Cranberry pecan biscotti

Based on this almond biscotti recipe:
http://www.italian-dessert-recipes.com/almond_biscotti_recipe.html

I consider this relatively healthy because it's only 2/3 cup a sugar spread over 16 slices and contains no butter. I read somewhere that real Italian biscotti should not contain butter; that butter is an American modification. Correct me if I'm wrong. I had XL instead of just large eggs at home, so I substituted a flaxseed egg for the other egg, which adds another healthier substitution without seriously compromising taste or texture. Also, if you use walnuts instead of pecans, you add omega-3 fatty acids to make it even healthier.

Cranberry Pecan Biscotti (makes ~12-16 biscotti)

Ingredients:
1 large egg
just under 2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs ground flaxseed + 3 Tbs water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted, chopped pecans (and walnuts, opt)
1/4 cup dried cranberries (make sure they are still dried yet moist, not hard and dry)

Directions:

1. If pecans are not yet toasted: toast pecans on skillet over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. Let cool then chop.
2. Mix flaxseed and water in a small bowl and let sit for a 3-5 minutes to thicken.
3. Mix the all-purpose flour, pastry flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.
4. Beat egg and sugar till turns lighter in color. Beat in flaxseed water. Beat till light colored and thick.
5. Fold the wet into the dry ingredients until incorporated.
6. Fold in the nuts and cranberries.
7. Preheat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet or lightly grease the cookie sheet.
8. Gather the dough (it will be sticky!) and place in a log-shape on the center of the parchment paper. Use a spoon to smooth out the dough into a longer log with even sides. You may use the parchment paper to help shape the log.
9. Based on the recipe, you can bake a log that is about 12 inches long by 3.5 inches wide for 25 minutes.
10. Remove and let cool for 8-10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 deg Fahrenheit.
11. Slice into about 16 slices. Place slices cut-side down on the cookie sheet and bake for another 10 minutes. Flip over and bake another 10 minutes.
12. Remove, cool at least 5 minutes and enjoy!

Ideas:

• Ice with a simple vanilla, milk or lemon icing 
• Melt dark chocolate chips and dip half of the biscotti or the top side of the biscotti in the dark chocolate and let harden
• Eat with coffee or milk

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My family has been eating through our bananas too fast lately! My sister and her boyfriend consume almost all of them when they go surfing. Sadly, that leaves me infrequently with browned bananas. Luckily, this week, I had two laying around and searched the wonderful World Wide Web for a different way to use them instead of my usual fallback, the Stevia-sweetened Banana Bread.

I came across this fantastic-looking banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from Chefsavvy. I chose this because the photo looked great and there was only 1/4 cup butter for 2 dozen cookies! Relatively healthy and easy, so I opted to try this. Plus, my co-worker's been subtly (not, haha) trying to get me to bake cookies and bring them into work. Last week, I tried these healthy oil and butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe from HEB but was underwhelmed. They were too cakey and spread out too far, but that could have been because I didn't have rolled oats so replaced them with ground steel cut oats. Anyhow, this recipe is a show-stopper. I did not have brown sugar at home so I used molasses, and then added some ground steel cut oats because the batter was a little sticky. Everyone at work really liked it.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 20-24 cookies
adapted from Chefsavvy.com
Ingredients
1 medium banana, mashed
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Just under 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup ground steel-cut oats (not exact, pour some steel-cut oats in a coffee/spice grinder or food processor and process till somewhat fine - not as fine as flour)

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit. Prepare 2 baking sheets with lightly greased parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat the banana, butter, sugar, and molasses till thoroughly mixed. Beat in the egg and vanilla. 
3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
4. Fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Stir in the dark chocolate chips and ground steel-cut oats.
5. Place rounded tablespoon scoops of dough on the parchment paper. Make sure to place about 2" apart. Staggering helps.
 

Cranberry Orange Cream Scones (revisited)

I made another batch of the cranberry orange cream scones because it was so well liked by everyone in my family and at work. This time, I think I perfected the recipe. I made a double batch and made slightly smaller scones, a bit bigger than bite size but not as large as original. These were the perfect size I think.

Cranberry Orange Cream Scones
makes 12 scones
based on this Epicurious recipe
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
Just under 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Just under 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dried cranberries
About 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbs freshly grated orange peel
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Topping
1/2 Tbs melted butter
1-2 tsp coarse sugar

Directions
1. Combine the dried cranberries and fresh orange juice in a cup, making sure to cover the cranberries. Allow to rehydrate for at least 15 minutes and then drain well.
2. Mix flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Mix in the cranberries and grated orange peel.
2. Pour in the whipping cream and stir just till combined. Form into a ball and lightly flour the surface.
3. Lightly flour a clean surface and your hands. Pull the dough out onto the surface and shape into a rectangle about 8-9" by 4-5". Cut in half lengthwise, then cut each strip into 3 squares. Cut each square diagonally to create triangles. (You can change the size and shape as desired. These are great made into bite sized scones too!)
4. Preheat oven to 420-425 deg Fahrenheit.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the parchment paper with oil. Place the triangles of dough evenly across the baking sheet. Brush the top of each triangle with melted butter and sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. You may turn it around 8 minutes to promote even browning. (Reduce time and check frequently if making smaller scones). Let cool on the rack for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool further.

Tiramisu Cheesecake

Cheesecake is an American favorite, but the New York style and Cheesecake Factory ones are usually too thick and too sweet for me. The American palate tends to turn their desserts into sugar and fat bombs that are quite bad for your health, but are sure addicting! Being health-conscious and familiar with Asian-style sweets, I lean toward less sweet or sweet and salty desserts. I like combining sweets with something slightly salty or savory and bitter, such as adding nuts. Red bean and sesame desserts are delicious to me, too, because the flavors help cut the sweetness of whatever dessert they are in.

