The Freshman 15 - Thanks to a Whole Bunch of Scones

When my sister hosted a play date for a few of our close friends and our little buggers, I knew it would be a good opportunity to do some baking. The only question was, should I make something for the adults or the kids? Since my nephew has a peanut and dairy allergy, my sister adamantly stated, "Make something for us, the moms." The possibilities were endless...cake? cupcakes? cookies? a tart? Then I remembered my sister and her best friend from college and their affinity for scones.

What made me remember? Well, there's a picture from my sister's freshman year in college that's sort of burned into my memory.  My sister is two years older than me, so when she returned home from her first year in college, I remember eagerly looking through an album she made documenting her first year at school.  One of the pictures shocked me (and no, the picture had nothing to do with illegal substances or nudity). I remember nearly falling off of my chair when I saw it. It was my sister Nadia and her best friend, Lena, sitting at a fondue restaurant. They were both wearing these God-awful ribbed, knit turtleneck sweaters (this was the late 90's people) that fit a bit too snugly against their plump bodies. Look, anybody who knows Nadia and Lena, would NEVER describe them as plump.  My sister has always been skinny with an athletic build. Always. But in this picture, she looked like an overstuffed sausage with her rounded head popping out of the neck of her too-tight sweater. I didn't giggle when I saw the picture. I was too shocked to speak.  Instead I asked her what the heck happened. She shrugged her shoulders and mumbled something about the freshman fifteen. Aaaaah, the freshman fifteen: Gaining weight during the first year of college. I knew it happened, but I guess it could even happen to my "I never gain a pound no matter how much I eat" older sister. She must have gained more than fifteen pounds her freshman year because I swear, she wasn't ever that fat when she was pregnant with each of her three children.

Shifting my eyes from the picture in my lap to her face, she didn't seem as chubby sitting in front of me. Without even asking she simply said "Scones." So she was blaming scones for her freshman fifteen? How the heck many scones was she wolfing down at college?  Apparently a lot. A ton. Way more than normal. Way more. I guess it was the product of a misunderstanding. Somehow Nadia and Lena convinced themselves that scones were not that fattening (!). I guess their logic went something like this: Scones are dry, thus they must not be made with that much fat. So, instead of choosing fattening muffins, let's choose the healthier, lower fat scone instead.

Apparently every time they grabbed a cup of coffee from Norris (the student union) or Starbucks, they opted for a scone rather than a muffin because they thought they were making a healthier, lower-fat choice. Aye, aye, aye.  When Nadia explained her scone theory to me, all I could do was slap my hand against my forehead while shaking my head in disbelief. Scones my be a drier texture than muffins, but that does not translate to being made with less fat. Sorry ladies, but scones often have more butter than muffins and thus more fat! I don't think Nadia has ever looked at a scone the same way since her freshman year in college. I'm just glad that her scone freshman fifteen memory hasn't put her off of scones permanently. When I entered her kitchen with a plate of blueberry and chocolate chip scones, I swear I heard her say that she loved me.



These recipes are adapted from a dozen or so scone recipes, plus a few of my own little adjustments here and there:

Blueberry Scones:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pint of blueberries
3/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

For the Glaze:
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon extract
2 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F
Sift all the dry ingredients (including sugar) in a medium bowl
Mix in the lemon zest
Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, fork, knives, or your clean, cold fingers (my preference!) until the mixture resembles coarse meal with larger chunks of butter.
Mix in the blueberries
Make a well in the center of the bowl and pour in the milk. Blend all the ingredients together quickly with a rubber spatula.
Turn wet dough out onto a well floured work surface
Pat or roll dough out into a 9 to 12 inch circle.
Cut into 6 or 8 pieces (see photo)
Place on greased baking sheets
Bake for 15 min or until scones are slightly brown on top
While scones cool, mix the ingredients for the lemon glaze
Pour glaze over cooled scones.







Chocolate Chip Scones:
Same ingredients and methods as the blueberry scones with the following changes:
Substitute the blueberries for 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Increase sugar to 1/4 cup
Omit the lemon zest
Omit the glaze

There's No Such Thing as Blue Food...

A few weeks ago on Top Chef (I love that show!) the challenge was for the chef's to cook a course based upon a theme. Fabio's team (Fabio is my fan favorite of this season) received the color blue as their theme. As the chef's were prepping their dishes, Tom Colicchio said something about there being no such thing as blue food. Upon hearing that, I became obsessed with trying to find a food that's naturally blue... and gosh darn it, I think Chef Colicchio was right! Blueberries? No - they're purple. Blue potatoes - again, nope. Purple. (You get the picture...)

