Life is in the Details

Cranberry (or Cherry) Chocolate Chip Scones

These make a fairly quick and delicious treat to bring over to a friend who's going through a difficult patch. They show love and kindness... because you're that kind of person. 

Save one or two or three for yourself because you know you deserve some love too. Eat one slowly while sitting on a porch listening to the birds sing their springtime songs.

 

 

Wrap them up in some parchment, tie it up with a pretty ribbon, and deliver to to a friend of neighbor. Then they'll know how much you care.

We need to take care of each other and spread throughtfulness.

Pass it on.

Cranberry (or Cherry) Chocolate Scones

(adapted from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking Cookbook)

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups (8 3/8 ounces) whole wheat pastry flour or 2 cups whole barley flour
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1 7/8 ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) cold, unsalted butter
3/4 cup (3 3/4 ounces) dried cranberries or cherries
3/4 cup (4 1/2 ounces) chocolate chunks or chips
1 large egg
1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
Milk, for brushing the tops
Coarse sugar for sprinkling 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flours, sugars, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
3. Using a fork or pastry blender or a mixer with a paddle attachment, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the dried fruit and chocolate and stir with a fork just to mix them in. 
4. Whisk together the egg, buttermilk and vanilla. Add all at once to the dry ingredients and stir lightly and quickly with a fork until the dough is evenly moistened.
5. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead two or three times.
6. Divide the dough in half and pat each into a circle about 1/2 inch thick and 6 inches in diameter. Cut each circle into 8 wedges.
7. Transfer the scones to the baking sheet. Brush the tops with a little milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
8. Bake until the scones are puffed and golden brown, about  22-25 minutes. Serve warm.

Berry Bread deliciousness & Giving Project

We've been enjoy Hanukkah around here and also came down with a cold on Friday... which is why I haven't posted in a while.

 

This morning I grabbed a hunk of the mixed berry fruit bread dough that I mixed up yesterday and got it ready for its rise. While the dough and air were doing their magic I was building Lego cars and racetracks with Ryan (a recent Hanukkah present from yesterday - thank you YOU KNOW WHO!) and then drove him and his friend to preschool. All while my bread was rising. 

 

(This is the dough in my bucket that I have just for this purpose... before the mixture was combined yesterday. I'm thinking about switching to a wider, shallower container - like a Rubbermaid one meant to hold a pair of shoes since it's hard to mix things up once there is 8 cups of flour in there, not to mention the other ingredients. With the next batch I will try this.)

 

Before it goes into the oven, the bread is brushed with an egg wash (1 egg mixed with a tbsp of water) then sprinkled with coarse sugar.

 

This bread came out wonderfully!! Served with honey vanilla butter this is a BIG WINNER! We both loved this... and I'm sure the kids will when they get home from school. I will definitely make this one again. There's a variation that suggests baking off this dough as cupcakes (even though it's a yeast bread) and that's what I will likely do with a few of these so the kids have a good (and healthy) grab-and-go snack. 

I also plan on making a loaf to give. It's a part of a new project that I'm starting inspired in combination by a magazine article I read in Yoga Journal, the book 29 Gifts, and the two bread books that make multiple loaves a very doable and delicious thing. What I have in mind is a one year of weekly gifts of food. Each week I will bake something and find someone in my life that I know who needs it or could really use a reminder that someone is thinking of them and loving them. I am likely going to start before the new year because I believe it's too good to wait. I shared my initial thoughts on this project a little over a week ago with Jessi and she is very excited about it and very excited about helping out with it.

So back to the berry bread... Mike came out from his office, as if on cue, summoned, no doubt, by the heavenly smell of freshly baked bread. I was just taking the pan of Mixed Berry Bread out of the oven and put it onto the cooling rack as I heard his door creak open. We both enjoyed a slice together once it cooled. Mmmmm!! I love that he works from home. And he said as much out loud when I was slicing into this fruit-studded loaf. 

I can't tell you how much I LOVE THIS concept and am loving the book Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day! 

I also made an Armenian Flatbread yesterday which, while I don't think I will make again, I have been taking nibbles of here and there and it's like nothing I've ever tried. I had never really thought that you could make so many different kinds of bread with one recipe just cooking it off different ways... hearth bread, garlic-studded baguette, herb-garlic knotted dinner rolls, pan-fried flatbread, etc.