I must admit that I do like cheesecake, but in small portions, like the cheesecake bites at Yogurtland. Sometimes, I get that craving but never go out and buy one because most restaurants and stores makes theirs too sweet and thick. Finally, I had time to make one. I found this tiramisu mascarpone by BelGioioso, and I wanted to make tiramisu, because that is one of my top favorite cakes, but that required getting heavy cream and whipping cream and other things. I already had cream cheese at home so I thought a tiramisu cheesecake would be an awesome thing to make.

After searching a bit, I found this recipe for tiramisu cheesecake on AllRecipes that met my requirements for minimal ingredients and only a moderate amount of work and complexity. Earlier, I made a batch of homemade graham crackers and decided to add that to the crust to add a bit more crunch and flavor. I made some other adjustments as I went along: (1) soaked ladyfingers in a mix of Kahlua and coffee and wedged in the cheesecake batter, (2) added more Kahlua to the crust, (3) added more Kahlua and coffee to the cheesecake batter, and (4) topped with a pretty design using finely-ground coffee. I reduced the sugar by half because of my aforementioned aversion to sweet desserts and the cheesecake came out perfectly. It was just sweet enough and just thick enough to be addicting and enjoyable without getting sugar headaches. In addition to those changes, I baked the cheesecake in a waterbath, which helps maintain moisture while baking. I think I read somewhere that the waterbath also helps the top from cracking and helps the cheesecake bake evenly.

My family was very impressed by the presentation and flavor of this cake. This is definitely a recipe that I will return to time and again when I want a show-stopping cake!

Tiramisu Cheesecake with Kahlua
Ingredients
~Crust~
1 7 oz package of ladyfinger cookies, crushed to a coarse powder
About 5 crushed graham crackers to bring up the dry weight to 12 oz (I will increase the amount of crust in the future. This was too thin for my liking)
2 Tbs Kahlua (coffee liqueur)
4 Tbs of unsalted butter, melted

~Filling~
16 oz of cream cheese (regular or Neufchatel)
8 oz of BelGioioso tiramisu mascarpone cheese (mascarpone cheese flavored with real coffee and sugar; you could probably make your own by mixing mascarpone with some instant espresso powder and some sugar, or with a splash of room temperature strong brewed coffee with some sugar)
2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
4 Tbs all-purpose flour or white whole wheat flour
3-4 Tbs Kahlua (I would add more Kahlua and coffee in the future)
3-4 Tbs of strong-brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature OR 3-4 Tbs water mixed with 1-2 tsp instant coffee granules
4-6 ladyfinger cookies
Finely ground coffee for decorating top (optional)

Special Equipment
A 9" springform, nonstick pan
A jelly roll pan with at least a 1" rim

Directions
1. Mix the crushed ladyfingers and graham crackers with the Kahlua and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9" springform pan.
2. Beat the cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, and sugar until smooth. Add the Kahlua and coffee and mix. Add the eggs and four and mix slowly, just until incorporated. You do not want to overbeat or else the cheesecake will crack as it cools.
3. Pour half of the cheesecake batter over the crust.
4. Mix the brewed coffee (at room temperature) with some Kahlua. Dip each ladyfinger in the mixture and arrange in a single layer over the cheesecake. You don't need to cover the entire top.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Pour the remaining cheesecake batter over the ladyfingers. Jiggle the pan a bit to distribute the batter evenly.
7. Place the pan on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Wrap the foil up and around the sides of the pan, making sure there is no opening for water to get in. Make a second layer of aluminum foil wrap in the same fashion. Place the wrapped pan in middle of the jelly roll pan. Pour water to reach 1/2" up the side of the pan.
8. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes - just until the cheesecake is only slightly jiggly in the center. If it is browning on top too quickly, cover the top with foil and lower the temperature 10 degrees. Once done, turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven with the oven door open for 20 minutes. Then, remove from the oven, let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate at least 3 hours.
9. Before serving, dust finely ground coffee over the top, using patterned stencils if desired. Slice and serve!

Tips:
1. Wipe your knife with water in between slices to prevent dragging cheese filling over the rest of the cake.
2. Cheesecake freezes and thaws well too. You can wrap individual slices, or put wax or parchment paper in between slices, then wrap and freeze. When you want to eat, just remove from the freezer, thaw, and eat!
3. You can sprinkle cocoa powder on top instead of finely-ground coffee.

Cranberry Orange Cream Scones

If you have a lot of whipping cream that you need to use up, these cream scones are a great way to use it up. I myself had bought a bottle of whipping cream to make green tea cream puffs, but then my dad used all the matcha and then I got lazy to make the cream puffs.

In addition, these scones are great if you are low on eggs and butter. Rather than using butter and eggs, these scones use the pure fatty goodness of heavy (whipping) cream. The texture came out so great. It was moist with a texture somewhere between cakey and bready. It was not as dry and crumbly (aka flaky) as typical scones, but I like this better, I think. I was eating my mom's day-old red velvet donut and I think its texture was very similar to that. Cakey but firm and crisp on the outside. Ooo, great idea! This recipe could be piped into donut pans to make baked donuts! Will have to try that next time I get a donut pan.

This recipe is based on this one for lemon cream scones. I swapped out the apricot for cranberries and lemon for oranges, because I had those at home and they are two typical flavor combinations. I also added cinnamon because I think cinnamon should be added to nearly every baked good. Hey, they say it helps control blood sugar!

Cranberry Orange Cream Scones
based on this Epicurious recipe
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
Just under 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Just under 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 Tbs freshly grated orange peel
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (next time I may reduce this to just 1 cup)

Topping
1/2 Tbs melted butter
1-2 tsp coarse sugar


Directions
1. Mix flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Mix in the cranberries and grated orange peel.
2. Pour in the whipping cream and stir just till combined. Form into a ball and lightly flour the surface.
3. Lightly flour a clean surface and your hands. Pull the dough out onto the surface and shape into a rectangle about 8-9" by 4-5". Cut in half lengthwise, then cut each strip into 3 squares. Cut each square diagonally to create triangles.
4. Preheat oven to 420-425 deg Fahrenheit.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Brush the parchment paper with oil. Place the triangles of dough evenly across the baking sheet. Brush the top of each triangle with melted butter and sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. You may turn it around 8 minutes to promote even browning. Let cool on the rack for a few minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool further.

