Tag Archives: Recipes

Homemade Scones

I fell in love with the flaky pastry that hails from Scotland while living in New York City. I would walk to this cute corner coffee shop owned by a Brit couple and order a scone and latte to enjoy while I journaled about my summer in the big city. While I’ve been a connoisseur of scones for quite some time, I’ve never attempted to make my own. So I added scone-making to my goals on my Thirty-One List.

While visiting my best friend in Chicago last week, she decided to help me accomplish one of my 31 tasks. Having a culinary degree from Argentina, I agreed that she would be the best person to guide me through the process. We used the Cook’s Illustrated recipe and my BF indicated it is the Bible of all things food. The recipe was precise but actually pretty simple and the scones turned out buttery and delicious…definitely a culinary splurge.

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Orange Cranberry Scones Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter, chilled and cut into small cubes (cut these quickly so they don’t melt in your hands)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup heavy cream

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse 6 times to combine. (I counted 1 one-thousand for each pulse.)

3. Distribute the butter evenly over the dry ingredients, sprinkle the zest in, and then combine with a dozen 1-second pulses. Add the cranberries and pulse one more time. Transfer to medium size bowl.

4. Stir in heavy cream with rubber spatula or fork until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.

5. Transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, slightly sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. Pat the dough into an 8-inch circle (we used a cake pan) and cut into 8 wedges. Put the wedges on the prepared baking sheet.

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6. Bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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C is for Columbian Cookies

Well, I had another baking flop today. Not that the cookies I made were bad, but after I made them I realized just how un-authentic they were. I was attempting to make a dark sugar cookie hailing from western Columbia. But I failed to spend the time researching like I should have, and instead just went with the first recipe I found. I should have known better when I saw that recipe was from Pilsbury. (How much more American can you get?) Here is the recipe I used.

After I made them, I started researching. (I know, shame on me.) First I found out that I should not be using dark brown cane sugar but rather panela, a solid sugar cane substance that is then grated into the recipe. Second, the recipe called the cookies “cucas” but according to the Word Reference Forum and Local Spanish, cuca is a dirty word in Columbia. Eek!

It just goes to show that research is important and the internet is not always correct. But regardless, the cookies were pretty good if you’re looking for something a bit different and on the line of a Columbian cookie.

I don’t think the icing is authentic either but I figured I’d add it any way. Who doesn’t like a little extra icing, right?

Cookie, cookie, cookie starts with C.

 

ANZAC Biscuits

I found out about ANZAC biscuits a few weeks ago while browsing through a kids international cookbook, but decided to seek out the real recipe and find out more about these Australian/New Zealander cookies. The cookie recipe was first published in the 1915 St. Andrews Cookery Book. Named ANZAC after the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the biscuits originated from wives/mothers sending the cookies to their husbands/sons who were stationed overseas. Due to the ingredients and hardy nature of the biscuits, they were well suited to travel.

ANZAC biscuits ingredients are pretty straight forward. Lacking eggs and milk, these cookies are long-lasting and do not require refrigeration. The only ingredient that may be difficult to find pending your location is the golden syrup. Golden syrup is a sugar cane syrup easily found in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. In Oklahoma City, the only place I found the syrup was at Whole Foods. I tasted the syrup to see what it compared to. If you are stateside, a cheaper alternative may be Cairo Syrup.

I stuck pretty close to the original recipe which had me melt the butter and syrup together and then add a mixture of boiling water and baking soda. One change I did make was swapping the sugar out for Splenda to make them a bit more diet friendly. In my oven, the cookies were done in 16 minutes rather than 18 to 20. The batter made about 20 cookies but they turned out a bit more round that ones in the book I saw.

I brought the finished product to Hubby’s office on Friday for lunch. Both he and the nursing staff enjoyed the lightly sweetened, dense cookie. They were gone pretty quick!

Molcajete Recipes

When Hubby and I got married two years ago my cousin got us a molcajete from Williams Sonoma. We had recently discovered that we loved guacamole and were so excited to make it “the real” way. That is all I’ve ever used my molcajete for. As far as we were concerned, molcajete = guacamole maker. But now that we’re in Mexico, we’ve discovered it has a lot more uses than to just make awesome guac. In addition to having guacamole made at our table, we’ve also enjoyed freshly-made salsa and stew made and served in a molcajete. Newly aware of its additional uses, I thought I would do some recipe research to share.  Here’s what I’ve found:

Rudy’s Molcajete Mixto Recipe – a mixed grill of carne asada, nopales, chicken, shrimp, jalapenos, and chorizo sausage served with queso fresco, avocado, and lime

Mexican Style Meat and Vegetable Stew – a chicken, flank steak, and bacon in a tomato based broth

Seafood Molcajete Recipe – shrimp, scallops, and chicken sausage  served hot and spicy in the molcajete

Currently our molcajete is in a storage unit in Augusta, Georgia but once it’s out, I promise to try these and share how they go.

Have any molcajete recipes to share?

Courtesy of davedworkin.com. My own pics are still to come!