Cranberry Scones

Hi to all of those who do still pop by my blog, I know I've been missing for some time... but it doesn't mean that I've ignored this blog or my love for baking. I still do, but as some of you may know, I'm busy both in my work and my wedding/house renovation.

In the past, I may complain that I'm too busy to blog but I still do bake. Now, I don't even have the luxury to go blog hopping, let alone bake and blog. This post was put up a few weeks ago, when I sneaked in some time to post the pictures, and sneaked in some time to type out the recipe and finally here I am now, determine to finish it today, to at least post one entry for this month, and hopefully more! I made this almost 2-3 months ago. This falls in in 'quick bread' category and that was why I chosed this. I named it Scones ~ bakery aroma cos' the kitchen was full of bakery aroma that I felt this was real bakery, attributed to butter and cream. ;)

You can bake this in advance, cool and store in the refrigerator. Before serving, just pop into the oven or toaster and you get the bakery aroma again!

I shall leave the rest with the pictures and the recipes. :)

Ingredients:

220g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

80g unsalted butter

30g castor sugar

1/2 tsp salt

110g of egg yolk and milk mixture (1 egg yolk with enough fresh whole milk to make up the amount. I combined with leftover whipping cream and some low fat milk to make up the 110g)

40g cranberries, chopped

Method:

1. Prepare flour and butter a day in advance. Sift flour and baking powder together. Place butter and flour together in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator overnight. (i omitted this step).


2. On the day of baking, preheat oven to 200 degree celsius .


3. Add sugar. Rub butter into the flour until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.


4. Add cranberries together with egg yolk and milk mixture and mix until a smooth dough is formed.


5. Place dough on a floured surface and knead lightly.


6. Rolled to a thickness of about 1.5-2cm.


7. Cut with a 5-cm round pastry cutter dusted with flour. Alternatively if you prefer to shape into wedges like mine, you could roll into a circular dough, and cut into wedges using a pastry cutter.


8. Place cut-out dough on a baking sheet brushed with milk.


9. Bake for 12-15 minutes until scones are golden brown.


10. Remove from heat and cool on a wire rack.
    

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

Some updates about myself. My renovation is going smoothly and it's really excited to see more things done every other day. It is a tiring but enjoyable process... but I really do miss baking... alot. In fact I had a few arguments with my hubby because he wanted me to spend less time on baking and reading baking blogs but to spend some time to think and surf the web for ideas on what design I wanted for our house design. *lol* I was rather stubborn at first thought of it but I do understand his intentions. Afterall, he wanted me to have our dream house and would have no regrets in the final outcome. Anyhow, I discovered he is a perfectionist when it comes to this big project of ours but I appreciate that as I could see that all he wanted was to ensure that I'm happy with the choices that we have made, in terms of colour scheme, design, layout, etc. :)

Lemon Blueberry Bread

As simple as the title, this is a simple lemon blueberry quickbread. Never underestimate the power of citrus zest (in this recipe, lemon zest) which can enhance the flavour much more than any artificial flavours.

This bread is slightly chewy and sticky due to the bursting of blueberries, with soft and fine crumbs. Recipe was taken and slightly modified from Baking Bite's blog. Try this if you have all the ingredients on hand. :)

Dean Brettschneider

Global Baker - by Dean Brettschneider is a recent book that I acquired when there was this 30% off all books at Borders with a cut-out coupon. I didn't really have any books that I wanted to buy in mind but since it was such a good offer, I hopped down to Borders for a book-shopping.

Call me ignorant, or maybe not, I have not heard of Dean Brettschneider before I have his book but as I was browsing through the many cookbooks, this particular one attracted me as the recipes are not those "old-fashion" or "classic" recipes that you commonly see from American/European bakers. Owing to the fact that he is currently based in Shanghai, some of his recipes are given an Asian twist such as "red bean & sesame ring bread", "chocolate chip hot cross buns" , "chinese flower steam buns", and many other interesting cakes, bread and pastries which somehow appeals to me.This book is accompanied by a dvd showing a snapshot of a day in this baker's life in Shanghai. A little disappointing is that the entire film is probably only about half an hour. This irish soda bread is the first recipe that I tried. I have seen quite a fair bit of such bread in other baker's books such as Martha Steward but this is the first time I try making it. It seems to me an easy quick bread minus the sugar so I often wonder how it taste like. I decided to give this a try as all I wanted for next day's breakfast was a very easy-to-bake healthy quick bread. Overall, it's a nice soft bread that is good when toasted and spread with butter or jam.

Being not a too-picky eater, this bread is fine. I guess in terms of pastries, I still prefer Asian's sweet soft buns, that why I'm not really fond of muffins, but I do like Artisan hard crust bread!