Anyhow, the reason this is relevant is because I was planning to knit a hat/mitten set for my husband's cousin's baby girl's first birthday (wow that's a mouth full). The pattern I decided on was Ann Norling's Kid Fruit Cap. I found some beautiful blue yarn, so I thought, I'll make a blueberry hat. Little did I realize that there's no such thing as blue food! Regardless, I think the hat and mittens turned out thoroughly adorable.

Holiday Baking

This was the dessert spread I made for Thanksgiving. In the background you can see an Elmo tablecloth. We usually don't decorate for Thanksgiving with Elmo, but we also celebrated my niece's second birthday at Thanksgiving. Elmo was her idea!



Thanksgiving always gives me the opportunity to test a variety of pie/tart crusts to determine which ratio of butter/shortening creates the most flaky and tender crust. It's still a work in progress, but some recipes have become staples with my family. The chocolate tart above is one of them. It's quick, easy, and requires only a few ingredients - flour, butter, chocolate, eggs, cream, and sugar.


My mom loves pecan pie, but my husband and I have never been big fans because most pecan pie fillings are too sweet and mushy. A few years ago a stumbled across a recipe that isn't too sweet. Another plus of this recipe is that there's no corn syrup in it (most pecan pie fillings use corn syrup as the main ingredient). My recipe uses good quality maple syrup to provide a more complex flavor to the filling without making it too sweet. Now my husband looks forward to eating my pecan pies!


This year I branched out and tried a variety of fruit pies. Naturally I made a double crust apple pie (I've been making this pie since I was twelve). It's my brother's absolute favorite, and I often make it for his birthday instead of a cake. Lately I've been running into a lot of problems with the filling - but more on that sad topic later. The pie still looks beautiful, and more importantly it's still loved by my brother!


My oldest sister requested that I make a cherry pie. She was craving it, so I made one for the first time. I have to admit that I didn't taste it. I couldn't manage to spend precious stomach space and calories on a pie that I'm not too fond of eating. My sister and dad loved it, so that was good enough for me. I used tapioca to thicken the cherry filling, and I used tart cherries.


The blueberry pie was a disappointment.I used frozen wild blueberries from Whole Foods because fresh blueberries are really best in the summer. The filling was too dense, and the ratio of filling to crust was disproportionate. If I make this again, I have to alter the filling to make it lighter, and I'll use fresh berries. I'm actually not a big fan of blueberry pie, but years ago when I attended my brother in-law's medical school graduation in Maine, we ate at a lobster shack along the ocean. The blueberry pie they served there was phenomenal - light, flavorful, and the crust was crisp and flaky. Since then, I've been dreaming about that pie, and one of these days I'm going to dedicate some real research and time into recreating that delicious pie.



This year's pumpkin pie had it's positives and negatives. The texture of the filling was light and creamy. Unfortunately the taste wasn't as dreamy as I'd hoped. It was too spicy - I put way too much clove and nutmeg into the filling.


I thought I didn't like banana cream pie because I must have only eaten one long ago with artificial banana flavor. Regardless, I thought I'd try to make one this year. After looking at nearly a dozen recipes, I found one that looked delicious on the Cooks Illustrated website, and I thought, "Heck. Why not try it?" The recipe is actually pretty ingenious. The custard is light and silky made with real vanilla beans. And in order to prevent the crust from getting soggy, the bananas are placed between two layers of custard. (In most banana cream pie recipes the bananas are put directly on the crust followed by the custard.) Another method the wonderfully innovative folks at Cooks Illustrated utilized was to make the crust a grahm cracker/pastry crust hybrid. Actually pieces of crushed grahm crackers are rolled into the pastry crust so that the crust has a bit more heft in order to stand up to the wet custard. I wish I could post a link to the recipe from the Cooks Illustrated website, but you have to have an on-line subscription in order to view the recipe. (If you like to cook or bake, I would highly recommend getting a subscription to the website. As a subscriber you have access to all the recipes, equipment reviews, and you can physically view archived and current Cooks Illustrated Magazines.)

The pie turned out fabulous! It took center stage at Thanksgiving, and it's now a new family favorite. My middle sister already requested it for her birthday! Who knows which pies will show up next year. Maybe a lemon meringue pie, a key lime pie, or even a sweet potato pie...