These scones can be eaten warm from the oven, at room temp, or lightly rewarmed. Goes very well with a cup of coffee or tea! I will definitely remake this in the future because it is so easy and rewarding!

Banana Oatmeal Bread with Nutella Smile

Hello!

It is officially autumn but it sure is still hot in Southern California. Yesterday it was mid-80 degrees Fahrenheit and the news says that it will be hotter these next few days. It will be nice when the cool fall weather kicks in.

Southern California Sunset

In its fourth year of drought, California has been cutting back on water, making various efforts to reduce water loss and waste, and has successfully reduced water use by more than 30%, which is about 5% above what the government was hoping for. Despite almonds getting a bad rap for water use in California, California still manages to churn out a good deal of produce.

Luckily, just last week, there was some torrential downpour which broke the drought but caused some damaging flooding in various areas. There was some hope that there was going to be rainfall earlier this week, but the clouds ended up just passing by my area with no rainfall.

Although it's been hot lately, I still want to bake and that requires turning on the oven. It's a small price to pay, though, when the reward is something scrumptious! My mom and I have been buying lots of bananas because my sister and her boyfriend take so many when they go surfing. We buy a bushel and then half are gone by the end of the week! This time, we bought too many, and boy-oh-boy was I happy. Because you know what brown bananas mean?

Banana bread!

I had this recipe I used before that merged America's Test Kitchen's banana bread recipe with Giada's recipe. I made it twice but they were too moist and lacked structure. Although adding more bananas increases sweetness and moistness of the final product, too much made it mushy. Therefore, I sought to make a better banana bread. Serious Eats has become one of my top go-to sites for food recipes. I trust their recipes because of the expertise and creativity of its contributors. When I found this Banana Oatmeal Bread recipe on their site and read that a pastry chef, Anna Markow, created it, I knew it must be a good recipe. As a healthy baker, I could tell that although this was a dessert, the ingredients were not so bad for you and I could feel good making and eating a lot of this.

In place of the rolled oats, I used Coach's Oats Steel-Cut Oats that I pulverized in my spice/coffee grinder. Also, I had some Nutella leftover and I wanted to use it up because it has been in my pantry for so long, so I mixed it with a small portion of batter and added that to the middle of the pan. On top, I put sliced bananas and some mini chocolate chips for presentation value. The final result was spectacular. My sister and her boyfriend really enjoyed it. I had to stop myself from eating too many slices myself so that I could share with my family!

Hope you try this recipe as it is a slight change on the classic banana bread recipe with a few improvements that make it nearly irresistible.

Banana Oatmeal Bread with Nutella Smile (adapted from Serious Eats)
makes 1 9" by 5" loaf 
Ingredients
1 cup white whole wheat flour (recommend Ultragrain(R))
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup granulated (white) sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, slightly packed into the cup
1/2 cup rolled oats (or steel cut oats pulverized into almost flour texture)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 medium, ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/3 cup of buttermilk (or a little less than 1/3 cup of whole milk with 1-2 Tbs fresh lime or lemon juice, set aside to curdle for 5 minutes)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs Nutella
For topping (optional):
1/2 banana sliced in thin rounds
A few chocolate chips

Directions
1) Sift the white whole wheat flour, the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in the white sugar, brown sugar, and rolled oats.
2) In a blender, blend the bananas, eggs, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla until well-mixed, but do not over-blend or you will incorporate too much air.
3) Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Fold/mix together until just combined.
4) Prepare a 9x5" loaf pan by lightly greasing and flouring. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (if you oven tends to output higher temperature or tends to brown things too quickly, try reducing the temperature to 325-340 degrees Fahrenheit).
5) In a small bow, mix 2 Tbs Nutella with about 1/2 cup of the batter.
6) Pour half of the original batter into the pan, then spread the Nutella batter in the center. Pour the remaining original batter and spread evenly in the pan.
7) Place the banana slices and chocolate chips as desired on top of the bread.
8) Bake in the preheated oven for 28 minutes, then turn the pan 180 degrees and bake for another 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Make sure to watch it in the last 10 minutes because mine browned quick a bit and I had to remove it after about 46-48 minutes of baking.
9) Immediately remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack for about 30-60 minutes before slicing and serving.

Note: Loaf lasts at least 4 days without refrigeration in Southern California summer weather. If you live in a humid, hot area, I suggest refrigerating by the 3rd or 4th day.

Smile! Happiness can come from food! :D

Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut Bread

I've been sooo lazy to post. Honest, I have been cooking and baking a lot, but nothing too spectacular to warrant a blog post. Well, I guess, one thing that I enjoyed was that, earlier this week, I made some homemade black bean veggie enchiladas with homemade roasted tomato serrano sauce. It was good and fed me throughout the week. The recipe for the roasted tomato salsa is from Once Upon a Chef (found here). I am now amazed at how easy it is to make roasted salsas at home. By simply broiling tomatoes, onions, garlic, and serranos for 10-20 minutes, then blending them with oregano, cumin, salt, and fresh lime juice, you come out with this tasty sauce you can add to various Mexican dishes to perk up the flavor. Alas, I had no cilantro, which really would have given the sauce the extra fresh flavor it needed. This will be a go-to recipe for a different salsa than the normal pico de gallo.

Today, I was shuttered up in the house for most of the day because it was raining all day here in Houston. Houston is like that. One day will be bright and sunny and beautiful (i.e., yesterday, the first day of spring), and the next is freezing and it's raining cats and dogs! Okay, so the rain was not so terrible. It let up now and then, but still put a damper on my usual morning walk with my dog. Being stuck in the house, all I could do was cook or bake. So after fixing myself a nice breakfast taco (I have learned to make scrambled eggs by cooking over low heat rather than medium high. My breakfasts have been transformed with soft silky eggs now instead of dry crunchy eggs!), I set to making a bread that has wow'ed me since I first tried it out.