If anyone is interested in the recipe, then drop me a note. :)

Ok, my second recipe here. This is your usual favourite subway cookie - if you love their cookies. Sweet, chewy, giant cookie, but you can't find in Subway, so you gotta make it yourself! White chocolate and pistachio is a good combination, sweet white chocolate pairs with salty pistachio nuts helps to balance the overall sweetness. I made this for my dd's best buddy and his wife who will be staying in Australia for two years. :)

Pistachio & White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients:

135g butter, softened

100g sugar

100g soft brown sugar (I used 80g each)

1 small egg

10ml milk

few drops of vanilla essence or extract

150g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

45g rolled oats

55g pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

140g white chocolate drops, coarsely chopped

60g pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped, for topping

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C
2. Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar with electric beater until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg , milk and vanilla essence/extract and mix in.
4. Sieve all the dry ingredients, and add to the creamed mixture along with the rolled oats until well combined and evenly mixed.
5. Add pistachio nuts and white chocolate and mix again until well combined.
6. Using a tablespoon, scoop spoonfuls (about 35g) and roll into round balls using floured hands and place 10cm apart on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. (Do not flatten, otherwise the cookies will spread too much.
7. Sprinkle a few chopped pistachio nuts over the top and bake for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. You can bake for 10-14 minutes for crispier cookies.
8. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Recipe Source: Global Baker - by Dean Brettschneider

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Update: Due to some requests, I have posted the recipe of the irish soda bread here. Enjoy!!

Wholewheat Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:

• 215g plain flour
• 10g baking powder
• 5g baking soda
• 5g cream of tartar
• good pinch of salt
• 225g wholewheat or wholemeal flour
• 20g treacle, honey or golden syrup, warmed
• 225ml milk
• 225g natural yoghurt
• rolled oats for decoration

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Sieve the plain flour, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt into a large mixing bowl, add wholemeal flour and stir together.
3. Add warmed honey, milk and natural yoghurt and use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture together until smooth with a batter-like consistency. Do not be tempted to add more flour.
4. Pour mixture into a greased 21cm by 9cm and level the top so it is smooth. Sprinkle with rolled oats.
5. Brush the bottom edge of a large scraper with oil and push it halfway down into the batter, then remove it. This will create a split as the loaf rises during the first stages of baking.
6. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted.
7. Remove from oven and tip onto a wire rack to cool.

Recipe Source: Global Baker - by Dean Brettschneider

Quick Breakfast Fix - Cranberry Scones

I'm always happy whenever I get the chance and in the mood to making my own breakfast. By that I don't mean the normal cereal, or peanut butter on bread. I mean from scratch - bake my own. Although this is nothing new, but to bake and enjoy it while still warm right out of the oven is not something I get to do often.

After a failed attempt at macaron making (I could have used the wrong proportion of ingredients - which I shall not mention in detail for now, will save it till my next successful attempt ;) hopefully soon), I just felt that I have to bake something to appease for not having bake a successful item for the week. Thus, I made a switch from my usually weekend breakfast routine which is usually eat-out at my neighbourhood food court and decided to bake some easy scones for breakfast.

Scones belong to the 'quickbread' category and you don't need alot of time to put up all the ingredients. My preparation time was just about 15 minutes and another 20 minutes of baking time and there you are! Warm scones for breakfast. :) While there are many scone recipes around, I chose one with the most basic ingredients, and to me it tasted no less inferior as compared to those I'd at bakeries before.

Cranberry Scones

Ingredients:

280g all-purpose flour
65g granulated white sugar (I reduced to about 55g)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
76g cold unsalted butter

50g fresh cranberries, cut in half (I used dried cranberries)
50g mixed candied fruit and peel (I omitted these)
160 - 180 ml milk
25g sliced almonds (I omitted as I did not have it. I replaced with walnuts)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place rack in middle of oven. Butter or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or rubbing it with your fingers if you do not have a pastry blender. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.
4. Gently stir in the cranberries and mixed fruit, making sure not to crush the berries. Add the milk and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
   Gently knead the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll or pat the dough into a circle that is 8 inches (20cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick.
5. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and then brush the scone with milk.
6. Using a sharp knife, score the top of the scone into eight triangles and then sprinkle with the sliced almonds. Alternatively you can cut into rounds using a round cookie cutter of about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
7. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of the scone comes out clean.
   

Recipe Source: Adapted from Joy of Baking

Note: Original recipe includes popping the baked scones under the broiler which I did not.

I usually don't like to have too heavy breakfast thus i just have mine with tomatoes left from the tomato omelette (below). I think I had something (refering to tomato baked with cheese on top) like this before at some cafes serving breakfast but I couldn't remember where it was :P
I made tomato omelette to go with the scones for my mum. I liked how the tomatoes made the omelette more juicy as compared to the usual scrambled egg I fried which was always too dry. I prefer wetter scrambled egg. :)

Cream Scones for breakfast!

Yeah...yeah...finally something different for breakfast. Getting quite bored of muffins, breads, cereals, oats ...etc for my breakfast. Been thinking of what can I bake without making a mess of the kitchen and getting scolded by mum; without having to wash so much and making myself so tired after a day's work, and still fulfilling my baking itch and next morning's energy booster...


