Cinnamon Bun Scones

I am a firm believer in homemade scones. The ones that you buy out at the store or coffee shops, that are dry and crumbly and make you choke, are just not for me. Now, the hubby on the other hand, isn't really a fan at all of scones. He calls them fu-fu food. Let me rephrase that..until now, he was not a fan. I think that he ate half of them, and my boys ate them for breakfast this morning. I am positive that they will be requested again and again. :)

I found this recipe from the book A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman. I have made a few things from this book and so far so good. If you haven't seen it, you really should. It is full of yummy, yummy things! I didn't follow the directions exactly, though...but they still came out great. The directions say to mix the dry ingredients in the food processor, dump them out and make a well in the center, then put the wet ingredients and combine. I bypassed all of this and mixed everything in my mixer with a paddle attachment. It mixed up perfectly! :) You also scoop these out with an ice cream scoop, so I am thinking mini's would be great too!

Cinnamon bun Scones

By: Marcy Goldman

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks

2 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

3/4 to 1 cup whipping cream

Cinnamon Dip

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 to 3 cups confectioner's sugar

Whipping cream or milk, as required

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper. Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

In a food processor, add flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and blend briefly. Add butter and pulse to make a coarse, grainy mixture.

Turn out mixture into a large bowl. Make a well in center and stir in vanilla, eggs, and whipping cream to make a soft dough. If it is stiff, add more cream.

Using an ice cream scoop, deposit 15 to 20 scones on prepared baking sheets,or use a smaller 2 Tbsp cookie scoop and deposit 3 dozen baby scones.

Bake until scones are puffy and golden brown, about 22 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, for Cinnamon Dip, whisk together all ingredients until you have a thick but drippy glaze. Add more confectioner's sugar or cream as required.

Cool scones to warm and then dip into Cinnamon Dip. Dip scones again once topping is set.

Chocolate Chip Scones

My friend Megan's laptop was held ransom by her daughter. The ransom had to paid with chocolate chunk scones with mock devonshire cream. I knew that they had to be good if demands like this one were being made. I secretly thanked her under my breath for making such a demand. If she made them, just maybe she would post the recipe for the rest of us! What could she do? I mean, no laptop means no Facebook, Twittering, or blogging. The scones were made, the laptop handed back over and one happy kid!

I have been wanting to make these ever since I saw the post. So, today, a quick stop at the only store that I can find Mascarpone and I was ready to make them. This was the easiest scone recipe! I didn't have chocolate to chunk, so I used chocolate chips. You could substitute the chocolate for other add ins. I am thinking cranberries! Were these as good as I thought they would be? YES!!! and better. I have eaten 2 of them already. Thanks Megan for sharing the recipe! OH, and a big THANK YOU to Kelly for taking the hostage! :)

Cream Scones
Borrowed from: Megans Cookin

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the rack in the middle of the oven.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. In a small measuring cup combine the whipping cream, beaten egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix. This is where I added the chocolate chips.

Knead dough gently on a lightly floured surface. Roll or pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round.Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream and sprinkle with a course sugar if desired. This helps to brown the tops of the scones during baking.Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or until nicely browned.

Mock Devonshire Cream

4 oz mascarpone cheese
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 Tablespoon granulated sugar

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat until the mixture holds its shape and looks like softly whipped cream. Use right away or cover and refrigerate the cream until serving time.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

An Easter Tea

Risa over at The Par Tea Planner is hosting a first day of Spring Tea. I absolutely love nothing more than to get some girls together for tea. But, the first day of Spring this year is on the 20th and on a Thursday, and during the week is just hard for me to put things together, so this tea took place this past Saturday. I had a couple of girlfriends over and we had a wonderful time of conversation and just really enjoying girlie time with no interruptions.


I had wanted to take tons of pictures of my set table, but, halfway through and my batteries died and there were no more in the house..so, I had to recreate a few of the pictures.


So here is what was the menu:
Hot Orange Spice Tea, complete with sugar cubes and
Hot chocolate, with marshmallows (I had these left over from my CH entry, and they were still fresh!)

Iced Tea

Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwiches
Egg Salad Sandwiches

Buttermilk Scones with mock devonshire cream and lemon curd


Pound cake finger sandwiches
Individual Cheesecakes with chocolate sauce and strawberries
Chocolate covered strawberries
Individual Creme Brulees in egg shells

To finish off:
Peppermint patties
Ducks filled with pecans and caramel

Here are some pictures, and the recipes will follow:

Here are the buttermilk scones and pound cake finger sandwiches:

Buttermilk Scones from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman

4 Cups all-purpose flour

1/2 Cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 Cups unsalted butter, cut into chunks or shredded and frozen

1 large egg

1 1/4 Cups buttermilk

Finishing Touches:

Milk or melted butter, for brushing

Sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper. Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

Ina food processor bowl, add flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda and blend briefly. Add butter and pulse to make a coarse, grainy mixture. Turn out into a large bowl. Make a well in center; add egg and most of buttermilk and stir lightly with a fork to blend. Add remaining buttermilk if needed to make a soft shaggy dough.

Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 8-10 times until mixture is just barely roll able. Pat or roll out to 1-inch thickness and cut into 3-inch wedges with a cookie cutter. To do this, cut a 4-inch circle and then cut it in half. This will give you nice wedges. Place wedges on prepared baking sheets. Brush tops with milk or melted butter and dust with sugar.

Bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes.

Pound Cake Finger Sandwiches:

Slice your favorite pound cake, such as this one

melted semi sweet chocolate

8 oz cream cheese, room temp

1/4 cup strawberry preserves

Slice pound cake to the thickness that you want, coat one side with chocolate. Let the chocolate cool so that it hardens.

Mix the cream cheese and preserves together and spread between 2 slices of pound cake, so that it is sandwiched. I then cut it into 3 pieces.

Next, creme brulees in egg shells:

I borrowed this recipe from Tartlette, so go check her out to get this recipe. The hardest part of this was trying to crack the egg so that you only broke the top off. But, other than that, it was fairly easy.


Here are the Chocolate dipped strawberries and mini cheesecakes:



Here are the little ducks and peppermint patties:


Bunny Napkins:


The Beverage Table:

And finally, these were the parting gifts:

These little purses were filled with peanut butter and caramel.

Wow, this was a long post...Hopefully, I didn't leave anything out. :)

Happy Easter!

Tea with Queen Abby

Today, I was graciously invited to have tea with Queen Abby. What a wonderful treat on a Saturday afternoon. Without thinking twice about it, we (Queen Abby and myself) made tart cherry scones. I have been wanting to make them ever since Laurie at Quirky Cupcake had made them and shared the recipe. Of course, we had to sprinkle them with pink sugar, and then we drizzled the scones with an orange glaze.

The "queen" herself loved the scones and said that they were the best. As a taste test, we tried the scones with a dollop of white chocolate whipped cream, that will be used in this weeks TWD. Oh my! even better. Not that the scones needed anything else, but this just added a little more sweetness. Even, my (I have no part of feminine genes) husband liked these. He had 2, and even added the cream.

The scones were served with Orange, passionfruit, and Jasmine tea, complete with your choice of 1 sugar cubes or 2. I look forward to many more teas with Queen Abby.

Thanks again to Laurie for sharing her scone recipe!