Red Star Yeast posted this recipe for Oatmeal Walnut Bread and I made it some months ago. It was so fantastic I had to write a note on the recipe that it was really good so I would remember. Now, this is my go-to bread. But I must admit I never seem to make it the same. First time, I used just honey and maple syrup instead of molasses and pecans instead of walnuts, because that is what I had. This time, I used 2 Tbs of molasses and 1 Tbs of honey and added walnuts and cranberries. This bread gets better each time I think.

The reason I added walnuts AND cranberries is because the HEB (huge Texas grocery chain) bakeries make this fantastic cranberry pistachio bread. It is one of their best. They also do a cranberry walnut bread. These are baked in artisan-looking loaves and run about $4.99. HEB knows these breads are good and generally never put them on sale. I wanted to replicate that delicious bread but with a recipe I was familiar with. Additionally, I wanted a healthy spin. This Oatmeal Walnut Bread lends naturally to those requirements.

I was pleased with the result. I admit I am still uncertain about my hand-kneading technique but I think the crumb came out well. The crumb was a bit dense from the whole wheat and mix-ins, but you can still see the airy micro-structure and the gluten development, which allowed for a sturdy loaf that doesn't fall apart too easily when you cut or tear it. The instructions listed below are for how I made it this time around (rainy day, humid Houston, 65-75 degree outside temperature).

Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut Bread
One 9x5" loaf
Ingredients
1+1/4 cup of bread flour + more for kneading
1 sachet (2+1/4 tsp) of Platinum Red Star Yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
2 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs honey
2 Tbs vegetable/canola oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup instant plain rolled oats
1/2 cup walnuts, crushed or chopped
1/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries
Half an egg and some more plain rolled oats for topping

Special equipment
Thermometer that reads up to 130 deg Fahrenheit
9x5" loaf pan

Direction

1. Mix the 1+1/4 cup of bread flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a medium sized microwaveable bowl, add 1 cup water, 2 Tbs molasses, 1 Tbs honey, and 2 Tbs. Microwave for over 1 minute 30 seconds until a thermometer, when inserted, reads 120 to 130 deg Fahrenheit. 
3. Pour the still warm liquid mixture into the dry mixture. Stir until dry bits are incorporated.
4. Add in the 1 cup whole wheat flour slowly until you reach a dough ball that pulls away from the sides, stays together, but don't make it too dry.
5. Mix in the crushed walnuts and cranberries.
6. Now turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5-8 minutes until the dough is supple and elastic. Add extra bread flour a tablespoon at a time if needed to work the dough. The dough may still be a little sticky but do not add more just to prevent all stickiness. Adding too much dough will make your bread dense and taste like cardboard wheat.
7. Lightly grease a large bowl. Roll the dough into a ball, brush a little oil on top, and then place into the greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and leave for 30 minutes. 
8. The dough will have almost doubled in size. Lightly punch down the dough, expelling excess air and redistributing the yeast. Knead and stretch the dough into about a 7" x 14" rectangle. Roll the rectangle up along the long end so you end up with a log about the size of the loaf pan. Pinch the seals closed.
9. Lightly grease the bottom and lower sides of the loaf pan. Sprinkle with flour or cornmeal. Place the rolled dough seam-side down into the pan, cover, and let rise for another 30 minutes.
10. Before the last 10 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit. Place a pan filled partway with water inside to create steam. Mix half an egg with water and brush the top of the loaf with the egg wash. Sprinkle the remaining rolled oats on top and press lightly to make them stick.
11. Once the oven has finished preheating, put the loaf in the middle rack of the oven (keep the water pan inside) and bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is lightly browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. If the top is browning too quickly near the end, remove the loaf, cover the top with foil and return to the oven to finish baking.
12. When finished baking, remove the loaf and let cool for about 20 minutes. Remove the loaf from the pan and let cool on a rack.

The bread was so good eaten fresh out of the oven. It was even better when it cooled down further and even better better when I made a roast turkey sandwich with it. I really should have taken a picture of my sandwich. Fresh avocado, smoked gouda, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, and turkey deli slices that I heated in the toaster. It was a fantastic sandwich. 

Hope you enjoy this bread as much as I did! Oh, and if you have tips on kneading bread dough, I would love to hear your advice. Thanks for stopping by!

King Cake for Fat Tuesday

I've seen King Cake circulating around Mardi Gras time for several years now. I've never had it before and it looked very festive with all the colorful sprinkles on top. The tradition of hiding a little baby Jesus inside the cake always make me laugh. Whoever receives the slice with Baby Jesus inside has to bring the cake next year, but then I also heard how Baby Jesus is sometimes replaced by a little bean or candy bean because people would choke on him.

It being Fat Tuesday, I wanted to try King Cake. Like I do, I decide to make it even before I have tried the real thing from stores (but really, can the grocery store in Texas make as authentic a cake as something homemade?). I used the recipe for Quick King Cake from Betty Crocker and proceeded to make it last night while also eating dinner, playing with my dog, and prepping a huge pot of beans. It was quite a busy night.

So, in making this recipe, I found out what a King Cake really is. It is basically a sweet brioche (eggy, buttery bread) dough with a buttery cinnamon sugar filling, twisted or braided into a circle. Other filling are possible such as pecans instead of just cinnamon sugar. Then, the "cake" is topped with icing and sprinkled with the typical Mardi Gras colors: purple, green, and yellow. Once completely cooled, Baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake. Sadly, Baby Jesus is not with me and I could not hide him inside.

