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"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7-5 smoky deviled eggs

Background - After a few days of heavy caloric intake, I started looking through my favorite cookbook, "Cook This, Not That" to find some healthier meal options. One of the pages I had tagged included a recipe for smoky deviled eggs. I LOVE deviled eggs, and couldn't think of a better brunch for me, myself, and I. All the recipes in "Cook This, Not That" feature healthy alternatives to chain restaurant offerings. This recipe was created to rival a HALF-ORDER of T.G.I. Friday's Loaded Potato Skins (1,310 calories...for a HALF-ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Scroll to the bottom of this post for the nutrition info for this recipe.

I couldn't find the exact same recipe online, so I'm including the entire recipe on my post. I halved the original recipe. Here's the original recipe:

Ingredients:
8 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tsp canned chipotle pepper
salt and black pepper to taste
paprika (preferably the smoked Spanish-style paprika called pimenton)
2 strips bacon, cooked and finely crumbled

How the doggies looked before I started cooking this morning:

How to make it (straight from the book...no disrespect intended with my plagiarism...consider it flattery)
1) Bring a pot or large saucepan of water to a full boil. Carefully lower the eggs into the water and cook for 8 minutes. Drain and immediately place in a bowl of ice water. When the eggs have cooled, peel them while still in the water (the water helps the shell slide off).
2) Cut the eggs in half and scoop out the yolks. Combine the yolks with the mayo, mustard, chipotle, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir to combine thoroughly. Scoop the mixture into a sealable plastic bag, pushing it all the way into one corner. Cut a small hole in the corner. Squeeze to pipe the yolk mixture back into the whites. Top each with a sprinkle of paprika and a bit of crumbled bacon.

I put the eggs in the water while it was still cold and let it come to a boil. I then reduced the heat to medium and let the eggs sit for 12 minutes. I then put them in cold water and put them in the fridge while I cooked the bacon. Egg yolks came out perfectly cooked.


When making bacon, I do not fry it in a pan. Back when I was a teenager, I worked at a mountain camp as a prep cook. Judy, the head chef, used to cook bacon on sheet pans in the oven, because of the large amount she needed to make at once. I took this strategy home and I find that this produces flat, evenly cooked, crispy bacon.

Also, if you put aluminum foil underneath the bacon, and then leave the pan to cool on its own after cooking, the grease re-solidifies and all you have to do is take the aluminum foil off the pan and throw it and the grease away. The pan stays clean!


Here are photos of my progress.

These are the chipotle peppers. You buy them in a can in the Latin Foods aisle and use a little bit at a time. They stay good in the fridge for months!

Chipotle pepper finely chopped. Very smoky...not too spicy.

When putting the mixture in the bag, fold it over your hand. It makes it easy for you to pull the mixture off the scraper and keep your hands and the top of the bag clean.

I highly recommend purchasing smoked paprika. It has better flavor than regular paprika, and is great not only on deviled eggs but pulled pork too! I used the smoked paprika to make pulled pork for my school staff's dinner a few years ago, and it was a huge hit!

The bacon will chop better if you take it out before it's too crispy. By the way, I cooked the bacon in my toaster oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes with the convection option on. I took it out with about 3 minutes left and it came out just right so I could chop it without it crumbling.

For the dog lovers, who are more interested in the dogs than the recipe...and now.....the REST of the story...

Leftover bacon...

Leftover bacon in dog bowls...

Frustrated dogs waiting to eat bacon while I take a picture of them...

Happy dogs eating bacon!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I think the smoky deviled eggs recipe is full of flavor. It's probably a bit spicy for little kids, but it's very good for mature taste buds! By the way, there's even better news. Here's the nutrition info:


Original recipe makes 4 servings. Per serving:
220 calories
17 grams of fat (4 grams saturated)
370 mg. sodium


Not bad...


Please let me know if you like this post, try the recipe, or appreciate the tips and tricks.

4th of July all-day cooking extravaganza

Background: I am married to a Texan. It's the 4th of July. That is all...

St. Louis Style Ribs:
http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/best_BBQ_ribs_ever.html
The rub:
http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_pastes_marinades_and_brines/meatheads_memphis_dust.html
Tyler's Ultimate Potato Salad
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/potato-salad-recipe/index.html
Peach and Blueberry Crumb Pie
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/peach-and-blueberry-crumb-pie-recipe/index.html

Here's all the ingredients for the ribs:

1. Make the dry rub. The recipe will make a TON of rub, and you'll only use a tiny bit. You can save the extra rub or give some to EVERYONE you know and it should be enough to go around...

Put the ribs in the fridge for at least an hour.

2. Depending on which kind of grill you have, set the temp for 225 degrees with dual zone heating. Use hardwood  for smoking. Grill the ribs for 6 hours. Yes, 6 hours. This is what the ribs look like half way through and the smoke billowing from the chimney.

3. When the ribs are done, brush BBQ sauce on both sides, crank up the heat to high, and let the sauce caramelize. My favorite BBQ sauce is Stubbs.

While the ribs are cooking, make the potato salad. Here are the ingredients:

1. Here's the cool thing - you boil the potatoes and eggs at the same time. So easy...

2. After 12 minutes of simmering, take the eggs out and put in cool water in the fridge. 3-5 minutes later, take the potatoes out and set them aside to cool.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix.

4. Chop eggs and potatoes and add. Gently mix.

5. Put in the fridge until dinner is ready.

Now for the pie. This is one AWESOME, yet MESSY pie. Soooooooooooo worth it though, and easy to make!

Here are the ingredients:

Even the original recipe calls for a ready-made pie crust and frozen fruit...

1. Thaw the blueberries and peaches. Grind the tapioca in a spice grinder. I have one. It's Marcus's. I have no idea where it came from.

Here are a couple of tips. You can keep brown sugar soft forever if you just put the crust to a loaf of white bread in a ziplock bag with the brown sugar.

If a recipe calls for fresh lemon juice, take a lemon and roll it against the counter hard with your palm. It will soften the lemon and more juice will come out.

Remember, you can easily keep a yolk safe when separating your egg white by cracking the egg into your hand and letting the white slip through your fingers into a bowl.

 2. Mix all the pie filling in a bowl.

3. Mix all the ingredients for the crumb topping (amazingly good!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in a food processor.

When the crumb topping looks like this, you're done

4. Unroll the pie dough and place in the pie pan. Brush the egg white on the dough to keep it from getting soggy.

5. Put the filling in the pie, then top with crumb topping. Bake in 375 degree oven for 55 minutes.

Let the pie cool while you eat dinner.

Though Marcus told me I was very brave for trying to slow smoke ribs, I was hoping for a better turnout. They were fully cooked, tender, and juicy, but I didn't like the way the bark fell apart when I tried to cut the ribs, and there wasn't enough meat on the ribs to make it worth the whole day's effort.

The potato salad needed 2 more eggs and 1 more potato. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup pickle juice in addition to the chopped pickle. If I made this again, I would leave the pickle juice out, because the pickle flavor was too strong for me. But then again, I hate pickles... It was very saucy, which is why I say 2 more eggs and 1 more potato.

The baked beans were from a can. Marcus loves this brand

The pie was UNBELIEVABLE!!! I served it with a scoop of ice cream. The fruit was just the right mix of sweet and tangy, and the crumb topping was the most amazing flavor I've ever tasted on earth!!!!!!!!!!!

MAKE THIS PIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When it was all said and done, it took a whole day to cook, and 20 minutes to eat. I did get to celebrate with a drink that Marcus made up for me:

I hope you enjoyed reading about my 4th of July cooking adventure. Please let me know if you make any of these recipes or like any of my tips!