

UPDATE!!! - The lemon-glazed banana scones were gobbled up fast, and big compliments came from lots of people at Marcus' work. "Better than Starbucks"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!