Peaches 'n Cream Oatmeal Scones

Hello, guys! Today reminds me of one of those "blustery days" mentioned in Winnie the Pooh. Winter seems just about over, so I'm not going to complain.

Yesterday, I briefly mentioned the scones I made with peach yogurt (psst, enter the Yoplait giveaway if you haven't!). I hope you were curious, too, because these are amazing! There's a light peach taste, a hearty oatmeal flavor, and it's all tied together with lemon extract and a light lemon glaze.

When I was little, my brothers and I looked forward to family trips because it meant instant oatmeal packets -- specifically, the "cream" flavored oatmeal packets, like peaches 'n cream, strawberries 'n cream, etc. I'm not sure we liked them as much as we did, but that was the inspiration I used to create these scones.

Only instead of cream, I used yogurt. Let's just overlook that part.

I ground up the oatmeal so that it would blend better in the dough make an even texture. The only form of peach in these muffins comes from the yogurt, though if I had a peach I probably would have added half a cup, finely chopped. Even so, the peachy flavor was pretty decent. Rounding off the two flavors is lemon, in the form of extract and a light lemon glaze that gets brushed on the scones after they're baked.

Scones are basically enriched biscuits and usually contain cream (or buttermilk), an egg, sugar, dried fruit, a glaze, and so on. I only added two tablespoons of sugar to the dough because the little carton of yogurt already had 26 grams. and I didn't want to make the scones too sweet. It's also not necessary to brush these scones with an egg glaze to aid browning -- the sugar takes care of that for you.

Many scones require you to pat the dough out before slicing into shapes, but I opted to go the drop-scone method. The scones are more rustic-looking, though still delicious and easier to deal with. Because of that, the dough is more wet than traditional scone dough, meaning that the scones remain moist and tender after baking.

After a quick fifteen minutes in a hot oven, the scones come out beautifully browned and well-risen. This is when you brush the lemony glaze on top, creating a shiny coating. I might just start have to start keeping peach yogurt on hand to make more of these the next time I have a craving.

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Peaches 'n Cream Oatmeal Scones
Recipe by Christina Provo

Yields 8 scones

Ingredients -

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oats, ground
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup peach flavored yogurt, chilled
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp lemon extract
4 tbsp confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions -

1. Preheat oven to 425° and line a large baking sheet with parchment. Whisk flour, ground oats, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in flour until mixture resembles coarse sand.


2. Mix yogurt with beaten egg and lemon extract. Pour into dry ingredients and mix quickly until dough forms a cohesive ball. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, portion out dough into eight scones. If there's any dough remaining, press it onto formed scones. Bake for 15 minutes, or until scones are golden brown.


3. As the scones bake, mix the confectioners' sugar with fresh lemon juice. Whisk until glaze is smooth. When scones have baked, brush glaze evenly over tops of scones while on baking sheet. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely, or serve warm.

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.

orange buttermilk scones with orange glaze

What better way to start a weekend breakfast off than with fresh scones? I've always favored scones as a classy breakfast pastry that can be prepared in under an hour (great for when you feel lazy!).

What I look for in a scone is a stand-alone pastry that doesn't need butter and jam. This means they have to be sweeter than a biscuit -- really, do you want to be eating a scone and think, "Hey, these would go great with a bowl of chili!" No. So I tend to favor scones that are on the sweeter side. A glaze is optional as long as it enhances the scone without taking it from pleasantly sweet to tooth-aching.

A quick bread means all the dry ingredients are mixed together before the liquid is added. The butter is cut into the flour mixture, helping the scone develop its flaky texture. I grated the butter and placed it in the freezer as I prepped the remaining ingredients.

Since the original recipe called for cream and not buttermilk, I replaced a 1/2 teaspoon baking powder with baking soda to help with the acidity. Also, I didn't have buttermilk. Instead of souring milk with a tablespoon of vinegar, which I find has a thinner consistency than buttermilk, I used a yogurt-milk mixture. It's made up of a 2:1 ratio of yogurt to milk, so 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/4 cup whole milk. This makes an excellent substitute for buttermilk.

Edited to add: I've since been using a 1:1 ratio of yogurt to milk and find that it's not quite as thick as the 2:1 ratio but works just as well.

Use a light hand when mixing any type of quick bread, and especially biscuits and scones. Over-mixing over-develops the gluten and produces a tough pastry. Mix just until a dough comes together, then turn out on a lightly floured surface to pat down. I patted the dough into a rectangle instead of a circle and cut 12 scones instead of 8.

The glaze is just a mixture of confectioners' sugar, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a pinch of salt. This didn't a thick icing, so if you want it thicker just add more sugar.