In making this dough, I thought it was interesting that the butter is added after combining the dry ingredients with the eggs, milk, and vanilla. The addition of the butter made the dough very easy to handle. I did everything by hand, all the mixing, kneading, shaping, so the ease of handling was a godsend. I did add some flour after the full 3-1/2 cups of flour were added because the dough was too sticky. I let it sit in the fridge for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours. When I came back, it had risen nicely.

I prepared the filling with only half the butter because I ran out but it was still enough, I think. I rolled the dough out to the specified size, spread the filling in (a little sparse), folded in half and then made a mistake. I wanted to incorporate the filling more and didn't think that cutting the strip into three would allow me to make a big ring. So I tried rolling it out to cut it into three strips lengthwise but that wasn't working. I ended up cutting it into three short strips, found that i couldn't braid that long enough, and ended up just trying to put the three strips back together to form a long ring. I twisted to the dough to give it that nice look. The ends didn't really seal but it kind of worked.

I let it rise for about 1-1/2 hours and then baked it for 25 minutes. The filling was spilling out because the way i twisted the dough created many openings. The filling became delicious sweet brown sugar caramel on the pan. Delicious mistake, but not one I want to make again.

After letting it cool overnight, I frosted it with cream cheese icing and dusted it with food glitter. Not the prettiest, but it sure is soooo tasty. It's like a giant cinnamon roll but better. The brioche dough is light, fluffy, buttery, a bit sweet. Biting into the filling or the caramelized sugar coating the bottom gives you that punch of more sweetness.

No wonder they eat this on Fat Tuesday. Yayyyy fat and sugar!

Overall, the recipe was not too difficult except for my misunderstanding of the shaping part.

Pear pecan pie

One thing that I've started baking and has never failed me is an apple pecan pie. I like apple pie but it can be a little boring just eating apples in buttery crust. I like the top part of the pecan pie but don't like the usual thick layer of corn syrup filling beneath. To make a healthier, more dynamic and delicious pie, I thought about combining the two! The first time I made it, I loosely based it on this recipe and used a pre-made pie crust. It came out so well, I was surprised! Using pre-made crusts makes pie-making a breeze!

For Thanksgiving this year, I made it again, but did not have enough apples to fill my 9.5" pie pan! So I had to add this pecan oat crumble and maple whipped cream.

For Christmas, my mom bought a lot of pears so I made my signature apple pecan pie but with the pears! Used bartlett pears that are still slightly crisp, not too ripe or soft, instead of apples. For the pear pecan pie, I used a few different recipes for reference but here's the basic gist:

Pear Pecan Pie
Ingredients
1 refrigerated roll of pie crust for 9" pie, unbaked
Filling:
3 medium/large bartlett pears, peeled and cored, then cut into thin slices
1/3 cup light brown sugar (not packed)
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 to 1/3 extra juicy lime or lemon

Streusal Topping:
1/3 cup pecans, chopped
2-3 Tbs butter, softened
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup light  brown sugar (not packed)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine pears with juice of the lime, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, light brown sugar, and flour.
2. Line a 9" pie pan with the pie crust. Crimp crust. Prick crust a few times with a fork and bake in an oven at 350 deg Fahrenheit for 8 minutes.
3. Remove from oven and let cool while you prepare the streusal topping: Combine all the ingredients for the streusal topping in a medium bowl using your hands, forks, or whatever you need to make it a uniform crumble.
4. Fill the baked pie crust with the pear filling. You may align the pear slices in a pretty circle.
5. Top the pie with the streusal. 
6. Cover the crust of the pie with aluminum foil or a pie crust shield
7. Bake about 40-45 minutes until just browned on top of the pie. 
8. Let cool. Slice and serve with fresh whipped cream.

Coffee Muffins with Mocha Glaze

I have been craving coffee flavored sweets lately. Now, I am not one to go buy a frappuccino and I am also not one to make some coffee and put more than 2 teaspoons of sugar into it, but I really felt that some coffee-flavored cake or bread or muffin would be fantastic. The idea is not prominent in the baking world. Search "coffee cake" or even "coffee-flavored cake" and you mostly end up with coffee cake. Coffee cake to me does not deserve to be called that unless it's coffee-flavored! Also, I think coffee cake is way too sweet for breakfast, maybe even more oily and sweet than donuts. But I suppose that is why you eat it with coffee, because the bitter coffee will become palatable due to the lingering sweetness of the coffee cake (and vice versa).

After searching for a while and evaluating the various recipes available to me online, I came across this coffee cake muffin recipe at therecipecritic.com. The ingredients in the muffin base sounded like an easy thing to put together and didn't have too much oil, sugar, or eggs (I'm stingy with my eggs and try to be healthy by baking with less fats and sugar). But, the recipe was filled with jam and had that same sugary topping seen on coffee cakes. I wanted just a pure coffee-flavored muffin, no other flavors or sugars to mask it. So, I borrowed her muffin base, excluded the filling and topping, and put my own mocha glaze on top. I have to say the results came out very well.

The batter only produced 10 muffins in my case, but they were soft, moist, spongy. They have a crumb that stays together relatively well, but still is tender and breaks away when you bite into it. I added 1/2 teaspoon of ground coffee (Cafe du Monde) to boost the coffee flavor, but I will have to add more next time. I also used leftover coffee from the morning, which was made just regular , not strong. Due to this and the predominant sugar and flour base, the coffee flavor was not as strong as I wanted it to be. So, next time, I will brew extra strong coffee (probably do Vietnamese drip coffee using my phin and Cafe du Monde coffee), and add a full teaspoon to the batter to boost the flavor.

In making the icing. I had too small an amount of powdered sugar and added too much coffee. It was runny and definitely not suitable for icing. So I melted some bits of a dark chocolate baking bar in the microwave and stirred it in until I achieved a consistency I thought would be good.

After the muffins cooled down, I iced them. First, I tried covering the tops, but that did not look that nice. So next I went with zigzags. Much better. Still, displeased with the ugly muffins, I sprinkles some of the Cafe du Monde coffee on top, and voila! I was finally pleased.

