toasted walnut scones with raspberry preserves - once upon a tart

A reader asked me if I might be able share the recipe for Once Upon A Tart's toasted walnut scones with raspberry preserves. I decided to do one better and actually make them. Toasted, ground walnuts are added to the scone dough, lending a nutty taste and unique flavor to these scones. The thumbprint filled with raspberry jam is the perfect way to compliment the nuttiness.

I was in Jersey earlier this month and while I visited Once Upon A Tart in New York City, I didn't get a scone to sample. Their tarts were all delicious and so was the soup. Two items I failed to taste were the scone and biscotti. I make both of those the most often from their cookbook, so I chose to go with what I don't make often. It's nice to compare tastes to the pros. Once Upon A Tart also seemed like a nice place to work. It would definitely be fun baking so much awesome all day.

First, the walnuts are toasted and ground finely before being mixed with the flour, sugar, and leavenings. Butter is processed in until a fine meal is formed.

Unlike their other scone recipes, this one doesn't use eggs, just buttermilk and vanilla extract. I figured the scones might come out more like a biscuit-shortbread hybrid without the eggs.

Instead of making the full recipe I cut it in half, but portioned the scones out using a 1/4 cup measuring cup instead of 1/2 cup so I'd still get 12 scones. Just like thumbprint cookies, the tops are indented and filled with raspberry preserves before baking.

Once Upon A Tart does not fail to disappoint. These scones weren't quite flaky as others I've made and seemed more like a giant cookie, but they were flavorful and would be enjoyable with a cup of hot tea. While I don't eat scones with jam much at all, I liked the little burst of raspberry flavor. In the book, they say you can fill it with any preserve you like, and even lemon curd.

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toasted walnut scones with raspberry preserves
Recipe from Once Upon A Tart

Makes 12 scones

ingredients -

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Just under 1 cup walnuts, toasted and ground fine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 1/3 cups cold buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups raspberry preserves

directions -

1. Position your oven racks so that one is in the center, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.


2. Dump the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, and pulse to mix.


3. Add the butter all at once, and run the food processor for about 15 seconds, then switch to pulse. Continue pulsing until there are no chunks of butter left and the mixture looks like moist crumbs. Be careful not to overwork the mixture. Remove the blade from the food processor, and dump the flour-butter crumbs into a big bowl.


4. In another, small bowl, whisk the buttermilk and vanilla together. Pour them into the bowl with the crumbs, and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together ad there is no flour visible. Don't work it a moment longer than necessary.


5. Use a 1/2-cup measuring cup to scoop out the dough. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, and place it on your baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between scones. Press down on each scone with the heel of your hand to create a fat disk, 1-1 1/2 inches thick.


6. Press a crater into the center of each scone with a tablespoon or soup spoon dipped in a glass of hot water. Spoon a tablespoon or more of preserves into the crater of each scone. The preserves should be flush with the rest of the scone. If you pile it higher, it'll drip down the sides of the scone when it cooks.


7. Place the baking sheet on the center rack in the oven, and bake the scones for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick or small knife inserted into a scone comes out clean. You'll have to poke around the jam, so it won't be the center exactly. Just make sure to insert the toothpick or knife deep into the scone.


8. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and place it on a wire rack to let the scones cool for a few minutes. Lift the baking sheet off the rack, and use a metal spatula to transfer the scones from the baking sheet to the rack, or directly to whatever you're serving them from. Serve fresh out of the oven or at room temperature.

Once Upon A Tart Honey Madeleines

I'm back with more Once Upon A Tart recipes. I have a reader request for scones from Once Upon A Tart that I'll put up soon. In the meantime, I'll tell you about the madeleines I made from the cookbook a month or so ago.

Madeleines are considered a French cookie, though they are more akin to a sponge cake than what you would recognize as a cookie here in the States. In order to make them, you need a special scallop-shaped >madeleine tin. I bought my tins from Wayfair.com. I chose to get the steel tins because I like how they cook better than the nonstick tins, which cost twice the price that these did. If you grease the molds properly, it won't take much effort for the madeleines to release without any trouble.

The batter is a is a lightly sweetened, buttery sponge cake. I didn't feel that there was much of a honey presence, but I'm sure it added to the overall flavor of the madeleines. After preparing the batter, you refrigerate it to chill for at least 30 minutes. I looked this up on various sites and they say the chilling contributes to the humps that form on the tops of the madeleines, which is the mark of a well-made cake.

The original recipe says to grease the madeleines by brushing the molds with butter. I used the directions from other recipes, which say to mix flour with the butter and then brush the molds. Since this procedure is like the PAM baking spray, I figured it would prevent excess sticking from occurring.

One recipe makes 12 madeleines, so I doubled the recipe. I ended up with more than 24 and I'm not sure how that happened. More to eat!