Flipping through my recipes, yeah scones it shall be. Realised I've not been baking it for a long time since the last (and first) time I baked it. So this was my second time. I found one recipe that uses whipping cream. Just nice cos' I'm still left with some whipping cream which I had been hoping to finish it up. The recipe, from Williams Sonoma-Essentials of Baking, wrote that "these cream scones-rich british tea biscuits, with slightly cake-like texture, have to be worked quickly, using a very light touch and put into the oven immediately after cutting in order to produce tender scones." Heh however I did not fulfill that, my hand movements still rather clumsy. Luckily it turned out fine. :) These are sinfully rich scones, where butter is rubbed or cut in, mixed with heavy whipping cream and often brushed with cream and sprinkled with sugar.


I was quite happy that the result looked similar to the picture posted. :) And they were really nice..flaky texture, buttery taste but quite rich though; not something I would usually have for breakfast. The orginal recipe uses currants but I used chocolate chips. I made another version plain, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. Both has its own unique taste, yummy! Can't tell which I prefer. :)




















I eat it with some strawberry jam. Doesn't the one on the left look like strawberry shortcakes?? ;)

Ingredients:

For the dough

2 cups (10 oz/315 g) plain flour
1/4 cup (2 oz/60 g) granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp grated lemon zest (i omitted it)
6 tbsp (3 oz/90 g) cold unslated butter, cut into 1/2-inch (12-mm) pieces
1/2 cup (3 oz/90 g) dried currants (I used chocolate chips)
3/4 cup (6 fl oz/180 ml) heavy cream

For the topping

1 tbsp granulated, demerara, or turbinado sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp whole milk or heavy cream


Method:

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 425°F (220°C). Line a half-sheet pan or rimless baking sheet with parchment (baking paper).
2. In a bowl, stir together the flour, granulated sugar, abking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, vut in the butter until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs the size of small peas. (I used rubbing-in method--rub with finger tips, pinch some flour with the butter and keep rubbing in, lifting the flour high each time and continue until all the butter are rubbed in, forming coarse crumbs) This was the first method I learnt in baking during my secondary days home economics lesson!
3. Stir in the currants. Pour the cream over the dry ingredients and mix with a fork or rubber spatula just until the dry ingredients are moistened.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press together gently until the dough clings together in a ball.
5. Pat out into a round about 1.2 inch (12 mm) thick and 6 1/2 inches (16.5 cm) in diameter. Cut the round into 6 wedges, or use a 3-inch (7.5-cm) biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Place them one inch apart on the prepared pan.
6. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Brush the wedges / rounds with milk and sprinkle evenly with cinnamon sugar.
7. Bake until golden brown, 13-17 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slighly. Serve warm. Can be stored in airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Cornbread muffins

Baked some cornbread muffins for my breakfast the next day. hehe yah its my third time baking with cornmeal, as I wanted to clear my stock before they expire...that's one of my way to decide what to bake.

This recipe was supposed to be a healthy cornbread muffin, thus it's rather bland and dry. I substituted half of the all purpose flour with wholemeal flour to give it a crusty bite and added in some mixed berries jam. I would actually recommend these be baked as a loaf so that it can be toasted or spread with jam or butter.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup wholemeal flour, half cup all purpose flour (stick to 1 cup of all purpose flour if you do not like those rough crusty bite)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar (rather bland so you might want to increase if you prefer it to be sweeter and not intending to spread anything)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup low fat buttermilk
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1 tbsp olive oil (I would increase to 2 tbsp as I find it too dry)
• Any jam of your choice

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
2. Whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, yogurt and oil. Pour buttermilk mixture into cornmeal mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Fill each muffin cup 1/2 full with batter, add about 1 tbsp of jam and top up to 2/3 full.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean.

Recipe Source: BakingBites

Classic Corn Bread

I am very much a breakfast person...every morning without fail, I would religiously take my breakfast at home; normally it's 2 slices of bread with my favourite peanut butter and milk :) Nowadays when the bread finishes towards the end of the week, I would take the opportunity to try to bake something simple so i can have it the next day. So it usually won't be anything too fanciful. I had a packet of cornmeal which I bought as i wanted to try the famous 'kenny Rogers corn muffins' one day.
I tried this very simple mix-in classic corn bread. There are dozens of cornbread recipes and variations around the world. The traditional one though, originated from southern United States and is baked in a cast-iron skillet, which gives it its crumbly texture. I baked mine in a normal loaf pan. I halved the recipe though I should have just keep to the original as there wasn't enough batter to keep it tall. I sprinkled toasted pumpkin seeds on top which greatly improved the appearance and taste of the bread. My mum felt that it was rather bland, which I agreed. But I guess It's supposed to be like this since it was so versatile to go with different types of flavourings or eaten with butter and jam; and what can we ask for when it's so healthy without any sugar but only 1 tbsp of honey, right. :P I like spreading with butter or jam and biting into the corns ..! :) The recipe was adopted from Williams-Sonoma - Essential of Baking. I shall post the recipe later or when requested as I find that the taste wasn't that fabulous. I shall try other corn bread/muffin recipes some other time.