Hope you enjoyed my journey to achieve a good-lookin' coffee muffin. Now, to the spoils! The recipe!

Coffee Muffins with Mocha Glaze (makes 10 muffins)
Muffin Ingredients
1.5 cups of flour (I use Ultra-Grain Flour)
1/4 cups of brown sugar
1/4 cup of granulated (white) sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
less than 1/4 tsp of salt
1 tsp of good quality, finely ground coffee (Cafe du Monde, Starbucks, Illy, etc.)
1/2 cup of brewed coffee, cooled to room temperaure (next time, I'll brew it extra strong)
1/4 cup of milk
1 egg
1/3 cup of vegetable oil

Glaze Ingredients
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 Tbs brewed coffee
1/2 oz to 1 oz dark baking chocolate
Extra coffee grounds for decoration (optional)

Directions

1. Sift the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Beat the coffee, milk, egg, and oil in a small bowl or large glass measuring cup.
3. Make a well in center of your dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Stir just until combined. Do not overmix. Set aside.
4. Pre-heat oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.
5. Line a muffin tin symmetrically with 10 muffin liners. 
6. Pour the batter evenly into the muffin liners (if you have enough to fill 12 muffin cups about 2/3 full, go ahead)
7. Fill the remaining 2 unlined muffin cups with water about 1/3 full.
8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the middle-most muffin comes out clean. Let cool in the pan or 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
9. While the muffins are cooling, prepare the glaze: In a small cup, beat the powdered sugar and brewed coffee until the powdered sugar has dissolved. Heat the baking chocolate in 15 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Mix into the powdered sugar mix. Continue to melt and add chocolate until you achieve the desired frosting consistency.
10. Once the muffins have cooled to room temperature, ice/glaze/frost/decorate. If desired, sprinkle coffee grounds on top of the glaze.

Multigrain Walnut Banana Muffins

You all probably know: I LOOOVVEEE baking. It is a truly active activity with results that you can both eat and share with others. How awesome is that? What I don't like about baking is that the results can be bad for you, with all the sugar and butter. My family is generally really healthy, my mom especially. She eats loads of fruit and nuts, has cut out pastries and chips except for very rare occasions when she'll eat a few, and is always active. My mom is one of my strongest motivators to be healthy, strong, active, and more.

Balancing healthy and my love for baking is challenging. Most of my friends know I bake relatively low-sugar and low-fat desserts, with occasional splurges when attempting to impress others. For myself, I can't stand desserts that are too sweet. I seek out a wholesome balance of sweet and salty. Grains have a natural nuttiness and subtle sweetness that I have come to love. Nuts have a lot of fat, but these are healthy fats and good for you if eaten in moderation. Sugar is now emerging as the main culprit in rising rates of obesity, diabetes, and other health problems. It may seem like all sugar is bad, except for natural sources like stevia, agave, and erythriol. Those sources sound great and natural and all, but they are still added sugars. Maybe they don't cause spikes in your insulin but they are not an excuse to eat as much of these sugar sources as you want. Sugar from fruits, eaten naturally and not removed and processed, is the best way to take in your sugar.

Taking what I've learned from a variety of health resources, I attempted to make a banana nut muffin that would appeal to my mom and me: healthy yet tasty, without added sugars, full of grains and omega-3 walnuts. This muffin would be something you could eat and feel good about. Definitely not a dessert muffin, but something to enjoy in the morning with milk or an afternoon or after dinner snack.

Multigrain Walnut Banana Muffins
Ingredients
1 cup white whole wheat flour (or unbleached all purpose flour)
1 cup multigrain hot cereal (I used 7-grain hot cereal from Bob's Red Mill, or you can use 1 cup oats that have been processed in a food processor)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 Tbs baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (olive or vegetable oil both work fine)
3/4 cup 2% organic milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 mashed over-ripe bananas (~1.5 cups)
1/2-3/4 cup cinnamon chips or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Mix the flour, hot cereal (uncooked), rolled oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
2. In a medium sized bowl, beat the egg, oil, milk, and vanilla.
3. Make a well in the dry mixture and pour in the wet mixture. Mix just until combined.
4. Add the mashed bananas. Mix just until combined.
5. Add the cinnamon chips and chopped walnuts. Mix just until combined.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 deg F and line 12-16 muffin cups.
7. Fill the muffin cups 2/3 of the way up with the batter. (optional) Top each with a full walnut piece.
8. Bake 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted the center of a muffin comes out clean. 
9. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then finish cooling on a rack.

A caution is that this is healthy and you know it while eating it. To make it more appealing for the general public without adding spoons of sugar, I added in some mini cinnamon chips. Yes, this is processed sugar and I just lectured against it above, but you can't persuade others to eat healthy if it's unappetizing. Therefore, I added 1/2 cup of cinnamon chips. Next time, though, I'll add 3/4 cup of cinnamon chips to bring out the cinnamon and sweetness just a tad bit more. I also think the dark chocolate would be better than the cinnamon chips.

Mango Cream Scones

I baked scones at midnight a couple days ago because:

1. I was craving scones
2. I had leftover dried mangoes
3. There was some sour cream and heavy whipping cream in the fridge
4. I was very sleepy from studying

That last point obviously points to baking at midnight. Derrr

I looked around the web for some scone recipes, and I usually go to EatingWell and CookingLight for relatively healthy recipes. This slideshow was nice and I selected their Apricot Scones recipe to model my midnight baking off of. I pretty much did everything in the recipe, but made it delicious again by using heavy cream and sour cream instead of buttermilk (plus I didn't have buttermilk and didn't want to use skim milk+lemon juice), and I used dried mangoes. I also cut them into squares, because I really don't like the triangle shapes they come in. Makes it hard to share with someone. Like, oh, let me break this evenly in half and give you an awkward shaped triangle or rectangle.