The madeleines baked perfectly in about 10 minutes, rising nicely and forming a brown crust. I needed to prod them out of the molds a little, but not much stuck to the tins.

I'm happy to finally have madeleine tins because I've been wanting to make these for a while. Sure, they're basically a muffin/cupcake, but they're extremely cute and unusual. Think of all the madeleine variations you could make, like red velvet or mini chocolate chip! I am also going to suggest these madeleine tins. The price was good and they baked the madeleines evenly.

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Honey Madeleines
Recipe from Once Upon A Tart

Makes 12 madeleines

ingredients -

4 tablespoons unsalted butter; plus more, melted, for brushing in madeleine molds
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of salt
Confectioners' sugar for dusting madeleines

directions -

1. Melt the 4 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over low heat, being careful not to burn or brown the butter. Remove pot from the stove. Stir in the honey and the extract, and let cool to room temperature.


2. Beat the eggs and sugars together in a big bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, until the eggs are foamy and light in color.


3. In a separate, small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Slowly fold these dry ingredients into the wet, with the mixer on low speed (or stirring with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula), stopping as soon as no flour is visible. Pour in the cooled butter-honey, and continue mixing until all the ingredients are combined. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until the batter is chilled.


4. Before removing the dough from the refrigerator, position your oven racks so that one is in the center and preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Brush your madeleine molds with melted butter.


5. Take a spoonful of batter and pushing it off with your finger, fill each mild to three-quarters full. Madeleines rise a lot, so don't overfill the molds. The goal is to have the cookies retain their perfect little scallop shape.


6. Place the mold on the center rack in the oven, and bake the madeleines for 8-10 minutes, or until they are puffed up above the edge of the mold and each madeleine has a bump on it, like the hump of a camel. You don't want to overbake these; take them out when the edges have turned golden brown.


7. Remove the mold from the oven, and set it on a wire rack for a few minutes, to cool enough so that it's easy to work with. Don't let it cool for too long. Ideally you want to eat the cakes while they're still warm. Lift the mold off the rack, and set it on your work surface. Place the rack on top of the mold ad flip it upside down. The madeleines will fall right out. (I prodded mine out with the top of a butter knife.)


8. If you're not serving the madeleines warm, once they've cooled to room temperature use a strainer to sprinkle a thin dusting of confectioners' sugar on the seashell side of the madeleines. They're so pretty this way that it almost makes up for the fact that they're not still warm.

chocolate chip cookie taste test

The whole reason for this taste test was because I messed up. Sure, I could blame it on watching a baseball game, or browsing the internet (I often bring my laptop into the kitchen), but when it takes you 40 minutes to prep ingredients you're probably bound to make mistakes.

Fortunately, I think it was that type of revolutionary breakthrough mistake! Ha. So, I set out to make the chocolate chip cookies in the Once Upon A Tart cookbook. The difference between this recipe and the Nestle version is all brown sugar instead of part white (it actually asks for light brown sugar, but I only had dark), half a stick more butter, more flour, and an increase in the baking soda and salt due to the obvious flour increase. They weren't setting out to reinvent the timeless chocolate chip cookie, but create a simple version of a classic.

My mistake started back when I let myself be sidetracked. You see, I meant to halve the recipe, which I did except for the chocolate chips, the baking soda, and the salt. Well, I didn't realize this until after I had eaten one and remarked on the amazing caramel-esque flavor, the fact that the cookies, made with dough that had not been chilled, didn't spread to the thinness of a dime, and that they had a special taste that you don't often taste in typical recipes.

These are some of the first batch after having refrigerated for 2 days. They still came out the same as the first day. While they didn't spread as much and as a result were thicker, they weren't cakey but still chewy.

The cookies were loaded with chocolate chips, which I thought would upset the dough-to-chip balance. Thankfully, it didn't.

Let's talk about salt: You definitely could taste that there was more salt, yet it was not salty. In fact, I feel (and so do two others) that the extra salt brought out the flavor of the cookie more and gave it some depth otherwise not present.

You can see how this batch, made with the correct amount of all ingredients, spread more, even after having chilled for a day. Since it had been chilled, however, they didn't spread out too much. In the dough, you could taste more of the vanilla extract. Not in the finished cookie, though, and the taste was standard.

The general consensus was that the cookies with extra salt and baking soda contributed a "how can I replicate this at home/why don't my cookies taste like this?" that I thought were even better than the cookies where I didn't mess up.

So. I don't know what to tell you. You could try out my wacky version to see if I'm cracked, or you could follow the recipe as stated to create regular chocolate chip cookies. I hope you appreciate that I made two batches to test the difference just for you, although you didn't get to eat any of them!

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Best Big Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Once Upon A Tart

Makes 18 big cookies or 54 smaller cookies

ingredients ~
20 tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (my addition)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (or 3 teaspoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or 3 teaspoons)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips; or 12 ounces good-quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces (or doubled the amount)

directions ~

1. Position your oven racks so that one is in the center, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a big bowl, using the whisk attachment of an electric mixer on high speed (or a sturdy wire whisk), until they are fluffy and light lemon-yellow in color, about 5 minutes. Mix in espresso powder. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.


