Kitchie Coo

Better late than never, we got our Claire Bear baptized the last weekend in June.

At the drive-in movie theater.  Uh huh.

I'll fess up, it is no longer a drive-in movie theater, but a former one that our church has transformed into the funkiest, coolest, most eclectic Sunday morning worship locale around.


It may sound like an odd place for church, but oh, can you feel God's presence in so many ways...

I'll tell you a secret.  I love to bake (that's not the secret).  I have always been mortified to try baking anything without a recipe (that is the secret...sorry its not juicier).  It has been said that Baking is a Science, and I suck at science, so I have always stuck to the good old tried and trues.  Until I got brave over the holidays.



These scones were born from a leftover baked squash I had sitting in my fridge.  I couldn't bear to throw it out, because it was so beautiful.  And because the meal I used most of it in was mediocre, at best.  This squash deserved to star in something yummy and delightful.

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk
1/2 cup(120 grams)  squash puree
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling


Preheat oven to 425.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. You can use a pastry cutter for this or use two knives and cut into the butter using a cross-way motion until crumbly.

In another bowl, combine the egg yolk, buttermilk and squash puree and gently beat. Add to the flour mixture all at once. Work quickly and use a wooden spoon or your hands to work the mixture into a soft dough. Gently knead in white chocolate chips.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a disc shape about 3/4" thick. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on the top and then use a butter knife or pizza cutter to cut into 6 wedges.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown on top and...

Eat it!!

I took an amazing 6-week class in the kitchen of Posh Chocolate with owners Ana & Jason Willenbrock this past May.  This class focused on baking and pastries but ended with a bang when we learned about chocolate...tempering, making ganache, making truffles.  Mmm...anyway, I digress as this post is about blueberry scones and not chocolate (get your head out of the gutter Maggie!).  We'll leave the chocolate making for another day.

Ana & Jason both studied at the Harvard of cooking schools, The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), in New York City.  These two are amazing, they know their stuff (maybe because of their time at CIA, but mostly because of their devotion to the profession) and they are the funniest, happiest, rockin-est people I know that own an upscale chocolate shop.  But anyway, that's all to say: I learned a lot from them. 

I adapted this recipe from one we baked in class, and this has been my go-to breakfast when company comes ever since.  These scones are super easy to make, I can bang them out in about 10 minutes, and they are super versatile.  I've made blueberry, raspberry white chocolate, chocolate & cinnamon, chocolate & nutmeg, and chocolate & orange zest.  I have learned that using frozen fruit works much better than fresh.  The fresh fruit tends to get smooshed too much and it doesn't look pretty.  Not to fret though if you have fresh raspberries on hand screaming at you to be thrown into these scones.  Just stick them in the freezer for 15 minutes before you add them to the dough and they'll be good to go.

The most important thing I learned about making scones during this class is to keep the butter cold and don't overwork it.  See, butter is what makes the flaky layers in scones. If you overwork the butter or get it too warn and melt it, you will get a dense ucky yucky so-so pastry, rather than this flaky goodness:

The key to not overworking the dough and compromising your butter is to use a pastry blender.  Alternately, you can use two butter knives or a fork to cut the butter in too...all these fancy schmancy tools aren't a must; they just make things a tad easier and give me an excuse to buy yet another kitchen gadget. 

Pat pat pat..

That white stuff under the scones is parchment paper.  It looks like regular paper, but its actually magic paper.

Blueberry Scones

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, very cold
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp buttermilk
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (or other ingredient of choice)
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.  Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.  You can use a pastry cutter for this or use two knives and cut into the butter using a cross-way motion until crumbly.

In another bowl, combine the egg yolk and buttermilk and gently beat.  Add to the flour mixture all at once.  Work quickly and use a wooden spoon or your hands to work the mixture into a soft dough.  Gently knead in blueberries.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a disc shape about 3/4" thick.  Sprinkle turbinado on the top and then use a butter knife or pizza cutter to cut into 6 wedges.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown on top.

Eat them while they're hot! 

These also freeze well, so make a double batch to enjoy later.