These scones baked up into a one of the best I've ever made. The texture was light, fluffy and flaky, and the outside had a nice crunch. The orange flavor came through wonderfully and was enhanced by the glaze. I liked the bright flavor. These would be perfect as miniature scones for a brunch or breakfast party.

The changes I made to the original recipe were to add the orange zest to the flour mixture. When mixed together, this helps the zest release oils, giving the scone more flavor. Since I opted to make 4 more scones than the original recipe, I had to pat the dough out a bit more, making the scones smaller in height than what they would have been. You could try patting out to 1 1/2 inches (a square, not a circle) and simply slice more than eight scones, but I didn't go for that. Otherwise, the height would have been incredible. Other than the glaze, I didn't differ much from the recipe except using buttermilk over cream.

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orange buttermilk scones with orange glaze
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.com

Yields 12 scones

ingredients -

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, grated and frozen
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup buttermilk, or 1/2 cup yogurt mixed with 1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

glaze ingredients -

1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1/8 teaspoon coarse salt

directions -

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, orange zest, baking powder and soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Cut in grated butter until mixture resembles wet sand.


2. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Add to flour mixture and mix just until combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a 1/2 inch rectangle. Cut out 12 triangles and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the scones are a delectable golden brown.


3. While the scones bake, prepare the glaze. Mix confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and salt together to form a glaze. If you prefer a thicker consistency, add 1/2 cup more sugar and 1/2 a tablespoon to a tablespoon of extra juice.


4. Remove from oven and place baking sheet on a cooling rack. Let scones cool for 3 minutes before glazing. Put scones on cooling rack and place the rack on top of the baking sheet. This will help catch the glaze that drips down and minimizes a mess. Portion glaze out evenly amongst scones and spread with the back of a spoon. Serve with tea and enjoy.

banana scones with orange glaze

Please vote for me in the Recipe Rivalry. Only two days left to vote!

I made these scones on Sunday for breakfast. Usually scones have eggs (added richness), but I was out so I Googled "eggless scones", which essentially is a biscuit, and found a version by Bobby Flay that I liked. I changed the recipe a bit, subbing chopped banana for the fruit in the original recipe and making a glaze with sugar and fresh orange juice instead of the icing topping. And besides grating the butter, I cut in cubes of cream cheese.

The funny part is that this wasn't the eggless scone recipe I found. But as this was linked to the other actual eggless recipe, and I liked the sound of it better, I went ahead with this version and simply omitted the egg.

Though I only used 2 ounces of cream cheese, they gave the scones extra tenderness and a softer, fluffier flavor. You'll want to cut in the cream cheese first since the grated butter won't take very long to mix into the flour.

For the glaze, I brought freshly squeezed orange juice to a boil with sugar. This idea came from a muffin recipe I've made before, and I liked the way the muffins tasted and looked with the sheen and the orangey and slightly sticky coating. I don't know if I'd use this again because it made the tops soft the next day. An alternative would be to thin apricot preserves with a bit of water (heat until hot) or just use the glaze the recipe suggests.

The scones were nice and light, and just sweet enough to make a good breakfast treat. The bananas add their own sweetness tasted good with the orange flavors. Since these are drop scones, you don't have to worry about shaping them with all the added mess that imparts. To me, that's what makes these perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.

Recipe after the jump

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banana scones with orange glaze
Recipe from here, adapted by me

Makes 12 scones

ingredients ~

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Grated rind of two oranges
1/4 cup frozen unsalted butter, grated
2 ounces chilled cream cheese, sliced into 1/2 inch cubes
3/4 cup cream (I used 1/2 cup evaporated milk and 1/4 cup water)
1 cup chopped bananas
2-3 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

directions ~

1. Preheat an oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and orange rind. Sprinkle with chilled cream cheese cubes and toss to coat. Cut into flour mixture until it resembles the texture of cornmeal. Stir in grated butter to mix.


2. Toss chopped bananas into flour-butter mixture. Pour the cream on top and mix with a spatula just until combined. Scoop twelve portions out onto the prepared baking sheet (I used a spoon, but you could use an ice cream scoop), dividing evenly. Bake until tops and bottom are golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.


3. Meanwhile, bring orange juice and sugar just to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and cool. When scones have finished baking, brush the tops with the orange glaze. Let scones cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

chocolate chip and pecan scones

Scones always make breakfast seem a bit more special. Essentially, it's not entirely different than eating a fancy muffin for breakfast, but I think scones are more fun to make, and I like the texture.