Drawn by me!! :-D

Just no. Make them squares or circles, but triangles are just selfish :'(

The scones come together sooo easily. They're great; they barely stick to your hands even when you knead or pat them out. I used a little less sugar, cream/egg mix, which may have contributed. When they get close to baking, you can smell the soft aroma of butter, cream, and slight sweetness in the air. They brown lightly and break easily. Mmm mm!!! These were so good, they made me remember why I love scones so much.

Mango Cream Scones (makes 12 squares)
Adapted from CookingLight
Ingredients
2.5 cups flour (I use Ultra-grain flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3-1/2 cup granulated sugar (I bet you can try mixing part brown sugar if you want)
3.5-4 Tbs salted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
6 dried mango slices (more or less to your liking, probably like 1/4-1/2 cup chopped)
1/4 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 deg Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease with oil or butter.
2. Soak dried mango slices in warm water while you prepare the batter.
3. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar in a large bowl. Cut in butter with knife, fork, or hands till the mixture resembles coarse sand. (I use my hands and try to incorporate the butter well without melting it. It is imperative that scones use COLD butter)
4. In a medium to large measuring cup or small bowl, mix sour cream and buttermilk. Beat in eggs one at a time.
5. Drain mango slices. Chop up into small pieces.
6. Mix just enough of the wet ingredients into dry till you have a slightly sticky, not too wet batter. Mix till just incorporated. Add mango slices and mix to incorporate. Knead in the bowl about 4-5 times.
7. Place the dough on the prepared parchment paper, dusting hands with flour if necessary. Pat out into a 1/3-1/2" thick rectangle and cut into squares using a wet or floured knife. Separate pieces and place evenly on the baking sheet, reforming cute rectangles as needed.
8. Bake in the 400 deg F oven on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then on a wire rack for another 5 minutes.
9. Enjoy warm with some milk, tea, or coffee. They are great as breakfast, afternoon tea snacks, or midnight snacks!!!

Nutritional Info (1 of 12 scones):
195 calories, 7 g fat, 28 g carbs (9 g sugar), 5 g protein, 222 mg sodium

Pretzel Crust Sour Cream-Topped Cheesecake

I am always looking for a way to use up random items held in my pantry. Once long ago, I bought a big bag of mini pretzel twists from Wal-Mart to make chocolate covered peanut butter pretzel sandwiches. These were okay, as I tried to minimize the amount of sugar and butter in the recipe, and the pretzel twists don't squeeze around peanut butter filling as well as those square pretzels.

So I have these pretzels, and yesterday, I wanted to snack while studying, so I started dipping them in some whipped strawberry cream cheese that I had from Einstein's Bagels. This was really tasty because of the salt crystals crunching in your mouth, imparting savoriness, while melding with the sweet creaminess of the strawberry cream cheese. Pretzels and sweet cream cheese are a great combo!

Now, I am a lover of sweet and salty desserts. Sweet, sweet, sweet desserts are just to cloying to me. You really need a cup of tea, milk, or water to wash each bite down. Cheesecake is one of those decadent desserts that I have always just *kinda* liked if it wasn't too thick. I thought it'd be great to make a salty pretzel crust to cut through the heavy sweetness of the typical cheesecake filling, and adding a sour cream topping would add an extra tang and lightness that would make cheesecake more complex and palatable.

To achieve this concept, I combined three recipes I found on the internet. For the pretzel crust, I used the crust from Peanut Butter Pretzel Cheesecake Squares by Brandie from Home Cooking Memories. For the filling, I referenced Small Cheesecake by Lynn at Happier Than a Pig in Mud. Finally, for the sour cream topping, I used the part from Fruit-Topped Cheesecake with Snyders Pretzel Crust by Ellen Christian at Confessions of an Overworked Mom.

I used a 9 or 10 inch glass pie pan, which fit the pretzel filling very nicely, but when I poured the cheesecake filling in, it only filled it to halfway! I needed to double the sour cream topping from 1 cup to 2 cups in order to fill the crust the rest of the way. If you are using an 8 inch pie pan or an 8 by 8 inch square pan, I am sure the same filling and the 1 cup sour cream topping would fit. You would probably need only 2/3-3/4 of the pretzel crust though, unless you like a thick crust, to which I say  go ahead!

So, enjoy this pretzel bottom, sour cream top cheesecake and enjoy the start of fall!

Pretzel Crust Sour Cream-Topped Cheesecake

Pretzel Crust:
3 cups mini pretzel twists
1 stick butter (I used vegetable oil-based baking sticks)
 cup sugar

Filling:
1 (8-oz) package of regular cream cheese
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs

Sour Cream Topping:
2 cups (16 oz) (lowfat) sour cream
4 Tbs white granulated sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Crust: Preheat the oven to 325 deg Fahrenheit. process pretzels in a food processor until finely ground. Pour into a bowl and mix thoroughly with melted butter and sugar. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan. Press the pretzel crumbs firmly into the pan and try to get the crust even along the bottom and sides. Bake in preheated oven for 10 min. Take out and let cool while you make the filling.
2) Filling: Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time until combined. Pour into slightly cool crust and bake at 325 deg F for 30 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes while you make the topping.
3) Beat 2 cups of sour cream with 4 Tbs sugar and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Pour over cheesecake. Place back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Remove and let cool on a wire rack for 1 hour, then cool 6-12 hours (~overnight) in the refrigerator.
4) Top with chocolate shavings, sliced fruit, drizzle of fruit compote, or just keep it plain. Slice and serve!
Serves 10

Blue Baker Review

Blue Baker is one of my favorite bakeries in College Station. They are an artisan bakery that bakes everything from scratch, starting from 3 or 4 am in the morning. Doubling as a restaurant, they serve fresh bagels, pastries, breads, pizzas, sandwiches, desserts, salads, and soups. Every month features specials, such as peach pecan scone, candied orange twist, and key lime tarts for this month of June. Additionally, they have weekly bread and pastry specials. I typically go to Blue Baker to eat their scone specials, but everything on their menu is superb.