3. In a separate, medium-size bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Gradually add this to wet ingredients, using the paddle attachment of your mixer on low speed )or stirring with a wooden spoon) until no flour is visible. Then stir in the chocolate chips.


4. To make big cookies, use a 1/3-cup measuring cup or your hand (eyeballing for size) to scoop out the dough. Roll the dough for each cookie between your hands into a ball. Have some flour handy to dust your hands in case the dough is too stick to work with. Place the balls on your baking sheet (greased or lined with parchment), leaving 2 inches between them, and flatten each with the heel of your hand until it is about 4 inches in diameter. To make smaller cookies, use a poon to scoop up the dough and your finger to scrape it onto the baking sheet. Drop the cookies 1 1/2 inches apart -- no flattening necessary.


5. Place the baking sheet on the center rack in the oven, and bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes (10-12 minutes for smaller cookies), or until the cookie centers no longer have the shiny look of raw dough.


6. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and place on a wire rack to cool slightly. Lift the baking sheet off the rack, and use a metal spatula to lift the cookies off the sheet and onto the rack to cool completely. If you're using parchment paper, there's no need to let the cookies cool on the rack. Slight the paper with the hot cookies off the baking sheet and onto a flat surface to cool.

Once Upon A Tart and their Pumpkin Scones

Every single fall I say I'm going to make pumpkin scones, and every single fall passes without it. Until now, when I finally decided to just make the scones and be done with it!

The recipe comes from the Once Upon A Tart cookbook and is one of my absolute favorite cookbooks. I fell in love with the twists they placed on typical recipes and the delicious pictures, the writing style, and the little tidbits of info strewn about the book.

What happens when I'm hungry and find myself at SBUX is that I stare at the glass case of baked goods that I know won't taste good. I stared at the pumpkin scones for the longest of time, but I said no. In the back of my mind I could taste the pumpkin scones I knew I needed to make and I couldn't ruin that with anything not up to snuff. I've also seen a recipe for SBUX pumpkin scones, but I didn't think I'd like them much compared to this.

So, on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I made pumpkin scones. Filled with fresh cranberries, dried cranberries (both of which remind me of a pig snout), and toasted walnuts. Using more then half a pound of butter. Producing scones nearly the size of my face. I could have halved the scones, but I wanted to make the real deal. I could have halved the size of the scones I froze, but I wasn't thinking.

And I was happy. Light, moist, and fluffy. Crisp and crunchy. Pumpkiny with subtle spicing to enhance the pumpkin flavor. Just sweet enough to leave you satisfied for a treat and perfect for breakfast. Filling the kitchen with the scent of fall, though you might die from the aroma before you get around to actually tasting them.

Once again, Once Upon A Tart fails me not.

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spiced pumpkin scones with fresh cranberries
From Once Upon A Tart with minor changes by me

Makes 12 giant scones

ingredients ~
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup sugar
2 sticks plus 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 large eggs
3/4 cup cold buttermilk, or 1/2 cup cold yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup cold milk
1 cup canned or fresh pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins, plumped and patted dry (I used sweetened dried cranberries, unplumped)
extra sugar for coating

directions ~

1. Position your oven racks so that one is in the center, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or just grease the damn thing).


2. Dump dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, and pulse to mix. Add the butter to the bowl all at once, and pulse until there are no chunks of butter left and mixture looks like moist crumbs. Be careful not to overwork the flour and butter. Remove the blade from the food processor, and dump the crumbs into a big bowl. (I found I had to mix half the butter with half the flour mixture at a time since my food processor wasn't big enough to hold it all.) Mix in the cranberries, walnuts, and raisins.


3. In another, small bowl, whisk the eggs to break up the yolks. Whisk in the buttermilk, butter puree, and vanilla.


4. Pour the wet ingredients on top of the flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture just comes together, then stop. You don't want to work the dough a moment longer than necessary.


5. Use a 1/2 cup measuring cup or your hand (eyeballing for size) to scoop the batter out and plop it onto the baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between scones. Sprinkle tops with additional sugar to create a decently thick coating.


6. Place baking sheet on the center rack in the oven, and bake the scones for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.


7. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and place it on a wire rack to let scones cool for a few minutes. Lift the baking sheet off the rack, and use a metal spatula to transfer the scones to the rack, or directly to the dish on which you're serving the scones. Serve fresh out of the oven or at room temperature.

These scones are huge. Either cut the recipe in half, to make six large or 12 small scones (using a 1/4 cup measuring cup and reducing the baking time by half), or make the full recipe and freeze the scones after shaping for later (wrap frozen scones individually in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer bag), adding additional baking time.