Oat and Dried Apricot Scones

Healthy and Yummy!

These are easy and fast to make.  The kids loved them for breakfast with Organic Wild Blueberry Conserves. Just be careful because they crumble easily. I baked them for 25 minutes (scones are hard to tell when ready) and were a bit dry. Next time I'll bake them for 23 minutes so they are moister.

141 to Go!

Lemon-Ginger Scones

Not lemony enough for me but an ingenious combination with the ginger.  It took about four lemons to make 1/2 cup of juice.  This time I prepared them at night and baked them in the morning. I am not sure (directions to not say) if I am supposed to let them come to room temperature before baking. I didn't.  They baked for 35 minutes.

A great snack for both kids and BF after a day playing at the pool. 

142 to Go!

Currant Scones

My Favorite of the following three Scones. Simple, Buttery and Flaky. I am not a huge fan of currants (or raisins) but these were surprisingly delicious.  

Cutting the dough  became an engineering project. The pieces came out odd shaped. I wanted to use round biscuit cutters but stayed true to the directions ( After this year I will!).  I don't like having to wait 2 hours for the dough to freeze so from now I'll make them at night and bake them in the morning (Sweet Dreams).  I could only wait an hour an a half. They baked for 29 minutes.

I used organic heavy cream which I think makes a big difference. Sanding sugar is slowly becoming a thorn in my side. I cannot find white sanding sugar anywhere. I am sometimes tempted to use the Halloween colors available now but know enough about psychology to know appearances affect taste.  

Yummy with Strawberry Jam.

143 to Go!

Popovers

My favorite restaurant is Mariposa at Neiman Marcus. They serve the most amazing Popovers with lilikoi butter. These were just as good! I am so excited to be able to make them whenever I want (Neiman still has my favorite tarts). I bought a popover pan at W & S but they only make it for 6 cups. I'll need to buy another so I can bake all 12 at once.  The recipe says to fill each cup with 5 Tbsp which takes forever. I measured it and you can use 1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp (much faster). They do deflate fast so make sure to serve and eat them right away. 

They baked for 26 minutes (I loved watching them magically puff and "pop" over the tins!)

144 to Go!

Date-Bran Muffins

Healthy Yumminess but hideously hard to make. 

Have you ever chopped dates? It is not fun. Also made me realize I need to invest in  better knives.  I used Deglet Noor dates ($7 for 10 oz). The eggs do not blend in with the butter mixture. I actually realized I had creamed 2 sticks of butter instead of 1 and 1/2 and had the personal dilemma of going ahead or starting over. I was not going to waste those hard to chop expensive dates and my special trip to the health food store for wheat bran so I started over. I am ashamed to say that as an amateur, untrained baker, I did not know what to do with the brown sugar/butter mixture and threw it away. I am lost with out the Handbook! Reminds me of my boyfriend and his GPS. 

These will keep you more regular than Metamucil and go down easier.

145 to Go!

Cranberry-Zucchini Bread

Delicious! 

After tasting the amazing muffins,  I was energized to go and get the Vegetable oil for the bread. Very moist, "tart and sweet".

Baked for 50 minutes.

146 to Go!

Cranberry-Zucchini Muffins

Surprisingly Delicious! 

A great way to get the veggies into the kids. My 2 year old loved them but my 7 year old was harder to convince (She kept asking what the green stuff was).  I used Canola Oil (Too tired to go to Safeway and get Vegetable oil) and dried Ocean Spray cranberries (Could not find fresh or frozen ones) and thought they worked great.   It was actually really fun grating the zucchini (almost made me want to cook).  It is an easy recipe. I always find baking muffins very comforting and rewarding. 

I  plan on making these a new tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. 

They baked for 23 minutes.

147 to Go!