Today, I went to go on their bakery tour, which happens twice a year, I think. I will give a summary of the tour in the next post, but first, I will give a thorough, thorough review of Blue Baker's offerings.

Their breads are moist, have the perfect crumb and texture (a little chewy, perfect crunchy golden crust that you can bite through, a little sweet, moist enough for bread), and show off that artisan, made-by-hand look. Their sweet breads and pastries are delicious and varied. My favorite sweet breads are the zucchini bread sold every Sunday, the blueberry peach bread (THE BEST THE BEST THE BEST) on Tuesdays, and the cinnamon swirl bread on Thursdays. I have yet to try the red, white, and blue sweetbread, but I am very excited to get it when July 4th rolls around.

Cupcakes are large, maybe 2/3 the size of Costco-sized cupcakes. I have gotten the Boston Cream Pie and the Zucchini cupcakes before. Tasty, not too sweet, but definitely sweet. Good, standard. Maybe a bit dense for cake texture.

Cookies are huge too. They offer many types every day: chocolate chip, chocolate walnut, chocolate decadence, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin. Special flavors are rotated in weekly and monthly, such as white chocolate macadamia, sugar, ginger.

Scones are about the size of the ones as Starbucks, but feature different flavors that allow the buttery saltiness of the bread shine while melding with the sweets of the fruits incorporated or the sugar crystals on top. With the addition of nuts, the scones also give a nice crunch.

Their pizzas are made Neapolitan style, which is a thin crisp crust, a touch of marinara sauce, and a delicate addition of fresh, quality toppings. Once before, I went with my BF and we ordered the four cheese tomato and the D'Vinchee.

The four cheese tomato was delicious, with fresh slices of tomato, melty spots of mozarella everywhere, freshly chiffoned (sp?) basil, and drizzles of just perfect marinara over a bubbly thin crust. I liked mine better than the D'Vinchee, which was also good but I'm not a meat person and not as big a fan of portabella mushrooms. The D'Vinchee has olive oil, mozarella, sausage, roasted portabella mushrooms, chicken, and cilantro. These pizzas are not as filling as Pizza Hut or Dominos (as in one slice won't fill you, but 1/2 to a whole 9" pizza will), but they are high quality pizzas.

Prices are somewhat high, upwards of $8-10 for a meal. Individual breads and pastries are quite affordable. Scones are about $2.25; cupcakes around $3.50 (a bit pricey, but they are large); breads about $4.50 for a loaf (I get day-olds for half off) or $3.00 for baguettes, ciabatta, focaccia. Despite the somewhat higher prices for meals, you are paying for the quality of your food. All the workers here are also extremely nice, fast, and wonderful.

This is, again, one of my favorite places in College Station. Hit either location on University or Dominik Drive in College Station, or their newest store in Austin, TX. This is one artisan bakery and restaurant that truly deserves to be tasted!

Recipe: Raisin Oat Scones

Continuing from my "Catching Up" post, where I put images and brief descriptions of my recent cooking and baking experiments...

Raisin Oat Scones- Sept 29, 2012

I love scones. Not the crazy sweet ones you get from grocery stores or chain coffee stores. I like homemade or artisan bakery scones, where the emphasis is on the good butter or cream and the simple combination of flavors. I love to see oats or seeds top my scones instead of icing. I believe, as a breakfast food, it need not have icing.

These are healthy scones made with oats, whole wheat flour, flaxseed, and raisins. These rose gorgeously in the oven. Coming straight from the oven, they are warm and tasty and delicious. A couple days later, they get dry, but that's why they are wonderful accompanied by tea!

I made about 8 wedges, which came out very large. You can see how big they look! It is not a trick of the camera. They are actually that huge! Like Starbucks or Panera Bread huge, but not overly sweet that you feel comatose after eating one. They are satisfying, wholesome, and sweet enough, especially great with some vanilla almond milk.

Unfortunately, I did not write where I got this recipe from. I just wrote "Blueberry Oat Scones" in my recipe booklet and forgot to write the site. So, if this is your recipe, please call me out so I can cite you! Thanks! As you can tell, I used raisins instead of blueberries, because that's what I had on hand.

Raisin Oat Scones (8 servings)
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats, ground
2-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 Tbs cold butter, cubed
2 Tbs maple syrup (I used honey)
1 egg, separated
1/4 cup buttermilk (or 1/4 cup milk soured with 1 tsp fresh lemon juice)
1/2 cup raisins (or blueberries or cranberries or dried apricots...)
1 Tbs flour
1 Tbs lemon zest (I didn't use this)
1 Tbs water
(I added some brown flaxseed for texture)

Directions
1. Mix flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (and flaxseed). Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. In a small bowl, beat the egg white, syrup/honey, and buttermilk. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and pour the wet mixture in. Stir to combine.
3. Toss the dried or fresh blueberries with the 1 Tbs flour and lemon zest. Fold into the batter.
4. Pat the dough out into a circle on a floured surface. Cut into 8 triangles.
5. Preheat oven to 425 deg F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Place the triangles 1-2" apart.
6. Lightly beat the egg yolk and 1 Tbs water. Brush over scones. Sprinkle with oats (and flaxseed).
7. Bake int he oven for 15-18 minutes till golden.
8. Cool on a wire rack. Eat slightly warm, fresh from the oven for yumminess!

Notes:
1. The egg yolk wash gives it that nice golden color and sheen. Love it!
2. The texture and taste of this scone is more for the health-appreciating. It still is sweet, but just enough to satisfy. If you like sweeter scones, feel free to drizzle with icing or add more syrup/honey.
3. To up the creaminess or moistness next time, I my add another Tbs of syrup/honey or up the buttermilk just a tad (maybe from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup).

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The next scone recipe I want to try is this pumpkin "farl", or a slim scone originally made of butter, flour, and mashed potato and cooked on a skillet. I snapped a photo of the recipe from this cookbook on display at the local Pecan Farm.

Next recipe: Mushroom Mataar