I liked this particular recipe because it had chocolate chips, and last night I decided that breakfast needs chocolate and so that's what I had to have. Also, these scones seemed a bit lighter, as there are only 6 tablespoons of butter for the entire recipe, and my batch made 12 drop scones. They also use buttermilk, which I think imparts a better flavor than using cream.

With chocolate, pecans (which I added at the last minutes -- next time I'd toast them first), and a bit of lemon (that helped to brighten the scone more than give it a burst of lemony flavor), the taste was really delicious. The scone itself was moist and soft. Not as flaky as other scones, but that was okay. These weren't heavy at all, and for a breakfast scone I prefer that over one that sits like a rock in the pit of your stomach. Unfortunately, these scones, even stale, would not work to keep in your purse or backpack to throw at anyone attacking you, or taking your shopping cart, or getting to the back of the line before you, but sometimes you have to sacrifice taste for weaponry. If you left the chocolate out, though, you could take one on a run to throw at a dog who starts chasing you.

I only made one small change to the original recipe by using the whole egg instead of just the yolk, purely out of laziness. The extra liquid wasn't a big concern since I was going to scoop these out instead of patting the dough to make shapes. I might just decrease a few tablespoons of the buttermilk if I wanted to shape them, though.

The recipe can be found at my new favorite blog, The Food Librarian.

Chocolate Chip Drop Scones

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.

losing scones

Wait! Don't out click! This may or may not be the last post about scones for a while since I"m scone'ed out, but these I entered in a local baking contest sponsored by a local restaurant that I decided on entering.

I used the same recipe as in the oatmeal scone post, except with a few changes. Those changes were toasting the oats; just blueberries; adding 1 1/2 bars diced chocolate-covered marzipan; orange extract; freezing the formed scones for 15 minutes prior to baking; brushing the tops with a beaten egg and a tablespoon of milk and sprinkling with sanding sugar. Incredibly delicious and one of the best scones I've made in a long time. You couldn't quite taste the orange extract, but it blended wonderfully with the nutmeg and almond flavors. It wasn't a case of too many flavors since there was just enough of each flavor to create a medley that wasn't overpowering itself.
As for the texture, this recipe delivers: flaky and light, with a melt-in-your-mouth quality. It crumbles somewhat, but only in a tender manner and not because it's too dry, which it wasn't in the least bit. No need for additional butter or jam unless you can't eat a scone without it.

Besides scones, the other categories were Irish soda bread, brown bread, and Scottish shortbread -- I'll get to that in a bit. In the scone category there were 9 or 10 entries. Unfortunately, I was a bit camera shy and didn't take any pictures. You'll have to take my word, or not, that many of the other scones seemed like your typical, anemically pale, standard scones studded with fruit, drizzled with icing, and cut into perfect triangles. One was interesting and it seemed to be a peanut flavor of some sort, though I don't know for sure; it just had peanuts on top. There was a scone that resembled a giant thumbprint cookie filled with jam, though it still didn't have the wow factor based on its looks. Many looked like they might have been pasty.

Anyhow, I did not win. I did not even place 3rd. I don't necessarily care, although I'd like to know out of curiosity. My type-A personality came out in full swing and I started going through the various reasons why I might not have placed (and this is about to sound extremely pretentious) I honestly couldn't come up with many. Like you all are to some extent, I'm sure, when it comes to my baking I am my harshest critic. I know by experience what I want things to taste like, based on trial, error, and eats at restaurants and cafes, and I thought these would have had a shot, as I had that "moment" when I made the first batch that I didn't get with the scones I made before (I didn't blog those). So, I have no clue, basically, and must defer to the judges on this matter.

You may now be thinking that this girl has a rather big opinion of her skillz. I don't know, maybe I do, but I can sum my skillz up in one nifty sentence if need be, and that's not big at all. It's more that in many of the activities I do, baking including, it's easy to spot your errors and figure out how it was caused, and that's what was going on up there.

For a brief moment of digression, this cute apron came from CakeSpy. I won a giveaway sponsored by Carolyn's Kitchen back in July. Cupcakes on an apron! Thanks, Jessie and Carolyn!

Back to the topic, my mom decided to enter the brown bread division at the last moment, baking up a blue cheese-onion brown bread. While the scone category had 9-10 entries, Mom was the sole entry. Whether she placed first truly because her bread tasted excellent or simply by default, she says, doesn't matter to her since in the end she's now and forever an award-winning baker. She then went on to say that it doesn't matter what the judges thought, just that her family thought it was good.

