White Chocolate Chip Scones

Because I don't want to weigh 300 lbs, I give away most of my baked goods.  One favorite place to drop off baked treats is my Veterinarian's office.  They are all nice people and they give me good feedback on my efforts.  I like that they really tell me what they think.  It helps me improve my baking, I have people who are happy to get the items and I don't end up gaining even more weight.  It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned.

I sometimes ask them to suggest items they'd like to eat.  My thoughts are that will help me try new things.  One of the women who works there said she liked my scones and she wanted something with white chocolate.  So these scones ended up being my next project....

I found the recipe on one of my favorite baking blogs.  Here's the recipe, from My Baking Addiction.  I didn't freeze the butter.  I used my food processor and just pulsed the cold butter into the flour mixture.


WHITE CHOCOLATE CHERRY SCONES
2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (65 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
8  tablespoons(113 grams)  unsalted butter, frozen
1/2 cup (71 grams) dried sour cherries; chopped
1/2 cup (65 grams) white chocolate chips; roughly chopped
1/2 cup (115 grams) sour cream
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in dried cherries and white chocolate.
2. In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth; stir in vanilla.
3. Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
4. Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.
5. If desired, drizzle with melted white chocolate after the scones have cooled.

Pear Walnut Muffins

Pears were on sale at Whole Foods, so I went a little crazy...now I have to figure out how to use them all up! 

To start, I made these muffins...

I doubled the recipe.


Bake Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar, packed
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 medium pear, peeled and chopped finely
1 egg
1/2 cup (121 g) buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup (220 ml) vegetable oil
1/4 cup ((220 ml) melted butter, cooled to lukewarm

Topping Mixture:
3 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts or pecans
3 to 4 tablespoons packed brown sugar
Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 (180c) degrees.

Mix first six ingredients together into a large bow. Stir in chopped pear.

Whisk together egg, buttermilk, vanilla, melted butter and oil. Stir into dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix. Fill greased muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Mix topping ingredients together. Sprinkle topping mixture over each muffin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned.


Makes 8 to 9. 

Blueberry Hand Pies

It's often bandied about that there are 'cake' people and there are 'pie' people.  I am definitely a cake person.  My husband however would probably qualify as a pie guy.

It was his birthday yesterday and he didn't want cake, he wanted pie..so I made these:

I have to work on the leaking a bit, but the crust was pretty amazing.

I got the recipe for them from the King Arthur Flour site.  Blueberry Hand Pies

I know it probably seems like I work for them or I'm getting free stuff or whatever, but I just like their flour and have found they have good recipes.  I promise some recipes from other places soon!

Hermit Bars

In the interest of trying to push myself to bake things I wouldn't normally, I present Hermit Bars!

These bars are full of spices with raisins, dates and walnuts.  Husband liked them well enough to ask me to save out a few.  I have been trying to give away most of my baked goods since I'm already fat enough!

The recipe is from The Baking Sheet - Autumn 2010

So I'm torn on posting every recipe that I bake.  On the one hand, I know you can't copyright recipes and so I can freely post ones as long as I don't copy their format.  On the other hand, I do want to encourage people to buy the book or item that the recipe is from.  So for now, I will post some, but not others.  This is one I'm going to skip posting.

Peanut Butter Brownies

I really like baking.  There is something about it that answers a part of me that nothing else seems to touch.  I've given up trying to fight it or explain or even feel uncomfortable about it.  I've decided to embrace it!

Last night's treat turned out well.  My husband approved and commented that they tasted kind of like a snicker's bar.

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour's Baking Sheet.  I bought a bunch of their back issues and have been in food porn heaven since then.  This recipe and the next few I'm going to run through are all from the Autumn 2010 issue.

Peanut Butter Brownies

3/4 cup peanut butter (7 1/8 oz or 202 grams)
6 T butter (3 oz or 85 grans)
1/2 cup sugar (3.5 oz or 99 grams)
3/4 cup brown sugar (5 5/8 oz or 160 grams)
2 large eggs
1 T vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (4.25 oz or 120 grams)
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (6 oz or 170 grams)

Optional Garnish
1/2 cup lightly salted peanuts, chopped and divided in half ( 2.5 oz or 71 grams)
1/2 cup caramel (5 oz, 14 to 16 pieces or 142 grams)
1 T water

Instructions

Grease a 9 inch square pan and line with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine peanut butter, butter and sugars in a large bowl: heat in a microwave or over a water bath to melt. (I used 1 minute in my microwave, but yours will vary.  Be sure to not let this go too long!)  Stir until everything is well combined.  Cool to lukewarm.  Slightly beat the eggs and add them and the vanilla to the mixture and mix until smooth.  Add dry ingredients, mix again.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle half the peanuts on top.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the center is set.  Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

Melt the caramel and water in a small saucepan.  Drizzle over the top of the brownies while still warm.  Sprinkle with the remainder of the peanuts.

Let it completely cool before slicing.

yields 16 2 inch brownies