An author's collection of thoughts and stories
I have a recipe for peanut butter bars that I’m fond of, with one adjustment that I’ve made to it: I double the amount of butter called for. Unfortunately, I failed to write the change down, and today when I decided that the day was dark and dreary enough to call for an indulgence, I completely forgot to put in the extra butter.
So dry and crumbly.
The kids don’t mind, but I sure miss that extra butter.
I grew up in Utah, so to me, scones were something that you fried in oil and ate with honey butter. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned that scones were something completely different to the rest of the world.
For those who are curious about this “Utah scone” idea, you take some sort of white bread dough (I personally like to use a dinner roll recipe), shape it flat after letting it rise, then fry it in oil until golden (flipping them over to cook both sides). The bigger the better. Like, if you can make them as big as a dinner plate, you’ve mastered the art of Utah scones. Eat with lots of honey butter — and I mean lots. We’re talking sinful levels of indulgence here.
Anyway
The other day it hit me that I can’t remember ever eating a *real* scone. So I pulled out my big book of baking recipes, and found one for chocolate chip orange scones. Basically, any recipe that calls for citrus zest is a winner in my mind, so I went for it.
Not my recipe, so I’m not going to post it. 😛
Just imagine a basic scone with orange zest, orange juice, and chocolate chips added. Then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking. In fact, you can take this recipe, and substitute the last three ingredients for everything I just mentioned, plus 1/3 cup milk.
I just dropped the dough down on the cookie sheet without doing any sort of shaping, ’cause I’m lazy like that. Consequently, my kids are pretty convinced that these are cookies, and nothing is going to change their minds.
And wow, these are so good.
I jumped on the baking bandwagon.
I don’t actually know if that’s still a thing, or if people have burnt out on it by now.
But anyway, I’ve been baking WAY more than I used to. For the sweet tooth.
I made Austrian cream cheese bars, and thought that it would be fun to take a picture for the blog.
But before I got around to it, my two-year-old attacked them with a chopstick while I wasn’t looking.
So here you go. Yummy.
They’re supposed to have nuts on top, but I didn’t have any on hand.
Pro tip:
Brushing a beaten egg on the top of bread dough before baking makes it come out shiny, and therefore more delicious.
As demonstrated on this loaf of brioche.
Not that brioche needs any help in the deliciousness department.
By Autumn Rain 