That is me with her ribbon and her bread. =D

On another note, this Augusts marks the second year I've been blogging. My first post was an introduction to this place the direction of my blog. Yeah, yeah, I don't really post much about running, and I'm going to actually do something about that, try and even talk about various topics that pertain specifically to running that will help anyone seeking advice. Also, I don't use that dish nearly enough.
My second real food post was about the cinnamon rolls and coffee at the Victorian Pantry.

Looking back through the posts since then, I feel I have grown both in blogging and experience, though I'll never stop learning. I know what makes for a good photograph even if I don't always take them correctly, and as for the "stress" of blogging, I sort of have a handle on that. My tendency is to take too many unintended lapses because I had too many epic posts containing more than five pictures that I needed to edit on my laptop that has a speed between watching paint dry and grass growing and it just became a bit overwhelming. Sometimes I get in a rut and I don't want to have a photo shoot with anything. I just want to eat, readers!

Another reason is because I don't really have a direction, and I feel I should; I simply don't know which way I want to go in the sense of how my blog might be viewed because of it. Do I blog randomly on what makes the cut? Do I have a running theme I blog about a few times a month? And of course, I should actually blog about running. It's just quite a bit to think about, and this isn't even a job! While it always will remain a hobby, both baking/cooking and running are two things I'm very passionate about and if something comes out of this I would be thrilled. Basically, I'm open to the idea of taking this in another direction that what I had originally conceived.

Readers, friends, and anyone lurking, please share your tips. Also, please share what you'd like to see on She Runs, She Eats. I blog for myself, yes, but I also want to be of use to anyone happening upon this blog, and I like to share what I know with others. I also aim to make this as informative as I possibly can, because cooking is something that I feel is about growing and that occurs through experience and help. Where running is concerned, it's pretty much the same; you can learn so much by listening to what others share, and I know that to be true thanks to the many runners who have given me advice.

And finally, this long-winded post must come to an end. Thank you guys for reading, for sharing my foodie-ing with me thus far, and for letting me into your kitchens via your blogs. =)

billy, eat your... oatmeal scones

Let's talk about moronic children. We all know the Pediasure commercial with the mom and girl, mom strolling along, pushing brat in shopping cart (instead of making her walk). Mom reaches for broccoli, brat says she hates it. Mom reaches for chicken breasts, brat again declares her disdain for it, which is kind of unbelievable since children will eat chicken over most meats. I'd have thought she was a little vegetarian and it would have made sense, but she denied the broccoli. So again, the mom reaches for waffle mix and the brat, you guessed it, tells the mom waffle suck. Really? Waffles? Clearly this child is Damian-a.

Then there's the fish stick commercial. "YOU'RE SERVING ME MINCED FISH? HOW CAN YOU CATCH A MINCED FISH!?" A) No kid knows what a minced fish is. B) Again it's a mom and a daughter who's acting like a little twerp. The mom then gives the kid name-brand fish sticks that aren't minced. What you don't see in the commercial is the cut clip of the mom banging the plate on the table, telling the girl, "HERE'S YOUR NON-MINCED FISH. EAT IT AND BE GRATEFUL, INGRATE."

(Thanks, Jez.)

Summing up, if you're kid won't eat oatmeal then you should try these. But I'd refrain from mentioning the starving-kids-in-China part if they are inclined to be precocious -- "What will the starving kids in China eat if I eat the oatmeal?"

I've been mixing up scones quite a bit lately. I've gone through too much unsalted butter to even think about. But I saw these and needed to give them a go. This is another Dorie Greenspan recipe, and it combines oatmeal with fresh nutmeg, bananas and blueberries, all four things I enjoy, but in scone form. It also uses buttermilk as the liquid, which I find delightful since I like baking with buttermilk. And so does Dorie, apparently. Booya!

Perfect for breakfast, these were just sweet enough without being better for dessert. The texture of the oatmeal complimented the flakiness of the scone, which I thought gave it a nice mouth feel. These would be great toasted the next day.

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oatmeal nutmeg scones
From Baking ~ from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan

ingredients ~
1 large egg
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

directions ~

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat (I just greased the sheet).


2. Stir the egg and buttermilk together.


3. Whisk the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between ~~ and that's just right.


4. Pour the egg and buttermilk mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes together. Don't overdo it.


5. Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times. turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place on the baking sheet. (At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking ~~ just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)


6. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firmish. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for the scones to cool to room temperature.

Dorie also likes to add tips to many of her recipes to give you options.

playing around
Fruity oatmeal-nutmeg scones: Scones in general and these in particular are good with a little fruit mixed into them. Try adding small chunks of banana to the dough before you stir in the egg and buttermilk (cut 1/2 banana into 1/2-inch dice). These are also good with about 1/2 cup diced prunes or small cubes of plump dried apricot added to the dough.